HASR Bistro

HASR has been one of our go to restaurants but this evening was a bust. We asked the waitress for a taste of the soup for our daughter and were told no! This is a first for us here. There was some weird excuse that I did not understand. I think dining establishments at this price point need professional wait staff. It’s not tenable to pay $ 30 or so per plate and have abysmal service. Will we try again? Maybe, I’ll update, if so.

Went here for a function. Located at the old Grand Café. Parking is right across the street at the Municipal lot (enter on Beretania street). They have a private area in the back for special functions. They also have outdoor seating. The food was Delish! My favorite was the rib eye and fois gras! Will definitely return!

LOVE THIS PLACE!
Dined here with my family and had an amazing experience! We came on a Friday night and were serenaded all night with beautiful live music. We purchased a bottle of wine from next door and ordered a little bit of everything! Escargot, French onion soup, Mahi Mahi, Kurobuta pork chop, and my favorite, Braised short rib! We finished with the Cheesecake and Bread pudding. The menu is practical and the workers are very nice. Every plate was cleaned and glasses empty! We look forward to visiting again.

Went here this past Saturday for a little going away dinner for a good friend. Going to deliberately give you a mixed review here.
First, I had never heard of HASR prior to the invite. I know about the place now and would definitely return, depending on who I’m with.
The short story: The food was great, the prices were high and the room we reserved was way too loud.
The longer story: I ordered the spinach & bacon salad and the pork chop. Too full for dessert… Sounds pretty simple, raight? Everything was delicious. That salad had some really good BBQ dressing and all was crispy so great start. That pork chop was like none other that I ever had… 1 ½ inch cut! Slightly pink in middle and seasoned just right. No complaints. So, the food is great, but I’m not listing HASR as one of my favorite Oahu places. Wait. What? I need to feel more comfortable at a place any time I’m spending more than $ 50 per person. It was just me on my bill and it rung out at $ 64… usually not a problem for me if I’m getting great food, but I have to say that I was literally worn out from how loud that room was. Understand that it was a group, but they had the room configured weird. One long table with a very high ceiling. So conversations wound up being long distance shouting matches. Walking through the restaurant to get to the «group» seating revealed some seating that I don’t think I’d want in a more intimate scenario. So there ya have it… my vote would be to invest in making the experience positively memorable. Redesign this place. Not sure that I get a vote, though.
Definitely, … compliments to the chef (s)

Good food and cool atmosphere. Enjoyed some scotch, listened to music and had some awesome food. Big Mahalo to the owner Terry for making our experience an awesome one for my sister-​in-​laws bday. We enjoyed the escargot, bone marrow, rib eye & pork chops. We will definitely be back.

My daughter and I dropped in about 7:00 pm with no reservations. We were able to get a seat though it was busy with a very large party. We decided to split the Green Salad, (tasty with strawberries, tomatoes and field greens), a very heavenly French Onion Soup, the Naan, along with the Catch of the Day, a white meat fish served with white beans.
Everything was well prepared, had exceptional flavors and we received excellent service. We truly enjoy this part of town and are glad that small places like this pop up with great food and service. As tourists, this is far better fare than the strip madness and well worth the effort to get there.

Lunch time menu is soo much better than their dinner time menu. Yes, I also think this is strange. Mostly due to the availability of hamakua escargot during lunch time only. We came during dinner once only to be disappointed that we couldn’t order it. It comes out of the shell in a delicious sauce that I just devoured by the spoonful.
Unfortunately they were all out of their crab sandwich and had to settle for the osso buco instead. It was a bit rich for lunch time. But their cioppino was very good. Lots of seafood with a not so traditional-​less soupy cioppino sauce, more reminiscent of a marinara. but still great flavor.

Nestled in downtown Honolulu and located close to Chinatown lies HASR Bistro, located on the corner of Smith and Pauahi Street. Parking may be found on-​street or at city municipal lots nearby and within walking distance of the restaurant.
Upon entry you feel the coziness of a family oriented, open feel restaurant. I say this because when the restaurant is serving a full house, it can get a bit noisy (just like hosting a family dinner with relatives and friends at home). :)
The host and our server were both friendly and courteous from the minute we walked in! The place is clean and spacious! The temperature of the restaurant was perfect for the summer heat in Hawaii.
Down the hallway towards the back of the restaurant lies rooms perfect for larger groups and private parties. HASR Bistro offers a unique dining experience, a culinary combination of French, Italian and western dining rolled into one.
This is my third visit here (I was not Unilocaling yet my precious visits), and again I left feeling a sense of satisfaction that I will be here again to dine in the near future!
On this day, the daily catch of the day was a grilled Salmon pesto over bed of linguine. My BFF also had another daily special not on the menu which was a baked Opah with sautéed vegetables and steamed rice on the side! Both dishes were delicious! As I am not a fan of oil based pasta sauces (I am partial to my cream sauces), I have to admit the pesto sauce was prepared very well.
HASR also has a wine store (located next door called HASR wine) if you are into those hard to find wines and spirits that you can’t find at any other wine specialty or grocery store.

The restaurant looks tiny and cozy from the outside, but past the front indoor seating, it expands to a back room that can accommodate large groups. There’s no music playing in the back room, but that just allows you to hear your friends better. :D
My friends and I all enjoyed our wine and cocktails. Their Moscow mule was great. For dinner, I had the ciopinno. It was my first ciopinno so I have nothing to compare it to, but I loved it. The tomato based soup was delicious and I especially liked the fish and crab in it.
We ordered all of the desserts on the menu and since we were celebrating a couple of birthdays, our server gave us the gelato on the house. The chocolate decadent cake was a little too rich and decadent for me and the key lime cheesecake slice we got was pretty small, but the coffee gelato was exceptional and also very generous in size. The dark rum crème brulee was also delicious.
The service here is great and parking is available on the street or the municipal lot off of Beretania. The lot next door charges $ 12 on a Friday night. Excellent place for dinner with friends!

First time here. Friendly staffs.
Easy choices on menu due to the fact there wasn’t much to choose from.
Ordered shortrib pretty pricy but the taste was worth it.
Will come again. And again and again

The food was fantastic, the company was wonderful and this restaurant was excellent!
The appetizers were fabulous! The escargot with mushrooms, the shrimp spring roll (although skinny) was delicious! We had a wonderful time and will definitely be back again! Mahalo for a wonderful experience!

Think I’m going with 3 ½ but will lean towards 3 instead of 4 for this one.
Visited HASR Bistro for my parents anniversary. Service started out good but as the night wore on (or maybe I was tired), the service seemed to be lacking… food just sat and where’s our dessert menus?
Some of their items seem a bit overpriced. $ 9 for 4 pieces of garlic cheese bread? Hmmm… I don’t agree. $ 9 for a bowl of French Onion soup. It was good but I’m not sure about $ 9 worth.
Entrees seems to be more priced towards what I’d expect for the quality/​service/​ambiance. $ 28 or so for braised shortribs on mushroom rissotto and $ 34 for ribeye. I’d do the shortribs againbut don’t think the ribeye.
$ 10 for chocolate decadent cake… another Hmmm…
Free live music in the main dining room on certain nights. Danny Couch happened to be singing the night we went, he’s amazing! Their full entertainment lineup is online.
They offer a backroom for private parties and outdoor areas too.
Parking: street only or private lots. There is a municipal lot across the street (underground) but unfortunately it was closed when I went (full). I parked at the lot just next door which was a total ripoff ($ 12 for weekend night parking) but at least it’s close and my kids and I feel safer than parking far and passing all the crazies.

We made a reservation for six on a Wednesday night and was able to get seated almost half an hour early. So HASR is a crazy acronym for «Highly Allocated Spoiled Rotten,» which I still don’t get but you know… as long as the food is good, right?
HASR is known for their wine company, but their bistro offers a nice lunch and dinner assortment of European/​American dishes. The Soup du Jour that night was a Shrimp Bisque ($ 6/​cup, $ 8/​bowl) which was delicious, especially with a side of bread ($ 3). I had the Veggie Pasta ($ 22) that had grilled vegetables in olive oil and garlic. It was surprisingly garlicky and cheesy and there was a ton of vegetables. Think carrots, onions, red bell peppers, beans, mushrooms… but A LOT of it. I think there was more veggies than linguine!
We ordered the Chocolate Decadence Cake ($ 10) and Meyer’s Dark Rum Crème Brûlée ($ 8) for dessert. The chocolate cake is a flourless cake, great for those who love heavier, creamier, brownie-​like desserts. It comes with two pieces and topped with a strawberry. The rum crème brûlée was AMAZING, though. The shell is a little thick, but the rum flavor really stood out. Between the cake and the crème brûlée, I recommend getting the latter! Especially if you like liqueur-​flavored desserts.
I didn’t particularly find service to be especially exceptional or terrible. Do love the lights and decoration in the courtyard, though! Very pretty! Would have loved to dine outdoors if it hasn’t been so humid and hot these days.

Starting to become one of my new favorite places for business lunches due to the atmosphere (it provides a nice-​to-​look-​at, clean, and quiet enough place to discuss work or just talk story) and they serve good food!
The food is a little more pricey than the mom and pop eateries around downtown, with the lunch entrees priced around $ 15 — $ 20. Their servings are a good size; the two times I’ve come here, I’ve had to take home leftovers.
The spicy pasta arrabiata is tasty. The pasta itself was not as al dente as I would like, but it’s not a deal breaker. The sauce has BACON in it… how can you go wrong?! It wasn’t super spicy, but still had some heat to it.
I also had the pesto chicken carbonara, which I preferred more to the arrabiata because the sauce… it’s more of a bias though because I prefer cream sauces over a tomato sauce. This dish also had bacon in it, with a good mix of chicken, cherry tomatoes, broccolini, and mushrooms. The sauce is actually lighter than I expected for a carbonara.
I was lucky that the person I was eating with shared her osso buco. The veal was tender, so no knife needed; you could easily pull apart this meat with a fork. The risotto was creamy and what you’d expect with a risotto. The thing that tied the dish together was the sauce. It added a slightly salty flavor that enhanced the other flavors of the dish. When I come again, I’m getting this dish. The waiter said it’s the number one entrée.
For dessert, because I love dessert, I tried the myers rum crème brûlée. I was really looking forward to creamy, smooth, silky custard with the crunchy top. While I got the crunchy top… I was slightly disappointed with the custard. It was light and smooth, but not as silky as I has hoping. It looked like there were a lot of air pockets (the look of it kinda reminded me of whipped yogurt). Plus, the flavor of rum was so strong, I was worried I was going to get tipsy from eating it (granted, I’m not a big drinker so I will get tipsy faster than most). Maybe it was the one I got or if it’s normally like that, but the next time I come, I want to try a different dessert (maybe the key lime cheesecake!). The crème brûlée was $ 8.
Service can be a little on the slow side because they do get busy. Overall, the experience and food are good, so I’m definitely coming back.

Unilocal 100 Review Challenge 2015: ⁶⁸⁄₁₀₀
To bid farewell to our coworker, we let him choose a place for his «last meal» with our group. Once he decided HASR Bistro you know I was all over Unilocal,checking out the menu and pictures!
I made reservations for a party 9 one week prior via phone. Last minute a member from our group couldn’t make it, so our total party was 8. We walked from our office building a few blocks down and found HASR! From the outside, the décor is so very cute and inside they had a chilly A/​C — thank goodness because I broke a sweat walking there!
Our group ordered 2 coffees (I think refills were free), 4 Osso Buco, 2 Chicken Pesto Carbonara and Escargot w/​a soup. Delicious! I enjoyed the unique flavor of their carbonara, unlike any I’ve ever tasted.
80% done with my meal, I slurped a noodle in my mouth and looked down to a short, brown, wavy hair in my food… yes, I said HAIR! I immediately stopped eating and passed my plate to my coworkers who confirmed that it didn’t look anything like my reddish-​brown, straight, long hair. When the server came around we showed him the hair and he took the plate away without a word. We didn’t order any dessert, everyone was pretty much done with their meal at that point.
When the bill came the server informed us that he did not charge for my meal but he did charge us an automatic 20% gratuity which I wasn’t aware of for large group… FYI! The experience was a bit appalling but the servers provided good service and all three waved goodbye when we departed.

My third time at this restaurant and the best. Service was excellent and the food was great! Entrees, appetizers, desserts,
And drinks were all done well with generous portions. I had the seafood bouillabaisse and a scoop of rice. Hmmmm
Good combo especially with the great soup that the fish, mussels, crab were swimming in. Fries were uniquely tasty,
And the clams are plump and juicy. My wife had the lamb chops and it tasted to perfection but I couldn’t take anymore than one bite because I was stuffed.

This is a very late review but I had to follow up and give my props to Terry Kakazu and her team at HASR Bistro! I had to plan our executive dinner party here and she was so accommodating and helpful from the venue set up to the menu selection and of course the wine selections.
There was another big event at HASR the same night in the patio area but our level of service did not diminish. We had one server Aaron dedicated to our group and he was amazing!
We also had a small misunderstanding about our pupus but once it was cleared up everything came out ASAP and were delicious!
Spring Rolls, Spicy Ahi Nachos and one more that escapes my memory but all were delicious!
I sent out menus to our group and had them make a selection of soup entrée and dessert. I then emailed my groups order to Terry several days before the event and I also had assigned seating so had place cards with the persons name and selections.
The staff had a very smooth service with no errors. Everyone loved their food and the private room.
The room was as if you were in a wine cellar. The room was a bit echo y so it was a little loud with a party of 25+ plus the air con was a bit loud too. Maybe a few more tapestries to absorb the sound would be good. But everyone loved the food wine and service! Thanks for a great night Terry and the staff at HASR Bistro!!! I know we were a handful!

Food here is great! Loved their braided ribs and bone marrow with Rissoto! It was very tasty! A gf of mine had the surf and turf steak with lobster tail and she said it was very good. Great place to come for dinner and drinks especially wine. There was also live music band playing which was nice. Service was pretty good too! The outside seating area at night looks quite charming with the lights lit up in the tree. Great place to come for either pau hana or dinner.

After work I had a dinner meeting at HASR. I was super excited to have it there because I’ve been here several times and haven’t been disappointed. I think this is a my 6^th time here but never wrote a review before.
Atmosphere: Right in Chinatown and kind of hidden gem. The wine bar and restaurant are right next to each other. Inside and outside seating available to accommodate whatever mood you’re in.
Service: Top quality service for the most part. I’ve been here on occasion and had a waiter not have any good recommendations or clue about the menu but for the most part they all try very hard.
Food: Tonight I had the Shrimp Spring rolls with sweet chili aioli and pomme dilla to start which were both very good. The spring rolls were very crispy and full of seafood flavor with some spiciness added with the aioli dipping sauce. The pommel dilla was like a hash brown sent to the midwest and sent back to Hawaii, very good. For my main course I had the beef and reef which was filet mignon and butter poached lobster tail served to perfection. The filet was perfectly cooked and the portion sizes were perfect to appreciate the taste but not to overwhelm your stomach… in other words small. ;) For dessert I finished with an espresso and the chocolate decadence cake topped with raspberry passion fruit sauce. I’m stuffed.
Intangibles: We were seated in the back because of our large party but well worth it to come here, if you ever have a large party come to HASR
I would come here every week if I could.

Went there tonight for first friday. The service was great, but the food and portions are not worth the price.
We just got the escargot, which has 2 different versions– the daytime one is served in cream sauce with mushrooms for $ 12. The night one is served with garlic butter and is the traditional version for $ 15. The night time recipe is better IMO.
And we got the eggplant soufflé. Overall, it was tasty but the flavor is overwhelming to just eat what they give you. We used the bread from the escargot to eat it with.
The eggplant was a bit tough and hard to cut into. The soufflé part didnt really have enough goat cheese. And it was teenier than a yellow polka dot bikini in brazil for $ 14.
Overall, i want to go back and try the short rib dish. Their mains look big and worth jt compared to their pupu plates. And i think you need to trust what’s good and stick to that bc their items are hit and miss.