Roy’s Waikiki: Classic Pacific Rim Restaurant

We’ve always thought about trying Roy’s Waikiki in the past but timings just never worked out before. Roy’s is one of the many restaurants founded by Japanese-born Roy Yamaguchi (who has a long and storied history with cuisine in Hawaii).

Towards the tail end of our Hawaiian vacation this year, we found ourselves in the area and, looking for some light snacks, we stopped by their patio for happy hour. Unfortunately, their covered patio doesn’t have an ocean view… however, it still makes for a cool refuge from the hot sun.

We ordered their signature Crab Cakes ($24) with a chili sesame butter sauce. While the crab cakes are small, they’re encased in a crispy shell with lots of real crab on the inside. We also ordered their Original California Roll ($10) with snow crab, tobiko, cucumber, and avocado. I’m not sure how “original” it is because I thought the California Roll originated by Vancouver-chef, Hidekazu Tojo. In either case, the California roll here was quite good… probably all of that fresh snow crab meat on the inside.

Last up was the Frying Dragon Roll ($12) with a sweet ginger and wasabi beurre blanc sauce and a decadent filling of unagi, avocado, and misoyaki butterfish. Originally, I thought it was a typo (“frying” instead of “flying”) but it’s called “frying” because it’s fried on the outside. Loved the crispy crunchy outer coating on this roll.

If you’re looking for some cheap eats, this probably isn’t your place… prices, as to be expected, are typical of most touristy restaurants in Waikiki. However, the food dishes that we did try here were quite good.

226 Lewers St
Honolulu, HI

www.royyamaguchi.com/roys-waikiki-oahu

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