E & O Trading Company Honolulu

I wasn’t knocked out about this place, but it wasn’t whole heartedly bad. I had a mango glazed short rib appetizer and it literally fell off the bone. It was pretty decent, but everything else I could either give or take. I wouldn’t be against going back and trying other dishes. Although our waitress was super friendly, she disappeared for at least 20 minutes. I was never offered a refill on my water or my lemonade. I give it 3 stars and would return for another round.

«Pretty good food, but not really Southeast Asian… corn fritters are good! Nasi Goreng was really good at a close-​door party, as was the vietnamese crepes. Maybe they’re better for corporate parties… bizarre»

My friend and I tried this place out for the happy hour. The prices are ok, but when you eat and drink enough, then price can really add up. The one thing about this place is the atmosphere. The lighting and the soundtrack makes for a setting for a hooka. That might be good if you actually had a hooka, but hey, no smoking indoors.

Food here is not too shabby. Although, I only came for happy hour and just had some appetizers. Prices here are a little expensive, but it is expensive across the board with their other locations throughout the US. The one located here in SF is just as pricy so I don’t see myself going back anytime soon. The appetizers that I got were actually great, but I can’t say that it was the best thing in the whole world. It was quite delicious, but I definitely had better. On that note I’ll just leave you with a couple pictures and my recommendations.
Recommended Appetizers:
— Indonesian Corn Fritters (these are by far awesome)
— Salt and Pepper Calimari

We went out with friends this past Friday night, I was really disappointed with the food here its that good, it’s horrible! Especially, when you come out spending $ 62 dollar a head which includes liquor (Beer), and two small plates of Tapas, come on! I could’ve gone to Elua’s for that amount and the food taste much better than this place! But, the ambiance is nice that’s all it is. I would never recommend anybody go to this place for sure! Anything over $ 50 a head spend it elsewhere not here!

Ok, so the place is nice, but the food is blah…
I guess I would go if my friends really wanted me to go, but other than that, I wouldn’t go out of my way just to go.

I have to agree. I’ve had some pretty bad dinners here. Every once in a while I’ll still wonder in here for a cold beer and a glass of wine. One good thing is on Wed’s nights they do ½ of their entire wine list. That being said, all of Wards food on this particular floor is pretty tragic. I do however secretly love Compadres. Don’t tell anyone…

I was going to joke that maybe E & O could stand for Extremely Overrated, but its not rated very highly to begin with.
The atmosphere’s nice. As are the happy hour prices. I can cook better corn fritters, but I do like the rice inside the bamboo. Everything else just isn’t worth what’s being charged. Instead of Overrated, I guess the O can stand for Overpriced.

At first glance I thought it was an oriental furniture store, but now I consider one of the worst restaurants – definitely in Hawaii, maybe on earth.
This bad idea started as a lunch double date. The best dish was the first one, Indonesian Corn Fritters, which were sopping wet with grease. Everything went downhill from there – I still can’t figure out how this place screwed up Salt and Pepper Calamari and Fried Rice. These were edible compared to what the other pair ordered, though.
If you don’t believe me and come here anyway, don’t get the Lamb Stuffed Indian style flat bread. It had tumeric, garam marsala, and stuff no one could swallow. Put me on the next flight out of E & O, I rather eat airplane food in coach!
P. S. If you can’t function without corn fritters, here’s a great recipe for it I had while living in Sydney c/​o Australian chef Bill Granger:

Any place that can convert a mate that claims to be «allergic to vegetables» into a tofu eating fiend — gets 3 stars just for that.
I thought that the food was solid, although the servings could have been larger. The décor was nice. The staff was pretty ontop of things.
Nothing extraordinary though. My life will be no more empty if i never return here again. I’ll go again if someone else is paying, or if it’s someone’s birthday and peer pressure plays a roll.

When someone says to me «we’ve made lunch reservations for E&O to meet with a client» my heart sinks and I think why can’t we go next door to Ryan’s or Kincaids? Then I think well maybe it’s because there is so much privacy because the restaurant isn’t even 50% full during lunch.
Prior to E&O’s launch in Honolulu, I visited the restaurant in San Francisco and didn’t think it was bad (well maybe I liked the décor more than anything). This one however disappoints me. Maybe it’s because there are so many other places to go to in Hawaii for South East asian food. I feel as though it’s an American interpretation. Similar to how PF Changs is. I find the satays to be really dry, flavoring the black cod with char siu isn’t my favorite, the stir fried chicken is okay and corn fritters… well it’s deep fried batter with corn. Don’t really understand what the big deal is with those things.

Take a back room, fill it with a long table and many friends, give me drinks and food and I’m pretty happy.
And I was «pretty happy» with this place.
The drinks were pretty tasty (well drinks $ 5) and the food was enjoyable.
Also, they get big props for once a month becoming «downetowne»
Anyway, if you have a group and want to get one of the private rooms, it’s a pretty great (maybe a bit pricey) way to spend an evening (the rooms have minimums… but I wouldn’t say they are hard to meet minimums)

This is truly a «fusion» place. If I were spending my own money, I don’t know if I would give as many stars, however my wife and I were given a $ 100 gift certificate for Christmas, so we used it. We had coconut glazed prawns for an appetizer, and they had a nice flavor. They were better without dipping in the spicy sauce served on the side… the sauce was over-​powering, and there was really no need to cover up the natural flavor of the prawns.
I had a nice salmon dish, with kai choy and bok choy. It was served in a kind of broth, which kept it nice and moist. My wife had the duck, which was a little too fatty for my taste. We each had an awesome banana dessert. The dessert would be even better if they used locally-​grown apple bananas, instead of the Central American bananas, that are less expensive but decidedly less flavorful.
The waitress we had was a real gem… my wife agreed with my assessment, so you know she had to be good. She was attentive, clear-​speaking, knowledgeable, and very friendly. She got a big tip, which was well-​deserved.
A pleasant evening. We each had a beverage: one soft and one alcoholic, and the tab came to $ 82, so we would probably go back, but not before saving our pennies!

I went to this place mostly because my dad really likes it here; sadly after going there I have no idea why. While the atmosphere is pretty unique and chill that’s about all I liked. The service was slow and un-​attentive (note they weren’t even that busy) and the food was mediocre at best and over-​priced and mediocre at worst. Also the specialty drinks were a few bucks higher than I’m used to seeing in Hawaii which I thought was odd considering that they didn’t seem really unique or use really high end liquor.
On a whole I really can’t recommend this place and would generally warn people to avoid it.

I agree with Hannah K. about it being a tough call. I’m was familiar with the SF one, but first time to this one. Because I had just been to the SF location and had a good time, I was pumped about having dinner here for my b-​day with my friends during a brief visit home. Unfortunately, I was less than thrilled with the dining experience.
It was completely empty for a Sunday night… which actually didn’t bother me because at least it wasn’t too loud and my party could chat across the table without screaming. The décor is really nice, as with the SF and San Jose locations. Now, for the food… I was quite disappointed. The naan was just as good as the other locations, but the entrees were all very salty… to the point that people weren’t able to stomach more than a few bites. Our waiter was friendly enough, but there was something awkward about him. Although there were many good things about my experience, the only thing I really took from it was the salty food. Perhaps it was just an off night, so I’m willing to give them another chance.

Tough call.
Familiar with SF E&O, new to this one.
Food:
Corn fritter: YUM. As good as the ones in the SF location.
Coconut prawns: Not quite as flavorful as I would have liked, but still quite delicious.
Drinks: Friend says rum jungle tastes like churros. Lychee martini was yummy.
Inside décor: Simply beautiful. Paper lanterns, dark wood hotness.
Outside décor: Um… the porch area would have been awesome if it actually faced outdoors. It faces the freaking parking lot. The restaurant opens into the parking garage… ugly.
Overall: Pretty good food, great décor (inside), unfortunate location.

Two words for you… Reeeeel ono!!!
I/​we enjoyed the dining experience here, it’s a blend of Asian cuisines and the service and food presentation were outstanding. I really enjoyed the live music, I mean on a Thursday night, WOW!
Yes, it’s pricey, but just remember when you see the word «fusion» on any menu, think CHA-​CHING! Well here the price is up to you, I mean you could get away cheaper if you just went for pupus/​appetizers and drinks after work.
We ended up eating family-​style, ordering several different dishes and sharing them, boy were we glad we did! From the char siu style black cod to the corn fritters everything was outstanding in both presentation to flavor, I’ll have to post a few pix later. My cocktail was very tasty, a nice martini-​style lycée and ginger blend with vodka, ka-​pow! I was the driver so I had to nurse that drink all night long, but boy was it smooth, I could have had a few more!
Overall a very exceptional dining experience and well worth the price.

What a waste of a beautiful restaurant. I give the interior designer kudos for turning such a large space into a warm, inviting living room atmosphere, filled with dark woods, Asian art, and subtle lighting. If only the same attention was lavished on the quality of the food. I really don’t know how this place stays afloat – I know how much their rent costs; it must be a front.
For me, this is just another boring, overpriced fusion Asian restaurant with fancy drinks. Yawn. Maybe I’m just being difficult because I AM Asian and I like the way our food tastes traditionally, thank you very much.
We tried the corn fritters that everyone has been raving about. Honestly, people, it’s just frozen corn kernels battered and deep fried in a pseudo-​Asian sauce. What’s all the commotion about?
We also shared a boring satay platter, duck in a clay pot, the char siu style black cod that was highly recommended by our waiter, and I forget what else. The highly touted black cod was not black cod. It was a lesser South American fish. I think they thought they could get away with it because fish definitions can get a bit blurry and most people don’t know the difference. Anyway, whatever it was, it was like that really bad American-​style bright red char siu that you see drying out in the warmer at Times that nobody ever buys.
Service is okay. On a side note, while I was dining there, I recognized two of the waiters. They were the two that we had just fired for bad service at the restaurant I worked at!

my favorite pau hana. ok, one of my favorite pau hanas.
reasons listed in no particular order:
*cheap, innovative appetizers. my favorite is the peanut chickan satay and the corn fritters.
*two beautiful blonde bartenders, one male and one female, that are like adam and eve. perfection. giddy without being fake. offer suggestions without trying to sell (the male version pulled out a giant tub of rum-​soaked pineapple to show me why i should order their special rum punch). gloriously efficient without being all in your face
*dark enough to look super hot for your date, but not too dark that you run into your cheating boss and his mistress.
i. LOVE. this. place.

We didn’t mean to come here. We were originally going next door but the little man didn’t want to go but wanted to eat here instead. He said it looked very nice. Well it surely did! The décor was fabulous and I was hoping the food would be too.
The menu was small and prices weren’t high so it was easy to just order many items to share. The keiki menu offered some impressive selections generally not on other restaurants’ kid menus. We got the steak satay kid’s plate as well as savoury Thai basil tofu, lamb stuffed naan bread, green papaya salad. You have the option of choosing 3 sambals (sauces) to accompany your meal. We got the kaffir lime and tamarind, chili with cilantro, mango chutney.
Everything tasted really great, especially the tofu. The naan was so-​so though — we also ordered a plain naan — and the papaya salad was mostly Chinese cabbage and not enough green papaya.
Service was good without being intrusive and the atmosphere was just great.
The end result didn’t break the bank and we had a really nice meal.