Tsukuneya Robata Grill

Being that I’m a student at UH, you wouldn’t think it’d take me YEARS of seeing this place to finally try it. I should have crossed the street earlier!
First, the place is way bigger than it looks. It’s very spacious and it’s a nice place to just sit down and eat — it’s comfy and relaxing.
The food and drinks are pretty reasonably priced. I just thought it was odd that they’d priced the tsukune for one stick but make the minimum order for said tsukune two orders (i.e., menu says x-​tsukune is $ 2.20 but you’d need to order at least two, totaling $ 4.40). Anyway, we tried the peppercorn, egg, Parmesan & tartar sauce, and goma (sesame) tsukune — all were delicious but the peppercorn was probably my favorite. We also got the zaru tofu which was delicious. It just melted in my mouth. It comes with a spicy yuzu. We also ordered the natto in fried aburaage; we both love natto so it was delicious. Our main meal was the paitan nabe which I didn’t care for too much. Dont get me wrong — it wasn’t bad, but in retrospect, 18 sticks of peppercorn tsukune would have been a bit more pleasing to me (but that’s just me).
Tip: each tsukune takes about 10 minutes to cook after the order has been taken. Plan accordingly!

Tsukuneya Robata Grill has a beautiful interior and you get an immediate feel of Japan with some traditional seating. The food was amazing for the price! Their salads are extremely delicious, the ramen was unexpectedly one of the best, the sushi was good, yakisoba tasted so authentic, and the hamburger steak was awesome! Kamemashi was expensive, but I would order it again for its taste. I recommend coming early at around opening hour because the restaurant became filled when we were leaving (6:00). Jazzy and nice music was played in the restaurant followed with an overall quietness. Maybe because we went earlier, but the service was very good as I have no complaints and left satisfied. I regret not trying the desserts, but there’s always a next time. Even my mother, who is extremely picky with her food, was seen for once enjoying what was ordered as being pleased with the taste. I am definitely coming again and highly recommend this restaurant for a nice date, work dinners, family dinners (not too young children).

Great food! Counter seats are the best! Quiet, and comfy! I like the fact that it is quiet place for weekend! I reallu enjoyed the crab sunomono, and chawanmushi!

Fantastic place, great yakitori, awesome chicken skin. Definitely will be back. Very traditional Japanese, can’t wait to enjoy another meal there.

Just gotta say that this place is one of our family favorites. It never seems to disappoint us except for one time when it was the waiter’s fault who had a bad night. Other than that, we like coming here when visitors come from Japan or when we want to eat a nice meal. My wife being from Japan likes the food and service here. My favorites are the garlic tsukune, chive beansprout pork dish, daikon salad, tenmusu and the ramen.

Great atmosphere and quite authentic. Interesting house made tofu… was a little blend but it was still good. I thought the chicken on the skewer was like chicken piece but it’s more like ground chic. Maybe that is the authentic way? Regardless the sauce made the chic taste pretty awesome. Chic wing is $ 1 each which is perfect cuz that’s my favorite dish. We also ordered fried chic skin but it was really oily. I forgot the dish name but it was a rice dish where they cook the rice in a small pot table side… took about 30 mins for the rice to cooked. It topped with uni and crab meat… it was ok… overall I enjoyed my meal there but next time I will just stick with skewers.

This is one of my favorite Japanese restaurants in Hawaii for many many reasons: food is top quality, delicious and fresh, the staff is the friendliest group of respectable men and women, the hours of operation are the best– they stay open late and we need more places that stays open after 10pm, you never have to wait to be seated, the ambiance is romantic, perfect lighting and has good energy to fall in love all over again. They have an amazing Happy Hour menu after 9pm and the food selections are the best. It’s the best deal in town! We need more after 9pm menus ! Parking is available and convenient and this restaurant holds a special place in heart for this is where it all began!

After seeing their crab croquette special in an ad, I’ve been waiting to go here. I guess it would’ve been better if we never had a chance to go.
Good:
–I liked the croquette — very creamy inside and tasty. It reminded me of the gratins I had in Japan.
–Their deep fried yam in nori was also good where the yam had a slight kick to it and was all gooey.
Bad:
–I had the spicy Taiwanese ramen — and it was really spicy (which I didn’t mind) but the ramen was all clumped together and hardly edible.
–Because the ramen was spicy, I needed water. Plenty water. But they hardly came to refill.
–We ordered tsukune and chicken in the very beginning. Someone who joined us halfway also placed an order. We were almost done with our meal and asked how much longer it would take. The first lady said she’ll check and never came back. The second guy said he’ll check and came back saying it’ll take another minute. And so it came — but I’m pretty sure they forgot about the order because it definitely doesn’t take over an hour to grill these…
–Same as the tsukune and chickens, some other orders were forgotten and we had to keep on asking where the food was. The worst was the shrimp sashimi that came when we were pretty much ready to leave.
–Someone else ordered their Japanese-​style hamburger and side rice to go with it. They brought out the rice set early on and that person was pretty much staring at the thing while everyone else ate. By the time the hamburger came, the rice was all cold.
–They also tried to serve us someone else’s food and looked very confused.
–In general, the servers weren’t attentive at all (although the guy was better than the lady)
I also wanted to try their desserts but we all agreed that it’ll probably take a really long time to come out so we opted not to stay. We probably won’t return ever again. For the price we paid, it just wasn’t worth it.

Came here for dinner with friends. They little sausages are yummy and you can order different kinds like jalapeño, mustard, wasabi and more. My favorite is the cheese fondue
Also had their ramen. The broth is yummy and the noodles weren’t too bad.
They also have happy hour specials after 9pm. A nice place to check out

Dined at Tsukuneya on University for Valentine’s Day, 2016. Parking is free valet right up front, mainly because their lot is so small. Hostess at the front was friendly and got my friend and I seated for our 7:00 pm reservation right away. Our server, Felix, came by once we were seated to ask us for beverage selection, which was a little too soon. Though it was Vday, it wasn’t a full house at this Robata restaurant at prime time. I ordered a draft Sapporo while my friend stuck with water. When our server came to deliver the beer, he had to ask which of us ordered it. Seems a little sketchy, seeing that either of us could of claimed it to be ours, while they only checked my ID.
Items we ordered:
Zaru Tofu ($ 8.50) — made in house, this dish comes with a clear broth to eat the tofu with
Daikon Salad (Mini $ 7) — SO good! Shredded daikon, not bitter at all served with lettuce and cherry tomatoes with a fresh dressing
Teriyaki Tsukune– teriyaki sauce on ground chicken on a stick, super yummy
Tsukimi Egg Tsukune– plain tsukune with soft boiled egg for dipping, not my favorite, but my friend really liked the fresh egg.
Chawanmushi ($ 8) — steaming hot and a soft texture. Included are chicken, shrimp, and topped with sliced mushroom
Salt Butter Ramen ($ 8.25) — a little on the bland side, as it’s only ramen noodles and some green onions, not quite worth the $ 8+ for this ramen
Spicy Donburi ($ 12) — my friend enjoyed this, the ahi might’ve been previously frozen and not fresh, but she couldn’t tell for sure. The sauce was a little on the light side (more mayo than spicy)
Coffee Jelly with Ice Cream ($ 4.75) — served in a small glass goblet, the coffee jelly was a great consistency and on the bitter side, which went well with the vanilla ice cream topping. Just be sure to eat them together
Fried Monkey Banana with Ice Cream ($ 9.50) — Wowzer, almost $ 10 for a dessert? This one came with 3 breaded banana pieces, two generous scoops of vanilla ice cream and two crispy crêpe-​like garnishes all drizzled with chocolate sauce
Service was a bit slow, with staff members come by to swiftly pickup empty dishes, but never quite getting around to asking how we were doing or if we wanted to add on any other items (we had to flag down our sever a few times to order additional dishes). The only downside was the time we waited between finishing out entrees and getting our dessert orders taken. My Coffee Jelly arrived within minutes, while my friend’s banana dessert took about 15 minutes. With my ice cream melting with every ticking minute, I would’ve liked them to come out at the same time.
Overall, easy location, good food, extensive menu and mediocre service at Tsukuneya Robata Grill.

Unfortunately this robata grill did not meet expectations. Came here on a Saturday night and it wasn’t that crowded and yet they were out of many dishes we wanted — they had only the basic kamemeshi, no eel, and only a few dishes from their Taste of Nagoya section.
We ordered a few different dishes — salad, tsukune, kamemeshi but the salad took over twenty minutes to arrive. The serving order was off.
All in all, I really wanted this place to be better but the lack of availability of dishes really made it a poor experience.

Stars only for the ambiance. It was such a bad experience that I seriously just left and I’m writing this review. We had family friends in town from abroad so my dad made reservations for late night. We got there at 10, were told to wait for another hostess, a little weird but no big deal. She showed us to our seats and we get some food orders in. Maybe 20 minutes later, my dad’s phone rings, it’s the restaurant asking if we’re coming or not. My dad informs them that we’re already here and are sitting down. That’s where I start getting really annoyed.
The food slowly comes out, no big deal, but towards the end, my boyfriend puts in an order, 15 minutes later we still don’t have it. If it was busy, we’d understand, but it was midnight and there was one other table besides us. He got up to cancel the order and was met with an «uuuhhhh… It just came up.» So we were forced to pay for food we no longer wanted and forced to wait for the food we no longer wanted. On top of that, the sign outside advertising drink specials apparently doesn’t go into affect until next week.
Tl;Dr false advertising with signage outside, food might take long even if it isn’t busy and you’ll be forced to accept it, and they might call you while you ate seated asking if you’re going to honor your reservation. Do not recommend.

Took the husband on a date night here to fill epic Japanese cravings and after a long long time of wanting to try here.
When we called for reservations earlier in the afternoon, I was told «only bar seating» so I thought ok they must be pretty packed for a Saturday night, right? WRONG! When we checked in, we saw quite a few open spots on tables so maybe they thought they’d save it for some big party later on?
I kept hearing about the Kamameshi, but there wasn’t anything special about it — there wasn’t any taste. The dash they provided to pour over didn’t do anything for it at all. The only thing I liked was that you could watch it cook inside by watching the flame light up and wither. Husband ordered the Uni kamameshi and felt disappointed how little they gave.
The ankimo was pretty good, but I wish they gave one more slice. Everything else they ordered seemed ok, but made me miss Yakitori Glaad even more.
The service was iffy and a little impersonal as well. After the waitstaff brought one dish, we had to always make motions (after the plate was clearly empty) for them to take away the place to make more room for the rest of our dishes. Shouldn’t that be automatic?
I’m glad we finally tried this place, but nothing special about it would bring me to go out of my way to return again.

It is my first time to go there.
Great food and we enjoyed.
Just no server came, always we had to look and ask for server. Bad…
Star for only food!

So, as my education and early career moved me all over the state of California, I got to experience some amazing Asian cuisine. I did San Diego. Berkeley. Los Angeles. West Hollywood. San Jose. Santa Cruz. Now San Francisco.
And in each of these places, I sought the best Asian food I could find. I discovered Bombay Exotic Indian Cuisine (San Diego), Lucky House (Berkeley), Orochon Ramen (LA), Señor Sisig (SF). I ate at these places religiously. Constantly. Brought friends. Dozens of them. Finding legit Asian food everywhere I go is like a religion to me.
And this place is serious as a heart attack. Every course was amazing. The setting, while understated (perhaps not by Honolulu standards), was sharp and clean. The ambiance mellow yet classy. The servers super-​friendly. The prices shockingly reasonable.
This is my big Honolulu recommendation from now on. In fact, I have a friend I’m meeting for coffee next week, pre-​Honolulu-​trip, and this will be the first one I write down for her.
Stop reading this and just go. Now.

This is some of my friend’s favorite restaurant and I finally got to try it. I’m not a big fan of chicken though and their most popular item on the menu is the tsukune, which is a chicken meat ball grilled and covered with a sauce. They have at least 20 different sauces to choose from such as wasabi, cayenne, cheese and teriyaki. If you are unsure which to try, I would suggest the managers special where the chef decides 5 different flavors for you to taste! Even if you don’t like chicken, like me, you will easily find other things to eat because they have such a large menu. I highly recommend the kamameshi and the hamburger steak, but be sure to order these at the beginning as it takes about 20~30 minutes to prepare. Their ramen is also yummy.
I think this is a great place for friends to dine over delicious food and drinks in a modern atmosphere. My only gripe is that the serving sizes are fairly small so if you have a large group, it is harder to share. However, a group of 4 works perfectly! Their service was terrific; our server was friendly, helpful and always there when we needed a refill of water and/​or beer before the last drop was gone! The restaurant is within walking distance from University of Hawaii. There is not much parking though, so you either have to find street parking or valet. It gets busy, so I recommend making reservations ahead of time. Enjoy!

Ask me how much I like this place. Enough to have been here 4 times this summer, twice in the last two weeks. Enough to bring all my out of town guests here. Enough to come out of Unilocal retirement to write a review.
The ambience is really nice and the food is really good. It looks a little sketch outside, but it’s pretty inside.
Save room for dessert! Get more than one!

It was an accident! I wasn’t suppose to eat here but due to some miscommunication, indeed I ended up stepping into this pretty neatly decorated place with some friends. The moment we were seated, I immediately wanted to fall asleep. The amount of light given was just enough to read the menu. All they needed is a comfy futon, next to the sushi bar.
The Menu
The menu was quite overwhelming. They have specific categories from Tsukune to Robata, pupus, tofu (yes tofu category!), shrimp, salad, nabe, sashimi, donburi sashimi, sushi, kamameshi, ramen to dessert. If you haven’t been here yet, I would recommend to familiarize yourself and ask lots of questions. Especially if you’re a picky eater and are unfamiliar with certain ingredients your palette cannot handle.
Out of all that? I decided on the Teriyaki Chicken (from the tsukune line, tuna roll from their sushi menu, and Spicy Miso Beef ramen. Don’t forget that the Robata items need to be ordered in pairs though the prices on their menu indicates the price of one. The price for one seemed so appealing (way to up sell). It’s delicious but adds up slowly but surely. So come here with a group of friends to share because sharing is caring. Food tasted great, expensive and are served too small.
Service
Service was excellent. I had ordered the tuna roll but was taken aback when I took my first bite. It had a strong taste of wasabi. I am not a fan of wasabi. The server took the dish and exchanged it without a fit. I was very thankful. He also took the time to introduce everything to my group. Always check their monthly specials.
Parking
I really enjoyed how easy it was just to park valet (free but don’t forget to tip). I came here around 6:30pm. There are street parking but depending on the time you come here, parking can be challenging or you will still need to pay for parking elsewhere. I was impressed at how quickly valet got my car after dinner. The valet employee stated as soon as the check is paid, they are sent a signal of when they’re suppose to pick up the car. Wow!
I wouldn’t mind coming back here again to try more things from their Kamameshi line. It seem more filing for the price, but the serving size is always questionable.

We originally wanted to go to another restaurant but we ended up here as a second choice. It ended up being a great choice!
We loved it! The food was delicious and the service was great! They were very helpful and attentive. We also had our 3 year old son with us and it worked out because they gave us a booth that provided us the privacy we needed. He was very comfortable on the pillows and we didn’t feel bad about him moving around.
We ordered a lot of dishes and shared family style. We ordered different types of tsukuneya (ponzu, garlic, and miso), curry udon, paitan ramen, bacon wrapped scallop, fried cheese, arabiki, and yaki onigiri. All of the dishes were amazingly good and there was no dish we didn’t care for.
We can’t wait to go back!

My boyfriend and I made a reservation last minute for Christmas dinner. We were told that the only seats available were at the counter. Unless, we wanted to eat at 5, but have a 30 minute time limit. My boyfriend and I gladly took the counter, assuming the restaurant was going to be packed. Come our reservation time, we entered the restaurant to see maybe 3 other parties available. There were many tables open, and we were seated at a completely empty counter. I initially figured that they probably didn’t want us seated at a table, in case a bigger party ended up walking in? But was shocked when another party of 2 walked in without a reservation and was allowed to sit at a table.
Onto the food. The tsukune did not disappoint! Ranging from $ 1.80 to a little under $ 3 a piece, they come in a range of flavors. My boyfriend and I ordered the teriyaki, salt, and the tsukimi egg. On a side note, they apparently have a rule where you need to order at least 2 orders of each tsukune. They were all very tasty, and I highly recommend the tsukimi egg! It comes with a perfectly poached egg on the side of teriyaki tsukune. We also ordered some yakitori from the robata grill, but were a little disappointed that they were overcooked. We ended up ordering a number of other dishes, but none of them were very memorable. For dessert, they did have a number of parfaits, but we’re saving those for our next visit.
The service was very good. Our waiter was very knowledgeable about the food and initially was very quick to take our order and ask us if we were doing alright. Overall, I give Tsukuneya 3 stars. It is «A-​OK» and I wouldn’t mind coming again in the future!