Tanaka of Tokyo Central

Our chef Pono was absolutely amazing! The food was out of this world! I so recommend this place

Came here for a birthday date, and the food and service was outstanding! The food quality, the service and the atmosphere of the restaurant was amazing.

So we had a great experience here on our first night in Oahu. Hubster got the wagyu beef and i got the seafood combo. Its a teppanyaki restaurant and the service was impeccable. Justin was our server and our cook was Harlan i think. Sorry dude. Super funny guy and great service from Justin. They also took a photo of us and me being a tourist HAD to buy it. Hah. Thank you all for a great night. Super ono!

Mickey was our server, very good service! Always checking up on our table and overall very friendly and funny. Our cook Pono, was very entertaining and gave us a good laugh. I’ve eaten at many locations at this way by far one of the best experiences! Definitely will come back.

One of the best hibachi places I have been too. My boyfriend and I really enjoyed the food taste/​quality and our chef (Kimo) was the best! Kimo was funny yet professional, he was also happy to tell us some great locations on the island to visit and explore. Great place to get a Mai Tai!
Giving it four stars instead of five because it gets super hot in there! I recommend sitting at a station near the front windows

Jan8 2016
I friends and I went here for our friend b-​day. We had chef Pono. He was cool and made us laugh and made all our night with an amazing experience. Tanaka of Tokyo central promote this guy. He’s very passionate of what he does and very good at it. Thanks Pono. We had a blast as you as our chef. We will come back and make sure you cook for us again.

The staff was super apologetic when we had an incident at our table.

I make it simple… AMAZING!!!
Nothing else to say.
From food quality to service to ambiance, everything was amazing

I came here for a friend’s going away party. I’ve been a fan of Tanaka the last 3 years. When my daughter was 2 she requested to go here (Ala Moana location) because it’s the VROOM place (she’s referring to the big fire the chef makes with the onion.) It’s very entertaining. I love their teriyaki chicken. I ordered a lobster tail too which was sooo good. I also ordered the fried rice. You really can’t go wrong here. You get veggies, rice (fried rice is an uo charge), soup, green tea and ice cream with your meat. It’s so much food. I end up with food to go. Very clean restaurant.
It’s located on the 2^nd floor I believe? If you are walking around Waikiki you may miss it. It’s below Buho. It’s a very clean and attentive restaurant. This location is very touristy. They even came and took our picture to buy. I didn’t. I live here so I wasn’t really into taking a picture. That’s probably the only thing I would change is that I felt that taking a picture giving Shaka was forced by the the photographer. Besides that I’m a Dana of Tanaka.

What a fantastic time! This Japanese/​teppanyaki restaurant exceeded our expectations! We had a family of 8 and ranged from age 10 and up. Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. Pono was our chef and Vanessa was our server. Both were personable and fun and right on top of all our needs.
The food was terrific and the delivery even better. What a great time! Pono was a terrific chef. Very funny and appropriate for all ages. Vanessa did a great job taking care of us.
We look forward to coming back in the future.

Excellent service from the time we were greeted to Chef Kimo’s expert cooking tricks and Peter’s waiting. Hard to find such great service. Plus we weren’t bored. Kimo kept us entertained the whole time!
My friends surprised me with a birthday cake and song and let me tell you the cake too was delish.
Totally recommend this place. You have to try it. Benihana’s ain’t got nothing on Tanaka’s!

We showed up early and one of the gentlemen was placing their sign up. He was very interested in what we thought and vice versa. Our daughter completed our party and we went up to the Resturant on the 3^rd floor. Very impressive to say the least. We were showed where the restrooms were and seated at our table. Our waiter took every care to answer all of our questions and asked us some questions as well. Our chef, we learned was a fellow kaimaina, being raised here on Island. We were given our order wonderfully and accurately. We filled out the customer satisfaction card and came to be questioned where on the internet we found the Resturant. He was kind and very animated on how we found and felt about the Resturant. Given a choice 10 out of 10 we would return.

One of two things is true if you’re reading this:
A) You’re really hungry and one of your day’s goals is to find that perfect lunch/​dinner spot, oh excuse me, the delicious spot.
Or B) You’re really curious about what this restaurant has to offer.
Regardless, this one’s for you.
Like:
— Master teppanyaki chef «Kimo» made my dinning experience more fun. His hard work showed up on the hot iron griddle.
— Eater-​tainment art. is guaranteed to make you smile. This is by far a popular stop for the fun-​foodie crowd.
— Service: friendly across the board, complemented by the energetic atmosphere.
— Location– in the heart of Waikiki.
— I went alone but left with new friends.
— Hands down the best thing I ate that trip: these Chicken teriyaki strips were perfectly cooked, and coated with butter, Tanaka’sspecial teriyaki sauce. How could this dish be wrong? as our incredible chef” Kimo” was saying «more butter, more better.»
Dislike:
Nothing!
Fives Unilocal

This place was good. Pretty much the exact same thing as Benihana or Kobe, but slightly more sophisticated. I would even venture to say the ingredients are identical.
Service is super friendly and the chefs are way more talented than their competition.
A lot slower of an experience, so you don’t get a chance to stuff your face. I assume they want you to enjoy your self instead of pumping people in and out like a factory.
The only thing that is against them is their prices. Maybe, I mean MAYBE, a little more expensive than the others. Your choice.

My party of four came here to celebrate a friend’s 21^st birthday and our excitement went down as soon as we walked through the entrance. Celina (sp?) and a young man (who seemed new at the job) were at the front desk. Celina asked for my last name and she completely butchered the pronunciation. Another other young woman, Lindsey, called for my party and she too butchered my last name. My last name is Japanese/​Okinawan so I was pretty disappointed in the pronunciation of my last name in a Japanese restaurant.
When we got to our seating area, Lindsey seated us, came back and asked us to move, then came back again and asked us to move. This made us really uncomfortable. Then, our water (Kido?) took our orders. He was kind and attentive, especially when asking about my vegetarian meal (how and when it’s cooked) Note for vegetarians: they have a set vegetarian meal (that I didn’t actually see on the menu — I had emailed ahead of time asking about it) that includes «tofu steak» and a lot of veggies.
While we waited for our chef, this heavily-​accented European (?) woman came by with a camera taking pictures of each party. When she was taking pictures of my party, she told us to do the «shaka shaka.» We went along with it but as locals, hearing someone say «shaka shaka» is pretty disturbing and a bit offensive. Is this really what Hawaii is being sold as?
Our chef, Quan (sp?), came and did the usual introduction of himself and asked everyone at the table where we’re from. After a while, we noticed that Quan was quite boring. Each time he added butter (which was very often), he would say, in a monotone voice, «mo’ butta mo’ betta» which got old pretty fast. Sure, he did the usual onion volcano but his lacking personality didn’t add any pizazz to our meal. One of the things Tanaka of Tokyo is known for is their upbeat chefs and their enjoyable personalities. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as upbeat/​fun as the other chefs and didn’t try to interact much with those of us at his table.
Quan cooked my meal before cooking everyone else’s even though I told Kido I didn’t mind it being cooked alongside everyone else’s because it would be awkward to be the only one eating. I understand the logic/​thought behind cooking a vegetarian’s meal first but I had already explained that I didn’t mind it being cooked alongside everyone else’s.
The tofu steak was cut into bite-​sized pieces in what I think was a teriyaki sauce — very tasty. Veggies were also tasty, though I wish I had known ahead of time that there were mushrooms included because I don’t eat mushrooms. I shared a «Japanese Peach Sangria» and a «Roppongi Melon» with a friend and they were very good. I was glad to see that they weren’t served in small glasses so I thought it was worth the price.
Included at the end of our meal was a small scoop of ice cream. Nothing unique to Japanese culture like mochi or anything of that sort. Just boring ice cream flavors that we could easily get elsewhere. Dessert is a good opportunity for Tanaka of Tokyo to get creative and showcase a dessert that blends local culture in Hawaii and that of Japanese culture into something unique to Tanaka of Tokyo.
At the end of our dining experience, we were given a review sheet. I wish I had more time to write on it but we were in a bit of rush to get out. Though, as the 2-​star rating says, «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» Overall, I was disappointed with our experience as a whole.

This place is overrated. The staff was great and very attentive — but other than than, I can’t seem to get a bite of the what the hype is about at this restaurant. I think the only person who deserved the 5 stars is our chef that night who had a great sense of humor and was seriously Tiger Wood’s doppleganger! LOL. Anyway, back to the subject of food. I ordered the teriyaki chicken and my husband ordered the Kobe beef and lobster entrée. Our entrees came with sides that I didn’t care for such as stir fried vegetables, fried rice and… uh, a dish of bean sprouts. The stir fried vegetables was nothing spectacular. Just onions, bell peppers and mushrooms mixed in with soy sauce. Husband and I didn’t even touch it. Fried rice wasn’t any better. Bland with very little seasoning and meat/​vegetables. My teriyaki chicken was mediocre, definitely something that I could have whipped up in my kitchen. (Considering I was pregnant, my options were very limited considering majority of their entrees is raw. Probably wouldn’t have opted for the chicken had I not been pregnant.) My hubby’s lobster was totally overcooked. Dry and chewy! Hubby didn’t finish it. Though I could not try his Kobe beef meat, he only ate two pieces and refused to finish the rest. He said it was not even cooked to his «medium rare» request nor was it marinated well. After the main entrée, we were served bean sprouts which we also ended up not eating. I didn’t even know bean sprouts cooked by itself ever was considered to be a side. I did feel kind of bad for not finishing any of the food served to me, but honestly the food was well below my expectations. By the time they finished serving the bean sprouts, my husband and I requested for our check and left. Didn’t stay to the end where they serve tea and ice cream.
If you’re looking for fulfilling meal, I highly suggest you go out to Wolfgang or Ruth Chris for more of a quality meal. If you’re in it just for the entertainment and could careless about the food quality, then this place is for you. Good luck.

It’s funny when you think you know all popular concepts out there only to discover you completely missed one. I walked in thinking this was a Japanese steakhouse and that was a correct assumption. So the live display cooking took me by surprise. I really like the menu layout and complete meal options.
I decided to order ala carte and it was fantastic. Started off with the blackened ahi, a beautiful cut of premium tuna with a tasty seared blacked spice. The prawns were wonderful with the ginger dipping sauce. All the vegetables were great, mushrooms, onions, peppers and sprouts. Then fried rice, pickled vegetables and miso soup both delicious. Then the sirloin steak with brown butter dipping sauce, perfect.
The server and chef were excellent very fun with commanding presence and style. This was a great experience and I will stop back by to try a bit of the Wagyu steak next time. Thank you for a great evening!

Came here for dinner on our last night in Hawaii in May.
We were in Hawaii for almost two months and was a bit hesitant to make a booking here during our trip coz it just seemed like a typical tourist trap right on the main strip in Honolulu.
Needless to say, we were pleasantly surprised.
Kimo our server was so incredibly talented and fun!
The food was deliciously prepared and we had a fabulous night out.

An excellent tepanyakki restaurant in Waikiki and one of the best of its kind.
The tables are small offering privacy and helping keep the intense cooking fumes out of the picture… not like Benihana where you can expect to leave smelling like fish.
The service was excellent, the show from the chef was also very good.
Food quality was very good… The lobster was one of the best in a loooong time.
Happy to recommend it and hope to come back soon :)!

Tasty food and entertaining teppanyaki chefs are to be found here!
We came here for a family reunion dinner and had about 20 people gathered around a table. The teppanyaki chefs were really nice and made sure that it wasn’t awkward for people who didn’t want to participate in the performative aspect of the meal. They also made sure that our meals were cooked as we wanted; the garlic fried rice was really good and our chef even put more garlic and butter in it on request. Yum.
I ordered the scallops, and they had a great texture and didn’t get rubbery at all. The garlic shrimp were really good as well, as was the chicken, which was tender without getting all dry.
There was a hiccup or two with their management though. My sister had booked our family dinner here following my wedding, and had organized a deal with tanaka where we’d get a complimentary dessert and the thing where the waitstaff all come and clap and song and do that stuff. When they went to confirm this with her, they actually came up to me and my husband and started taking to is about it, spoiling the surprise. Womp womp. Still, they were very nice and the dessert was okay.
It was a really fun dining experience, although of course it was quite spendy so it’d be good for a special occasion.

War absolut in Ordnung. Der Koch machte eine ordentliche Show.
Das Essen an sich war fantastisch und die Preis-​Leistung insgesamt absolut fair.
Man sollte vorher reservieren.

ich glaube das ist der beste Japan Restaurant der ganze Insel! Das essen war super!
Show Auflage ist immer Amüsant! :-D