Yakiniku Toraji

Quality yakiniku. It was expensive, but it was a nice dining experience. The place was sleek and up-​scale, and it was fun cooking my own dinner. Too bad it closed…

We were driving around when we realized that it was getting late (9 pm). Most neighborhood restaurants in the area close by 8 o’clock. The place looked interesting, so we decided to try it out. In ten minutes we were drinking cold beer and trying ahi and Kobe sushi. Both were very good. Then we tried the variety meat platter, which was delicious. The rib eye slices were exceptional. Overall it was a great experience with good service and friendly stuff. Not the cheapest find, but highly enjoyable.

even though this place isn’t «traditional» korean i loved it! i love their use of garlic in a lot of things. i
t’s a little on the pricey side but excellent. it’s true that you have to order everything separate which does get pricey but it’s not bad idea to stick with the sets while sharing among a group and just add whatever you want along the way.
was sometimes a little too salty but overall flavors were good. the ambiance is nice too.

Since we’ve been out here in Hawaii we’ve been eating Japanese, Japanese, Japanese. So when our friend asked us what type of food we wanted to eat I immediately shouted out KOREAN! He said, that sounds good we’ll go eat at a Yaku Niku place. Toraji is where he took us. We didn’t have any reservations so when we got there she told us they didn’t have anything available so we waited for about 10 minutes. No Problem.
It’s not like most Korean Restaurants that I’ve been to. You don’t get the million little dishes of kim chee, sprouts, cucumber, etc. You have to order those separately. We got the assorted kim-​chee dish and a side of sprouts. Both were really tasty. I don’t know if I can eat Korean food without eating kim-​chee. It’s like a staple. There was also this Kobe Beef Sushi dish that I really wanted to try. It was really tender and the sauce they put on top was very tasty. I don’t think you can get anything better then Kobe Beef. For our main dish ordered their special which was a plate full of different cuts of meat, some veggies, and some squid and shrimp all for $ 30. It was well worth it. The pieces of meat are pretty small but the quality is amazing. As soon as I bit into my first piece of meat I was in heaven. I turned to my friend and bf and was like, THIS IS AMAZING! I definitely think the price is worth the quality. So basically this place would be 5 stars, but I’m going to give it 4 b/​c the kim-​chee wasn’t free.
Overall a great experience. It’s pricey but well worth it.

By far the best quality yakiniku place in Hawaii. When I go I just order the harami meat, sesame salad (make sure you put the soy based sauce on the side over it!!), and some beer.
Portions are small so if you’re strapped for cash you can use the entertainment book coupon as well. Be expected to spend about $ 30-​$ 50 per person, but its well worth it.

Small Japanese style portions are pretty cool, but there is a lack of quality with the meats. Everything is a la carte so the cost can add up pretty fast. There were a few problems when we went. First, the stove wasn’t heating up quickly and after a few changes by the staff, we got the grill to get luke warm in about 15 minutes. By the, we had most of our raw meats and such sitting at the table. We put some on the grill and stared at it for another 5 – 10 minutes as the grill was still not hot enough to cook. I have to say I was not impressed by the food as well as the menu. I have been to places that were way better with parking. On the plus side, the wait staff was friendly and tried their best to help ease the time as the grill struggled to heat up.

Sometimes you go to a place not just for the food but for the ambience which Toraji’s have. Great décor — very modern, sleek, up-​scale but you’ll still end up smelling like BBQ meat when you get out LOL. Great presentation with food, although the portions can be bigger… much bigger for what you are spending. Great way to share and try many dishes with friends. The best thing is that they have different sauce dippings for your food.

I walked out of this place thinking, «Eh.» I wasn’t impressed. Everything needs to be ordered separately, and for one person to be minimally satisfied, he or she needs to order two plates of meat since each plate only has 6 pieces. The kimchee isn’t that good either. They use charcoal for the fire but it’s some kind of high density charcoal where the white parts can he rubbed off and the coal reused. Also, the fire is powered by a gas grill so the charcoal doesn’t really matter. I don’t enjoy the fact of having to pay for sides like salad, kimchee and garlic when I know that at similar restaurants that kind of stuff would automatically come with the meat you ordered.
I don’t think I would go here again.

I heart this place!
(Pictures of everything listed below)
The salad I love, it’s simple.
Garlic Ahi is awesome! I ALWAYS get it never fails.
My friend Rod love the wiener things… F’n Loves them!
The cubed steak thing (filet minon?) delish.
My sibling gets the tongue (always gets it)
Kirin by the pitcher
I think I am a bit bias also because employees get a discount so I happen to go with one everytime I eat there.
I think they have happy hour these days where drinks are 50% off. I wanna say 4 or 5 — 6 and then 9PM to closing. I could be wrong.
Parking is a bitch because they only have 6 stalls but you can give the little papa-​san there your key and he will juggle the cars around to accommodate everyone. Prices are okay; I mean it is yakiniku style, and it’s easy to rack up a bill. Groups 5 or more should do reservations.

4.5 stars
Service was spotty (they forgot our water, brought the wrong drink, and forgot about our soup, then eventually brought the WRONG soup to our table) but was very friendly and polite.
There were a couple of ‘firsts’ at this restaurant.
1) First time I ever saw kim chee and cucumber with sesame seed and oil.
2) First time I ever saw Beef Tongue not sliced thin… it came in thick rectangular sections.
The sesame seed and oil added very little to the kim chee, but the cucumber tasted excellent.
The Beef Tongue was an interesting experience. Every time I’ve had beef tongue before it would come thinly sliced. But at Toraji, they had an option where you could order it thick sections, so I ordered one dish. I had to admit it was delicious. The texture was just like steak and the taste was like a combination of beef plus a hint of pork. P. S. Make sure you dip it lemon juice first.
The Large Intestine (Horumon) was chewier and rubberier than usual… I spit mine out. I can’t recommend this dish unless you like excercising your jaw.
The Wagyu Beef was awesome. It was better seasoned than the overpriced Wagyu Beef I had at Tokyo Tokyo and it cost only ¹⁄₃ as much.
The Hirame (Outer Skirt Beef) was also very good, but the Wagyu was definitely the star of the evening.
Our soup, even though it wasn’t the one we ordered, was delicious anyway. The Sam Gae Tang (shredded beef soup) is a winner.
Dinner for two: $ 80
Fans of yakiniku, you need to add this restaurant to your ‘must eat’ list.

Sweetest Chef/​Manager, whatever he was. But yeah, absolutely DELICIOUS. I’m a big fan of good meat cooked on coal. Back in California my family used to indulge ourselves on HUGE portions of Korean BBQ all cooked on coals. Nothing like it.
Toraji use actual coal that smells like backyard barbecue when it’s being heated. Their cube rib eye is amazing. Salt seasoned is the best. Drench it in lemon and cook it thoroughly. They also have mak gul li which is traditional Korean drink, ancient really, it was around even before Soju. They serve it right on the little bowl.
Their atmosphere is really quite modern and chic. Great service.
I have to admit the food is on a bit more expensive side, but then again, isn’t all yaki niku kinda over-​priced?
But yeah, I’m in love and plan to endorse it thoroughly, assuming that my budget allows it.

I think the price is a little expensive as to the portion of the food. The kalbi is good but I think the cow tongue is a little too thick. I always had the thinner cow tongue in Japan. After the meal in Toraji, I had a major stomachache. I think I better stick to Gyukaku.

FYI, this was my first yakiniku in honolulu. We really enjoyed it here. I have eaten a lot of korean bbq places on the mainland and this beats it. No skillet here, they use wood (i believe it’s wood) so there’s less smoke. The quality of the meat was so much better too. I just wish all the little side dishes came free. It’s around 7.75 and there’s too little of it.

Don’t be put off by the menu or having to cook your own food. We’ve been twice and love this place. The first time we ordered an all-​in-​one combination that was expensive and too much food. It was $ 55 per person. The second time we knew better what to order and spent only about $ 20 per person. Don’t be shy to ask for help.

I think the food was pretty good. Not too many selections on the sides as Gyukaku, but a lot less noisy!
We got:
Niku Sashi (raw beef slices) — $ 8.75
Toraji Assortment (Kalbi, Harami, Tri TIp sirloin) — $ 29.75
Assorted Seafood — $ 15.75
Vegetable Bowl (Bibimbap) (my mom ate it so not sure of the taste) — $ 6.75
Chicken — $ 5.75
Horumon (Intestines!) — $ 5.75
The Toraji assortment is good for the undecided, and it comes with a lot of pieces.
Check out the pics!