DUKE’S WAIKIKI
ADDRESS: 2335 Kalākaua Avenue #116, Honolulu, HI 96815
WEBSITE: https://www.dukeswaikiki.com/
After a portion of the day spent out at the Dole Plantation and also checking out the No7 Japanese Food Truck on the North Shore, my brother Kevin, sister-in-law Alina, and I took it easy during the afternoon with doing some shopping at a local mall before we walked over to Duke’s Waikiki for a late dinner, since we had eaten lunch at the food truck around mid-afternoon.
Don’t make the same mistake that I did and try to enter the restaurant from the beach side. There wasn’t an entrance over there, from what I could tell. There’s a street-side entrance through the Outrigger Waikiki Beach resort, where you walk down this tunnel passing all of these small shops before it opens up into the resort and you see the entrance of the restaurant.
The restaurant itself occupies a large space within the Outrigger resort, capitalizing on the location right on Waikiki Beach to provide a true beachfront dining experience with an ocean view, for those that are seated in those areas. There are also a large number of tables located inside as well, although the dining area is set up where the transition between inside and outside isn’t truly walled off.
For Duke’s dinner menu, it was actually more simplified than I was expecting. Focused primarily on meats and seafoods, the options pretty much were appetizers and main entrées, totaling 17 options altogether. Continuing my trend of looking for seafood while in Hawaii, my eyes turned towards the Furikake Ahi Steak that was on the menu, since I’m always a fan of pan-seared ahi. My brother was also open to splitting the Panko-Crusted Calamari appetizer as well (which came with a disclaimer that it wasn’t the traditional calamari we’d see from Italian restaurants).
It wasn’t until later on in our meal that when talking to our waitress, I realized that there were a number of Duke’s locations in southern California: Malibu, Huntington Beach, and La Jolla. I guess taking the visit to the Waikiki location helped us with not needing to trek all the way down to Malibu or Huntington Beach to give the place a try!
The calamari made its way out to our table, and our waitress was definitely right that this version of calamari was not what we’re accustomed to. For this version, the squid was shaped in larger rings and breaded, so there ended up being more meat for each bite. Two sauces accompanied the calamari on either side of the dish — a guava cocktail sauce and a Meyer lemon remoulade. The acidity from the Meyer lemon worked well with the calamari, while the sweetness from the guava was a nice contrast to the more savory and tart nature of the remoulade. The calamari was good, but I don’t know if it’s something I liked enough to order again.
Moving on to the furikake ahi steak entrée, I do have to say I was slightly disappointed to only see three slices of fish on the plate, especially after the $43 price tag. The ahi slices had a slight bit of truffle unagi glaze and chili oil, and were accompanied by bok choy with black bean sauce, cremini mushrooms, coconut lychee jasmine rice, and cucumber namasu (Japanese pickled cucumber salad).
The ahi did have good flavor, with the punch of umami from the truffle unagi glaze and some slight spiciness from the chili oil. The bok choy and cremini mushrooms also had good savory flavor, and the cucumber namasu had a nice balance of tartness and acidity to balance out the other savory items on the plate. The coconut lychee jasmine rice was a bit interesting, since I typically don’t eat sweet flavors with rice. There were certainly a mix of different flavors from all the items in the dish, but that high price tag for a smaller portion of fish was still hard to swallow.
There is no doubt about the fact that Duke’s offers you a true beachfront dining experience, with a beautiful location to also catch sunset while you’re enjoying your evening meal if you time it right. But with the flavors of the food being above average at best and the higher price tag because of the prime location, it’s difficult for me to consider returning on a future trip to the Waikiki area. I would rather explore other spots in that area to see what other types of food offerings might be out there.
Let’s now take a look at the Duke’s Waikiki Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Panko-Crusted Calamari **
Breaded calamari rings, served with guava cocktail sauce and Meyer lemon remoulade.
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Furikake Ahi Steak
Pan-seared sashimi grade ahi, drizzled with chili oil and truffle unagi glaze, served with cremini mushrooms, bok choy with black bean sauce, coconut lychee jasmine rice, and cucumber namasu.
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And finally, here are my rankings for Duke’s Waikiki:
Food: 4 / 5
From a flavor standpoint, while the food tasted good, it was a little above average at best. I’m not sure if there was enough from either the calamari or the furikake ahi that would drive me to order them if I returned to the restaurant.
Atmosphere: 4.75 / 5
You really can’t beat a beachfront dining experience with an ocean view. The open air nature of the transition between the indoor and outdoor dining area meant that you felt the tropical weather everywhere. The only downside of said tropical weather is that it made the leather in the chairs and booths more on the sticky side when you’re sitting down.
Service: 4.25 / 5
Our waitress was very nice and helpful in explaining different portions of the menu, along with checking up on us throughout the course of the meal. She was also personable, making some casual conversation a few times while she was at our table as well.
Price: 2.5 / 5
Those dish prices definitely take a chunk out of your wallet for sure, and with the three slices of ahi that I got for the $43 price tag, that was a bit disappointing. You are certainly paying the high prices to account for the beachfront dining experience, so that’s certainly something to keep in mind if you’re taking a visit here.
Overall:
15.5 / 20
(78%)
Categories: Hawaii, Restaurants
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