Bread + Butter

Love this place for lunch. But dinner… Was awesome! The dinner menu is more of a tapas type of dining. The entrees were pretty sizable. But oh my god! Please please do your self a favor and order blue cheese fondue with fresh baked focaccia. Crack bread! I could’ve made a meal out if it but we had more food to conquer.
The service was excellent. We also had a toddler who would’ve gone hungry if it were not for the wonderful kitchen staff who whipped up a batch of delectable Mac n cheese gourmet style (NOT ON THE DINNER MENU). We snuck in a few bites. Ok a lot of bites of it and… damn!
Thank you Geisha and whoever the chef was tonight. I appreciate a business who can accommodate their customers and value our patronage.
We will be back for brunch, lunch, dinner and whatever in between.

Fantastic food. Cute place to sit and work. Great wifi. Food is great. Drinks good too. BUT. The staff has ALWAYS been not the nicest. They have a chip on their shoulder and don’t listen when you ask a question. For example. I asked if the lobster on the lobster roll was fresh or from frozen and the response I got was «it comes with one $ 3 side.» I had to ask my question three times for her to listen to my question and answer it. I wish the staff was nicer. I would live here.

The restaurant is located on the ground floor of an office building fronting Kapiolani Boulevard, and the parking entrance to the building comes off of Kona Street (the opposite side). On this particular day, we just walked from the Ala Moana Hotel to arrive at 4 PM for an early dinner. The dining area is fairly small and probably gets crowded during peak mealtimes, but there were only two other groups of people when we arrived.
No one greeted us at the door so we just went to the cashier counter. We looked at the specials for the day and read their simple menu on the clipboard. The guy behind the register was very friendly and informative. I ordered the lobster bisque mac & cheese and my wife had the beet salad. My wife really enjoyed the salad; it was fresh and perfectly dressed. As for me, I have found my new guilty pleasure. I asked for the macaroni to be cooked longer for added softness, and the sauce was amazing. The next time I need to ask for some bread to dip into the sauce.
When we ordered the food at the register, the guy asked us if we would be able to leave before 5 PM. Evidently, they take reservations for dinner that begin at 5 o’clock. It is no wonder that they need to maximize their limited seating arrangement.
The lobster bisque mac & cheese appears to be a special item, not usually a part of the regular menu. I would call ahead to make sure that they had it. Although, it would be exciting to try some of their other menu items.

So there we were (me & a dear friend of mine), trying out a new place for brunch. We were initially attracted to the design of their logo, and figured it must be a cool place. As soon as we walked in, it was like one of those scenes where the needle scratches across the record & everyone looks at you. No clue what that was about.
Service: we were seated shortly after arriving. Our server was nice & gave us good recommendations when we asked. She was also attentive.
Food: we both ordered french toast with a side of bacon. The bacon arrived a good 10 min before the french toast. We also had a mimosa. (I had 2). ((Here’s the deal on the mimosas…$ 29 for ‘bottomless’, $ 8 each. You would have to drink 4 of them to get your money’s worth. I guess, if you are staying there a while)) The french toast was very good. Prob the best I’ve had in a while. The bacon was good too… but lonely waiting for the french toast to arrive.
Décor/​ambiance: aside from the apparent initial shock at our arrival, I liked the ambiance. If you like Ikea, then you will like the décor. The furniture looks right out of the spring 2015 catalog (j/k)…I don’t even know if Ikea would ship over here.
Overall, I’d go back. Its a great place for brunch & a nice change from other breakfast places nearby.
Oh…parking. So they said they have a lot in the back… I parked at Macy’s & walked there.

First of all, the place is nice and modern looking. We had a breakfast pizza, ratatouille, berry pancakes, a blueberry muffin, coffee, and some kind of soufflé or keish. The pizza was the best thing I ate. Coffee was good but not he best coffee, felt like I needed an extra shot of espresso there. The blueberry muffin was moist and good. The berry pancakes lacked a sweet flavor or something to it. It was very tart. We saw another table that had these pancakes that were topped with whipped cream that looked amazing, but not sure how those tasted. The ratatouille was good, but didn’t wow us away. The soufflé/​keish was just alright and lacked flavor. So this is a place that I may not wanna run again when I consider all the breakfast choices in town.

The setup is cute, bright, hip and trendy. Staff is friendly. Service is quick. You go up to the register to order and pay. You seat yourself and then they bring it out to you.
I had the papaya bowl and it exceeded my expectations. Half a papaya topped with fresh fruits, granola, and honey. I was afraid it wouldn’t be filling enough but it was.

Pretty good for a light lunch. Good for salads and sandwiches. Prices not bad $ 12 – 14 range. Service was decent. Cute pottery barnesque interior. I would come back for a good salad. Seems as tho their pizza’s are their specialty so maybe next time I’ll try one!

My disclaimer is that I only had a salad here, but it was dang good! It was the Thursday special salad– tomatoes, strawberries, arugula and… A huge scoop of burrata cheese. The dressing was a thick and slightly sweet balsamic.
The tomatoes were beefsteak, usually not my favorite (actually my least favorite) but they were fresh and tasty, not mealy. The strawberries were awesome but very tiny slivers and not enough pieces. The arugula was tiny and fresh. The burrata cheese more than made up for any other shortcomings– it was so yummy and fresh and tasty. I consider myself a foodie, but I’m a newbie to this burrata phenomenon. It’s like fresh mozzarella and ricotta had an ooey gooey baby. Stretchy strings and very soft and creamy. Try it if you can find it!
I had a glass of Pinot noir (cheapest one on the menu) and it was really good for a $ 7 wine.
They had some interesting sounding tapas, but very small portions.
The tables are a bit odd for having a meal– couches, tables with weird benches, bar seating and a few regular tables. We sat by the kitchen and it was hot, with a side door open so it created a wind tunnel.
I’d come back for more… (Making gargling sounds «BURRATA, BURRATA, BURRATA» coming out of my throat like chewbacca)

We had 5pm reservations on a Saturday evening. When we arrived (about 10 minutes early), they were able to seat us immediately because there was only one other table occupied. I was a little surprised when the gal sat us right next to the only occupied table in the entire restaurant. Our tables were so close, the other party asked to be moved when we sat down.
Our server was pleasant and suggested a few menu items. We did order couple of the dishes he recommended.
TAPAS:
We started with the Chicken Liver Pâté & Truffle Oil with Homemade Focaccia. This was delicious, especially the focaccia.
The Firecracker Goat Cheese Dip came recommended by our server. The dip itself was fine. The pita brushed with buffalo sauce was too much to go with the dip. We had to order plain pita.
MAIN DISH:
We chose the Double Braised Oxtail and wine pairing that was recommended to us. The other dish was the Porcini Risotto. Both dishes were good.
DESSERT:
The Banana Crème Brûlée was tasty.
SERVICE:
Even if our server was rather friendly, our waters weren’t refilled until we were left with empty glasses for a long time. We just couldn’t locate him because it appeared that he was working the whole restaurant. There was a point when we were desperately searching for our server because we wanted our check so we could leave (we were there for almost two hours already).

We checked out this place a few weeks ago for dinner. I actually liked the cleanliness, décor, and the ambience of the restaurant. Some of the items that we ordered were good, but I was really turned off by the service. First of all it took a while for us to be acknowledged upon walking in, and the restaurant was pretty empty. Secondly, when we finally got seated and the server came to speak with us, she honestly sounded like a ditz. She seemed to have a hard time describing the food that we inquired about, and continued to stutter while trying to remember. I mean, don’t get me wrong, she was reallllly nice and sweeet, but she just sounded like she was struggling to remember and describe the specials, and the items on the menu.
I do have to say that I loved the focaccia bread and butter. That was one of my fave things about this place. Some other things I liked were the blue cheese fondue and truffle egg custard. The paella was okay, and we also ordered the steamed mussels, which was actually pretty disappointing. The mussels were overcooked and not very flavorful.
Overall I’d give this place 3.5 stars, but I can’t seem to get myself to round up to 4 stars haha. Sorry! I would want to come back for the all you can eat Paella on Tuesdays and maybe to try the wine tastings.

The atmosphere and Pinot noir selection here is AMAZING! It deserves 10 stars on its own. They have a master sommelier hand select all the wines they serve and the staff seems very knowledgeable about the menu. When we were seated, our waiter asked us if it was our first time. When we answered yes, he then gave us the spiel about the chef studying in Europe and Japan.
The food is decent. You can definitely taste the freshness of the ingredients, but the food lacks «love». The technique is impeccable and takes years to master, but the food has a one note taste and everything is sadly covered in sauce or overly compensated with salt.
Now I’m no professional chef, but if you have fresh ingredients, don’t mask it with other flavors. We ordered a mushroom appetizer with focaccia bread, double braised oxtail, pasta of the day, which was an oyster and asparagus pesto pasta, and 2 glasses of wine. The mushroom appetizer tasted much like adobo, slightly salty and took away from the taste of the bread and mushrooms. The oxtail came with smoked mashed potatoes and pickled carrots with mustard seeds. The mashed potatoes and oxtail were great alone, but the individual flavors overpowers one another in my opinion. The sauce reminds me of a delicious French onion soup. The pasta of the day had amazingly fresh oysters and the pesto was very freshly made, but overpowered the oysters.

This place appeals to the hipster that I deny I am.
Seriously, this place is so cute. I love the décor and ambience of the place (always a perk to me). I’ve been here a handful of times and I love their food. My approach to new menus/​places is to try something that sounds the most non-​traditional and occasionally weird. Their whole menu appealed to me! I came here last week and I guess they now offer full service brunch (even though it was like 1pm…) I got some prosciutto wrapped baguette with an egg yolk dipping sauce and the inner wannabe hipster in me got excited when it was served on a wooden board instead of a plate.
Kind of pricey for bread and prosciutto but whatever, it was satisfying for me. I love their french dip pizza though! (however messy that may be…)

I’ve been here a few times and I like some of their food like their risotto. I also like that you can order different kinds of cheese to go with your wine… but I don’t like how you HAVE TO order the paella deal ($ 20 for paella and a glass of pinot) if you go on a Tuesday. If you don’t feel like eating paella, avoid going on a Tuesday. I actually think my table would have spent more money had they not made us all eat the paella. The service was good though…

Been here for dinner three times so far and enjoyed it every time. The décor is very simple and modern. Service can be somewhat slow and not all of them are friendly, but they do the job. The food comes in small portions, but just enough to feel satisfied for one dish so that you can move on to the other. I love their beef tongue curry and the different meats and cheese you can choose from. Uni pasta just tasted like cream. I’m used to eating Arancino’s Uni pasta so I thought the one here needed a little ocean kick. Overall, nothing’s tasted bad yet and I like how they have the Pinot wine bar so I’ll give them 4 stars.

So hubs and I spent Valentine’s dinner at Bread + Butter. It was a price fixe menu, and 5 courses and I added the wine pairing. We were immediately seated, and the waitress was so friendly she explained the meat counter and some of the dining options available if we decide to come back for another visit.
Our first course was brioche caviar and quail egg. It was so delicate and decadent. I savored it, as it was not a big appetizer, but it was very tasty. Sidenote: I actually asked the waitress if there was any chance they had any extras laying around later in the meal… but alas, no joy on the seconds.
Second course was cold smoked Kahuku corn brulee soup which had a cheese crust on top, and being the cheesehead that I am, it was just divine. The cheese acted like a cracker, and balanced the sweetness of the corn soup.
Next up, Botan Ebi Carpaccio. This one made me nervous when I read the menu, just because I was not sure what to expect, but it was raw shrimp with a sauce that really brought it all together.
By this time, I knew we would have to order some sort of accompaniment to fill hubs up, as he needs more food than the average joe, so we ordered some of the meats available from the counter, which they sell by weight, and some chicken liver pâté.
Our main dish was a Pork Belly Confit Mont Blanc, which was really tasty, and presentation made it looked like pork belly dipped in white chocolate. Of course it was actually mashed potatoes, but it was really pretty. The belly was melt-​in-​your-​mouth good, and well seasoned.
We ended the night with a special desert, a chocolate sundae surprise, which could’ve meant anything, but in this case, it was a sphere of chocolate, which had gold flakes mixed in, and it protected the ice cream within it. Our server came and poured hot espresso which melted the chocolate and created a delicious desert.
Definitely a great experience, and we will be back to try the Paella Tuesday which is AYCE!

This review is for their Paella Tuesday night. It’s $ 20 for all you can eat paella and a glass of wine. If you don’t want paella, then you’ll have to dine here on another night.
So we got there when they opened but they were not set up yet. We decided to order some appetizers while we waited. You get a choice between a red or white glass of wine. About 45 minutes after opening, they were ready. They brought out two huge pans of paella, one was a seafood one and another one was a sausage one.
So how it works is, you go up and they serve you on a small plate. You can choose which one you want and go up as many times as you want. I’ve never had paella so I’m not quite sure how exactly it was supposed to taste but both didn’t have a lot of flavor. The seafood was a bit dry and over cooked. The sausage one was a little better.
Plus I think there’s only so much paella you can eat in one sitting. Starch overload. Overall, I think both were over cooked and dry. I liked the mayonnaise like sauce they gave on the side to enhance the paella flavors.
It’s a neat idea for girls night or a date. Hopefully their service and product get better, I’d be willing to try it again. For now, stick to breakfast and lunch.

This review is not about the food. It is about the staff and their terrible customer service. The staff or management isn’t trained to answer any questions knowledgeably or have the decency to follow up.
Do not attempt to throw a private party here. I repeat, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO THROW A PRIVATE PARTY. It took all of four months, multiple email exchanges and multiple phone calls just to get a response. It’s like they don’t want any business. Their management staff, first off, are pretty close to incompetent not being able to distinguish NYE (Dec 31) and Jan 31. And they lack any professional courtesy to follow up after a «change in management infrastructure.»
Bottom line, after four months of attempted communication, strings of emails and lots and lots of phone calls and unanswered messages, turns out to do a restaurant buyout for a maximum of 40 – 50 people will cost you $ 5000!!! For all you mathematicians, that’s $ 100 per person for even just a brunch menu. Ridiculous. So our money will be better spent at Mermaid Bar at Neiman where I got a straight and concise facts and venue securement that same day. Hooray for customer service and Neiman Marcus. Boo for you Bread + Butter.

ÌCame back to this place for the paella and wine Tuesdays. It’s all u can eat paella with a glass of wine for $ 20.
First off their paella hardly had any meat and the waitresses only give u a piece of meat on the plate and so much rice which makes the price not worth eating.
The ad made it looked like it was worth the price but actually going there I was pretty disappointed. You can count how many shrimp was on the plate.
Great concept but the restaurant can’t be cheap on the meat on paella. Usually paella is covered with meat on top and can hardly see the rice. Place is nice but they need to upgrade the deal.

Located next to Shokudo with ample free structure parking in labeled spots behind the restaurant. When you come in, you order and pay at the counter and they’ll deliver your food to your table when ready.
Came for breakfast and was not that impressed. The breakfast pizza was not very good and the crust was hard and had no flavor. I also bought one of their teriyaki spam and egg musubi which made me wish I went to 7-​eleven instead for their Deluxe musubi instead (much better one with egg).
The highlight was probably the Taro and Banana pancakes. I felt like they were nice and fluffy with a good Taro flavor beneath the whip cream. I kind of wish it had a bit more flavor though (maybe a little maple syrup?)
Next time I think I’ll opt for their neighbor Shokudo, a solid place for food.

This update is for Restaurant Week 2015 menu. There was a tasting menu, with a choice of entrée of either duck or uni pasta. We were sat at the Pinot bar, which at first I was kinda bummed as I wanted a table. But once Cory our server greeted us, it was all good. She was super friendly. It made dining much more interesting as we got to make small talk with her.
There were 4 courses plus your entrée. All the apps were cold apps and pre-​made, so they came out immediately. Being pre-​made did not take away from the taste at all. Dishes by order:
1) Black Truffle Custard — Black Truffles, Egg Custard with a Dashi & White Truffle Float. Excellent texture and a hint of black truffle, just enough to give you that rich truffle flavor but not to overwhelm the custard. It was cutely served in an egg on an egg carton.
2) Beet, Peach & Blue Cheese Blue Crab & Mango Tartar Kobe Beef Empanada. This was the least favorite of all the courses. I didn’t really care for the beets or crab cakes. The empanada was pretty good though.
3) Blue Prawn + Risotto — Poached Blue Prawn on a Honey Risotto with a Saffron Aioli. Nice flavor of the sweet shrimp and risotto. I wish they has something salty to compliment all this sweetness.
4) Double Duck — Seared Duck Breast, Froie Gras, Dark Coffee Reduction, Charred Kahuku Corn. I know in a recent review i complained about my dish being really small. So was this but, complimented other small bites of different tastes, made me forget this entrée was really small. And it was SO GOOD. The duck was perfectly cooked and flavored well. The Froie gras along with the dark coffee reduction was heaven. Best taste of the night.
5) Uni Pasta — Homemade Nori Pasta, Fresh Santa Barbra Uni, Cream Sauce. My friend had this for his entrée. Although he said it needed more Uni flavor, he claimed the pasta and flavor was excellent.
6) Chocolate Molten Lava Cake Vanilla Ice Cream & Berries. More like a fancy brownie, but it went perfectly with the vanilla ice cream. It was a great end to the meal.
Im very impressed on how much this restaurant has evolved since it first opened. They seemed to have upped their game a lot and looks to be a place i will be frequenting much more. Paella and Pinot Tuesdays looks pretty interesting.
Thanks Cory for a the great service!