Roy's - Ko Olina Hawaii

We celebrated my mom's birthday at Roy's Ko Olina, an upscale restaurant known for its exquisite Hawaiian fusion cuisine and fine dining experience.  Roy's, inspired by award winning master chef Roy Yamaguchi, has several locations throughout the world and continues to be one of Hawaii's top restaurants.

Thanks to my wonderful sister, my family was able to eat at Roy's for virtually free because of the lovely gift cards she gave us.  If not, I would've felt guilty eating there, as the bill was nearly $220 for the four of us.  Ouch!

When we first entered Roy's, the service was excellent from the begining.  The staff is incredibly friendly and professional. 

The setting in Roy's is much more romantic and relaxing at Ko Olina.  The restaurant overlooks a lagoon near the golf course. Inside the lights are dim for a down-to-earth ambience, while the decorations simple and refined.  I thought the tables were a bit too small, especially for the size of some of the plates (which were humongous!) though.

As an appetizer, there are edmame seasoned in sesame oil.  They are highly addicting and inspired me to make my own at home.

We ordered a family size sashimi platter.  The fish was incredibly fresh and the presentation beautiful.  I couldn't believe they actually served shiso leaves, which are edible by the way!  I can't believe how fresh the fish was.  I wanted to savor every moment.

I ordered the Classic 4 as an entree.  I had a chance to try four different types of fish, such as seared Ahi, misoyaki butterfish, a macadamia crusted fish and one that had a cilantro pesto sauce.  I wish I could remember all the names of each fish, but I honestly cannot. 

I also had a chocolate souffle.  As you place your fork into the souffle, hot chocolate slowly flows from it, so be careful because it's easy to quickly dig in. It can be hot!  With a scoop of ice cream on the side, the two items compliment each other in the most perfect way.

Since it was my mom's birthday, they kindly gave her a dessert to enjoy.  It was nice.

Besides the "Classic 4" and the souffle, other things I ate were from the dinner plates of my family!

The ribs were fantastically spicy and sweet.  The shrimp was excllent too. 

Spicy Ahi sushi anyone? 

It was nice at Roy's, celebrating my mom's birthday.  Rarely do I get the chance to enjoy such a nice restaurant, but everything tuned out as great as can be and I couldn't have asked for more. 

For those of you with gluten allergies, Roy's is one of few restaurants that has options for allery sufferers.  Enjoy!

The Yard House - Waikiki, Hawaii

While at Waikiki, I had to stop at the Yard House.  I've been to the Yard House once before with family and it was great!  I knew I had to go back to indulge.

It can get very busy in the Yard House, so we called the restaurant to see what the wait time would be before heading out.  It was nearly 30-40 minutes, which was a perfect walk to the restaurant from our hotel.  Once we got to the restaurant, we didn't have to wait too long to be seated.

The Yard House has a restaurant/sports bar atmosphere.  There's a bar with 100 plus varities of beer on tap.  For you beer lovers, the Yard House is the perfect place for you to try beers from around the world.  There are even unusual beers that you cannot find anywhere else! 

There's also table seating, which will accomodate a large group of friends or family. 

During the weekend, I wanted to try something other than the usual.  I ordered the artichoke dish with "home made" chips.  The artichoke was unusual. Since I was unexperienced in eating artichoke, I had to ask the waiter for help. 

"You have to peel the leaves off.  Start from the back, peel, and eat what's on the bottom of the leaf," was his explanation on how to eat artichoke.  I felt funny eating it because I had no idea what I was suppossed to be eating.  In fact, I think I ate a ton of leaf.  It was flavorless and unusual.  Eventually, I noticed a white substance that had a different taste on the bottom of the leaves, so I'm assuming that's the "meat" of the artichoke.  It was bizzarre.  The chips and dip were great through!

Chicken wings are always yummy!  My husband wanted fire-hot wings, but there's only one type availabe.  They sure were good.  My husband was more than satisfied.

If you like blue crab, there's a blue crab sandwich at the Yard House that won't disappoint!  It was REALLY good.  My husband couldn't stop raving about the blue crab sandwich he ordered.  I'm suprised he offered me a bite.

I ordered the Jambalaya with pasta.  It's a Yard House favorite and I can see why!  Out of all the dishes I've tried, this is one of my favorite.  The flavor shocked my taste buds.  It was soooooo unbelievably good!

If you haven't been enticed to eat at the Yard House yet, check out the menu!  My mom is one of the pickiest people on the planet and even she likes the Yard House. 

Next time you're in Waikiki, you have to try the Yard House to see for yourself! I guarantee you'll love it!

*Note:  Gluten-free options are available.