Do you folks have the urge to say “why you lie” when you see or say Waialae? Or is that just me? Anyway, 3660 on the Rise recently opened up their dine in again so we wanted to give it a try! Let’s take a look at how it went…

Waialae-Tai
A blend of 3 types of Bacardi, orange curacao, guava juice, limeade, lychee juice

3660 Fruit Punch
Orange, guava, cranberry juices and limeade

I can’t comment on the Waialae-tai but I did get the Fruit Punch. LOL, it tastes only like orange juice with some cranberry juice poured on top. I didn’t even know there was all these other juices until I had to type it out.

Ahi Katsu | $20.50
sashimi-grade ahi wrapped in nori & deep fried medium rare, wasabi-ginger sauce

Hands down, their best dish. Period. Sansei has a similar dish (did they knock it off from 3660?), anyway we shared this as an appetizer but I think I would order it again just as my entrée. It’s SO good. The sauce for the dish is like crack, I could lick it up with more rice.

New York Steak Alaea | $41.00
pan seared with garlic, hawaiian salt and butter, crisp onions

Duet of Fire Roasted Long Island Duck | $39.00
fire roasted duck breast with lilikoi coulis over stir fry of season vegetable & crisp duck leg with a pan seared chinese taro cake, pineapple plum compote

Guys, the duck was my dish and I was super excited for it. I was a bit disappointed though. So sad, which side would you guess tastes better? I was placing my bets on the right side. Who doesn’t love a tender duck breast? Ah, wasn’t a fan of it…and the lilikoi sauce was too sweet for the duck. I actually enjoyed the crisp duck leg more, the seasoning and the meat! The meat was actually quite tender even though it looks dry in appearance.

Warm Chocolate Soufflé Cake | $11.00
warm cake with a melted chocolate center, topped with vanilla ice cream, mocha sauce

My dessert! Okay so like, I know that it says mocha sauce but it looked like melted ice cream. Kind of funny. Was it good? Sure, nothing spectacular though.

Mile High Waialae Pie | $12.00
layers of haagen dazs vanilla & coffee ice cream, macadamia brittle, caramel & chocolate sauces

This picture does not do this pie justice. It really is a mile high piece, I don’t think anyone could ever finish this in one seating…it should definitely be a shared dessert. My companion could not finish the dessert and I told him, just take home the brittle! The waiter said he should take the whole slice home…and kind of hard to say no yeah? So he did. It didn’t work out (ice cream soup?). Rest in piece (get it?).

Anyway, with COVID precautions, they are now using their party rooms for the restaurant dine in. Plenty of space between tables so no worries there. I think they use the main restaurant as a staging area for take-out. The wait staff there are super nice and on it. Great experience, would definitely return again…gotta support local!

Panya Bistro was my last meal before the lockdown. Well last sit-down meal in a restaurant and even though it was pre-lockdown, I was already feeling a bit uneasy eating in the restaurant. I am also a little regretful that I didn’t order my usual, Laksa! But…while their laksa is good, it’s also very expensive and I can get the same dish for half the price at Papa’s Cafe! Let’s get to the food shall we?

This wasn’t my dish but it looks good ah? Remember how I talked about simple fried rice being best? It looks like this fried rice follows what I talked about, just egg, rice and seasoning. But $5.00 to substitute it from white rice?? Hard pass from me on that.

This dish is what veered me off the laksa. I’ve been into Indonesian food (indomie anyone?) so I wanted to try this dish. By the way, why don’t we have an Indonesian restaurant in Hawaii? Not just Indonesian dishes in Chinese restaurants, INDONESIAN RESTAURANT. Ah sorry, how was it? Good, not great. And surprisingly spicier than I expected. I wouldn’t order it again.

My lemon crunch cake quest continues. How was it? Ehh…more cream than I’d like. I guess I still like Macaroni Grill’s lemon cake most.