Reviews of Restaurant XO (Restaurant)

Rachel Andres

We tried the pork belly, vegetables, duck breast, scallops, rib eye, ginger fried rice, and the pumpkin crunch dessert. Every single thing was amazing. Like, actually. The space is a work in progress, but that is irrelevant. The chef is working his tail off to create all those beautiful flavors. Spread the word!

Eugenia Wang

We ordered the fried oysters for appetizer. The potato gratin for starch, and fried chicken for protein. Everything was DELICIOUS!

Michelle Funai

Delicious food, noisy interior, very tight parking on side of building

Adam Byer

Incredible food - tasty, unique, and consistently excellent. The decor is on the blah side and seems like a work in progress but don't let that fool you - this is top notch food that you'd be happy to pay a lot more for in a high-end restaurant.

Steven Kim

Try this place you will enjoy the food and friendly hostess I would surely go there again

Walden Au

Friends wanted to try something new and this place came up. Read a lot about it and was pretty stoked to try it. We did family style and shared crispy rice w/ lup cheong and the adobo fried chicken we're really good. Roasted veggies, steak, and duck were alright but didn't stand out like the other two dishes.

Claire Chun

Top notch food with friendly staff...loved the ginger fried rice made luscious with 2 perfectly poached eggs

M A

I acknowledge that this restaurant's menu is creative and its chefs brought something personal in creating it. I also acknowledge that my amateur critique may not be welcomed. But this is just my humble inspired tasted expression. Each dish was confidently plated and and proudly presented to every diner by at least either the chef or the sous chef and they visited each table many times. Besides, if the dishes were blah, I would not have taken the time to write about them. Buttermilk Fried Oysters, Curry Aioli The execution was on point. The oyster breading looked heavy, but light and crunchy. The oysters were succulent and not tough. The sauce had a light curry taste to it, but it could have used more heat. Brassicas, Bagoong Bagna Cauda Charred Lime Puree The roasted veggies were crunchy with charred flavor. However, the rest of the components were faint in taste, I could hardly taste the bagoong and the lime. Sous Vide Duck Breast Duck breast usually has a sweet taste to it. It's textual counter point was the rendered crispy skin attached to it. I could not taste the two colored (red and green) sauces. Ginger Fried Rice The overall look of the dish reminded me of Panda Express's Chicken Mushroom. I could definitely taste the ginger and there were slices of button mushroom. However, whenever someone calls something fried rice, I immediately expect each grain to be separated, not clumped, each one toasted. Adobo Fried Chicken The name in itself is misleading. The name should have been Fried Chicken with Adobo Sauce. Yes, the fried chicken was in no way marinaded in adobo sauce and then deep fried. The fried chicken was crispy and juicy and boneless. The adobo sauce was slightly muted by butter (yup... all you Pinoys should cringe). The vinegar taste was present, but the soy sauce, garlic, and pepper corn taste that define chicken adobo were either muted or absent. I'm not sure how to process this dish--whether it should anger me or if I should applaud it. "To each his own", I guess. Corn Bread, Triple Berry Is corn bread a dessert? The bread had a nice outer crunch as well as inside the bread from the bits of corn meal. The berry sauce was tart and lends a color to the overall yellow and white of the bread. However, there was an absence of a corn flavor punch expected in a corn bread. Perhaps include bits of corn in the batter or change the sauce to a corn jam. If anything else, add in corn extract into the bread batter.

Nathan Yu

Amazing food. Inventive and different, every plate was scraped clean. Kudos to chef John!

G Tom

The adobo fried chicken is to die for. Chef/owner previously worked at senia, a very upscale and delicious modern restaurant. She really brought her skills and made to her own. Delicious!

John Snead

Slow service. Unimpressive/inconsistent quality of food. We tried several dishes as well. I hate to be this harsh but I cant really think of a single reason to come back.

Simon Lam

Xo was definitely one of the better places we went to try this time around. Portions are large and the food overall was quite tasty. Only downfalls were that the oysters were a bit on the greasy side and one of them was undercooked. The adobo chicken was good except it had way too much skin, but that is just a personal preference. The crispy rice was good and the ginger rice wasn't bad! I'd recommend coming.

Cressida Aurora

Been here a few times and it's probably the best place to get a meal in Hawaii today. The chefs are imaginative and inventive with balancing their flavor and texture combinations. Familiar, beloved Chinese/Filipino dishes are intertwined wonderfully into New American dining in a way no one does on either coast. Dessert is equally tremendous. Service was good, couldn't recommend a place any higher.

Bronsen K

Fantastic dining experience at XO. Service was great, interior was comfortable yet artsy, and the food was awesome - literally everything we had to eat was yummy. Best dishes of the night for me were the Kim Chee fried rice and the fried chicken! But, again, everything else we had was great. Kudos to Chef Aleina, Chef Kenny and the team for serving up delicious dishes that catered to comfort food familiarity but managed to step away a bit with some fun creative twists. Next time we fly in to Oʻahu, we're definitely eating here.

Ret Eng

Good food, great service, so so environment, medium high prices. Delicious inventive food, attentive staff but marred by the decor. We had the Buttermilk Oysters with Curry Aoli which were delicious and prepared perfectly, but way too large! Eating a whole one was too rich because it was so huge. Too much of a good thing. We would have enjoyed it more if the Oysters were sized like the ones you get at Japanese restaurants, about half to one third the size. But it was a good value as our appetizer order included 3 of them. Curry Aoli was good though there was a slight bitter aftertaste from the Curry powder. We also had the Pork Belly which although a bit chewy, had excellent flavor. The Fried pork skin which was used as a garnish was crunchy hard, nevertheless my son willingly devoured all of it before even starting on the belly. The NY Steak was full of flavor too, very juicy and tender. The sauce was like nothing that I had ever tasted before, a little sour with a touch of sweet. Very different. The XO Scallops were perfectly prepared, juicy and creamy with a sear on one side only. The XO sauce was chunky and had intense flavor which overpowered the mild flavor of the scallops. It was tasty, but a simple scallop grilled with a slice of bacon and asparagus would have allowed the scallops to shine better. Also the dish was advertised as having Choi Sum and Spinach. Well the amount of Choi was so little it was more like a parsley sprig and apparently the spinach was the two green lines of puree on my dish... There were also dots of lemon gel which although fancy looking, didn't really do much for me... Overall it was a very interesting, albeit expensive dining experience with fresh well prepared food and excellent service.

Chakkrawut Yoonan

Great food. Good service. Love it

Laura Suzuki

The bread was delicious and the other dishes were not bad, but there weren't any green salad choices.

B Burkhead

Family style, interesting comfort food. Sort of like Side Street Inn but with fried chicken, delicious, instead of pork chops. Also loved the ceviche and crispy rice over lap cheong.

Lilly Chun

I had my birthday party here! My friends were impressed with the interior design and the custom made tabletops

Jim Landers

Excellent. Dishes were creative and delicious.

Cathy Chun

Scrumptious food you can eat family style. Highlights include the torn tofu salad, fried oysters with curry mayo, inventive pickled greens, cheesy potatoes and the seared scallops. There's one dessert on the menu but it's a winner. Chewy, brown butter chocolate chip cookie topped with vanilla ice cream and a heavenly fish sauce caramel.

Geebin Mak

Went for date night. Glad they have free parking Out in front. Ambiance of restaurant is cool. We made dinner reservations. Our best dishes were the fried oysters and the scallops. Sooo good! We also had the beet and pumpkin salad and crispy rice. Also good but not sure I’d get it again for my own personal taste. All dishes were delicious I just found the crispy rice too crispy for my teeth and the beet pumpkin a interesting taste. Which are all still amazing dishes and my friend enjoyed them. It’s just personal preference and my preference was with the oysters and scallops. Perfectly cooked. Thank you for an amazing dinner experience

ken gordon

Consistent quality food and service. A rare restaurant that "gets it."

lace m

the FOOD!! and service!! will be back several times!

Kerry O

Super good pork belly and the adobo fried chicken was insane..

iwai masa

(Translated by Google) was delicious (Original) 美味しかった

Shawn Sueoka

Great food, good service, family style. We went on a Sunday night it wasn't busy between three of us ordered an app, two veggies, & two protiens. Little pricey, but you pay for you get and it was good! Expect to pay $35+ per person w/out drinks.