Doraku Sushi

I don’t even think that this place deserves a star, but I think it’s reasonable to give at least one because all the hostesses were more attentive to our needs and had a friendlier attitude than our own server, Daniel.
It was my first time eating at this place and I’ve heard mix reviews. Granted that it was a busy night and all the other restaurants we wanted to go to at first had a 45 – 50 minute wait.
The hostesses were kind enough to put tables together for us to sit outside and sit down immediately.
Daniel came by our table after 10 minutes and took our orders.
He was attentive at first, but immediately after my friends got their food place on the table he stopped showing up.
I was waiting on my order of miso soup and it didn’t arrive to my table until 20 minutes later.
Our waters weren’t refilled and there was just no follow-​up what so ever. I also ordered wagyu beef and a hamachi kama that didn’t show up for another 10 minutes.
There was even a table of 7 who showed up after us and the services that was rendered to them was at top notch compared to what we were getting.
Lastly, my lychee martini had a little piece of hair in it that looked like it had fallen off a nose. I was lucky enough to get a new one after my friend personally walked up to the bar and asked for another one. Again, this would have been taken cared of if Daniel was around but again he wasn’t.
To end this review, our server, Daniel, did not receive any tips from us.
If you have him as your server– do yourself a favor and request for another one.

I’ve had good experiences at the Kapiolani location, but this location was unsatisfying to say the least. The food was what I expected, but for the price, I expect much better service. It took much too long to get one beer. The food came out quickly, I’ll give them that. But when it came time to pay the bill, our server was nowhere to be found! We were sitting there for half an hour waiting to get the bill. Then as we walked out, the hostesses couldn’t be bothered to say anything or even acknowledge us. The two girls were too busy talking to each other to be bothered by customers.
On another note, the parking at the Royal Hawaiian Center is a huge rip off. We came and stayed for less than 2 hours. We only went to eat at Doraku. We got validated, and ended up paying $ 12!!! Why even validate if I still need to pay that much. Especially after you make me wait so long with your slow service. Like maybe I could have been in and out in an hour if you hadn’t taken so long. I recommend parking in the building with Ross and stopping in to buy something small because they will validate, and if you don’t want to do that, it’s only a $ 5 flat rate for the night after 6:30.
Just some other side points:
–We were seated in the outdoor area where there have outdoor furniture. They desperately need to replace their cushions. They are so worn down that it was like sitting on the hard, uncomfortable chair alone.
–Also, the menus didn’t smell good. It’s like they are wiping them down with dirty rags or something. Definitely not something you want to smell in a restaurant.
I will not be coming back to this Doraku. It’s just not worth it.

Great happy hour selection (edamame and poke are our favs). The prices are more reasonable during this time (4 – 6) if you’re trying to be a bit frugal.

Staff is friendly and service is pretty good. The carpaccio hamachi is great. The cocktails are good and fairly strong. The desserts are ok. The tempura brownie was ok, but the honey toast was pretty one note-​honey… The server tonight was ok, but he spent a lot of time talking to his friend who happened to be dining there. I would have to say that he gave good service in-​spite of him visiting with his pal quite a bit. He seemed to be attentive. He was kind and thankful when I tipped him well. The server we got last night was better.

I came here due to it having happy hours EVERYDAY from 4 – 6 pm. I would only recommend coming here during happy hours. I did however order some stuff off the happy hours menu that was delicious.
I order the edamame and it was worth the $ 3 dollars. We were sitting outside on the patio and just enjoy the weather and the company of each other. We were completely full, but wanted to continue to enjoy the scenery and weather so we added another order of edamame. Both the Teriyaki and Sweet and Sour are delicious, but I personally prefer the Teriyaki a little more than the sweet and sour.
The poke here is to die for and you don’t have to go to all these hole in the wall or off the strip to obtain some. I think their poke was one of the best one we tried on the island and we went to a lot of places to try the poke. The poke off their happy hour menu was so worth the price.
My favorite dishes here, unfortunately was not on the happy hour menu, the Hamachi. It is a must order when you are here. It was so GOOD! I am craving it and my mouth is drooling as i type this review.
If you are looking for something that is not raw, I highly recommend the Emperor roll.
Overall a great place! Go during Happy Hour, which is EVERYDAY from 4 – 6.

I think this place is pretty average. The sushi is ok, the service is good… but I couldn’t get past the stickiness of the floor. We kept hearing flip flops on the sticky floor and it just made me think no one has wiped it down in a long time. I might just be the material the floor is but it was just a little gross. The sushi we had was ok… I wouldn’t say it was the best but it wasn’t the worst either. The service was good and our server was nice. I wouldn’t mind going to this place again but for a first visit, I wasn’t super impressed by it.

We just enjoyed an awesome dinner here !
A friend of ours that works across the street says she loves the place, but warned us it was kind of pricey. I didn’t think so, considering the types of rolls you are getting and the presentation.
The average roll price is about 12 – 15 $ but they are like lobster rolls or spicy tuna sashimi and its 8 – 10 pieces per roll so you can easily get 3 rolls for 2 people and be so stuffed you have to roll yourself out of there (see what I did there ?)
This was REALLY good fresh tasting sushi. You will not be disappointed.
I tried calling to make a reservation but they wouldn’t take one for the night and advises me it would be about a 20 minute wait. We got there, they offered us the bar where we could watch the sushi maestros at work.
The God of fire roll is quite good and is pictured with the «flames» drawn in sauces.
I also recommend the tempura brownie a la mode for dessert. It was quite good !
Very pleased. Very.

Our waitress, Brittany, was amazing. So many menu items and great happy hour options!
The lychee martini was sweet with a kick – definitely worth the try! And Kirin is $ 4 during happy hour!
All the raw fish plates on the happy hour menu are highly recommended! It’s less of a hole-​in-​the-​wall island feel because it’s in the mall, but I didn’t mind at all because everything was so great!
HAPPY HOUR IS A MUST.

I’m a sushi snob from Cali so I will be nice. The sushi was ehhhh. I think because this place is sooo busy they don’t have time to pay attention to detail. Ginger is cut too thick to start. I ordered the spicy tuna roll it was good but not great. Did not have the essential seasonings and tuna didn’t taste right. Also ordered the California roll and too much crab versus rice ratio.
Service was alright. Our table was so sticky and so was the floor that my shoes ended up getting stuck !

Why is this place even close to 4 stars, even three would be generous. Not only did they accidentally skip over us while we were waiting for a table. The server basically came by to get our orders and drop off the check. The sushi is subpar, let alone the outrageous prices they’re charging. We ordered the miso soup, chicken karage, golden Buddha roll and chirashi don. The miso soup tastes off and bland. The small portion of chicken was soggy. The Buddha roll was mediocre and the uni taste was ruined by the char they put on it. The chirashi bowl had odds and ends of fish cuts in there.
Terrible service and mediocre food.

The first restaurant we roll into upon arriving in Honolulu, and it’s a winner.
Whether you like your Japanese food cooked or not, you cannot go wrong here. I like it more of the cooked type, and I had ultra fresh chicken teriyaki, with a delicious grilled taste under the sauce. The tiger shrimp rocked too.
As for the uncooked, my wife and daughter can tell you about how awesome their rolls were. And yes, the rumors about the tempura brownie are true – it has a unique texture and flavor!
This isn’t the first, or the second restaurant you’ll see in this mall, but it is one you should seek out.
Visiting paradise? Eat like it and come here.

I hate it when they serve bad food and charge premium price. It’s unacceptable that they served jalapeño and whole raw spicy peppers with premium fish (wahoo and butterfish), both raw and cooked. The peppers were pretty spicy and it killed all taste (good and bad) to the delicate fish. The Butterfish was a waste of money. It was not fresh and covered with a very sweet sauce. In this case, i appreciate the pepper cuz it was so fishy. The lemon slice was extrmely helpful to cut the sweetness of the sauce. So this meal, i learned that the reason for spicy peppers and lemon was to cover up the bad taste of the dish and not enhance flavor? The pickle vegetables was alright, kinda dry, maybe been sitting out for a while. Jumbo calamari was good too.
The two of us were still hungry after we sampled these 4 dishes, but couldn’t bring ourselves to order more. We were extremely disappointed. We left hungry, angry, and felt cheated. Worst thanksgiving dinner ever. No thanks.
The view and service was great, but I like to come here to taste the food first.

Happy Hour specials from 4 – 6 pm errday and late night happy hour starting at 9 pm.
I tried:
Emperor roll
Lomi lomi roll
Ahi poke
Chicken lettuce wraps
Tuna tataki: my favorite dish
Good happy hour prices, good food.

Muy bueno el
Sushi y piezas muy originales! Y el precio perfecto
El servicio excelente y nos toco mesa en la terraza lo que hizo mejor aun la cena!
Recomendado

Highly recommended! Love the energetic ambiance, the nice welcome and service, and especially the great food!

Sorry, but I think this place is slightly overrated. I made a special trip to try this place because of the crazy reviews, but was not impressed. I must’ve have my expectations set too high.
We were seated in the front because we had a stroller with us. After ordering the food did come out relatively quickly but clearly they don’t have numbers for the outside tables because they had no idea which order went to which table. Three orders (that did not belong to us) came out like dim sum. The server walked around announcing the dish from table to table, to see who ordered it. I think there can be some improvement on that. Tempting to look and say it belonged to us. =)
The rolls we ordered to try were: White dragon roll, Volcano roll (scallops were way overcooked), and Emperor roll. Pricey rolls, for a somewhat high price. Sorry to say, not my kind of place.

We hardly come to this location ever since the new Kakaako restaurant opened up. But since we had a not so personable experience at that location the last visit we went, we decided to throw our friend a surprise Going Away gathering here instead. My other friend had made a reservation for 18 people weeks before our plans to dine in.
Most of our party had arrived promptly around 8pm and were directed to our seats near the entrance where the tables was set of what seems to be 18 people yet not all will sit comfortably. The arrangement of the tables was just in an awkward position for some who would be sitting in the corner of tables. Even though there was a plate setting for the amount of people we requested, it was not evenly spaced out for all of us to eat and sit properly without feeling uncomfortable or worrying that people will bump into each other.
As we were still trying to figure out how everyone will sit, the waitress had mentioned that they were waiting for the other tables to clear so we could use those to sit and spread ourselves. It took a while til the other parties were done as we were still waiting for our celebrant come. An hour later we got ourselves situated with the table set up so we could all sit comfortably to enjoy our dinner.
It was understandable that the food took longer than as usual since we had a big group. But at least the servers were periodically checking in on us while we waited. Everyone ordered an assortment of sushi. I ordered the Agadashi Tofu, Sashimi Delux and Red Dragon Roll to share with my boyfriend.
The Agadashi Tofu was lightly fried but soft and soft topped with flakes and dipped in sauce. A good balance of flavors. The Red Dragon Roll is usually my go to sushi roll. It has spicy tuna, shrimp tempura and avocado. It’s topped with unagi, tobiko, and a tasty mix of sauces. Lastly, the Sashimi Deluxe was the most expensive one. 12 pieces worth almost $ 40 if I’m not mistaken. It has snapper, octopus, tuna, salmon, yellow tail and swordfish. Good but not memorable enough to pay that much.
I don’t think they have late night happy hour here. Their happy hour only is from 4pm to 6pm. But the Kakaako location has 2 different happy hours to go to. If I had a choice, I would prefer going to happy hour as you’ll get more of your moneys worth even with the limited selection they have. But they do have some pretty good sushi to start off with.

So, to start, I am from San Francisco; therefore, my standards for sushi and sashimi are VERY high. And to say that I dream of coming here for the freshest, most delicious, sashimi of my life is really a HUGE compliment. I have yet to find a place in SF that has sushi this fresh and tasty. Doraku, keep doing what you’re doing, and I will keep coming to you all the way from the mainland to eat your delicious foods!!!
Recommendation: sit on the patio unless it’s raining. Drink the sake! Ask the server for recommendations on the best one. Try the sashimi!

I came in for a late lunch and despite being one of the only few diners in the restaurant, it took some decent time preparing my sushi.
Not sure if they were focusing on the aesthetics or making my plate pretty but I was starving and had other plans lined up, and they took their precious time in making sushi for one… for one person!
Their chu toro was sub par… probably a bad catch or something. Lack of marbling and lack of flavor.
The girls behind the bar counter were very nice and they provided a 10% military discount… cool.

My sushi (Double Happiness) was great! I love the rolls without rice. It was very fresh and refreshing. I didn’t use a single drop of soy sauce.
My other friend got the Red Dragon Roll which was delicious as well. Not very spicy. I didn’t need soy sauce with hers either.
The atmosphere and music was nice. Upbeat and trendy. Nice experience!

First thing I noticed about this place was the ambiance. Dim lighting, exceptional seating (ask for a seat on the patio) and an intimate setting sets the stage for overpriced food paired with excellent service. Definitely feels like a classier than casual restaurant.
I ordered a fatty tuna rice bowl and wasn’t really impressed at all. It felt half-​assed, like they threw it together and charged way too much for it. The drinks were really yummy though, and I’d definitely come back to sip on some drinks and enjoy someone’s company.

Buena ambientación, muy bien ubicado, la atención fue excelente y la comida muy rica, precios sumamente accesibles. Altamente recomendable.

Excelente Restaurant la comida de primera, el ambiente muy bueno, la música del momento y los rolls son de los mejores que he comido el Emperor y el Dragón son realmente deliciosos.

Salut,
2010 haben wir dort einen recht schönen Abend dort gehabt. Die Inneneinrichtung ist sehr gelungen.
Meine Wahl fiel auf, das vielleicht ein wenig kitschig klingende, Waikiki Roll Brett. — Inside-​Out Rolle mit Ananas usw.
Danach einige hervorragende Sake getrunken.
Jaques’ Fazit:
Will man in Honolulu gutes Sushi /​Salate essen und danach evtl einige Drinks, z.B. in geselliger Runde, sich nehmen, dann ist die Lokalität nur zu empfehlen.