Liholiho Yacht Club

AMAZING dining experience and great service! My boyfriend took me here for my birthday and made reservations a month in advance. Crazy how this place has gained so much popularity that reservations are so hard to get! However, it seems like they have available bar seating for smaller parties if you’re lucky.
There was already a line outside on a Friday evening at 5pm. We got seated immediately in the back dining area and got handed menus. We started our dinner with some cocktails (me the Coconut Telegraph and him the Bitter End) and small plates. We ordered around 5 small plates total and 1 entrée to share. I loved how they brought out each dish little by little so we weren’t overwhelmed and they explained the ingredients! Everything here is family style and each dish is about good for two or so people. We got the duck liver toast to start, then onto their homemade spam with rice and the roasted octopus with potatoes. We got the misoyaki tuna belly and then the grilled shortrib with escargot baked into the bone marrow! All the food here is very unique and well thought out in taste and flavor profile. We also got a second round of cocktails (I got the Tropicalia this time which was very refreshing and him the Skipper) to end our meal. And to top it all off, we shared their classic Baked Hawaii which is a vanilla chiffon dessert torched on the edges swirled with caramel all around the plate and pineapple ice cream in the center! It was SO delicious!
I would definitely recommend making reservations if you haven’t tried this place before. Not to mention my boyfriend tried getting reservations to their new bar downstairs (Louie’s Gen Gen Room) but it got booked fast; however our waitress was able to contact the manager and he seated us in our own little corner by the bar. Thank you so much for that!!! Very memorable experience! :)

TL;DR — 4 star food, 1 star organization.
Ok so I’ve been here a couple times and as of late, I’ve been more and more disappointed.
We showed up Saturday around 7 and it wasn’t too crowded; yes, all the tables filled, but no line or anything. The hostess says that there is a 3 –3.5 hr wait. Holy smokes, there is no way. I’ve gone to statebird on a Saturday, no reservations and the wait was only an hour… at STATEBIRD. Anywho, she said we could chill and wait for the bar. Literally, we missed out on two seats because we didn’t want to make anyone feel awkward eating dinner with other people hovering over your shoulders. (Apparently hovering is the only way to snag a bar seat, not attractive)
We ordered a couple dishes and drinks while we waited, but our server was so cold… like she was doing us some huge favor. While cleaning up/​bussing the area, each of the workers were rude and just brushed by us, grabbed our plates and walked away. What the heck? Are we second rate diners? I’m sure we’re paying the same for the food, except we have to stand throughout our «meal».
There were 5 workers by the host stand, you’d think they would actually try to accommodate guests who order drinks and snacks while waiting for a seat, but nope.
Eventually, we just paid for the dishes and drinks we ordered as an hour had passed and no bar seats opened up (without other diners practically running over the guests who are leaving).
I’m sure my review will get lost in the sea of reviews here, but management should really try and do something about the bar situation (maybe a different list?) because no one likes to hover and no one likes people hovering over them while they eat.
Anywho, I love Liholiho, but I don’t think its worth being treated like we aren’t good enough to dine there. What a bitter taste to have in your mouth after a meal.

Service: 5
Interior: 5
Food: 3
Don’t get me wrong, overall I had a very pleasant experience here. Fantastic service, delicious beverages and simple yet tasteful interior However, given how hyped up liho liho is (and how hard it was to get a reservation), my expectation was set way too high and I was disappointed by the food.
The highlight for me was the Manila clams, the flavorful soup and fresh clam meat made me savor every bite.
The baked Hawaii, despite the sweetness, was delightful and beautifully presented.
The rest of the dishes we tried all had exciting ingredients, but in general lacked balance and complexity.
The beef tongue bun with kimchi was what drove me to Liho Liho. The meat was perfectly seasoned and nicely cooked, but unfortunately the flavor of kimchi and pickle was so overwhelming that I couldn’t taste much beef at all. The poppy seeds on the buns didn’t seem to add anything to this dish. The pork belly, game hen and tuna belly were all too sweet for me, and there’s no other flavor to balance it off.
I would like to come back and taste other dishes on the menu, but I can wait till the hype dies down a little bit.

After months of waiting for a reservation at a decent hour (other than after 9pm), we finally got one! Woohoo!!! With all the piled up anticipation, we ended up ordering a crazy amount of food which we ended up taking home at the end.
Wine list: extensive. Excellent. Ended up ordering a glass of Riesling and Chardonnay. Both were perfect for the dishes we ordered.
Our food: Wowza. Where do I start? Tuna poke on nori cracker, duck liver pâté toast, crispy tripe and squid salad, curry clams with naan, tuna belly misoyaki, short ribs with escargot and bone marrow, and baked Hawaii for dessert.
Faves:
tuna poke on nori cracker: Our server convinced us to order this and I am so glad we did. The textures and flavors were on point. Great starter.
Curry clams with garlic naan: Believe it or not, best naan ever. The broth was fantastic to dip the naan into. A must order.
Short ribs: I loved the presentation of this dish. The escargot was placed into the bone marrow and baked.
Not so faves:
Baked Hawaii: How disappointing! Ok, it wasn’t terrible… but I wish I had ordered the mochi instead after the first bite. It just wasn’t flavorful enough for me.
Service was amazing. The spot is super clean and I love the open kitchen!
Parking is extremely tough out here. Get a reservation after 6 for a better chance to find parking.
Amazing! 5 stars.

Celebrated my boyfriend’s birthday here and definitely exceed all the crazy expectations I had (the hype is real). We ordered an aggressive amount of food for two people (the waiter also was like. uh this may be too much food) but we FINISHED!!! Yay proud of us haha. But even after ordering so many things there’s still soooooo many more things we want to try!
Here’s what we ordered:
Tuna Poke ($ 15.50): Tune poke on a seaweed cracker and super good although the cracker made it kind of hard to eat. I love how every dish had a slight twist to it!
Beef Tongue Banh Mi ($ 12.50): Beef tongue, kimchi inside the softest little steam buns = heaven in my mouth. This was definitely our favorite out of the appetizers it was so tender and all the flavors blended together! The poppy seeds on the bun got literally everywhere though haha I made such a mess between this and the Tuna Poke.
House Spam over Rice: Off menu but basically house-​made spam over rice which I thought was really good but not too stand-​out compared to the rest of the dishes. if you’re having a hard time deciding maybe skip this one.
Soft shell crab katsu: Omg sooooooo tender but also crunchy on the outside but beware there’s WASABI!
Kimchi Beef Ribs: Huge slabs of ribs slathered with sauce and kimchi. The meat was sooooo tender and the sauce was such a great complement. And yes we finished the whole thing HAHA!
We wanted the baked hawaiian but literally too stuffed to move let alone eat dessert… :(next time!
Service was wonderful, our waiter was nice, and the food came out one after the other so we always had something in front of us! Great food should always be paired with great service :)
The perfect place to celebrate a special occasion or to go with a huge group (so you can share more things haha) but yes definitely 1. MAKE RESERVATIONS 2. come at odd hours because downtown SF… need I say more? We ate at 10PM and parking was easy!

Mediocre overall. While it was a pleasant experience with some great dishes and some just-​OK ones, I was not majorly impressed and it wasn’t great bang for the buck.
We ordered the hopper shrimp, the beef-​tongue buns, soft-​shelled crab, and shrimp fried rice.
The hopper shrimp with miso avocado and walnuts was my favorite. Excellent taste and unique flavors.
The beef-​tongue buns were just OK. The soft-​shelled crab was a large portion, but quite generic in taste – you can get this for half the price with similar taste/​quality elsewhere. The shrimp fried rice was mostly rice, with just a bit of shrimp on top (i.e., disappointing). For $ 82 for just these four dishes, I don’t think it was worth it.
The restaurant was also very noisy; which is a minus for me.
I may revisit to try out some other dishes, but not a high urgency or priority given my first experience.

I have be wanting to try this place and my kids were able to snag a extended Father’s Day dinner reservation last night. Read the reviews, recommendations from friends and family, James bread award nominee, etc… This place lives up to the hype and is «off the hook» excellent! We were able to sit at a table right next to the open Kitchen and watched the meals being masterfully made. The prices are also reasonable for the quality of the food.
Kimchi Pork stuffed Steamed Buns
Yellowtail Sashimi
Crispy Fried Tripe Salad
Grilled Octopus
Duck Hearts (only miss of the meal)
Curry Clams with steaming hot Naan
Rack of Beef Ribs
Salmon Tail
Short Ribs with Bone Marrow-​the short rib was the most tender I have ever had and I commented to my family that it has to have been souvee’d. Well at the end of the evening I open up my Father’s Day gift and it was a Souvee machine «hooray»
Server Alyssa provided excellent service. Parking is available in the parking garage across the street and different lots around the area. The hosts were great and we were seated right when we arrived even though the place was beyond packed.

The service was great, super warm and attentive. The place is located in the nicer part of Fillmore since things have been changing. The restaurant has a downstairs bar that just opened. They will have small bar bites.
So, the layout is pretty open. Kind of like you’re in a NYC kitchen. Open, nice natural lighting. You can see all the chefs cooking your meals.
In terms of the food, tuna poke was probably the tastiest plate for me and it’s a pretty small portion. We had the bone marrow to share which was pretty flavorful. But I bit salty for my taste since they escargot was also added. the beef tongue pork bun was tasty. Nothing to extremely different in terms of taste, soft and flavorful. The bun had some seeds on it for taste.
Overall, I’d come back if I was in the area. But making reservations and coming for special occasions, this wouldn’t be my choice.

Went here for the first time and I’m excited for my next visit.
Ordered the beef tongue with cucumber and kimchi in a steamed bun. The beef was overpowered by the kimchi and vinegar but all pieces had great texture. I think I’ll pass on this next time I come, but it’s in no means bad! Just wish I could’ve tasted the flavor of it more.
Also ordered the twice cooked pork belly and short ribs with bone marrow and escargot. Pork belly was a little too soft for us. I love pork belly but generally like it cooked with a crisp texture on part of it so I think that was just a personal preference.
The short ribs were perfectly cooked and had great flavor. The bone marrow and escargot was sooooooo garlicky that I didn’t taste anything else. I don’t think I’d get this again solely for that reason.
But first great visit and excited to come back to try more of the menu!

First thought as I’m reviewing this place– wow, I really need to start taking photos of my food… but no, can’t do it.
Dish arrives… you visually admire it… mouth waters… you dig in… no time for photos
Started coming here when they first opened and a year later it’s still a favorite. Love the design of this place, last time we came here the bone marrow was a bit heavy handed with bread crumbs, but it was still good.
Great service, great food, great neighborhood restaurant

Who knew Hawaiian food can be an expensive sit down dinner?
We had a big party so we were served the prix fixe menu.
I can say that every dish was really good.
Highlights were the homemade spam which was also the most expensive spam i’ve ever had but delicious.
The fried rice was amazing as well.
Short rib was delicious.
Duck liver toast was awesome.
I can’t wait to try the bar restaurant downstairs.

I reserved the Ohana Table for my birthday and it far exceeded my expectations! When I made the booking, I noted the food allergies in my group and then they took it from there
What we got: we started with a round of insanely good appetizers. We got the tuna poke, fried oyster and beef carpaccio, duck liver mousse, little gem salad and squid and tripe salad. Everything was perfectly portioned, fresh and tasty. The entrees we got included the fried chicken (holy crap still thinking about this one), the clams in coconut curry with naan, and pork. Dessert was a chocolate cake (sparkler included on mine!) and coconut mochi. I cannot emphasize how unique and flavorful each dish was!
The best part without question was the service. Our waiter was so attentive and before the meal started he asked each person about food allergies and made sure the menu worked. For my vegetarian friend, he brought out a separate entrée for her, and the gluten free friend got rice instead of naan. It was so nice of them to make sure everyone was well fed! I felt so special and am happy I chose to celebrate my birthday there!
The Ohana Table is $ 55 a person but be prepared to spend more than that! With one drink, tip and tax it was about $ 85. It was definitely worth it and a great way to experience a lot of the menu. I loved it so much I’m already thinking about reserving it again next year!

I don’t care what all my friends say, this place is actually pretty damn good. The service was outstanding as the hostess, helped us find a seat at the bar.
I had just come back from Hawaii so I def wanted to compare the bizness.
We had the poke/​nori cracker combo, which was actually a great idea. We also had the sashimi.
But the prized possession was the friend rice and the space with the fried rice, both were delicious… a bit over pricey but amazingly good. I’ll make it at home but its a great place with a great vibe. I think is a great place to go to dinner or a date.
Maholo and good luck

The girl and I have been to Liholiho a few times, and while we’ve had nicer dinners here, I can’t imagine going through the lengths other people have done to dine here. I can’t say that I would ever eat standing up in the waiting area because I’m so eager to try their food, but if they’re able to pull that off, more power to them.
The cocktails here are a big miss, but the dishes I would recommend you getting (should you score a coveted reservation) are:
+ POPCORN w/​TOGARASHI
+ TUNA POKE w/​SESAME OIL
+ BEEF TONGUE BUNS
+ SOFTSHELL CRAB KATSU
+ MARINATED SQUID SALAD
The restaurant is gorgeous, and the dishes are reasonably priced. The hype may be a bit much, but we’ve never had a bad meal here, but chacun à son goût!

Wow…
Didn’t have a whole lot of expectations only because our recent experiences at The Progress, State Bird, and other iconic, trendy restaurants have been mediocre to subpar from a quality, price, and portion standpoint. As such, we assumed that Liholiho was going to be just another overly hyped restaurant but thought we would give it a try just to check it off the list. Boy, were we wrong…
Ordered the fried oysters, duck hearts, soft shell crab, spam and shrimp fried rice, and fried cornish game hen dishes. The oysters were good and even better if you have the carpaccio separately so that it doesn’t mask the goodnesd of the oyster itself. Duck heart had great flavors and came with a good amt of hearts! Crab was really delicious with great flavors while the fried rice was good but not great (thought we could’ve done better at home). The best was the cornish game hen, it’s like having a plate of korean fried chicken… sweet, savory, crispy skin… just mouthwatering delicious! Now as for the fried broccoli and kale that came with the hen, it’s good but when sitting too long in the sauce on the plate, they became too salty so we had to move them off of the plate.
The best part were the baked Hawaiian and the butterscotch rum cake. Fomer is a must get, only wish that it was bigger or else the wife and i will end up getting our own next time. The rum cake had a subtle hint of rum flavor but what made it really standout was the tarty fruity sauce that the cake sat on… a wonderfu blend of sweet and sour!
Will be back soon… can’t wait to get our hands on them beef ribs!

Service/​ambiance: outstanding. Everyone was so friendly, but not in a fake way. So pleasant and really enhances the dining experience. We arrived at 4:30 to wait in line and were pleasantly surprised to not only be seated right away when they opened but were given the option to sit at a larger table in the back because it was not reserved for another couple of hours. The restaurant is open, fresh-​looking, and clean.
Food: We ordered a variety of dishes to share. The only one that I was underwhelmed by was the pork belly. It wasn’t crispy and the meat wasn’t that tender. Everything else was amazing! Bring a group and share a variety of plates.

It had been a while since I’d visited liho liho yacht club and obviously I was super stoked to return, plus I really wanted to review it. It’s one of those places that makes you feel like any kind of cuisine is possible and for that, major applause.
It’s no secret by now that everyone knows this place is outstanding and has had plenty of accolades in the past couple years. That being said, it still continues to live up to the hype as the concept, food, and drinks are nothing short of brilliant. I suppose I’ll preface the food reviews with the fact that I love spam. :)
I started with a cocktail called «the bitter end» which was exactly that and very satisfying. I’m not sure why but, the kitchen rolled out a little bite for me that consisted of a fried oyster and beef carpaccio atop a beautiful piece of lettuce. Nice touch. I ordered the yellowtail hamachi, and off menu spam as my two small plates were equally impressive and very different.
It felt great to be back in not sure why I took so long to return. Bravo bravo, do yourself a favor and show up here at 4:45 PM, sit at the bar and have an amazing time! No reservations needed :)

This is a great spot for quality food and drinks served within a casual-​yet-​trendy vibe.
RESERVATIONS
Made one month in advance (I did the whole wait-until-12:01am exactly 30 days beforehand thing) on their website. This is probably the only guaranteed wait to get a reservation at a reasonable time.
SERVICE
No complaints — they were professional, checked on us just the right amount, and prompt. Also very responsive to email. My co-​worker had gone the week beforehand and their reservation was running late; they ended up getting a couple comp’ed small plates in their meal! She was very enamored with the restaurant and the whole experience.
COST
The bill does add up quite easily. We paid $ 182.37 before tip for 3 drinks, 2 small plates, 1 starter, and 2 giant entrees. This was a hefty meal for two, and we had plenty of leftovers to bring home.
MUST-​HAVES
Beef tongue steamed bun, Fried rice w/​spam, Baked hawaii (dessert)!
COCKTAILS
* Coconut Telegraph ($ 12) — 3.5 stars
A well balanced drink, nice light coconut flavors, and stronger than it tastes which is great. This is a pretty simple drink and I did wish for slightly more complex flavors.
SMALL PLATES
* Tuna poke, sesame oil, radish, nori cracker ($ 15.50) — 3.5 stars
Excellent quality of fish — fatty, fresh, great texture. The sesame oil was definitely a unique touch. I liked this, but this was not a must-​have dish.
* Beef tongue, kimchi, cucumber, poppy seed steam bun ($ 12.50) — 4 stars
If you get one small dish, get this one! The bun is perfectly soft and fluffy. The flavors are loud and strong, with a huge kick of spice. The beef tongue is incredibly soft and tender. A great modern take on a classic Asian street food, in the best way possible.
STARTERS
* Fried rice, bay shrimp, spam, abalone mushrooms ($ 15.75) — 4.5 stars
Even though this was nothing fancy, nothing too unique (the spam did add a lot of flavor), I think this was my favorite dish of the night! My expectation was set to fried rice and nothing more, and this is fried rice in all the best ways. Every component was ever-​so-​slightly crisped, and the flavors were strong, even if you got a spoonful of just rice.
MAINS (The portions are HUGE!!! Practically double entrees)
* Slab of beef ribs, kimchi chili sauce, cauliflower, pickled red onion ($ 37.25) — 3.5 stars
Good overall, but I found the ribs just a tad dry. The kimchi sauce and pickled onion with the cauliflower wasn’t my favorite thing in the world — I don’t tend to like briney flavors though. The cauliflower could’ve been more crisped as well.
* Fried cornish game hen, cashews, tamari glaze, broccoli, flowering kale ($ 34.25) — 3.5 stars
I wouldn’t rave about the game hen the way everyone else seems to. It was great, but not in the range of top 5 in terms of texture, breading, and flavor. The glaze was a mixture of spicy, sweet, and sour, which I didn’t love entirely. However, I love the way the broccoli was cooked — they somehow got the stalk soft and the leaves with a slight crisp. The kale was delicious too!
DESSERT
* Baked hawaii, caramelized pineapple ice cream, vanilla chiffon ($ 10) — 4 stars
Probably the most unique dessert I’ve had in a long time. I love the way it’s served, looking like a beehive made of clouds. The white marshmallow-​like substance had the perfect give yet structural integrity to hold a scoop of fantastic pineapple ice cream. There aren’t many dishes that make it easy to eat ice cream wrapped in something else, and this maybe the only one I’ve encountered!

I still think about the duck liver toast!
Go with a large party because the portions are humongous! Get the ohana table if you have more than 8! $ 55 a person with a set menu + you can add on. They give you more than enough, and we had so much leftovers.
I’ve been there 3 times within the last 6 months for different occasions, and I’ve gotten to try an assortment of the menu.
I like the big hawaiian and butter mochi for dessert! The spareribs are good, and all the small bites are tasty — fried oyster with beef carpaccio mmmm and the beef tongue in a bun yumm!
hearty meal for a good price! love the simple décor and casual contemporary feel! bring a big appetite!

What a star of the vibrant SF culinary scene! As an out of towner, I was not aware how lucky we were to get a sitting at Liholiho Yacht Club, much less get one on the same day. Liholiho Yacht Club is not next to the ocean nor is it a white privileged club with yachting décor. What it is an unassuming storefront with a wide open and airy dining room/​kitchen shoehorned into a not so big interior — as least by SoCal standards.
We were waited on, catered to and served by an extraordinary amiable and helpful server throughout the evening. In fact, everyone but one person who came to our table was super gracious. Our party was late and we were told that unless they arrived soon we would have to give up our table. Luckily we had already order appetizers and drinks. Don’t get me wrong, he was very polite and with such a big demand for seats, I don’t blame him.
While waiting for the rest of our party to arrive, we ordered a glass of wine. While I don’t ordinarily leave it to the discretion of our server to recommend a wine, I did this time because they did not have any Pinots by the glass. She confidently recommended the Gamay as a good alternative — wrong choice. I did not care for the Gamay at all. I thought it lack character. For the second glass we went with the Syrah — much better.
The menu was a creative offering of fusion Asian/​Hawaiian dishes. My favorites were:
Beef tongue steam buns — Super tender beef, a bit tangy in a soft and slightly sweet bun reminiscent of the buns for Peking Duck at Chinese restaurants.
The roasted octopus was amazing as was the manila clams
The grilled shortrib and our country pork steak was crazy good. I couldn’t believe meat could be that tender.
When my party decided to order the spam over rice off of the secret menu I thought they had gone mad. After all, why would one order Spam?! To my surprise and delight, the spam was homemade by Liholiho’s chef and tasted delish.
Overall, Liholiho is a great place to talk, drink and eat.
Next time? If I am lucky enough to get a reservation, I will try the fried Cornish game he and slab of beef ribs, but I will may bring a cushion for the unpadded seats.

Definitely a good restaurant. Food well executed and well presented
Food we got
— shrimp fried rice was ok. Shrimp could be a bit more flavorful (served cold) while the fried rice was hot! A lot of riceeeee but nothing much. The soam and mushroom were there in tiny pieces but the carbs did fill us up. It is just a fried rice after all but one of the better tastier fried rices
— squid dish with crispy tribes was delicious
— the beef tongue was burger was just meh. Not that good. The bun was really really nice, the beef tongue was ok but putting soaky kimchi with beef tongue and such a nice bun, probably not the best choice
Love the baked hawaii! Taste great as much as it looks!
The coconut butter mochi was a bit disappointing but my friend loved it. I personally hope that it would be something more exciting than mochi pudding in a huge glass bowl.
Service at the bar was ok but we needed to ask for water like three times.
Tbh, I wish they manage the bar seating better. Not FCFS but rather with a proper queuing or name taking. Because now people just awkwardly hanging around trying to snatch every opening seats. Also if they can have more chairs then it would be great because you can definitely sit more people around the bar (my friend were standing the whole dinner even though he could easily sit)

You definitely need a reservation. I was lucky to snag one for 4 people the day before, but the only available times were 5:15 and 10:15 (we went for 10:15) so you should definitely try to make one more in advance.
The food was absolutely top notch, and really reasonably priced for the quality. Everything we got was delicious, the poke appetizer, duck liver toast, yellowtail, roasted octopus (yummmm, also the potatoes in this were on point), pork belly (omg so good!!!), opah (probably wouldn’t get this again bc and wish we got the short ribs just because I’ll always choose beef over fish, but we ordered this as one of the entrees because one of my friends doesn’t eat pork/​beef). We ordered a LOT because I assumed the portions wouldn’t be super big, but they actually were quite large for the entrees. Next time I’ll order less because unfortunately we didn’t have room for dessert!
Only additional comment I have to make re: the spam fried rice… It was good, but not particularly memorable; HOWEVER, my friend told me that when he went, this dish had uni in it!!! Which definitely would’ve elevated it to another level, so I’m very sad that the dish had changed when I went.

After making a reservation a month in advance at exactly midnight for the Saturday Eve of Mother’s Day, my highly anticipated dinner at Liho Liho became a reality. Despite the lack of parking and hard to get reservations, Liho Liho brings your taste buds to another level.
First of all, for $ 20 corkage per bottle you bring (such a steal) and a wonderful ambiance with an open kitchen, the night started off right! For starters, we ordered the beef tongue steam bun and tuna poke on nori cracker. Not a huge beef fan, but this is so tender and succulent, while the tuna poke on nori is such a balanced bite. If you aren’t ordering much more than this, I suggest getting more than one of these starters because they aren’t really huge.
Next, we got the little gems, roasted octopus, and the shrimp/​spam fried rice. The little gems is a great green dish and the bonito caesar is bombbb. I wish the roasted octopus had more octopus with it, while the shrimp/​spam fried rice had so much flavor — I could eat a whole frikkin bowl of this.
And the STARS of the Night were the:
GRILLED SHORT RIB with bone marrow (filled with escargot), mushrooms, and juice from the short rib. THIS IS A MUST GET.
SLAB of BEEF RIBS — the kimchi is super subtle, but these ribs are so huge, like so huge and could feed like 4 – 6 people! And their cauliflower is roasted perfectly like perfectly!
And end with the BAKED HAWAII — Caramelized exterior and pineapple ice cream and cake interior. It has such a marshmallow-​y consistency and perfect pineapple flavor. One of the best desserts in SF hands freaking down!
Lastly, the best part of Liho Liho — is that they know how to celebrate YOU — the customer! No matter how big they have got, they didn’t rush my family and kept greeting my mom happy mother’s day every half hour or so. It’s like Jesus trained the servers here because they were so nice and always on point with pouring wine, cleaning the table, and just being lovely hosts. Huge kudos to Ravi and the team at Liho Liho — can’t wait to come again!

We were lucky to get a reservation last minute. The line was pretty long before they opened. We were seated right away. We ordered:
— fried rice (underwhelming)
— manila clam coconut curry (good, salty)
— shortribs with bone marrow and escargot (beef is very tender and the bone marrow with escargot is good, but the sauce is very salty)
— baked hawaii (good! This is the highlight of our meal)
— chocolate cake (good, the cream balanced out the bitterness of the dark chocolate cake)
Service is good. Good wine list. Foods come out a bit slow towards the beginning. Street parking is tough, but there is a garage right across the street for $ 15 flat rate.

Many would think Hawaiian cuisine is nothing more than rice plates consisting of grilled meats and macaroni salad. That’s where Liholiho comes in and takes the traditional Hawaiian cuisine to a higher level. Mike C. was able to score dinner reservations for our party of six a dinner reservation in short time and I was looking forward to checking Liholiho from my list.
Arriving for reservations, we were seated at a booth with a perfect view of the kitchen with Chef Ravi Kapur and his staff prepping the meals. After ordering some drinks, we checked out the menu and decided which items to order. Liholiho’s food is meant to be shared family style, so it was perfect with our group, enabling us to try more items.
Our starters:
Popcorn — The popcorn with butter and togarashi seasoning. The seasoning was light in taste. Wished the seasoning had a stronger flavor.
Tuna Poke — seasoned with sesame oil, the poke is served on a nori cracker. This was delicious.
Duck Liver Toast — The pâté with jalapeño and pickled pineapple is spread over thick pieces of toast. I’m not usually a pâté fan, but I l am fan of this one.
Marinated Squid topped with Crispy Tripe — The cabbage salad was different with lots of different textures.
Manila Clams with garlic naan — The clams were in a red curry sauce and served with garlic naan. Nice light tasting curry sauce.
Spam over nori rice — Mike C. tuned us in on this off menu dish. Three pieces of thick Spam sits on top of seasoned nori rice. Delicious.
Fried Rice with spam, bay shrimp and abalone mushrooms. With a little heat, but not overwhelming, it was good.
Slab of Beef Ribs — the ribs in a kimchi chili sauce, were tender and tasty.
Grilled Shortrib with escargot bone marrow. The shortribs were tender and cooked perfectly medium rare.
Baked Hawaii — I am a dessert fan and this blew me away. Seeing the dessert flame the meringue, the pineapple ice cream in the center was still solid. What a presentation, what a dessert!
Coconut Butter Mochi — served in a mini Pyrex dish, the mochi had a nice light chewy texture.
What a dining experience to mark my 700^th. Food was delicious and service was friendly. Loved how the dishes are meant to be shared, which allowed us to try many different items. Now to get back there to try the other items.

Really great little place and worth a lot of the hype! Make sure you make a reservation for this place, because they book up pretty quick! Without a reservation even on a Wednesday night, it was an estimated hour and a half wait (it was only an hour). The bar, however is open seating and first come first serve, which i’m not sure is the best way to do it, because people were hovering over other people that looked like they were finishing up. Talk about being rushed. :(
Service was great! Our waitress was very helpful, friendly, and easy to talk to.
Drinks were not that great, and not very memorable. Both the drinks that me and my boyfriend got, we didn’t even end up finishing (and we’re not the type of people to ever waste alcohol lol) The flavors just didn’t blend well together in the drinks.
The star of the show, however, was the bomb FOOD!
Duck liver toast — ⁵⁄₅! Amazing! The duck liver, instead of being thick and heavy like a pâté, it was more whipped and had a lighter, and creamier taste. Definitely a must-​get!
Clams in curry sauce with naan– ⁴⁄₅ Overall good dish, but nothing too special! The naan was great for soaking up all the curry sauce!
Beef Tongue Bao with Kimchi — ³⁄₅ The kimchi drowned out all the flavor of the beef tongue and the poppy seed bao. I took a couple of bites and ended up removing all the kimchi (the juice from the kimchi added just enough flavor), which improved it quite a bit.
Tuna Belly Misoyaki– 4.5÷5 Very yummy! The tuna belly was so soft and tender, it literally melted in my mouth.
Short Ribs with Bone Marrow −4÷5 The short ribs: BOMB! The meat in this dish was perfectly seasoned and very tender and juicy, I almost didn’t want to share with my bf. The one star off was for the bone marrow that came with it, which had too much… cheese? on top. I couldn’t even tell I was eating bone marrow.
There were so many other delicious looking things on the menu that I would definitely come back! I definitely have to come back for their famous baked hawaii dessert!

Ok get past the funky name for a sec. To me, it sounds like «Lil Ho Lil Ho» but that’s the result of listening to too much rap music.
Every year my poor gf racks her brain on what to get me for my bday and where to take me to eat. There aren’t too many places that appeals to me anymore since I feel like I’ve tried just about every place that’s new, hip, and happening. When she surprised me with this place I thought hawaiian? What’s more hawaiian than L&L? ROFL
I didn’t realize that reservations for this place is a month out and requires you to be on your computer ready to click at 12:00am exactly 30 days before your requested date. I can see why.
I quickly scour the 2700+ pics for this place and noticed people really liked the poke and the Baked Hawaii. Check! Along with these, we also ordered the lobster, pork belly, the off-​menu Spam, and the Coconut Butter Mochi.
Although the poke was $ 15 for two crackers, these two crackers were more amazing than Sigfried and Roy. Ok no room for racial slurs in this review but you get the hint. The deep fried seaweed was incredibly aromatic that you have to close your eyes with every bite. It’s worth experiencing yourself. The lobster was fantastic and the pork belly portion was huge! The homemade spam was the only thing that didn’t wow me.
I noticed everyone there ordered the Baked Hawaii, which is their signature dessert dish. The outer layer of the vanilla chiffon has the consistency of marshmallow and pairs so nicely with the pineapple ice cream and the graham cracker-​like crust on the bottom. If you dine here, you simply cannot pass this up!
The service, food, and setting is so awesome. I highly enjoyed my bday dinner and so grateful my gf found something for a person who’s so hard to surprise :)

My camera always gets to eat the food first. Surprisingly I’m okay with that, but everyone else… tough luck!
FOOD:
1) Duck liver toast, jalapeño, and pickled pineapple. Great starter!
2) Tuna poke, sesame oil, radish, and nori cracker. Small bites that was packed with flavors.
3) Beef tongue, kimchi, cucumber, and poppy seed steam bun. I love my BUNS!
4) Grilled short rib, escargot, bone marrow, mushrooms, leeks, and fresh horseradish. It was kind of tough to chew on even with all those sauce.
5) Fried cornish game hen, cashews, tamari glaze, broccoli, and flowering kale. I LUST FOR THIS! So darn good, take me back!
6) Coconut butter mochi that could served up to four people.
7) Bruléed cardamom cheesecake, pistachio, and strawberries. Sweet and decadent.
I’m blown away by the impressive amount of food at Liholiho Yacht Club. The service itself was quite amazing. Thank you for an excellent time from start to end. I definitely would recommend this place to impress your date, your friends, and your family.
I hope you give LYC a try. Cheers!
The simple things in life.

What better way to dine after a trip to the 808?!
No, this ain’t L&L nor is it a shrimp truck on North shore.
Many would scoff at the notion of combining Hawaiian cuisine with fine dining. Well, if anyone can pull this off, it’s the chef owner here who previously manned the kitchens of Boulevard and Prospect. A friend with ownership connections hosted my first dinner here for a party of four. He was a wonderful «tour guide» in mapping our menu. We had a party of six for our next meal and, needless to say, we pretty much went all out. (He helped me with the second reservations too.)
Here’s what we shared, in no particular order, in those two meals:
*** All courses were shared
First course menu
1) Fried oysters, beef carpaccio (
) — Crispy fried vs tender soft, good contrast of flavors in an appetizer version of surf and turf.
2) Tuna poke (
) — Could eat this all day, the portions are relatively small, but the marinade reminded me of the 808.
3) Duck liver toast (
) — Luscious and decadently rich, this is not for anyone going in for a medical checkup or on a health kick.
Second course menu
4) Yellowtail sashimi (
) — Think sashimi salad. Everything was fresh, but didn’t particularly stand out compared to other courses.
5) Marinated squid (
) — This actually stood out by comparison to the yellowtail. The beef tripe gave this dish bite.
6) Tuna belly misoyaki (
) — The fish was nicely charred yet still tender. Veggies dominated this dish, aptly on the appetizer menu.
7) Hopper shrimp (
) — A recent addition, this dish stood out. Citrus, veggies, and walnuts all worked with the shrimp. The shrimp were nicely sized and tender with that crunch.
8) Manila clams (
) — Reminded me of Thai cuisine with the coconut curry sauce which paired perfectly with the house made naan.
9) Fried rice, bay shrimp, spam (
) — Sounds better than it was, not to say anything was wrong. You’re better off going «off menu» for the calories.
Main course menu
10) Opah (
) — Give the chef credit for finding a source for this Hawaiian fish. Just okay for me.
11) Grilled shortrib (
) — Indulgence. From the bone marrow to the precisely medium rare beef slices and escargot, there is no better description. Felt guilty for a millisecond.
12) Slab of beef ribs (
) — Fred Flintstone sized ribs which were nicely sauced.
Desserts
13) Baked Hawaii (
) — The presentation alone would be enough, but then after taking a bite… if you are a pineapple fan, this is a must.
14) Coconut butter mocha (
) — Solid dessert, but the table discussion was about how family members make this at home.
15) Chocolate cake (
) — Nicely done and chocolate fans would enjoy this, but didn’t really wow me.
Off menu (secret… well, guess it’s not anymore)
16) Spam special (
) — I strongly recommend this over the fried rice if you are indeed a Spam fan… meaning that in a good way. Deliciously cooked and it’ll remind you or a naked musubi.
The service and atmosphere was top shelf… helps when you host is a regular here. The menu has a wide selection of dishes which will keep you longing for more.
Just need to get that reservation. Easier said than done!