Kimukatsu

Always wanted to come here after going to the karaōke bar next door so much. Finally came and it was so good!
*Cabbage salad came with yummy dressing
*katsu wit cheese so good and tender
Service was attentive, place was clean.

The food is not bad but extremely overpriced. The service is always quite terrible every time we come, couldn’t say I would come on a regular day (non-​discount days) for that price and such poor service. There are other better tonkatsu places in Waikiki.

New. Eating their katsu was a new experience for me. Those layers upon layers of fried pork goodness was a welcome and pleasant sensation. I am giving them this 5 star just because of their food. The ambiance can be improved.

Today I feel so sad. I’ve been waiting my order for about an hour. And the waiter told me they made it wrong for me. This place suppose to be my ultimate favorite. I’m their loyal customer for three years. How could they treat a loyal customer like so. I swear they don’t have so many customer at that time, a couple of tables are empty. I don’t know what say.

Crispy, hot and delicious. Not the cutest or the most beautiful restaurant, but has fantastic service (super friendly and attentive) and food.
Great: tonkatsu and veggie platter (the greatest tempura you will ever have with different veggies like okra and island mushrooms), and pepper tonkatsu set lunch with agedashi tofu. The food was all super hot and fresh, the best tonkatsu I’ve ever had (including Japan) with light and crispy coating.
There is endless cabbage salad, which is delicious and a great way to get veggies.
Also, alcohol and bottomless soda which are always bonuses in my book.

Tonkatsu, my favorite food! Good meat day happens once a month on the last Friday of the month. I saw a post on Facebook that good meat day landed on the Saturday after Christmas instead of Friday. This is my chance to try this place for the first day with a special deal. So we made a reservation a few weeks beforehand just in case it gets busy.
We came around 1:30PM and it was kind of empty. We walked inside and got seated right away. The tonkatsu set was about $ 12 and it includes: unlimited rice, cabbage, miso soup, and pickled vegetables and one choice of tonkatsu (4 flavors: original, cheese, black pepper, and garlic). 2 of us ordered cheese and the other 2 ordered black pepper. The food took a while to come out. So we devoured the plate of cabbage instead while we wait. Around 15 minutes or so our tonkatsu came with the steamy rice. The 25 thin layers of tonkatsu was tender and soft. The cheese was oozing out inside of the meat. The black pepper wasn’t too spicy but was tasty. I liked the black pepper tonkatsu better. It was so delicious along with the tonkatsu sauce. It was great that we could refill our rice and miso soup. But if only they refilled all of our water. The food was well worth it and we were sooo full. At the end of the meal the server gave us green tea.
Service was sooooooooo sloooooow! There was only one server for 5 tables. wtf! It took forever to get our water refilled which was at the end of the meal. Our water cup was so dry. We put it right at the edge of the table and he still ignored us. I still give him kudos for a calm attitude. I will be back for the good meat day for sure! Don’t forget a stamp card. One piggy stamp per visit (red piggy stamp for lunch time and blue piggy stamp for dinner time).

Kimukatsu — the most amazing pork cutlets! I have never had a Japanese pork cutlet that was so tender and so juicy before.
If you are looking for the best pork cutlets in Waikiki this is your spot if you have never had Japanese pork cutlets before I recommend coming here but just be aware you probably won’t find better after that.
The service is very nice and they are great at making recommendations for you but the wait can be long on a busy night. Inside the restaurant the area is pretty small and most tables accommodate anywhere from 2 to 4 people. They definitely make the most of the room they have to work with and really sorta cram all the tables in.
My favorite is the Kimukatsu meal that also comes with a miso soup, cabbage, small side off pickled pickles and peppers and a large side of rice. They have four different types of Kimukatsu to choose from for this meal, my favorites are the cheese and the garlic. The whole meal is $ 19 and there are four sauces to choose from which is one dollar additional but I highly recommend getting a sauce my favorites are the garlic butter sauce and the Japanese citrus sauce.
The cabbage is great when you put the cabbage salad dressing on top and tastes so fresh and the rice was cooked perfectly and so delicious I could’ve eaten the rice all night long. The miso soup was just average but then again you’re coming here for the pork cutlets not for the miso soup. I strongly recommend coming here.

I rarely make into Waikiki because… well it’s Waikiki and there is never any parking. But on the rare occasion I’m down there, I often stop in at this katsu place.
Kimukatsu is a Japanese katsu place (not the localized version) and you get a fairly decent Japanese experience; the servers are all Japanese and the décor is Japanese-​like. I always order the katsu sets which are all served with unlimited pickles, unlimited cabbage (I LOVE the ponzu sauce that goes on top), unlimited miso soup and (you guessed it) unlimited rice. The katsu itself is also really good. So far I’ve had the black pepper and the garlic. ALL this for $ 19…in WAIKIKI! AAAND if you’re local, they have kamaaina discount.
I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for good Japanese katsu in Waikiki without breaking the bank.

Kimukatsu is located on lewers right across of gyukaku. Parking is terrible just like everywhere else in Waikiki. It’s not somewhere I would go out of my way to eat at but I would stop by for lunch if I’m I’m the area.
4 stars for the katsu here, it’s not bad but I prefer Tonkatsu Ginza for katsu. 5 stars for their rice though! Not sure what kind of rice or rice cooker they use but it’s awesome.

I went for lunch. We were lucky enough to get there when happy hour started at 1pm.
I ordered the oolong chuhi for $ 4, happy hr price.
For me meal I had the trio set $ 14, original tonkatsu, miso soup, pickles, rice, and choice of side, I choose the kabocha. The meal came with a large complimentary cabbage salad. Which was just shredded cabbage, with your choice of sauce, pepper ponzu, ponzu, or katsu sauce. The tonkatsu lived up to the high reviews and the sides were delicious too.
I enjoyed the service we received. I will definitely be back.

2.5 stars.
I found this place through the awesome Unilocal reviews, and I was very excited to try something different from the usual katsu.
Kimukatsu is a special type of katsu, Within the panko, is a patty composed of 20+ layers of thinly sliced pork. You may choose to have it traditional or with fillings such as cheese. I opted for the traditional because originals are usually the best baseline taste.
We were first served miso soup, which was okay. Then we were given a big plate of lettuce. Our server didn’t tell us about how to eat the lettuce or which unlabeled sauce was what. The ahi poke came next, which was the better part of the meal. It is standard with a light sauce, and the fish was very fresh. We also ordered the fried tempura, which was also quite good.
Then the kimukatsu came and the server finally pointed out which sauce is for what. Turns out one of the mystery bottles were salad dressing? Excited, I took a bite of my kimukatsu with a smudge of katsu sauce. It was… VERY dry, and since it was thinly layered, it tasted even more dry as my mouth had to work through each layer. Maybe because they decided to slip a big leaf under the kimukatsu, the bottom became very soggy by the end of the meal. I was not impressed.
The service was attentive for the first half of the meal, but about one hour before closing, and the restaurant emptied out, service was non-​existent. I had to keep poking my head out of the booth to try get someone’s attention for the check and more water. It was about 15 minutes before we got a hold of anyone.
Conclusion, I wouldn’t return. The appetizers are good, but I can get that somewhere else. Sorry, Unilocalers.

We visited Kimukatsu for lunch, and, wow, do they give you a ton a food.
We both opted for the $ 14 Trio lunch, which allows you choice of katsu (original or black pepper), choice of dipping sauce (dashi, yuzu, or salt and spring onion), and choice of appetizer (agedashi tofu or simmered hijiki or pumpkin). You also receive a massive mound of cabbage salad and unlimited miso soup and pickles.
I preferred the black pepper to original katsu, and actually did not care much for the dipping sauces. The katsu itself, however, was super flavorful with thin layer upon thin layer upon thin layer of pork in succulently crisp batter. I also really enjoyed the agedashi tofu and miso soup, but could have done without the cabbage salad and pickles.
Service was very friendly and attentive. When we prolonged our stay because it suddenly began pouring rain outside, our waiter brought us steaming hot glasses of tea, without us even asking, and despite us already having finished our meals and paid our bill.
Don’t forget to use your Unilocal check-​in for 10% off your total. What nice icing on an already delicious cake!

I’ve heard many great things about kimukatsu and their world famous succulent tonkatsu! I must say that I was not dissapointed. I brought a group of 9 people and we each ordered a different item, thus I was able to try a lot of options in one sitting. We ordered the black pepper, garlic, cheese, original, okonomiyaki, ume oroshi, mentai mayo, and pork tenderloin. Each item was unique and tasty however, favorites were the garlic, mental mayo, and the ume oroshi. The ume oroshi came with a shoyu based dipping sauce that went really well with all the unique flavors of the ume and oroshi. I loved the fact that they’re open late on the weekends and that they gave 15% off to kamaaina! I was really happy with my experience here!
Pros:
Taste — Most definately on point!
Texture — The many layers of pork combined with a light and crispy Katsu batter made for a tender and juicy experience.
Customer Service — Waiters were very friendly and helpful in making decisions on what items to order.
Cons — Make sure you eat your tonkatsu fast! I noticed that if you wait too long to eat your meal the Katsu will start to dry up.

Have been wanting to come here for awhile. This trip to Honolulu has us actually staying at the hotel this restaurant is located (Aqua Oasis).
There are two entrances (streetside and back door which is via the hotel lobby), and we entered through the back door, which kind of looked like an employee entrance so threw us off for a second.
Seated by server, and first thing I noticed was the ambiance. Feels like you’re in a restaurant in Japan, and as restaurants there often do, they had baskets under the table for women to put their purses in. Nice touch, since you don’t often see that here.
Another thing we noticed– a sign on the table saying Kamaaina discount is available with ID (lunch=10%, dinner=15%). We had a coupon from a magazine for 10% off, but of course Kamaaina trumps at 15.
We were pretty hungry by the time we got there (around 8ish. Called and didn’t need reservations), so I ordered the BBQ fries. They were good. Hot crispy outside, soft inside, good amount of BBQ flavored powder coating. Ketchup included.
My wife ordered the original kimukatsu, and I opted for cheese. I had reviews from others that the servings are small. I didn’t feel that way, and because I read that I had ordered the fries for starters. I was super full at the end, and wouldn’t order an app again now that I know the meal is filling.
Accompanying the katsu, is shredded cabbage salad with sauce, white rice (good quality too, super stoked about that. Many people unfortunately don’t know there is a difference, but there really is) miso soup and Japanese pickles– which are all refillable for free! This will fill anyone up, and is amazing to see.
At the end of the meal, in Japanese style, free hot tea is also served.
The tonkatsu I had was right up there with the best I’ve had, here or in Japan. It is better than most places I’ve had in Japan actually. The reason is the meat is so soft. Usually when you press 23 layers of pork, the meat would be a little bit chewy. This tonkatsu was very very tender. I do have to say I was a little under shocked at the not-​so-​thickness of it. I have had much thicker. However, the flavor and quality were top notch.
There is a stamp card, which sadly doesn’t stamp each number of tonkatsu you buy, but by the number of visits. You receive a free one after 10. I have a feeling it will take me a very long time to fill it up, but I got one anyway.
I think I will eat here again, next time, I want to get a katsusando (tonkatsu sandwich) to go. Theirs looks really good.

We came here around lunchtime for a Unilocal event w/​16 Unilocalers and it seemed like the servers didn’t expect such a crowd.
First, the server tried to be very courteous and helpful but wasn’t prepared for such a large group all at once. The restaurant’s AC didn’t work which made it unbearably hot! Food is mediocre & pricey… Seriously nothing special about their dishes.
In addition, our orders got mixed up and some of us didn’t get what they ordered and some of us got what others asked for. Lastly, the server wasn’t able to keep track of who got what and tried to charge us of someone else’s order (that they didn’t even get) which caused a little chaos.
Overall it was a bad experience; I do not recommend this restaurant.

Unilocal 100 Review Challenge 2015: ⁷⁹⁄₁₀₀
This review is for their Good Meat Fridays held on the last Friday of every month, all day!
Location/​Parking:
Parking is a nightmare. It took me 25 minutes driving around in Waikiki/​Ala Wai, 4:20pm on a Friday evening for me to give up and pay metered parking at Kapiolani Park then make the 15 minute walk to Kimukatsu in the hot, humid summer sun! The cheap metered parking that used to be around the corner is now bought out, bordered up & seems to be under construction for yet another high rise… great, the parking situation in Waikiki officially SUCKS!
Atmosphere:
This restaurant reminds me of authentic Japanese restaurants with its clean, simple, modern décor and great utilization of small spaces! It was a little warm in the restaurant for my liking but I enjoyed my window seat which allowed me to make side glances at my man & look straight out the window into the hustle & bustle on Lewer’s Street.
Service:
The servers were kind, informative & efficient. I was surprised how quickly the food arrived and they were prompt to remove finished dishes & refill waters. They checked up on us and asked if we wanted refills of any of the unlimited sides. The server kindly informed me that you can’t use the 10% Unilocal discount upon check-​in nor the 15% Kama’aina discount if you order the katsu set on Good Meat Friday.
Price/​Quality:
For $ 11.29 (on Good Meat Friday, regular is $ 20+) you get a choice of 1 of 4 katsu flavors (Original, Garlic, Cheese & Black Pepper) as well as unlimited pickled vegetables, rice, cabbage salad & miso! They also serve you hot tea at the end of your meal! I choose the garlic & my man got cheese. I would not say it is very filling but it kept me content. I don’t usually like pork dishes very much but this katsu was delicious with a crispy outside & juicy insides. My fiancé compared it to the katsu he had in Hakone, Japan and said it’s the closest runner up he has ate since! Definitely yummy but I would never pay regular price $ 20 for this!!!
Conclusion:
The parking is such a headache, especially Fri-​Sun in Waikiki & the regular prices aren’t very reasonable for the portion size, I would only dine here on Good Meat Fridays!

THE most affordable Friday night dinner date EVER in Waikiki.
the only con is that it’s only once a month. Make reservations for the Last Fri of the month. Two people full course dinner for like 25 bucks. It can’t get better than that in Waikiki.

My dad and I came during a week day afternoon; there were only one other table of three eating so it was nice and quiet. I ordered the Kimukatsu Curry lunch and my dad the Kobe Beef Cutlet set. Both were excellent. Katsu crunchy, meat juicy, and the rice was some of the best rice I’ve ever had. Curry had a comforting depth of flavor.
Unlimited rice and shredded cabbage aside, the meal was very filling. We were set with our meals with only one dish of rice and one of cabbage, leaving stuffed. I didn’t even finish my meal but took the rest to go. Cherry on top was the discount for checking in on Unilocal

Good meat Friday! Their katsu is half price and you get unlimited rice, pickles, cabbage salad and miso soup! Really great deal, plus go after 10 and it’s happy hour on apps and drinks too! Quality food for a good price!

Food: I came here for lunch and was in search of the best tonkatsu in Waikiki. I had already tried out Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin and was told to check this place out for comparison. I went with their Trio Lunch for $ 14. Upon checking in on Unilocal,I was also given a 10% off digital coupon. I ordered their original flavor katsu, dashi soy sauce for my dipping sauce, and the agedashi tofu for my appetizer. After they put in my order the waiter informed me that they were out of the tofu. So I went with the simmered hijiki (brown sea vegetable) instead. The tonkatsu was 25 layers of porky goodness! The portion for the katsu was very tiny, but it’s definitely quality over quantity. Comparing this place to Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin would be like comparing apples to oranges. The katsu here is almost like menchi style. Keep in mind that they give free refills for rice, miso soup, pickles, and cabbage.
Service: The wait staff at lunch were nice and friendly. If you’re Asian, they’ll automatically assume you’re Japanese, but no worries, they all speak very good English.
Location: The entrance was located at the corner of Lauula St and Lewers St. It was located on the first floor of the Waikiki Joy Hotel and was fairly easy to spot from the street.
Overall: I would definitely come back here again. Despite the portion being super tiny, it’s really good tonkatsu. Now if I had only one choice, I would go to Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin.