Izakaya Naru Honolulu

Love this place, great food, cool atmosphere. Love the various awamori.

Still, after many years of service great food, service and smiling faces. Probably best Okinawan dishes on the island. ありがとうございます！

Best meal we had while on the island. It feels like you’re in Japan when you walk in the door. The drinks were amazing, and everything that hit the table was perfect. Get the Taco Rice and Miso Butter Fish!! Will come here every time we’re in Oahu.

Food is good. Staff is good. Small place but that is beauty of Izakaya.

Food was pretty good and it’s a cute place but the whole experience was ruined by the rude hostess/waitress. I feel almost bad posting this as the other wait staff seem nice enough but still does not make up for the horrible experience we had. We got there soon after they opened so there were only 1 table filled and 2 people at bar, lucky us! Except when we requested a table away from the door, the hostess told us those were for only reservations. Fair enough, we’ll just take any free table then (it’s a small place but they had about 6 tables). So we sit and are given a few minutes with our menus. When the waitress (same lady as hostess) came by and asked what we wanted to drink, we indicated water would be fine. She gave us the meanest side look I’ve seen in a long time and walked away in a huff. Not 2 minutes later, she comes back and says in a very direct manner that “all” tables are reserved and we need to move to the bar. No apology that she made the mistake and didn’t seat us properly in the first place, I was also a bit suspicious that she was only moving us because she’s mad we were not ordering alcohol. We were hungry and looking forward to the food given the high rating of this place so we went along and sat at the bar as she directed. The rest of the meal was mostly uneventful, as we enjoyed the efficient and friendly service of the grill master and other staff. The food was enjoyable and may have been more delicious than what I remember if my experience hadn’t been tainted. As time went past during our dinner, it became more and more obvious that those “reserved tables” were not reserved at all. After us, 2 more parties came in and sat at tables so 3 tables were left empty until we left. I just had this gross feeling that the hostess/waitress straight up lied to us and were purposefully rude because we were not ordering alcohol. We left the customary 20% tip and ordered a decent amount of food but I knew wait staff prefer when alcohol is involved as that can inflate the bill/tip. We will definitely not go back.

This place is AWESOME! If you've never been, it's definitely a place to try! I recommend that you make a reservation for any party bigger than 2 people. This place is always packed!

Wonderful atmosphere. Very slow service. Decent food. Avoid the shark cartilage. The taco rice tastes like tacos. Gyoza is great. Seared mackerel was delicious. Food is fresh. Small, quaint and fairly loud. Beef tongue is yummy.

Food is ok. The service is awful, and server is racist. No water served and never took away the dishes. We were still missing few dishes at the end. After asking for them for few times, we were told “I’m pretty sure we already served those.” I wouldn’t recommend anyone to come, except if you are Japanese.