Izakaya Mai

Went here for dinner last night and got to say this place is a nice Japanese restaurant! There’s free parking, service was fast and we also got our food on time too.
We ordered a lot and ordered some to go for my friends. I got the samurai set which is 8 sushi comes with salad, miso soup, and Mac salad my brother ordered unagi don and my dad got some soup. The fish was fresh and the portion of the food was a lot too. So we got full right away
I would highly recommend this place if your looking for a late night bite and in the carving mood for sushi come here if you love sushi

Bad food, horrible service, they don’t like white people in there. Never going back again.

Service was horrible, you could get the vibe that the waitress didnt wanna serve us.
We were super rushed to order and she didn’t even bring the sushi menu over, just a menu with mainly udon dishes.
Other than service the food was great! You could tell the sushi was fresh!

After glancing at all the reviews, I realized this restaurant served pretty good food. The lower ratings were mostly for the service of a old man. So I also decided to come here because they were able to take in a party of 10 right away at 6:30pm. Once I got there, I quickly noticed the cute family-​run restaurant with the older gentleman and his son as the servers and his wife was the host/​cashier. Good was great at great price. Yes, the empty dishes was not removed at standard rate. And yes, the older gentleman was not the most friendliest. But sometimes you really don’t need all the fake chit chats and the constant water refills.
Basically, it’s a great place to chill. Awesome for people who do not like to wait for hours to just to be seated in a super cramp restaurant.
P. S. Show a little sympathy for these small family-​run shops.

First tone here, pass by all the time and it looks great. The food is pretty good portioned and taste good, it has a nice bar.

I Alway come this place. When am in Hawaii with my sister. We love sushi. Love this place. The staff was very friendly and helpful. All food it so amazing. Highly recommend this place. If you down to Honolulu

Read the reviews and was a little iffy on trying it out but looking around on a Saturday night for a place to eat and everywhere else having long waits decided to try it. Not sure why the reviews are so bad. It was dead in there so service was great as well as pretty decent food. Good experience!

Went to izakaya Mai on A Tuesday evening at 5:15 pm. We found parking right in front of the restaurant (5 – 6 stalls). We asked waitress about recommendations. After we ordered a few items waitress tells us about Happy Hour specials. So we order a few beers on tap $ 2 so hard to go wrong. We ordered jelly fish, chicken karaage, assorted tempura, hokke, onigiri, and yakisoba. Portions are small on jellyfish and chicken karaage. Food came out piping hot which was a good thing. Taste of food was ok. Hokke and jelly fish was actually the best tasting dish. Waitress did not put in our order of ika geso for whatever reason. Total our tab was $ 66.00 and some change. Overall our experience was ok and we weren’t impressed. We didn’t try the sushi or sashimi but from the looks of what we saw we probably will not try in the future.

I should have known better when we arrived on a Saturday night and the restaurant was empty to keep going until we found some place else to eat.
Izakaya Mai has so much potential. Lots of parking, the restaurant is big, its interior is nice and the service was decent. But the food… what can i say without being rude? Its horrible! One of the worst Japanese restaurants i have ever been to in recent memory.
We started off with our usual basics since this was the first time here. We like to test the waters so to speak. We ordered a spicy ahi roll, cali roll, hamachi sashimi, chicken karaage, and fried squid legs, and a bottle of Asahi. It started off ok with the sashimi and squid legs, but it was all down hill from there. The chicken karaage didn’t have any taste and the spicy ahi roll was just an ahi roll with Sriracha on top. The cali roll was ok. The food was so bad that we didn’t even want to order anything else. I didn’t even want to stick around for another beer. Our total was $ 52. Not worth it.
Here is my biggest pet peeve for the night. The restaurant was empty, just a handful of customers, and they try to squeeze everyone in one area. I don’t want to feel like I’m eating with the next table. We were so close that i could have reached over and grabbed some of their food, if I really wanted to. I also don’t appreciate having the waitresses butt in my face every time she came over to help the table next to us. Although it was only two of us, why do they insist on seating us on a small table!!! Its an izakaya, we are going to order several dishes, there was no room on the table.
We will never return. What a waste of our time!

I was a regular at Ojiya and finally got to sample the new tenant, Izakaya Mai. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. We had the Dynamite sushi roll, tebasaki, ikageso, agedashi tofu and an assortment of sushi (uni, amaebi, and hamachi. Everything was great and it felt like we were back in Japan. I’m definitely heading back to take advantage of their happy hour and late night specials.

Went there for there anniversary special which can’t be beat. $ 25 normally $ 30 all you can eat tuna salmon ika ebi scallop ikura tobiko and assorted hand rolls. Don’t come here if you plan to eat 150 pieces like the guy before me did and put them out of business.
Went there a second time and they sort of didn’t want to order their coupon anniversary special. So no problem we can go somewhere else but they said grudgingly ok. Mind you, no one was setting at the sushi bar. The son was very nice to us as he served us but his dad took over and realized he wanted us out. So I guess it’s back to Yanagi as our go to place.

I’ve had the pleasure of trying izakaya mai’s excellent food in both the Bay Area and Waikiki.
Their tuna/​ahi/​maguro is top quality and just about melts in your mouth (a texture you’d expect from a pricier, fatty cut).
The gyoza, as standard as a Japanese izakaya dish comes, is amazing! Handmade with a filling that pleasantly surprises.
And the sake selection. So nice. I recommend the draft or organic Sho Chiku Bai (affordable but with the smooth taste of an expensive dai ginjo). Or simply ask the awesome waitress Tee for her recommendation, she knows how to drink and eat well.
You will always be my favorite izakaya mai.
Much love,
Bobby, the drunk dude sitting at the bar :)
Edit: I forgot to mention that their noodles are amazing! The chanpon and nabeyaki udon are my absolute favorite!

I don’t understand why there’s never a wait since the food here is amazing for the price you pay! During happy hour (night time about 10 ish?) there’s 20% off every item you order and the service is terrific, they are all so cute and kind. One of my favorite places to have dinner in a relaxed setting. Parking is free, easy to find and very convenient.
The Okonomiyaki is a must try! One of the best i’ve had.

Extensive menu and pretty good food! I’m in love with their signature noodle soup, chanpon, which is oh so ono! Their chirashi are amazing, too.
It’s a small restaurant but they also have a very nice party room, hori-​gotatsu style, for larger groups, designed by the owner. I think it’s quite lovely.
Service is very good at the tables, I’ve not tried the sushi bar itself. Definitely recommend it for a business lunch or a casual date.

If you are going to make this place a last minute stop choice to get some drinks or food since they are open till midnight make sure it is at least two hours before or they maybe closing early if they are slow.
Went in at just before 11pm on a midnight closing day and got turned away as they claimed are closed.
Have it a second shot, went before 10pm this time, and ended up being the last customers midway of our meal. The server seemed to constantly check if everything was ok, which is great service. However every 5 minutes or so trying to come in and take away the dishes if you even put the chop sticks down to rest between bites is a little excessive and felt almost as they were hovering over us.
Could sense a little impatience of waiting to get us out so they can close up shop, but it was not even 11pm yet. (Sign on door and Unilocal says midnight).
On the good note food was good. Happy hour discount of 20% is a good deal.
Price was reasonable.
値段と味的には悪くなくて美味しい。
サービスも悪くないが閉まる時間の1ー2時間前になるとちょっと急がせられてる気持ちになります。
店の閉まる時間が0:00時って書いてますが客が少ないばいだと早めに閉めるらしいです。

This is a great place to eat quality sushi without the quality price. I really enjoy all the different sushi roll creations. The rice to fish proportion is perfect. They also have cheap beer which my fiancé enjoys. I wish the parking was a little better, but if you go late it’s not too bad.

I was really surprised with their nigiri prices. Hamachi, maguro, ikura and hotato, 2 pieces in one order for $ 5. My friend got an udon dish with mushroom slices that were marinaded in sake! It had a lot of flavor which is an unusual but appreciated touch and nod to attention to detail.
Service was friendly and attentive. Overall, I enjoyed dining here and would come back.
If you park in their lot, you need to get a parking card from the hostess. She writes the date on it and hands it to you. You display it on the dash. Yes, they do check! I guess there was a huge parking problem before. They checked with all the diners to ask if their cars had the card.

1. fooled by the radio commercial
2. No one tells us only sitting at sushi bar can get $ 1 sushi
3. Bugs flied around and landed on our food
4. Terrible service
The korean radio plays Izakaya Mai’s commercial every day, emphasizing the 5−6pm $ 1 Happy hour sushi menu.
When I arrived the restaurant at 5:30pm, the employee told me they are not open yet. I was thinking maybe they thought i m here for regular dinner so i told them I m here for the Happy hour that starts at 5pm! She holds the menu and shows me: «Happy hour? Starts at 6pm!»
I was confused and told her the commercial said 5−6pm. She was surprised «REALLY!!!». So I waited outside for 30mins till 6pm and went back to the restaurant again.
I was seated on a table. Looking at the menu for what to order, apparently it says «Only first 5 pieces of sushi is $ 1 each». I was like… WHAT??? Feeling i m fooled by the commercial. And other food is a little bit pricy too.
When I was ordering the food, the server said $ 1 sushi is only available if we are seating at the sushi bar. My WHAT? face came out again. Okay fine. Changed our seats in order to get the deal. How do we suppose to know this if you didn’t tell us before we get seated? The employees should have asked so we don’t have to move around.
The food is just okay compares to other Izakaya that charges the similar prices. Ordered Pork Kakuni, Miso Eggplant and The worst is the Soft Shell Crab.
And there were at least 2 bugs flying around us and one of it Landed and Died on our food.
Terrible service. No one take away the finished plates. And no one comes back to check if we are paying for cash or need to swipe the card for the bills. So i decided to walk to cashier with my card instead of waiting forever.
Will never come back again

I like going to their sushi bar. Little cozy and this is only izakaya that I go to by myself.
I recommended this place to many people and they liked it too.
The inside look so much different from before, ojiya restaurant where had a little odd odor.
Renovation was mainly done by owner. And it looks so professional!
I also like how they have different sections. Sushi bar, table, and Zashiki where you take off shoes.
Their food. Good. I especially like their sushi. During happy hour, 6 – 7, sushi is only $ 1 a piece up to 5 pieces. Draft is $ 2.
My fav is their salmon, ika and aji.
I definitely go back again!

I was so sad when Ojiya Restaurant closed because i really liked the variety of items that they had on the menu and at a fraction of the cost at what you would pay at those stellar Izakaya’s like Imana’s Tei and Sushi Izakaya Gaku but comparing these places to Ojiya just has no bearing whatsoever. I just liked the convenience of coming to Ojiya because i never ever had to make a reservation here and i could just walk in and dine there without a wait.
Enter Izakaya Mai. This Izakaya was in San Francisco and is no longer there and since moved their location here in Hawaii. I thought there was a connection between Izakaya Mai and Ojiya because i swear the menu is almost identical to Ojiya’s, but with a few menu items added on and a diffrent atmosphere after renovating, they say they are not affiliated with Ojiya so i’ll take it with a grain of salt.
The dining atmosphere here at izakaya Mai looks a lot more appealing to the eye and spacious if you ask me. They also have a sushi counter if you choose to do so
The menu here is just as extensive as Ojiya’s. There are a lot of items to choose from and it really is similar to the Ojiya menu. Price point here is actually quite reasonable and as for the taste of the food, it’s what you would expect to pay for at those prices. Nothing that blew me out of the water or something that made me think about coming here again. But the food wasn’t disappointing nor stellar, just above average if you ask me.
The one thing i love about reading Japanese Menu’s in english is all the typo’s you see on their menu. I’m just a stickler for the spelling of certain type of items on the menu and i surely got a laugh after reading some of the items that they made spelling mistakes on. I give them an A for effort though as it may be difficult through a Japanese person’s eyes.
If there is one thing that terrifies me about new restaurant’s opening up, it’s the level of service and all the mistakes that servers tend to make because they really don’t have a system set in place. For example, as soon as we were seated, it took a good 15 to 20 minutes before someone even came to take our drink order. And usually in Japanese Restaurant’s. the servers there are flies on sh*t as soon as you walk in. That wasn’t the case here at izakaya Mai. Me and my wife were just looking at each other just waiting for someone to ask us for drinks.
Then as soon as someone finally arrives to take our drink order, i wanted to order our food as well, just in case it takes another thirty minutes before our server would ask us if we wanted to order food as well. Well after ordering our drinks and food, our first order of food arrives and my Asahi Beer hasn’t arrived yet. My patience was beginning to wear thin, and i finally asked a young asian server where my Beer was. I though maybe she was going to run across the street to 7 – 11 to get my beer but she was very apologetic when i finally got my beer.
Now i am not going to crucify this place just yet only because they have just opened and they do have kinks to fix about timing and service so i’ll give them a pass this time. But what really got to me was when i ordered French Fries, i asked the same server for some ketchup for my fries but he never came back with it. I just decided to not even bother asking him if he forgot to bring it and just ate the fries as is. It wasn’t like he was busy at all either but it’s little things like this that make or break places that i do repeat business with.
So it may take a while before i set foot in this place again. I really want to like this place because it has potential, but unless i am really desperate for Izakaya style food and want to eat somewhere without having to wait, then i may just have to come back here again.
Here are some things that we had at izakaya Mai
1. Aji Fry: Very disappointing
2. Short Rib Steak: Please don’t ask me why they call it a Short Rib Steak when all it is Kalbi Ribs. I admit, it was actually pretty good
3. Champon: This regional noodle dish from Nagasaki was tasty as well
4. Tebasaki: The Chicken Wings with Shio was delicious as well
5. Grilled Whole Squid: Very soft and great texture. Sauce a tad too sweet for me
6. Beef Tataki Sashimi: Beef Sashimi didn’t taste fresh and a weird after taste
7. Rainbow Roll: Nothing to write home about… very pedestrian
8. Grilled Sausage: Not as juicy as i thought it would be. A little dry if you ask me
Here is one thing that i just couldn’t understand as well. When i ordered a pitcher of beer from a Japanese restaurant, i usually expect it to be served in a plastic pitcher where the beer pours rather easily, but at Izakaya Mai. they serve a pitcher of Beer in a Glass Pitcher that you would get from Ross’s or Pier One Imports.
It was heavy as hell and there was tiny lip where the beeer comes out of so the beer went all over the table and the floor as well. Half of my beer was actually consume by our table and floor. What a complete mess!!!