Restaurant Suntory

There are a few teppanyaki restaurants on Oahu. For those of you who are unfamiliar with teppanyaki, it is a japanese style of cooking where chefs use an iron griddle to cook your food right in front of your eyes. The three most well-known places on Oahu are Benihana, Tanaka of Tokyo, and Kobe Steakhouse. The menus are very similar, and all of their chefs are trained to fling shrimp tails into their shirt pockets and make a little volcano out of onion rings.

There is one teppanyaki restaurant that stands out from the rest. While their chefs do not put on a show for their guests like the above-mentioned places, the quality cannot be matched. Welcome to Restaurant Suntory on the 3rd floor of the newly renovated Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center in Waikiki.


The restaurant has two sections - one for regular teishoku meals, and one for teppanyaki, so be sure to ask for the teppanyaki room.


A nice combination to share between two people is the filet mignon (8 oz pictured) and the seafood combination (scallop, shrimp, lobster tail). All teppanyaki meals come with vegetables (mushroom, bean sprouts, squash, onions), rice, miso soup, salad, and dessert (ice cream).


Here is the seafood combination on the griddle:


Here's what the cooked vegetables and seafood look like:


Here's the steak, bean sprouts, and a few pieces of lobster. Also pictured are the garlic chips - a must have. I am still trying to figure out how they make it so crispy.


Our dessert choices were lychee sorbet, chocolate ice cream, or green tea ice cream. They validate parking for up to two hours.

Check the Advertiser's Dining Out section in the Sunday paper. Every so often they'll have a coupon for 20% off.