Michel’s

Place is phenomenal. Staff very friendly. Open immediate a great recommendation was made and the chef sent over a complimentary appetizer. Steak tartare was exquisite. Prepared tableside to ones individual liking. Filet and dessert superb too

Michel’s is one of those classic restaurants that has endured over the years because it’s just that — classic. With old school atmosphere, service, and food, it’s always a treat to go there. One special feature of Michel’s is their tableside preparations. With several appetizers, entrees, and desserts, there is always at least a couple of tables at any given time with one of those carts and a waiter expertly preparing something. With the flambés, it can be quite a show. I’ve never been disappointed with the food, nor with the service. Staff is friendly, engaging, and always quick with a suggestion or an answer to your question. Of course, the place is fairly pricey, even for Waikiki, but the experience is definitely worth the money.

Ok for you fancy pants people, this is it. Old school French cooking. Make a dinner reservation early if you’re trying to romanticize your date and catch the gorgeous sunset. And for the pyro in all of us, the most fiery of table side dishes include the lobster bisque (right? you’d never guess) and their flambé desserts. (Get the crepes) But I’m getting ahead of myself, dinner first.
The escargots are pretty good, nothing extraordinarily different from any other escargot. Caesar salad was also delicious. Lobster bisque and French onion soup was very tasty. Ahi tartare was mediocre. But their seafood en papillote is a baked assortment of seafood like lobster, opakapaka, shrimp etc. baked in parchment paper with a coconut saffron cream with spinach. Delicious. But don’t be fooled by the table side presentation, they literally just cut it open by the table. The chateaubriand was also excellent. The sides that they served was on point. But their bernaise sauce was lackluster.
But save room for dessert. The grand marnier soufflé was to die for. And get those crepes! Trust me, it’ll be a good decision.

This is an awesome place! One of the best locations on the planet! The ocean scenery is surreal! I love it and always will! Thank you for all my family memories. I will miss you Michel when I Leave and my daughter graduates from UH. The best ever all 20 or so times!

OMG feeling blessed and yet this place is good A+++ the food ambience and company. Chance of a lifetime

The atmosphere of Michels is good for a special occasion or night out, especially when they prepare many of the dishes table side, it definitely makes for good dinner entertainment.
My family of 8 had reservations for 8:30pm on Thanksgiving evening on our vacation. While I’m thankful we could get reservations, their general attitude and service left a bad ending for my family’s night.
We preordered soufflés (a family favorite) and after getting told at the end of our evening that they accidentally gave one of our soufflés away… And the other one just disappeared …, we were told that we would be made new ones. Couldn’t find our waiter for the next twenty five minutes, and then when it was finally served … It just didn’t hold up to our expectations. I appreciated that they comped our dessert at the end.
I would have expected any restaurant at this price range to have better service — especially in the way they talk to their customers.

This is my new FAVORITE fancy restaurant!!! I just went recently to celebrate our anniversary and it blew me away! From the service, the ambiance, the food and the staff were just right — everything was wonderful!
I was comfortable and was able to be myself, more so because of what I was wearing. My fiancé and I were dressed nicely but decided to wear our Converse Chuck Taylor kicks to go with it. Soon as we walked in, we could see the «older» and more conservative guests staring at us, probably thinking we’re just a young couple there (not knowing we’re in our 30s). At least that’s what we think they looked like.
From the beginning, the host was very accommodating and we had informed him ahead of time we were running late for our reservations. We were seated in a nice, half round booth and could see about another ¹⁄₃ of the restaurant. Wish we got the window, but I still enjoyed the seats we had.
Our server came and was very thorough with the menu. I love the details of it and he was able to answer all our questions. Our water was always being filled and we were being updated on our orders. We had escargot, steak, fresh opa and a chocolate dessert! The food was superb and that steak just melted in my mouth! Very delicious! Dessert was on the house since we were celebrating our anniversary.
I enjoyed every minute of it and glad the staff were very nice as if we knew them personally because I just felt like we were talking to our own friends, even while leaving the host gave us a bit of history of the place which I found interesting! I highly recommend this place and that’s why I rated it 5 stars! Definitely coming back for more!

Manager/​owner Philip, you are a great guy, thanks to you and Jeff Peterson (and Chef) for giving us a magical evening. The meal was amazing (I grew up a half hour from the French border, oui, oui!) and not overpriced. The music was a gift from heaven. Thanks for hanging out with us and talking story, both of you. The story about Bono was hilarious.

PLAN REZ. 6 – 8 MONTHS AHEAD
Awesome team service, good food. But though we have and can go often, will never get a good table. Best tables are as they are assigned on earliest booked reservation. As the Asian tourist plan months if not a year in advance, they are going to have the best view. We are «airline» though disposed to a weekend fling, we will always be seated in the back.
Love the drama of the table side preparations but did note not all servers trained to prepare table side properly. As fun as it is, your better off with the kitchen sending out your dishes. Table side Caesar routinely over dressed. The genre of restaurant is all but gone, the traditional dishes are well executed. Service amazing, and some seats have great views but you will have to book a half to a year in advance.

Such an amazing room. Elegant and romantic with soft live guitar music and the gentle sounds of the crashing waves about 20 feet away. Impeccable service and very good food.
One of the most unique and standout dishes was the veal appetizer. Thin pieces of veal topped with a creamy tuna and ahi sashimi. Served with roast points.
The venison chop also stood out. Venison chop wrapped in bacon and served with a Cabernet reduction sauce. FYI, venison is very lean and doesn’t have a lot of inherit flavor like a well marbled beef.

Wow, what a disappointment! I have eaten at Michel’s many times over the last 15 years and this was such a let down from my past experiences. We were a table of seven and I had touted Michel’s to my visiting family and friends and insisted that it was the perfect way to end their visit to our Islands.
We arrived and were promptly seated and the table was in a good location separated form the middle of the restaurant. We were greeted by our waiter who then brought us a complimentary tomato based cold soup. We then went into a waiting period where we wondered when the service would continue. We asked one of the staff, not our waiter, for some bread and butter. The waiter came by and informed us that they were not serving bread and butter because of the humidity, but that he would see what he could do, even though it was not at the point in the meal where he would serve us the bread with our entrees.
The cold rolls arrived with butter, one of which was rancid, with no butter knives. They had removed the regular table knives and replaced them with large serrated knives for those having meat. How were they to use those knives for small rolls and butter. I asked for butter knives and after a while, the assistant brought them to our table, announcing that they had found some stored away since they didn’t use them any more.
It set the night off on the wrong foot for us. Even though most of our dishes were good, the service was lacking. I have never been to an up-​scale restaurant where you were left feeling so neglected. The waiter even mentioned to me that I got him in trouble by mentioning the bread situation.
They offered dessert for us on the house, but only one was accepted. They took it to go.
It just wasn’t up to my expectations of the restaurant I loved so much. Things have changed there and it feels like they are scrimping on quality of service as well as what that service in-​tales.

Wow!!! What an amazingly perfect place to celebrate a special occasion! The food, the service, the ambiance and the spectacular ocean views made for a wonderful dining experience.
As soon as we entered, we were warmly greeted by the hostess. She immediately walked us to our window side seats, where we were greeted by several waiters & a bus boy.
They sent us a complimentary curried shrimp on mashed potatoes. We had ordered our drinks by then so it was a nice complement to our cocktails.
We did not want to order our dinner right away so we enjoyed a couple of drinks while enjoying the beautiful view of the sunset. Seemed like there were many celebrations throughout the room, including a wedding party.
We started with the escargot which was probably the best I’ve had. So much so, that I forgot to take a picture of it.
Then we had the french onion soup. Our waiter, Shige, asked if we were going to share, which we were. They brought us each our own soup, baked separately. What a nice touch!
Prior to our entrée, he brought out a sorbet with a blueberry intermezzo.
Shige and Shane (our busboy), were both very attentive. If you ask for directions to the restroom, they don’t tell you where it is, they escort you. And by the time you get back to your seat your napkin is nicely folded again. Once when I returned from the restroom, Shige was busy and another waiter, Duane, from another section of the room appeared from nowhere to pull out my chair. Now that’s service!
For the entrée, we had a seafood dish and a steak. Steak was done tableside and Shige timed it perfectly as we watched the fireworks from across Waikiki beach. Portions were great, as you can see in the picture, and everything was cooked to a tee. Nice mix of flavors and textures.
Even Executive Chef Hardy came to our table. Those little touches really add so much. There’s a definite air of teamwork and family with all the staff.
And just when you think you can’t eat anymore, they showed up with a complimentary birthday dessert. And no, that was not all. He topped it off with Banana’s Foster. My absolute favorite dessert with the absolute best presentation ever!
Needless to say, this was a fantastic evening!!! Everyone from managers to the entire waitstaff really made us feel special and welcomed.
This is a definite «10» and I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a great place to celebrate a special occasion, or any occasion! :-)

Oooooooh la la! Yo! You guys get any Grey Poupon? Buwahahahaha!
Well, I’m definitely not French here… just a local bruddah enjoying a meal with his home gurls!
Thanks to my Unilocal Buddies — Li Y., Ramfis B., William C., Liz T., Kristen K., Cin T., & Ariana M. for posting all their wonderful reviews. Their wonderful reviews only helped me in making a decision to come here for dinner tonight!
So it was my friend Cathy’s burfday — so I booked a reservation for a place called — «Michels». Never been here before, so there’s always a first for everything, Right?
I must say, if you goto the «Open Table» website, it is pretty easy to make a reservation for Michel’s. (That’s what I did).
I made sure we had a table with a view, and I must say… it was the perfect table to see all of god’s glory today! Beautiful sunsets, moonlit stars, tiki torches lit brightly from the beach, & fireworks from the Waikiki skyline! What a dreamy evening!
And guess what gang… I also got «ACTION» tonight!!! Lol! Er, well… maybe not, but I will get to that later… buwahahahaha!
For our appetizer, we ordered some fresh oysters… The oysters comes with ½ a lemon, a shallot vinaigrette dressing, and a cocktail sauce.
I don’t always eat oysters, but I must tell you, the oysters were one of the cleanest oysters I ever tasted! Really delicious!
For my meal, I split a Farmer’s salad with my buddy Sharon, and ordered the Steamed Onaga for my entrée. Sharon also had the Steamed Onaga too…(I think she’s my evil twin! Lol!!! Or perhaps I’m the evil twin? Lol!)
I must say the salad was delicious! I think the waiter told me the salad was organic & locally grown. The salad had — Hearts of Palm, Papaya, Vine Ripened Tomato, Watercress, Radish, Japanese Cucumber, Tarragon, & it was topped with Papaya Seed Dressing.
As for the Onaga (Red Snapper) — My fish was topped with Ginger, Garlic, Green Onion, Chinese Black Bean & Turnip. The fish sat on a bed of Somen Noodles, with Stir-​Fried Mushrooms and Chard from the Big Island. You folks gotta try this dish it was pretty yummy!
The burfday gurl had the — Maui Onion Soup, & the Kurobuta Pork Shank. When the waiter brought out the Maui Onion Soup for my friend, I thought it was one of them Chicken Pot Pies! I swear it looked like a pot pie, until you take off the flaky top, and then you will see the Sweet Maui Onion Soup. NICE!!!
The Kurobuta Pork Shank or you can call it the Veal Osso Bucco… basically it’s a tender Veal Shank braised in Red Wine Demi Glacé, with Saffron Risotto Milanesse, & Wailua Asparagus. I tried a little of my friends Pork Shank… and you know what? It tasted a little like my — Ba Ba Barbecue meat! Lol! Well, maybe an upscale Ba Ba Barbecue meat!
When you come to a place like this… of course you gotta get some desserts. We had the following desserts tonight — a burfday DECADENCE CHOCOLATE CAKE, and to my understanding… they don’t use any flour. So I must say it was very chocolaty! It comes with a scope of ice cream too!
Sharon is a real smart cookie, as she had ordered a Chocolate Soufflé, and a White Chocolate Soufflé… to my understanding, you have to order this in advance, as it takes a little time to make.
As good as the Soufflé & Decadence Chocolate Cake was… what I found out tonight was, I’m not a really big fan of the soufflé, or the Decadence Chocolate Cake. Maybe I’m weird, but I just didn’t care for it much… I took a little bite out of each dessert, just to taste… but none of them really hit the spot for me.
But if you throw a custard pie in front of me, & a few Heineken’s…dude, I will be you friend for life, specially if you get me one of them Ani Custard Pies! Lol!
For refreshments, I pounded down a few Heineken lights with my buddy Cathy! She is the bestest drinking buddy a dude could have cuz she can handle, and I think she’d probably drink me under the table! :)
The restaurant was pretty packed tonight, so probably reservations is a must. I also noticed they had valet parking, but I did the street parking.
I had GREAT COMPANY, Good Food, Great Atmosphere, & Pretty Attentive Service… but why the 4 star rating, instead of the «5».
Well, as I mentioned about «Action» earlier… I the weirdest uncomfortable dining experience tonight… as one of the waiters kept on coming by to our table, and touching me. (You can ask my friends about this, as they also noticed this too)…I swear this dude kept coming by & touching my arm/​shoulder area, and I can see if it was just once or twice, but over 7 times… come on now!!!
He also kept commenting to me about my smile… okay, I’ll take that… but I gonna tell you right off the bat — «I not like dat!» Lol! Totally weird tonight!!! I guess you had to be there to see it… ask my buddy Cathy I., & Sharon H. Totally weird… Lol!

What a great last supper to end our trip.
We snagged the last reservation of the night. Lucky us. I didn’t request for it but they seated us right at the window next to the beach. So relaxing to be enjoying such delicious dishes w/​the cool Hawaiian breeze wafting against your skin and listening simultaneously to the ocean waves along w/​the tunes the harpist was cranking out.
Definitely suggest the Ocean’s Bounty. You get a little of everything and it’s such filling portions. Foie gras w/​watercress was amazing. That escargot… goodness…YUM! The truffle Mac & cheese had so much flavor but was surprisely light.
Meal costed a pretty penny but hey, we’d do it again.

It is difficult for me to rate this restaurant as I was troubled with many pros and cons that reflect on the stars given for this restaurant.
First off, the waiters and staff are VERY friendly. Their customer service is amazing and that was not an issue for me as they are very accommodating.
It was troublesome to find the menu not to include any plant based foods (I wasn’t entirely surprised, I had been eating out quite often in Hawaii and realized this trend between quite a few restaurants).
Our waiter replaced the traditional duck appetizer with a very tasty tomato bisque (I should’ve just ordered a larger serving as my entrée wasn’t that appetizing.)
Since there was nothing really vegetarian, my waiter spoke with the chef to prep an angel hair pasta with simple marinara and vegetables. SUPER bland, while the vegetables were cooked, it had been a simple toss in a heated pan with no flavor. I was so disappointed as it looked soooo good! Plus with the disappointing tablespoon sized amount of marinara for my entire entrée was horrible, it made things even worse.
Lifting my spirits (well, more like the weight of my thighs) was dessert, my goodness, the cinnamon gelato was unbelievably good!

Loved it. Food was awesome and service was even better. The price went with it all. Bill was $ 315. Tip was $ 50.
I will just post the pictures of all the food. We took one dish to go. Guava BBQ something. We didn’t want to come back to try it, we just got it to go. The martinis were strong but yummy.
You have to eat here at lease once. The view was beautiful. Sunset was nice to watch as you eat. It was a three hour dinner so make sure you have time for it.
Valet parking only :)

A little pricey? Yes. A memorable and worth every penny adventure? Definitely yes !!
Since Chef Hardy has taken over this traditionally French restaurant he has transformed it into the most memorable «Pacific Rim French cuisine» meals in the most perfect setting complimented by the best service I have ever experienced. I mean sunset on Waikiki Beach… does it get any better? Ohh wait, yes, sunset on Waikiki Beach with fireworks on Friday nite !
In preparing for this latest gastronomical feast @ Michel’s, I announced to my dinner mates, «I don’t know about you but everything I order will be table side service if I can help it!». And except for a few most memorable dishes such as the seafood spinach salad, that’s exactly what was done. The delicious lobster bisque was flamed at the table. My entrée of beef tenderloin was prepared at the table and finished off with a delicious green peppercorn sauce. Was jockeying in position to order a flaming cherry’s jubilee until I realized I was just too full to handle this. Instead our table ordered two other smaller yet just as memorable desserts to share. Michel’s provided us with a complimentary pineapple goat cheesecake… pure heaven! Other memorable entrees ordered at our table… the lobster thermidor and the seafood papillote… Will be back to try for myself!
Thank you General Manager Phil Shaw, thank you Manager Nathan Aoyagi, thank you to the superb wait team of Kyle and Jody, and BIGGEST thanks to Executive Chef Eberhard Kintscher who makes every meal of mine @ Michel’s magical.
A little pricey? Yes. Most memorable evenings and my new happy place? Yes yes !!

My boyfriend recently took me here for my birthday and what an amazing dinner we had!
I’ve heard of Michel’s from a long time ago. Heard about the tableside preparation of ceasar salad and myself being not the biggest fan of ceasar salads, was never tempted to come and give it a try.
We came here on a wednesday evening. I don’t know what I had expected Michel’s to look like inside but was pleasantly surprised that it was an open air restaurant, oceanside. With the background music of a live ukulele player and the soothing sounds of the waves crashing onto the shore, it proved to be the ultimate romantic setting. *so boys take notes!!*
From the get go, I was won over by our server that night. I wish I could remember his name. He was so incredibly nice and helpful. He and the rest of the staff helped make our night very special.
The food:
Tomato lobster bisque: Prepared tableside. To be honest, this was probably my least favorite dish of the night. It was delicious and creamy, with a few chunks of lobster but there was no wow factor for me. They were nice enough to split it in two for us to share.
Garden salad: They were also kind to offer to split this for us to share as well. It was refreshing and lightly dressed, just the way I like it.
Ocean Bounty: Here comes one of the high and low points of the evening. When the server described this dish to us, he had said it came with oysters rockefellar among other things. When it was brought out, I hadn’t noticed that it was not on the plate (didn’t notice until looking at pictures at home and looking back on Unilocal). Sadness… as a big seafood lover, I really wish I could have tried it. As the service that night was superb, I’d like to think it was an accident that it wasn’t on our dish. Sigh. But, nevertheless, it was delicious. The seared ahi was perfectly cooked and the lobster was amazing. The risotto that came with this dish was also very yummy and I could not stop eating it.
New York Café de Paris: My boyfriend and I both agree that this was one of the better steaks we’ve ever had! Not only was it beautiful to look at, each bite was amazingly yummy. Topped with café de paris herb butter… this steak was nothing but rich, melt-​in-​your-​mouth deliciousness.
The complimentary dessert was a nice way to finish off our evening and meal.
I would definitely recommend that you give Michel’s a try. Everything from the service, ambience and food was impressive. It’s only been a month since going and I already cannot wait to go back!

Michel’s is a beautiful restaurant located right on the beach with the most gorgeous view of the ocean. It’s an ideal place to celebrate a special occasion or bring your out of town guests to dine. While I loved the cuisine, enjoyed the view, the dimly lit ambience was not my favorite. To me, it’s more like a Hy’s, a sort of classic/​old Waikiki feel, if that makes sense. It’s perfect for an intimate romantic dinner and I feel most people love it. I just prefer a more modern ambience like 53 by the Sea.
If you start with a soup, get Michel’s French onion served with a puff pastry shell. Delicious! When onaga is on the menu, I will order it and it was perfectly served steamed with ginger, garlic, green onion, Chinese black bean and turnip with somen noodles. For dessert, I shared the Grand Marnier Soufflé. It was seriously amazing. It is my new favorite dessert. Very delicious! A must order!
Service is attentive. Complimentary valet parking is available.

Total best experience at a restraunt… accommodating and peaceful. Wonderful food, the staff are professionals and very experienced. I had an amazing meal prepared vegan by Chef Hardy and it was a beautiful experience seeing dishes being infused with Hawaiian Crown pineapples!
I will absolutely return as well as recommend ;)