Broth is great. Meat is awesome. This is not AYCE, in case you're looking for that.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Julia Gooding
Not the best photos because I had been immersed in the hot pot. I really liked the namesake Asuka broth. The sets are very complete and filling. Good quality ingredients. They were really low on staff but doing their best. On a Sunday evening, I saw people turned away, so it’s better to make a reservation. No alcohol served.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Hot Pot
Michelle S.
Came here last minute without a reservation and they were able to seat us within 10 minutes. There are tons of soup options that you can pick from in the regular and premium menu. You pick your soup and meat and all meats come with veggies and noodles. The meat quality is good and the dipping sauce is soo good! I wish they sell their sauces.
Joe W.
Great service. They have the best broths. The food is really good and we like the BYOB.
Judi W.
Decent place for hot pot and plenty of tables! FOOD:I got the kalbi and pork set with the kombu soup. I liked that everything was portioned out just enough for one person. The food items were good but nothing spectacular in my opinion. Just the usual meats, veggies, tofu. I also liked that it was an an individual hot pot set so each person had their own pot. SERVICE:It was quick after we ordered! Food came fast. AMBIANCE:We went during a week day for dinner and it was surprisingly sort of empty so it was pretty quiet. It's got a modern look to it and most if not all the tables are booth tables.
Rick Henning
Best hotpot on Oahu?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Spencer Dearman
Super great hotpot near Waikiki. Individual hotpot was great with many different soup bases to choose from. I liked how all of the sets came with a bunch of the key basics needed on the side for hotpot. We had the duck, shrimp, pork, and kalbi and all was delicious. Definitely recommend if you are in the area or are in the mood for some great hotpot.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Hot Pot, Assorted Vegetable Plate
Janice
This place is so great! My mom loves shabu shabu so we came here for her 84th birthday while visiting Oahu. We got three sets (two ribeye and one pork belly) for three adults and three kids. Both were great but the ribeye was the group’s favorite. The sets came with tofu, vegetables, and a dumpling, which was so flavorful. We accompanied the sets with the asuka base and two spicy asuka bases. Both had wonderful, complex flavors. We also got some extra sides to put in the soups. Definitely get shiitake mushrooms if you are a mushroom fan and try the fun kimchi bombs if you like kimchi. The bomb is mochi filled with kimchi and a Korean duk (rice cake). In addition to the great food, the service was just as wonderful. All the staff were super friendly, helpful, and warm. Get out of Waikiki and head a little north to Asuka. You won’t be disappointed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sade P.
I wasn't impressed with this place after this experience. The first time i came i was so impressed , service was good quality was awesome and that's why i wanted to come back again and have my other half try it out . So the start to a rough night was the fact that we indeed had a reservation for 7:30, we came a bit early and was told that one party was checking out and we would be seated once they leave. We arrived at about 7:05 pm so it's on us that we came early in hopes that we'd be seated earlier but what was mind boggling is that we were waiting on the street till 7:25 lol. And the party who we were waiting on to leave left literally at 7:10 . The table was cleared for awhile . I shrugged it off because again we were the ones that came early . We're huge hot pot fans and although we liked the broth and the quality of the meat $5.00 for a small portion of enoki mushrooms was just mind blowing lol. But this time for me, my complaint is the fact that there was MOLD at the bottom of the water cups, how disgusting . Check your cups people , because not only do they not clean them they won't get filled up either while you're eating :) . Not once did someone come and ask us or check on our waters . Also found hair sticking out of their sauce bottles I also had some questions regarding the order i made and knew exactly what i ordered but wanted clarification on it and the server/host that I spoke to was just a complete a hole. Very aggressive and impatient . He kind of made me feel uncomfortable almost cocky personality .I won't be back.
Cheryl L.
We had frequent this establishment in the past several times and have always been more than satisfied with the service and food. However our recent visit left a lot to be desired. We arrived 5 mins early for our reservation. They said they weren't set up yet and told us to go back out and wait out. We asked if we could stay inside due it being hot outside. No was the reply. We seriously thought about going elsewhere but said it's only 5 mins so we endured. Once inside we continued experiencing poor service. Needless to say we will not be back.
We will never return to this restaurant. Very rude, ignorant staff and inadequate manager. We are locals who have frequented this restaurant many times. Extremely disappointed with our experience last night. Very poor service. Uninterested, very inattentive rude staff. We payed our bill leaving a very fair tip of 23%.. $5 paid in cash and remainder of tip paid on credit card. Our server mocked us when he walked past our table after we paid and said our tip was very low! He asked where we were visiting from! (yet we are locals)! He proceeded to tell the other staff members that we underpaid the tip who also pointed and laughed at us. Initially we did not understand our servers attitude, but then realised he assumed our tip was merely the $5 cash. When we approached the manager and explained, our server still laughed at us as well as other staff members. The manager insincerely apologised. The server remained arrogant and rude. We will never return.
Natasha Holmes
I've been coming to Asuka ever since opening day and it's still my favorite place to go to for nabe.Their broths are delicious and the meat/veggie quality is so fresh and delicious.My only complaint (and I know it's hard because of inflation/COVID) is the rise in price. There's also no more lamb. What used to get us $40 (5 years ago) now costs about $75. Unfortunately, it's the same with a lot of establishments in Hawaii nowadays.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Hot Pot
Molly Liu
Food was amazing, but service was extremely questionable, and made my experience there much worse.1) server felt like he did not want to even be there. Had this unhappy vibe the entire time, and was annoyed when we asked questions2) everyone at the table interpreted that each soup bowl was $8, b it we were surprised to find an extra $8 charge for doing a split bowl, which I had explicitly asked about price before ordering3) we had a the wrong order of meat come to the table. We asked the server about the plate, and he’s like you ordered this and this. We were like yes, those two are correct, but I don’t believe we ordered this other plate. He looked at it and without a word, or apology, took the plate awayWould not come back for these reasons. Just didn’t feel welcomed
Kyllie N.
Asuka is one of my favorite restaurants! Their broth and meats are very high quality, which is why I love coming here. My favorite broth to get is the sukiyaki or spicy sukiyaki, however their paitan is also delicious. Since they renovated, the restaurant is even cuter and cleaner than before. Definitely make a reservation before coming here though because they fill up pretty quick. Lastly, the service here is pretty good for the most part. Check out Asuka if you're in the mood for some awesome nabe!
Wendy S.
I had SO MUCH fun at this restaurant!! We wanted shabu but we didn't wanna go to an all you can eat place so we found this place! The value choice on the menu was the perfect amount of food. We both ate all our food and was very satisfied. The sauces were all homemade and the goma one (sesame) reminded me of Japan with fresh sesame seeds. We had a super friendly server and the ambiance was so cute inside. We always pass this place whenever we get boba next door but was definitely the best choice to come here! Definitely coming back on date night
Broth is great. Meat is awesome. This is not AYCE, in case you're looking for that.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Not the best photos because I had been immersed in the hot pot. I really liked the namesake Asuka broth. The sets are very complete and filling. Good quality ingredients. They were really low on staff but doing their best. On a Sunday evening, I saw people turned away, so it’s better to make a reservation. No alcohol served.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Hot Pot
Came here last minute without a reservation and they were able to seat us within 10 minutes. There are tons of soup options that you can pick from in the regular and premium menu. You pick your soup and meat and all meats come with veggies and noodles. The meat quality is good and the dipping sauce is soo good! I wish they sell their sauces.
Great service. They have the best broths. The food is really good and we like the BYOB.
Decent place for hot pot and plenty of tables! FOOD:I got the kalbi and pork set with the kombu soup. I liked that everything was portioned out just enough for one person. The food items were good but nothing spectacular in my opinion. Just the usual meats, veggies, tofu. I also liked that it was an an individual hot pot set so each person had their own pot. SERVICE:It was quick after we ordered! Food came fast. AMBIANCE:We went during a week day for dinner and it was surprisingly sort of empty so it was pretty quiet. It's got a modern look to it and most if not all the tables are booth tables.
Best hotpot on Oahu?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Super great hotpot near Waikiki. Individual hotpot was great with many different soup bases to choose from. I liked how all of the sets came with a bunch of the key basics needed on the side for hotpot. We had the duck, shrimp, pork, and kalbi and all was delicious. Definitely recommend if you are in the area or are in the mood for some great hotpot.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Hot Pot, Assorted Vegetable Plate
This place is so great! My mom loves shabu shabu so we came here for her 84th birthday while visiting Oahu. We got three sets (two ribeye and one pork belly) for three adults and three kids. Both were great but the ribeye was the group’s favorite. The sets came with tofu, vegetables, and a dumpling, which was so flavorful. We accompanied the sets with the asuka base and two spicy asuka bases. Both had wonderful, complex flavors. We also got some extra sides to put in the soups. Definitely get shiitake mushrooms if you are a mushroom fan and try the fun kimchi bombs if you like kimchi. The bomb is mochi filled with kimchi and a Korean duk (rice cake). In addition to the great food, the service was just as wonderful. All the staff were super friendly, helpful, and warm. Get out of Waikiki and head a little north to Asuka. You won’t be disappointed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I wasn't impressed with this place after this experience. The first time i came i was so impressed , service was good quality was awesome and that's why i wanted to come back again and have my other half try it out . So the start to a rough night was the fact that we indeed had a reservation for 7:30, we came a bit early and was told that one party was checking out and we would be seated once they leave. We arrived at about 7:05 pm so it's on us that we came early in hopes that we'd be seated earlier but what was mind boggling is that we were waiting on the street till 7:25 lol. And the party who we were waiting on to leave left literally at 7:10 . The table was cleared for awhile . I shrugged it off because again we were the ones that came early . We're huge hot pot fans and although we liked the broth and the quality of the meat $5.00 for a small portion of enoki mushrooms was just mind blowing lol. But this time for me, my complaint is the fact that there was MOLD at the bottom of the water cups, how disgusting . Check your cups people , because not only do they not clean them they won't get filled up either while you're eating :) . Not once did someone come and ask us or check on our waters . Also found hair sticking out of their sauce bottles I also had some questions regarding the order i made and knew exactly what i ordered but wanted clarification on it and the server/host that I spoke to was just a complete a hole. Very aggressive and impatient . He kind of made me feel uncomfortable almost cocky personality .I won't be back.
We had frequent this establishment in the past several times and have always been more than satisfied with the service and food. However our recent visit left a lot to be desired. We arrived 5 mins early for our reservation. They said they weren't set up yet and told us to go back out and wait out. We asked if we could stay inside due it being hot outside. No was the reply. We seriously thought about going elsewhere but said it's only 5 mins so we endured. Once inside we continued experiencing poor service. Needless to say we will not be back.
Restaurantji Recommends
We will never return to this restaurant. Very rude, ignorant staff and inadequate manager. We are locals who have frequented this restaurant many times. Extremely disappointed with our experience last night. Very poor service. Uninterested, very inattentive rude staff. We payed our bill leaving a very fair tip of 23%.. $5 paid in cash and remainder of tip paid on credit card. Our server mocked us when he walked past our table after we paid and said our tip was very low! He asked where we were visiting from! (yet we are locals)! He proceeded to tell the other staff members that we underpaid the tip who also pointed and laughed at us. Initially we did not understand our servers attitude, but then realised he assumed our tip was merely the $5 cash. When we approached the manager and explained, our server still laughed at us as well as other staff members. The manager insincerely apologised. The server remained arrogant and rude. We will never return.
I've been coming to Asuka ever since opening day and it's still my favorite place to go to for nabe.Their broths are delicious and the meat/veggie quality is so fresh and delicious.My only complaint (and I know it's hard because of inflation/COVID) is the rise in price. There's also no more lamb. What used to get us $40 (5 years ago) now costs about $75. Unfortunately, it's the same with a lot of establishments in Hawaii nowadays.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Hot Pot
Food was amazing, but service was extremely questionable, and made my experience there much worse.1) server felt like he did not want to even be there. Had this unhappy vibe the entire time, and was annoyed when we asked questions2) everyone at the table interpreted that each soup bowl was $8, b it we were surprised to find an extra $8 charge for doing a split bowl, which I had explicitly asked about price before ordering3) we had a the wrong order of meat come to the table. We asked the server about the plate, and he’s like you ordered this and this. We were like yes, those two are correct, but I don’t believe we ordered this other plate. He looked at it and without a word, or apology, took the plate awayWould not come back for these reasons. Just didn’t feel welcomed
Asuka is one of my favorite restaurants! Their broth and meats are very high quality, which is why I love coming here. My favorite broth to get is the sukiyaki or spicy sukiyaki, however their paitan is also delicious. Since they renovated, the restaurant is even cuter and cleaner than before. Definitely make a reservation before coming here though because they fill up pretty quick. Lastly, the service here is pretty good for the most part. Check out Asuka if you're in the mood for some awesome nabe!
I had SO MUCH fun at this restaurant!! We wanted shabu but we didn't wanna go to an all you can eat place so we found this place! The value choice on the menu was the perfect amount of food. We both ate all our food and was very satisfied. The sauces were all homemade and the goma one (sesame) reminded me of Japan with fresh sesame seeds. We had a super friendly server and the ambiance was so cute inside. We always pass this place whenever we get boba next door but was definitely the best choice to come here! Definitely coming back on date night