Assaggio Ristorante Italiano

Came here last week early at opening at 4:30pm. They give you bread with vinegar & olive oil. We ordered some of the specials including the crab cake salad and bruschetta. Both were really good. Mom had chicken olio which came with pasta smothered in garlic. I had the veal with eggplant. The portions were huge (for full, not half orders) but the price was not cheap. Service was great. The restaurant has a nice view of the harbor.

This is one of only a few restaurants in Hawaii Kai that is worth dining out at. They now serve lunch and I am so happy that they have reopened after closing for a short period of time with the ownership change. The food has not changed and maintained to its yummy standards. They have a wonderful delicious salad dressing that comes over their bay shrimp salad. My go to favorite is the calamari steak scampi with linguine. You can also sub with potatoes or veggies if you prefer. Service is good with table cloth and nice silverware and china setting. Its still a nice place with great ambiance for a special occasion.

We had a nice dinner here with friends and out of town family members. The atmosphere was very comfortable. We could carry on a nice conversation between all six of us. We started the dinner with Caesar salad, made table side. This is something you usually see at pricier restaurants so it was really nice to experience it here. The salad was great, nothing like freshly made dressing! My entree was the clams casino linguine. This too was very good. It was made with fresh clams, large pieces of bacon and onions. The sauce was light, which allowed you to enjoy the flavor of the clams. Nice blend of all the ingredients and the linguine was cooked just right. For dessert, I shared some spumoni. I was really full after finishing my entree but had to have some dessert. The spumoni was good, it didn't really stand out but probably because I was stuffed at that point.The service was good. It was a busy night but the food came out in timely intervals. I would definitely come back again!

The food is great! My favorite is the clams casino, my hubby had the veal piccata and that was very good! If you go, ask for Johnny. Even though he wasn't our waiter he was very attentive! I'll be sure to ask for him the next time we go.

5 star service 5 star food5 star bread5 star Ambience5 star view of the dock5 stars for Johnny N our server he's super super duper duper nice Cost breakdown: $42 for the pasta (the Special)$8/$9 for the Menneateoni Soup$3 split fee (for splitting the pasta between two people)Everything was delicious, the servers were on top of it, the ambience was nice and the place is perfect. Lovely view and a lovely meal!!!! Thanks so much

This is my favorite Italian Place Ever. They have the best service and Osso Buco and any veal product which is my service. It's a very romantic ambiance. They are not open on Christmas Day so be sure to check out the Kahala location. I go here on special occasions like my parents' anniversary and their first date.

Dinner in Hawaii Kai, Honolulu, Hawaii...When I saw Donna O.'s tip that this particular Assaggio's location was going to close on July 30, 2023, I made it a point to dine here.I called at 4pm on the day I wanted to visit and made a reservation. The earliest availability was 7pm - I took it!Free parking at the Koko Marina Shopping Center was much appreciated. The view of the marina, especially at sunset, is beautiful! Inside, the restaurant is clean, bright, and simple with a touch of elegance (white tablecloths, cloth napkins, fresh red roses on every table, etc.).Service could improve. For example, our server didn't know if there was an extra change for substituting angel hair pasta to replace linguine. He did apologize for the wait. Maybe the kitchen staff was overwhelmed with orders?I had the Seafood Combination linguine. There were three clams, three mussels, three shrimp, and about five slices of calamari. The noodles and shrimp were a tad bit dry. The garlic sauce was light. The complimentary bread and butter were excellent!It's sad that another small business is closing. I understand their wanting to retire, especially during these challenging economic times.Best wishes for a wonderful future, Assaggio of Hawaii Kai! Thank you for your service to the community!

Italian always gets my "noodles" happy!After hearing from Nadine C of the information she received from Donna O of its closure on July 30th 2023, we wanted to give them visit and support the staff who must be going through a lot of unknown so she made a reservation for dinner at 7 which was just perfect!With ample free parking Nadine is such a thoughtful friend to offer me a ride and after a long day at work...it was an offer definitely hard to pass up and we got a spot literally right at the restaurant.Located in Koko Marina Center is the last mall just before going up the hill to Hanauma Bay the scenic location Assaggio occupies is absolutely stunning if you're able to snag a table just before the sunset which is what we were able to do and BunBun got a glimpse of that glowing view over the marina.Checked in with the host and got seated right away and what a beautiful setting with embroidered napkins and the lovely glass partition so I didn't feel too crowded at all. Service was nice as we got our bread and water started immediately we both were hungry and gosh how yummy that fresh warm bread was to start.They menu is quite extensive 10 pages of choice all categorized with great detail of ingredients and sauce type though when we had questions the server seem to have a difficult time answering and asked if linguine was okay...yes I do see later on the menu that it was a choice of (linguine, vegetable or potato) so instead of going through the choices he basically said "linguine...?" though it was my first time and I find it strange that many places don't start with that greeting to see if we're familiar with their menu and break the ice which I felt there wasn't considering it was a fine dining place you'd figure they'd be more descriptive.I got the Chicken Alla Cacciatore with linguine which was loaded with chicken that was very tender loaded with mushrooms, olives and peppers and here comes the cheese...not sure if it's freshly grated but it was spooned on our dishes which got me even happier!! It was good but a bit dry for my liking as I was looking forward to scooping the sauce with the house bread and I tried and tried...no sauce...sigh!There are many reasons of its closure and though they will now retire its earlier than planned so let's support our local biz!Thank you!

Came here for a friend's birthday dinner, found out it was closing in a week.Immediately got their hot and fresh bread with large chunks of butter. The bread has a crispy/crunchy crust and a warm, soft inside. Great stuff with the butter (even the 1-year old baby loved the inside).We had the portabello & eggplant appetizer. It was good for us eggplant lovers, which is why we agreed on this one. Hot and fresh with lots of both mushrooms and eggplant.We also saw that with a minimum order of two caesar salads they will prepare it tableside. This was an outright lie as we ordered two and it was brought out already prepared and plated. The dressing was good but please let us know that due to their closing up (or staff shortage?) that they won't be preparing it tableside. We should have known they can't live up to Hy's Steakhouse's freshly tableside prepared caeser salads.My main course was osso bucco and I chose vegetable side (three choices, linguine, veggies, or potatoes). I should have gotten the potatoes, which someone else on our table got. The potatoes are large chunks grilled up nicely with a great char on the outside.My osso bucco was fall-off-the-bone tender (literally, as I'm sharing pieces its falling right off the central bone). Good sauce with it, and the vegetables were seasoned nicely.We asked if they could do something for our friend's birthday...despite no warning or advanced notice when we made reservations, they brought out a slice of ice cream cake with a candle.I guess we won't be back but we are fans of the other branches, esp Ala Moana.

Ordered Veal picatta! Worst Picatta I've ever had!Had it from Cheesecake Factory begging December! Then from Verbanobeginning January. I normally love Picatta! Chicken or Veal! This Picatta had no sauce. Terribly dry!