Rinka, Honolulu HI

We had reservations for 12: 15 but was running late due to traffic, but they held our table for us. The room was full to the max, little noisy but the food and service was excellent.

Great dinner! Food came out In timely fashion. Everything was fresh and delicious! Service was top notch!

Parking: Use the nearby Whole Foods parking lot.
The restaurant has a clean and bright atmosphere.
The food overall tastes pretty good. There was nothing on the menu that particularly impressed me.
-Sushi Combination: I liked it because the amount of rice was just right and it was seasoned well. The ingredients were good too. It comes with 10 pieces, and even though it's a combo, it felt expensive.
-Chanko Nabe: I think the soup used miso. The ingredients were okay, but the broth was a bit disappointing.
-Fried Oyster: It was the most delicious among the menu items I ordered. As expected, it's expensive and not very tasty. Compared to the price, the food I had at other places was actually much more delicious.

Amazing place to hold a private function, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Everything was amazing.

This is a delicious Japanese restaurant. The menu is also extensive.
The lunch menu is great value and recommended.
There is a free multi-storey parking lot in front of the hotel, which is convenient, but please be aware that the parking lot may be full on weekends and Friday afternoons and evenings.
The interior is bright and has no partitions, giving it a sense of openness, but the atmosphere feels somewhat like a family restaurant, making it unsuitable for a dinner party or girls' night out where you can enjoy leisurely conversations.
There seems to be a private room in the back, but I've never used it.
Considering the price of the meal, I think it would be nice if the atmosphere inside the restaurant was a little more calming.
It's a good place if you just want to eat.

Park at whole foods and walk over. The service is lightning fast. They use tablets to take your order. The food is delicious and worth every penny. The sushi was very fresh and not fishy. Love this place. We be back to check out their lunch specials.

The world tour duo dined at Rinka Ward Village. I just returned from 3 weeks in Japan so it would be a stern test … Japanese food in Hawaii versus that from various locales in Japan.
We were seated at a small table for two so we asked our wait staff to space out our food orders. This was partially successful. One of our pet peeves is restaurants rushing food out; it’s one thing if we’re dining on a large table but we were hard pressed to deal with just two dishes at a time; three was impossible.

I ordered a half bottle of 2021 Kenzo Estate asatsuyu, a wonderful Sauvignon Blanc, full of fruit, with depth and body. We started with Toro and Green Onion maki sushi and the Roast Beef Salad Japanese Style; the latter not a perfect pairing for a white wine; more about this to come.

The remainder of our order consisted of Grilled Beef Tongue, Grilled Miso Butterfish and Fried Tofu with four kinds of miso. I ordered a half bottle of one of my favorite Napa Valley wines, a 2019 Kenzo Estate rindo, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (62%), Merlot (22%), Petit Verdot (9%), Cabernet Franc (4%) and Malbec (3%). This wine exudes notes of dark fruit, soft tannins and chocolate.

I wish the kitchen did a better job of releasing dishes in an order that matched the wines on the table. I don’t know if it’s the responsibility of the expeditor or the wait staff but this was a miss for me.

As to the food; the Negitoro sushi was okay; the rice was a bit too mushy in comparison to the rice I had in Japan. The Roast Beef Salad was excellent; no issues of any kind. The Beef Tongue was good but by the time we got around to trying it, it was cold. Again, an issue of dishes being delivered too quickly. The miso butterfish was sublime, perfectly prepared a generous portion. The fried tofu could have been grilled a little longer … I had a similar dish in Tokyo that was exquisite; the offering from Rinka paled in comparison.

We ended our meal with a Strawberry mochi for me and a Mochi with Green Tea Ice Cream for my tablemate. Both were very good.

Final thoughts: The food is good to very good; my major complaint was the dishes not coming out in an appropriate sequence and at a pace that would have allowed us to savor each dish at its peak. We’ve experienced this issue at other Ward Village restaurants … this is what separates the good from the superlative restaurants. 4.25 stars from me.

Went for dinner on a slow weekday night. Service and food were good, but expensive for small portions. $18 for the Rinka roll with 4 pieces. Very good, but small. Soba, eggplant, and chicken karaage were all good. Experience and ambiance were unremarkable. Lunch specials look like they may be a better value

Overall is good but a bit pricy. Many choices and well made. Better sit inside, outside is a bit windy sometimes.

The dining experience was so enjoyable -we had an excellent server named Cody. He charmed 4senior women and provided us all that we wanted before we even asked. Thanks Cody!

Rinka owner: it's nice that you moved the restaurant to Queen Street, but can you take down the signs from your former location at 1500 Kapiolani too?

Very good taste. I should have order early on kamameshi. Which will take about 40 min.
Portion are small, Japanese portion.
I ordered 5 items and rice for family of 4.
Miso butter fish was good.

The server I had before was very nice, but now I can't even talk to the manager, and I wonder if she has ever worked in customer service. I liked Rinka's Japanese food, but with that kind of attitude, I probably won't go there again.