XO Restaurant

Our experience at XO was phenomenal. Anthony made our night by explaining all of the courses, making us feel at home. Do not pass on trying XO, it is amazing.

This was our first year anniversary of being married. And everyone at this restaurant was very friendly. We recommend the hamachi, Korean fried chicken, & soup dumplings. We had 2 orders of it. We also ate the mochi bunnies and caramel and it was delicious! Everything was perfect and delightful. We highly recommend dining here on any occasions! It's low key and a very chill vibe as well.

This place absolutely hit all the marks for me! My girlfriend and I came here for our Valentine's Day (a few days late, but hey, y'know... life...) and were beyond pleased. This may be my favorite place right now.

From the moment we walked in it felt welcoming. It's nicely lit with warm yet classy colors, and the host (which I hate to admit, I never got around to getting his name... I'm usually good about that ) was friendly and delightful. He confirmed our reservation and seated us at a nice little table.

The host was very informative, explained how their service is usually provided, and made great recommendations. He took into account what we were thinking and helped us come to a decision, as we wanted the 9-course set while also being really curious about their Xiao Long Bao. We also ended up deciding on a pair of drinks: she got the Pink Cactus and I got the Yuzu Old Fashioned. Both drinks worked really well for each of us, as hers was very tasty without being too alcohol heavy, and mine had a nice bite to it.

The Xiao Long Bao was great! The soup and filling was very delicious, and the wrapper was perfectly thin. The set course itself was very well balanced. It consisted of the hamachi and crab salad cannoli, the hamachi sashimi crudo, buttermilk fried chicken, larb, pork belly ssam lettuce wraps, seafood pancakes, the choice shooters (we both couldn't resist the A5 wagyu), and then their lovely dessert combo of brown butter mochi bunnies, and wagyu fat salted caramels. We were impressed with every aspect, from the flavors to the presentation and especially the balance of the entire meal. If I had to choose a favorite dish, my knee-jerk reaction was the pork belly ssam. My girlfriend said she loved the hamachi sashimi crudo. As far as we are concerned, you can't go wrong with anything on that menu. We both look forward to coming back again, especially if chef adds something new! Some of the older creations in the pictures here look like they were wonderful, so I'd love to see what he has cooking up next!

My wife and I love Asian fusion tapas so we know what we like and the good feeling you have with each dish. Service was friendly and we were seated immediately because we had reservations. If you go early, don't think there will be any waiting.

Food was just ok, not bad at all, but not great and memorable.

Have you ever dined at a restaurant where you're the only people dining? Neither have I! Until I dined at XO.

Yelp BFF and I had visitors in town, so we took them to XO. The concept is family style tapas (small shared plates). We ordered hamachi crudo, kalbi pork belly wraps X2, corn egg tart, XLB X2, seafood pancake (hold the shrimp), 3 wagyu shooters and an ikura shooter, and hamachi fritters.

My favorites were the kalbi pork belly wraps and the butter mochi (and I think this was the consensus among the table). The bunny butter mochi was literally too cute to eat!

The corn egg tart, seafood pancake and hamachi fritters were slightly too dense for my taste. Everything was presented beautifully and drinks were wonderful. I think if you go in with no expectations and an open mind, you will have fun!

Thanks for reading my reviews! Let me know what I should try next!

I found this place on one of Yelp's top restaurants list and honestly the bunnies sold me. I made a reservation day-of through Yelp and it was pretty simple. The area looked really sketchy and the parking lot only had about 5 spots? It was dark, the lot looked a little dirty and there was a hobo sitting right outside; that's how sketch it looked. When I entered at Sunday 7:30pm, there was NO ONE. I had the whole place to myself :) private dining. The inside looked fancy and well lit.

We were seated by the wall and the greeter/waiter was very polite. He checked in frequently and answered all my weird questions. Menu on QR code. We got the $65pp 9 course meal with a Korean Fried Chicken substitute which was an extra $3 to sub 1 of the fried chickens, and a Ube Lemonade. Let's break down the courses..

Ube Lemonade $15 - Honestly this should have been like $12-13 considering there was no alcohol in it and it was like in a tall 8oz(?) glass with a lot of ice. This was a tasty drink to get and it's different. Because I wasn't offered a straw, I had no idea that all the Ube was at the bottom so initially I only tasted lemonade. I would suggest to get a straw so you can mix it, it'll taste much better.
Hamachi & Fake Crab Salad Cannoli - This was the first plate offered and it was the best. The cannoli was perfectly crispy and all the flavors worked really well. I also really like imitation crab meat so I could've easily ate 3 of these.
Hamachi Sashimi Crudo, Miso Sesame Vin, Aioli, Orange, Shishito - This was also a really good dish. The hamachi was fresh and went perfectly with the sauces. I don't normally eat raw fish but this is definitely something I would get again.
Thai Beef Larb Salad, Thai Aioli, Puffed Rice - I personally didn't fancy this dish because it looked so basic but it had decent taste. Crunchy and refreshing salad. My partner liked it.
Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Tzatziki, Cilantro and Korean fried chicken sub +$3 - They were bringing back the Korean fried chicken and offered to sub one of our plates for an extra $3 so I was able to try both flavors. I love KFC so definitely I'm going for it. Personally, I think it was a good choice to sub but not happy that I had to pay an extra $3. I really liked the sauces and I would suggest getting it. Both chickens were fried nicely. I'm not a huge fan of the Indian flavors on the original chicken plate. This was Indian curry and I don't think it worked well with the fried chicken.
Grilled Kalbi Pork Belly Ssam, Gochujang, Pickles - Slightly sweet and spicy and this was tasty. It was pretty thin and I'm curious how many slices they give for 1 person because we had an odd number of slices... I didn't particularly like the pickled vegetables because it was sour but my partner did.
Shrimp & Calamari Seafood Pancake, Glaze - This tasted like your usual pancake, nothing special. It felt like there was a lot of batter. Also it's weird that they cut you a corner like what did you do with the other half of the pancake? Prob should just do small circle batches but maybe presentation?
Hot Rice Shooters, Sesame, Scallion: foie gras and wagyu - This was the most basic white rice + meat dish. It feels a little bit scammish and I think they can elevate this by adding another element so it's not so plain feeling. The wagyu and foie gras were fine but we thought it was a little overcooked because it tasted extra charred like close to burnt.
Brown Butter-Bunny-Butter Mochi - This was my absolute favorite and so glad I brought myself here for this. The plating was cute and thoughtout. It tasted soooo gooood. The bunnies were chewy and the crumbs were so good. The little sauce tied it all together very nicely. Do yourself a favor and order this if you aren't doing the 9 course.
A-5 Salted Wagyu Fat Caramels - This was a unique candy at the end of the meal. Basically your wagyu juices mixed into a caramel. Though it was special, I don't find myself drooling over it. They could work on the presentation though because it's just weird they tossed the 2 candy wrappers on a plate lol.

I thought it was a great experience and the waiter was awesome. It came out to almost $100 per person post tax tip and 3% CC surcharge fyi. I get they're trying to be upscale but is that 3% to use credit card super necessary? I would come back to either order the stuff I liked separately or when they changed the set menu.

Intimate restaurant located off the street with several parking spaces. We had the pleasure to be served by John who was very friendly, attentive, and helpful. Food was delicious! Our group opted to do a la carte and got several different dishes that aren't all pictured. My favorites were the fried chicken and gyozas! We almost didn't order the fried chicken and ordered it at the end, so glad we did because I would've missed out! Omg, the egg tart was also so so good, you HAVE to get it! Great experience and would definitely come back!

My partner and I went on a rare date to Restaurant XO. It was highly recommended by some friends.

What I liked:
-the chef was consulted about the gluten free menu and options were provided
-the Ube Lemonade cocktail was sweet, but dangerously good
-the Thai larb salad and hamachi were fabulous!
-service was attentive
-the restaurant is clean and beautifully appointed.
-easy parking which is a big deal in Kaimuki.

What I didn't like
-what the heck is this one bite hot rice shooter thing. For $14, I felt like I should have gotten more than a tiny bite of beef or fish and a tablespoon of rice. Flavor was good but not top notch for that price point. Rice essentially costs nothing, so that was one expensive bite of meat.
-bunny mochies were yummy! But I'm not sure that the stuff sprinkled next to them was gluten free.
-wagyu caramels. These were a rather expensive miss for me. They were interesting, but overly rich and fatty. My stomach still clenches to think about it.
-the beeria tacos were marked gluten free, but were apparently made with actual beer, which is not gf. Yeah, I'm not sure.

Conclusion:
For the price point, it's pretty spendy for my blood. With the limited gf options, I felt like I had to order a lot of the same to feel full on the portions. For a special date night with no food allergies and if you have a small appetite and a large wallet, enjoy. It really is a cool place.

What is an XO? It's hard to keep up with these urban words these days. It was easy to reserve this place on Yelp. Parking is free right in front of the restaurant. I've heard that this place is served by chefs meaning servers are the chefs.

Our server/chef was excellent. The best kind of server who makes you feel comfortable as soon as you sit down. He even gave us choice of few tables that we could choose from. XO is a fusion restaurant. It's pretty casual kind of place. It's more like food tasting style so don't expect rice or starch with your order.

I was shocked to see Midori Sour on the drink menu. So I had to order one. We ordered few items like beef lard salad, crab and hamachi cannoli, seafood pancake, birria style taco, and pork wrap. They also have set menu for $65 per person for two people. All the food tasted good and unique. My favorite was the dessert, mochi bunnies. It was warm, yummy, and not over powering. I would love to return next to try different menu as our chef mentioned.

XO has been recommended by several friends but we've never had the pleasure of dining here so I'm glad we finally were able to try their offerings! Located on Waialae Avenue with a convenient private parking, XO offers a modern izakaya menu that is perfect for sharing between 2 or more people. We opted for the 9 set menu offering several of their most popular dishes.

The Great: The FOOD! Every dish was expertly prepared, plated, and delicious. Our favorites were the salmon cannoli with unexpected flavor combinations and the pork belly ssam but each course was very good. The service was exceptional throughout our meal with frequent checking on our table if we needed anything.

The Good: Solid list of cocktails, wines, and spirits. We didn't have any cocktails and stuck to their recommended wine on this visit which paired well with our order.

The Okay: One thing that may have made our experience a little better is better timing of the food. We prefer quick service but the kitchen is so efficient that our dishes started piling up on our table. It would have been a little better if we had time to finish a dish before the next one or two hit the table. By no means is this a complaint but at one point we had four dishes on our table and we were trying to get through them before the next dish arrived.

Overall: It was fun experience and we thoroughly enjoyed our evening. I've seen they offer special occasion dinners which we'll definitely look forward to trying in the future!

We came in on a less busy day, ambiance was beautiful. Felt like a fine dining experience. Although, music taste was wierd. I was gonna rate this place 4*, but the food and service was too good to beat. We got the 9 course meal w/ 2 extra shots of their meat. The server made the experience better! Everything tasted very great with a very interesting taste in each dish. The dessert was awesome. Great for a birthday celebration for 2, would come back for sure!!