Utage Restaurant & Lounge

Traditional okinawan food plus more. Gotta eat the shoyu pork with egg plant. Broke da mouth. So far everything i have eatten is siper good. Meals are complete with drink and dessert. They even have green river like the hanabaddah days.

We’ve eaten here and taken out many times before and its always been pretty good. I usually get the shoyu pork with tofu and eggplant. Last night though the flavor was missing some flavor. I was also pretty disappointed to have such a rude waitress. I think the bus boy/​host was much more pleasant than her (too bad he wasn’t our server). Her answer to my question about how much fries the kids meal comes with was «I’m not sure what the count is» irritated me. We pretty much had to ask for everything and mostly to the bus boy/​host since she didn’t really come back to check on us. Then since my kid wasn’t feeling well, we asked if we could take my kid’s dessert to go. She said no, you can’t take those out. Not sure why when its part of our meal that we’re paying for.

Best Okinawan and Japanese food in Honolulu! Their chicken karaage is the BOMB! Their staff is so friendly, you feel like family.

Went in to eat sashimi and left super satisfied. We loved the diverse offerings and the ability to combine different types of our favorite foods! I had the sashimi with fish katsu and teriyaki chicken. Oh, and the green tea dessert that came with our combo plate hit the spot. Yum!
The service was awesome. Our waitress was lovingly referred to as «Aunty» by the other, younger staff members. She was super mindful of our table as she efficiently answered phone calls and helped walk-​in customers as well.

Hubby and I love Utage. We used to come to Utage all the time for weekday dinners until I started cooking for the week on Sundays. When we entered the restaurant the other night, our regular server immediately recognized us and said «long time no see!» The service at Utage has always been great. Everyone is genuinely friendly and stops to talk story especially if its empty. Be warned that Utage can get pretty crowded. Try to come early or call in for a reservation if you have a large party.
I love coming for Utage for their soups that taste like the Okinawan soups my Grandma makes. It’s nice to be able to come to Utage when I don’t want to bother Grandma to make soki soup! All meals include a choice of soup or salad, a beverage (green river, fruit punch, hot tea, iced tea, or coffee) and dessert! The soki soup has pork spareribs, daikon, konbu and vegetables and comes with a large portion of grated ginger and a bowl of white rice. Hubby usually gets the Utage special which comes with rice and a choice of ahi poke or ahi sashimi and two of the following options: shrimp or vegetable tempura, teriyaki chicken, teriyaki beef, kalbi, tonkatsu, fish katsu, chicken katsu or shoyu pork. Hubby got ahi sashimi, vegetable tempura and teriyaki chicken. For dessert you have a choice of chocolate pudding, tapioca pudding, strawberry jello, coffee gelatin, vanilla mac nut ice cream, Kona coffee ice cream, green tea ice cream and usually a special flavor of the day that is written on the board.
I always crave Utage when I want something comforting. The delicious food and friendly service can’t be beat! No wonder Utage has so many regulars! I just wished they opened on Sundays!

First experience of Okinawan food… awesome & service was great!

Came here for a business birthday lunch for coworker. I never tried Okinawan food so was excited to try something new. From co workers suggestion I ordered the Chanparu with pork and bitter melon. It was very good but I’ll admit the bitter melon is an acquired taste. For dessert I had coffee jello. Yum! Always happy to try new foods and the restaurant was packed so I’m sure everything is good. Parking was kind of hard though. Very small lot for the amount of businesses.

Food is okay. My sister in law had the oxtail soup and had the runs after. Usually their food here is good but not this one instance. Only go when family wants to come eat.

So I was here on vacation/​wedding for friends. I got the poki cause I hear poki is all the rage in Hawaii. My friend got the pork belly bowl. I wish I got that. The poki was aight. I think I got way too much. I still enjoyed it but poki seems to be more of a side dish to be eaten with a main course. That pork belly was on point. OMG it was seasoned really well and so tasty.
Pretty good spot.

Utage is in Kalihi in the same parking lot as the DMV and Young’s Fish Market. There are stalls right in front the restaurant so parking is never hard to find.
You get the nice homey vibe eating here. Their menu is local style Okinawan. A lot of the food on their menu reminds me of the stuff that my Grandma would make for me when I was growing up.
The food here is good but nothing really stands out for me. I usually end up ordering some kind of soup like the oxtail and a side order of the shoyu pork. Their food is good but you can definitely get better elsewhere. Prices are reasonable for the amount of food you get with the complete meal.

The food here is delicious! Every time I eat here, it never disappoints. I usually order the Utage Special which is two choice of their specific choices, sashimi or poke, miso soup, and salad. All the meals come with a drink and a dessert!
Such a good deal! I really enjoy coming here. It’s casual, quick with tasty food and good service. I will keep coming back!

After almost dying from heat exhaustion at the Okinawan Festival a couple weeks ago, I happily accepted an invitation to Utage to expand my Okinawan food experiences. I was definitely not disappointed in the food, service or ambiance of this little restaurant in the little shopping center behind the DIllingham DMV.
At the Okinawan Festival, Nicole K. convinced me to get the yokisoba… she said it was because it was too hot to get the soup version. She was right, I mean, it was definitely HOT. We watched Steph C. slurp her pigs feet soup (luckily we found some shade while we ate) and I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get a soup dish. I really love Japanese soup. It’s probably due to the fact that they use so much daikon. I LOVE daikon. So whilst looking over the menu at Utage, I thought about that pigs feet soup made with yummy daikon. Then I thought about the pigs feet: p I decided on getting the Soki soup… mainly because it had daikon –_​_​_​– I’m super weird, I’m so sorry.
We had our choice of soup or salad with our meal, and at the end, we also were offered complimentary dessert. I liked that oriental dressing was an option for the salad and that they make coffee jello with whipped cream as a dessert option :) The prices may seem a little steep, but considering that you get soup/​salad and dessert, I think it’s worth it. Also, the food here is awesome! I loved my Soki soup and had a bite of the soki soba (which had a completely different flavor!). It also came with a bowl of rice and a very generous helping of grated ginger.
I will be back. The service was excellent and the décor far surpasses that of Violets Grill, the only other Okinawan restaurant I know of. :)

Living in Kalihi for a while now and decided to try this place for dinner. I ordered the unagi donburi while my boyfriend got the Utage special. One of the creative ways this restaurant gets you to purchase a drink and a dessert is having it be included with your meal. I was acutally really looking forward to eating sushi, however this restaurant doesn’t make it. The food was ok. I think my unagi was steamed too long because the consistency was too soft; it made me think I was eating egg whites. The sashimi that came with the Utage special was very good though! It melted in my mouth.
I agree with another Unilocaler on here that while the food lacked in quality, Utage makes up in friendly and fast service.
This place gets pretty crowded around dinner time, so reservations are recommended.

A friend recommended a new restaurant. When we got there, it was pretty crowded, so that was a good sign. But I am not going back.
Pros:
–Tempura was tasty
–Lots of parking
–Other eateries nearby that looked interesting
–Didn’t wait long to be served
–Two tasty salad dressings to choose from
–Green tea ice cream!
Cons (our waitress… I think her name was Larissa)
–Unfriendly
–Didn’t clear out table
–Rude: when I ask a question about something, it’s not okay to just flip my menu and point to something
Sure, there were a lot of good things about this place, but I am NOT going back because I am not paying good money ($ 70 for three of us, no alcohol) to be treated rudely. Next time I think I’ll try Thai Village and Thang’s.

I believe this is the only Okinawan restaurant in the island. But don’t quote me on that, there could be another restaurant that I don’t know about.
I been here over 5 times since learning about it’s existence. I even took my bf here and another time with his grandmother. He’s ¼ Okinawan and ¾ Japanese. Both of them enjoyed the food choices Utage had to offer. Great place for a casual dinner or lunch.
I love the nasubi with vegetables and nabera with squash and vegetables. Both dishes come with a choice of miso soup or salad and the meal comes with rice and choice of beverage with a ice cream dessert. The prices have risen since the first time I went there.
BTW, the green tea ice cream will be coming back only it will cost a dollar more since it will be coming from Dave ice cream. Apparently one of waitresses told my bf and grandma and myself that the restaurant owner didn’t like that the current ice cream vendor changed the color of the green tea ice cream to white. He decided not to purchase the ice cream from that vendor. Instead they will be purchasing the green tea ice cream from Dave’s now. She didn’t know the exact date but they will be bringing back green tea ice cream to the menu. Otherwise they offer coffee flavored ice cream on their dessert menu and maybe vanilla too. Ask the staff if you ever get the combo meal.
FYI, they close on Sundays. They also close on holidays too, double check and call them to confirm their hours.
Green tea ice cream= Japanese heaven :)

Let me start by saying that reservations are HIGHLY recommended.
FOODWISE: We found the food to be well cooked and full of flavor. The Shoyu Pork was not too sweet not too salty but just right also very tender. The Rice was nice and fluffy no soggy rice here.
SERVICE: The –1 star was for the worker when asked if we could have take out containers told us that he would have to let our waitress know so that she could bring it for us. This is no reflection of our waitress because she was hustling that night working several tables. Why not be a team player and help her out. I can totally see why sometimes other Unilocalers bring up comments about service.
PARKING: Though the parking lot is huge it does get full around lunch & dinner times. Limited handicap parking available.

I had Pig Feet soup. Soup was hot and good. Vegetable in soup was fresh. But there were some unbelievable surprises:
1. Waitress recycled tsukemono from another table! She was cleaning up a table, putting all the dirty dishes on her tray. She found 2 untouched tsukemono on the table, put them on her tray with full of dirty dishes and served second hand tsukemono on our table. Unbelievable!
2. My hot tea tasted like dishwashing soap. First I thought it was my cup so I asked for a new cup. But the tea still tasted like dishwashing soap, so I asked to change the teapot. New batch of tea still smelled like dishwashing soap!!! Waitress came back and check if the tea was okay, I reluctantly said Nah but she just grabbed check asked if we needed change and never came back to our table. Horrible horrible horrible.
I don’t think I’ll go back there anymore. What a shame, foods are not great but not that bad.

I can’t say I’ve ever been to an Okinawan restaurant. The only real experience I’ve had with this cuisine is the almighty andagi. Wife has been dying to try this place so we went on a Saturday night.
You know it’s a good sign when there is long line, and all the other restaurants are empty.
Wait wasn’t too long. We were seated about 15 minutes after we signed in.
Service was fast despite being filled to capacity.
There are many levels of cuisine here: burgers, local food, straight up Japanese food like tempura teikshoku, then the Okinawan fare.
I ordered the Saba Nitsuke and wife ordered the Soki Soba.
I eat Saba (mackerel) regularly because it is healthy and has anti-​inflammatory properties. That being said, it can be an extremely assertive fish for beginners. I have heard some people won’t even cook it inside their home because that fishy smell will permeate the furniture!
However, Utage prepared it Nitsuke style which means they boil it in a nice bath of mirren, shoyu, sugar, and sake. They also add ginger. It tastes very similar to Chinese style steamed fish. This was much richer and had deeper flavor. And of course, a fishier fish. In short, it was wonderful!
Wife’s Soki Soba had Okinawa Soba noodles which resemble Udon noodles, nice and thick, but had a more toothsome mouth feel. They were in a mild broth with pork short rib which fell off the bone.
Both meals included salad or soup, a tea or fruit punch, and a small dessert.
Wife indulged in a «green river» that drink you remember from your childhood. Still green, still mean!
All for about 35 bucks for two.
Soki Soba and Shoyu Sake Sugar Saba! Say that seven times swiftly.
We will definitely be back to Utage swiftly.

Located in Kalihi. They have bento style plates. The Shoyu Pork never lets me down! The Unagi Donburi is delicious as well, but tiny! Please beware as it is $ 16.
All meals come with a soft drink of your choice, soup or salad, and dessert. They have Green River… which you’d know about if you’re an old school local. For the new school — go ahead and give it a try. And dessert — great selection of ice cream and other goodies.
Parking is pretty atrocious during lunch. I’ve never had dinner here before, but I suggest to stay outside the lot and find street parking, if possible. Also helps to make reservations if you can.
They don’t separate checks. It’s posted all over, so try not to forget! This place is worth a try, and I’ll be back for sure.

Local comfort food alert!!!
Located at a small shopping center with the DMV, Chuck E. Cheese, plants shop and other restaurants, this place is truly a neighborhood gem. Located between Young’s fishmarket and a Thai restaurant, this place is always packed. I had to wait 10 minutes for a table of three.
The menu is broken up to reflect one column for Okinawan food and the other Japanese food.
All dishes comes with either soup or salad, a beverage of choice and dessert of choice.
I ordered a shoyu pork donburi (found on the okinawan menu) with miso soup, hot popcorn tea and Kona coffee ice cream. The shoyu pork was really tasty. My waitress brought me a spoon and I couldn’t figure out why I would eat this dish with a spoon. (She brought the spoon after she took my empty miso soup bowl so I didn’t use it on the wrong dish). Trust me you’re going to need the spoon for this donburi. After eating some of the toppings I noticed the rice was sitting in the shoyu pork broth.
My mom ordered a tofu bittermelon dish off the Okinawan menu. My mom did mention the bittermelon was not as bitter as the bittermelon she is used to in Chinese restaurants. This did come with a bowl of rice.
My dad ordered the pigs feet soup. My dad didn’t say much but he did asked for a take home container, so that is a good sign.
I would definitely come back to try everything on the menu.
Please note: there is a 2 hour seating limit and they don’t split checks.