Restaurant Suntory was closed for a while for renovations and while I didn’t notice a big difference in our return visit, it’s not like the restaurant ever looked bad to me anyway? I can certainly say the restroom was beautiful with those awesome Japanese toilets. This visit happened just a few days ago and I still feel mortified. Let me explain. I treated my friend for a birthday meal and wanted to order a virgin mai-tai, I was informed by the waitress that they ran out of the virgin mai-tai mix but was able to make it as an alcoholic drink. Was that perhaps a bad foretelling for me? DO NOT READ NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVE AN AVERSION TO VOMIT.

Anyway, I’m not a drinker but I have never had bad reactions before. I HAD A BAD REACTION. I think I only had half the drink and by the middle of the meal, I was incredibly drowsy and tired. I didn’t want to move too much because I felt like I would get dizzy. It was awful. I stopped eating and just sat there wanting to just sleep. I couldn’t sleep at the restaurant of course. Finally the check comes (which felt like forever) and I signed off on it and excused myself to go outside. Well guess what, I started throwing up as I walked out. I tried my best to cover my mouth but I know things got out (sorry for the TMI) and I ran into the bathroom and it was awful. I also got it in the stall but wiped it down as much as I could. I felt awful both physically and mentally. But I didn’t have the energy or strength to feel bad, I wiped myself off as much as I could (yeah, it got all over my clothes too) and sat outside to wait for my friend. I don’t know how obvious it was but when my friend went to get a parking validation and I sat waiting for him outside, the manager came out and gave me a cold towel and asked if I was okay. He quickly left but what a sweet gesture. It was one of those disposable wet towels they give you at your meals but that was so nice. I will remember that and felt so bad because I am sure they had to clean up after me. Mortified. Anyway, the waitress shared they only validate for an hour but if we are kamaaina we can go downstairs to the service counter to get additional validation. My friend couldn’t find the counter she spoke up so we just left. I wanted to GET HOME. Anyway, I’ll share the pictures of the food and now officially know that I will never drink rum ever again.

Salmon Sashimi | $20.00

A nice appetizer to share. Nice cuts of salmon!

Salmon Salad | $18.00

I decided to get a salmon salad and mini rice bowl as my meal. This salad is very similar to the one they serve at Katsumidori. It’s very good, I loved it. I didn’t love regurgitating it all night but it was a good salad.

Deep Fried Shrimp Cake | $14.00

This was good. My friend was giggling at the placement of the pepper and the balls, grow up. Hahahaha nah. I didn’t get to try it fresh that night but tasted pretty good heated up the next day.

Mini Rice Bowl with Grilled Eel “Kabayaki” | $15.00

My main dish. Once again, I couldn’t eat it that night so I had it reheated. Was good. I don’t know, I can’t tell the difference between “good” eel and just the kine you buy in the supermarket, you know?

U.S. Prime Filet Steak with Sesame Sauce | $42.00

My friend’s dish, he enjoyed it. I don’t wanna talk about it. Hahaha but it’s nice because it comes out already sliced so it’s easy to eat. Doesn’t come with rice or anything, kind of silly to me. You gonna pay $42 for this, should come with rice and miso soup at least? That’s what’s lacking at Suntory, good teishoku sets.

I freaking love soba. I love zaru soba. I think my first brush with zaru soba was when I worked at a bento take-out place. Technically wasn’t supposed to but when we had bentos leftover at end of day, we would take one or two. I had two favorites, tuna tamadon and zaru soba combo. The zaru soba came with like a california roll – was the best.

Sorry for the side story. I think we can all agree that I-NABA is the OG and does soba so well. On a whim, we came here for lunch and thankfully it was right when they opened so we could get a seat. The restaurant filled up pretty nicely after that. Short post today, only got two pictures to share!

Tempura Soba A | $21.00
Upgrade large size | +$3.00
2 shrimps, veggie tempura and zaru soba (pictured) or kake soba

This set also comes with rice! Sorry I forgot all the choices, was it sushi rice, white rice and mixed mushroom rice? Of course gotta get the mixed mushroom rice! This wasn’t my dish but it was thoroughly enjoyed!

Bara Chirashi Bowl & Soba | $25.00
Upgrade to regular size | +$3.00
chopped some kinds of sashimi over sushi rice, also comes with half size zaru soba or kake soba (I chose zaru)

I can’t recall if I upgraded to regular size soba but knowing me, I absolutely must have. I mean, I’m there for the soba! So delicious. Really hit the spot because I was craving soba and a chirashi bowl. Yes, pricey. I’m a broken record but was worth it. Also, wow, if you in a rush to eat somewhere, come here. They bring out your food FAST. Almost too fast. Nah nah, let’s leave it as a good thing.

If you can believe it, I have never been to Sekiya’s. Honestly, when I started eating out more, that was around the time Sekiya’s got closed down for violations. I forget why and somehow that stuck with me but I was young then. Now I know dirtier kitchens probably make the best food (sorry for that). Anyway, my friend treated me to a nice lunch here after a morning of craft fairing across the street.

Super old school joint, and you better go only if you’re patient. I was a bit upset in the beginning because honestly we were the only other table and the waitress wasn’t helping us fast at all. Then as I took in the surroundings, I realized she was completely on her own and probably helping in the kitchen too so I calmed down considerably. I get it, all restaurants get staffing shortages but that’s just my warning to you. If you come here, expect to wait a very long time. To be seated, to be given waters, to have your order taken, to get your food, to get your check (omg that took so long), lol. But the waitress is so nice and doing her best so please know that before going.

Also, the delicatessen line was always busy. I wish we had more okazuyas around.

Small Saimin | $7.09
Yakitori Chicken (2 sticks) | $4.35

This wasn’t my dish but I got to try a piece of the chicken. It was alright. Hahaha

Fried Saimin | $10.49
BBQ Stick Meat | $2.55

I like laugh. I just looked at the picture of the menu and it has a warning with this meat stick that consuming raw or undercooked foods may increase your risk of foodborne illness. Wat? For this meat stick? What they trying for tell me? I didn’t get asked if I want it to be cooked rare. And boy, was this hunk of meat overcooked lol – it was like jerky. I wouldn’t get this again.

I’ve talked about this before, I am a noodle fiend. I was super looking forward to this dish. And well, I guess I didn’t expect it to come unmixed. I expected them to fry the saimin…together? There is a huge mound of noodles mixed with a very sweet teriyaki sauce and then the toppings thrown on top. If you don’t like raw green onions, no get this dish. And the plate they serve it in is so small that I couldn’t even mix the noodles myself (lol) so I had to pick at ingredients little by little while trying to grab noodles from this huge clump. The dish was okay, but I guess I would prefer it already mixed?? Also, thankfully my friend had her hot mustard because boy did I need it to eat this dish. If not, it was just all dry and sweet. Needed a kick.

I know this wasn’t a glowing review but I would still return to try their other dishes. They just a small mom and pop restaurant serving up some old school Japanese food, gotta support!

Mai Musubi’s old location was in Liliha but I never got to try them out. I learned recently that they opened in Manoa in the old Bubbies location. How awesome is that! They open at 6AM so you can pick up onigiri or bentos before work. I went during their soft opening week. I tried to time out a morning walk with their opening. I mistimed it. I got there at 5:45AM so I started walking in circles in that huge parking lot next door. If someone saw me, they would probably think I was crazy. That’s fine, I didn’t want to get approached by any undesireables.

They opened a few minutes early and I made a beeline in. They only had their onigiris out, I asked what time bentos are usually out and she mentioned about 6:30AM. Very nice lady, I think this place is run by a husband and wife team.

Karaage Chicken Musubi | $2.55

I was told that this was a good musubi but that the chicken was just a bit bland. If they had added just a bit more salt to the chicken, it would have been perfect.

Tuna Mayo Musubi | $2.55

I’m a sucker for tuna mayo anything. Seriously. I could eat many of these. This was delicious. Perfect amount of tuna mayo and can tell they used kewpie. The nori is perfect – it just all works. One thing to know about their musubis, they actually lay all the “fillings” on top. But they are quite generous.

Mentaiko Musubi | $3.00

A coworker has been trying all the different musubis from the different Japanese shops. She really enjoyed this musubi, shared that they are very generous with the mentaiko. She said she likes the rice better at Dell’s. But I guess both options are fine!

Spam Musubi | $2.55

I also love all spam musubis. It was good. Salty. I get it, spam is salty. I don’t want to assume but I think they used regular spam versus lower sodium spam, if they switched it to lower sodium spam, it would be perfect.

Salmon Tobiko Musubi | $3.00

Generous serving of salmon and tobiko! The salmon was also like homemade kine, not from the can. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Crunchy Ume (Plum) Musubi | $2.55

I got this just on a whim. If you like ume, you’ll definitely like this. I liked it but didn’t love it. And since I ate this on its own, I felt like something was missing. I think I wouldn’t mind eating this alongside another musubi…like the karaage one or the spam one. You know? Cause this one was just crunchy and a bit sour so I didn’t care for it by itself.