Yakiniku Futago

OMG this place makes my taste buds sing! We ordered various steak and pork belly dishes, some which we cooked ourselves and others were cooked by our very sweet server Rachel. For me Yakiniku is like s combination of yakitori and nabe style cooking and it is so awesome please stop reading this review and get your grill on at Yakiniku Futago. Arigato!

The food was good, excellent service! This’s my first time there, the waiter takes his time to explain the menu and he help us cook almost all the foods we ordered. Yes, it’s a little pricey!

In Japan, the server cooks the meat because they have the expertise to cook it correctly. Unfortunately, the server butchered the meat with scissor and then went on to have them cook it ourselves. Train your servers!
Other dishes that they are supposed to cook in front of us were left on the side of the table to cook for ourselves. There are certain dishes on the menu that are supposed to be prepared by the server. At other tables, they were cooking the meat but not our table. Any establishment should treat all customers the same. Unacceptable!

Definitely good quality meats but kinda pricey like everyone else stated. Looking at 50 – 60 bucks a head which included a few beers. Parking lot is kinda tight behind the restaurant (about 4 – 5 stalls, maybe 8 if you double park). Good if you lookin to celebrate something, definitely not going to be my every week yakiniku place.

I have tried a lot of yakuniku and a chef myself but futago one of my top places to go even well done steak was still juicy Harry was awesome checking up on us often n had small talk with him too love it .I’m surprised it not as busy as it should be but I guess it’s perfect for a small date or a place to drink.

Mix thoughts about this place. Meat quality was alright, portions are small and pricey! Service was ok… didn’t like the idea of them cooking for you. Not sure if I will return, there wasn’t anything special about it.

We enjoyed first visit to the FUTAGO!
HAMIDERU KALBI was good! I wish the cut was little more thicker for $ 30!
IPPON HORMONE is fresh and good!
Special U.S. prime short rib was pretty good for the price!
Rice was not so good… I wish they use Japanese brand rice!
Spicy KALBI soup needed more flavor…
Overall we would like to come back soon!

Great food. Quality meats. Everything u want in a yakiniku place. Service was alright. Certain orders they cook your food. Large draft beers. Reasonable alcohol.
If you are looking for some of the best quality meats and marinade and if you love garlic, this is it

Decent meat. Kind of a trendy type of style place. They try to make it special by preparing it at the table for you. It was a cool experience.

Came here for dinner with friends and was very happy that the food is delicious! I especially enjoyed the cabbage salad and premium meats that my friends ordered (I forgot what they were called. sorry). Our server was Eliot and he was awesome! He explained everything to us and helped us cook the meat so that we didn’t burn anything and ate it cooked at the perfect temperature. The drinks were really tasty (we had chuhais. grape, white peach, ginger) but not too strong. I guess that’s what I get for ordering a chuhai, next time I’ll order a bottle of iichiko and add it to my chuhai! Really great service and outstanding food.
But I have to comment on the bathrooms. The bathrooms here are amazingly clean and have the awesome Japanese bidet toilets. Not only that, but the workers here really take care of their bathrooms to make sure it’s clean and everything is neat. There are small things in the bathrooms for customers like q-​tips, Burt’s Bees hand lotion (how nice!), mouthwash, and little cups to dispense the mouthwash. Everything was neatly stacked and there was no rubbish or anything. I really think you can tell how much a place cares about their customers, besides the obvious food quality and customer service, but by how clean their kitchen and bathrooms are. I would definitely come here again!

Everything was good but food took very long to come out. Waited over 20min for a small bowl of cold noodles and it was slow

Maybe I’m old school, but if I’m paying $ 175 to eat for two, I’d hope to be full after the meal. The food is good, don’t get me wrong. The value though? Outrageous.
We opted for the tasting menu at $ 50 per person which included assorted kimchi, salad, egg soup, a few meats, a cup of garlic rice and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. We each had two large Asahi drafts which put the bill up higher.
The standout meat was the kalbi. It were very tasty. The sausage tasted just like those vienna breakfast sausages. There were four pieces of all the meats, I think four meats total.
They brought out the rice very late in the meal which I found odd because usually it’s a staple alongside the side dishes. The garlic rice was tasty, but like everything else, the portion size so small it seemed stingy.
We calculated that each BITE of food cost us about $ 4.50. Seems a little outrageous for a neighborhood joint on Kapahulu.
The service was attentive, but bizarre. They give you plastic bags to put your cell phone in which is A. Wasteful considering Oahu has plastic bag bans and B. Funny since they must want you to take photos of their skimpy portions for the world to see. Our server was nice enough but very phony, almost sing-​songy with her antics. She hovered and lingered long after we signaled her dismissal with a friendly «Okay, thank you…»
The bottom line is, it’s very new agey restaurant that’s over prIced for small portions.

Excellent food, attention to detail, and personal table siding cooking by our server. Not cheap, but everything is well done. We got the $ 50 prefix menus for 2 and ordered their specialty steak for $ 28. We left completely stuffed and satisfied. Our waiter provided exceptional service and gave us a lot of background on each of the courses and the restaurant itself. Started by young twin (futago) Korean brothers born in Japan about 5 years ago, with 25 locations worldwide and growing. Nice concept. We will be back!

Service is very good and people are friendly. Meat are sooooo yummy. Highly recommend Harami Steak and scallops. Also, rice is really good lol. I would like to come back again.

This isn’t your average Korean/​Japanese barbecue spot. It’s definitely got a lot more character and energy than any other I’ve been to!
I noticed this place one night driving down Kapahulu. I remember it being some other yakiniku restaurant that looked a little more dated.
When I walked into the restaurant I was greeted by an energetic staff, trendy décor, and a gigantic, fancy mural of the two owners. I was immediately impressed. We got seated right away. The taste of the food wasn’t anything special and the portions were extremely small for the price which is why I’m giving this place 4 stars. Honestly, the best thing that I consumed that night was my miso soup and sake! If it wasn’t for the awesome wait staff and their trendy décor, I would give this place three stars.

For my first time here, they definitely put on a good impression. As soon as we walked through the door, the staffed screamed welcomings at is — a typical tradition for Japanese yakuniku.
We started of with drinks and miso soup. The soup in itself was soooo good. Definitely not your typical miso flavor, which you’ll see for yourself if you go.
We grilled some kalbi, filets, and pork. Only slightly bland without the provided sauces.
If it’s not busy, the servers will cook the meat for you.
Overall I’d say 4 stars for the great energy and service. The food was great, but I wasn’t knocked off my feet. I can see myself coming back with a few friends though.

It was okay. The price was really expensive, but the quality was good. I might go here again. I’m not sure yet.

Meat quality was high, but you will pay a high premium. What I hate about places like this is the extremely small portions. I have no problems paying $ 200-​$ 300 per person for an exceptional meal, but don’t make me order 10 orders of meat to kinda make me full.
A4 is the highest quality they have and it has to be preordered, so we didn’t have any. We ordered the assorted premium cuts which was $ 25 per person and literally 6 – 8 bites, guarantee not more than 10. This is nothing more than an appetizer.
After we kept ordering $ 7-​$ 10 small plates of meat consisting of about 5 small slices of beef and pork. We eventually gave up (also there was another reservation coming in) as we conceded that we were not going to get full off of this meat.
Service from everyone we encountered was exceptional. Service was prompt and friendly.
Bottom line: Premium meats of small proportion with high prices. Come here with a small appetite and a big wallet and you may be satisfied. Any guy telling you they got full off of less than $ 100 of meat, is a liar.

Excellent imported Japanese black wagyu beef yakiniku restaurant.
They use some pretty fatty A4-​grade marbled beef and seem to push their «Hamideru Kalbi» which is cooked for you by staff.
A quick video by food blogger Poohko:
Prices are a little bit steep, but the quality is excellent. Keep in mind it’s Japanese so everything is ala carte.
The kalbi soup was excellent, came in a stock broth with some spiciness from peppers, not kochujang as I had expected).
Also, I highly recommend the «niku uni» which was a grilled rib eye (I think) slice dipped in wasabi shoyu and coupled with fresh uni and wrapped in a dry nori, it was phenomenal.
The harami skirt steak was a bit tougher than I like and came marinated. I preferred the beef cheek which was similarly prepared.
The store is new, so some of the staff is inexperienced, but overall the experience was good. I didn’t really care for the music selection, (it was like club music) and it was a little bit loud, but hey, it’s a yakiniku joint.
We’ll be back for sure.

Chilly weather, the smell of fresh pine, «Holiday Spirit», gift exchange, last minute shopping, overeating, bad drivers, nothing but Christmas songs all day every day on KSSK. These are but a few signs that it’s Christmas time in Honolulu. Now we can add the smell of freshly cooked yakiniku to that list with Yakiniku House Futago having their grand opening dinner service tomorrow, December 25, 2014, Christmas!
OH YEAH!
+ Premium cuts of beef
+ Wagyu
+ Super fresh meats
+ Well flavored seasoning
+ Very friendly service
+ Giant beers
OH NO!
— Still very brand new, so expect some hiccups
— Limited parking
OH MY?!
~ «Futago» = «Twins» in Japanese… Huh?!
So apparently Yakiniku House Futago is a hybrid Korean-​Japanese yakiniku restaurant chain from Japan with a few location in other parts of Asia, and this Kapahulu location is their first step into America. Lucky we live Hawaii, no? As for the name «Futago» which translates to «twins» in Japanese, it’s because the owners of the restaurant chain are half Korean, half Japanese twin brothers, who were actually working in the restaurant too. Ah! Now it makes sense! There is also a tile mosaic of the brothers on one of the walls in the restaurant. I’ll have to get a pic of that on my next visit.
On the drink menu there are two beers that stood out. One was called «Handsome Draft Beer», and the other was «Beauty Draft Beer». Come to find out they are both Asahi draft, but they are 800ml! For reference a standard bottle of wine is usually somewhere around 750ml. They also have an assortment of other liquors, mixed drinks, chuhai, and wine.
The food menu is quite extensive with appetizers, meats from your standard food animals: cow, pig, chicken and seafood. There are also some veggies available to throw on the grill like mushrooms, corn, and garlic. If you feel like you need something other than meat, there are also a couple salads available, and some soups, and Korean rice and noodle dishes like bibim bap, and yukhoe rice bowl.
There are a few more expensive «Special Beef» items which are very premium cuts of meat, and your server will cook and serve the meat to you. Gotta love Japanese service! We were actually lucky enough to have one of the owner twin brothers cooking our Hamideru Kalbi for us. By the way, I highly recommend ordering the Hamideru Kalbi at least once. There’s a picture of it below. It’s not really a cut of kalbi rib, but a large thin slice of wagyu ribeye which takes up almost the entire grill. YOISHO!!! (you’ll see what I’m talking about).
The meats were well flavored, and extremely soft and tender. I’m hoping that they will be able to maintain this level of quality after their grand opening. I have a feeling that once word gets out about this place, they’re going to get pretty busy.
There are also a few dessert options on the menu, but we didn’t stay for dessert on this visit.
The service was what you would expect from a brand new restaurant still in soft opening. The waiters were still in training mode, so they didn’t instantly have answers to some of our questions, but they went and found out the answers for us. They were all also very friendly and helpful.
Parking is behind the restaurant on Kaimuki Ave. There’s about maybe 10 stalls back there, and if all those are full, you should be able to double-​park and let them know, so that you can move your car to un-​trap your fellow yakinikuers car.
We’ve already got plans to go back soon after their grand opening, so hopefully I’ll see some of you there!