Bar Maze

We ate here over the Thanksgiving weekend in 2024 based on the recommendation of a friend. We highly recommend, and suggest the drink pairing if you can swing it (photos of our menu and some courses attached).Each dish and drink association was thoughtfully composed and delicious. I believe the baked potato was a supplement. We got just one, and honestly it was a bit of a detour in terms of taste and value but we have no regrets as my wife is a potato fiend. The ambiance and service were also crisp. We would happily return.

What an amazing experience with phenomenal service. So glad we were able to squeeze in a dinner before we left back to the mainland. We did the prefix menu with drink pairings. The cocktails were perfectly complimented the individual courses.Loved the Omakase style small dishes. Each course was very unique, hard to remember it all, but my absolute favorite was the lobster sujebe, roasted chicken dashi, egg yolk jam with crispy chicken skin paired amazingly with the black garlic brioche Definitely looking forward to my visit back excited to see what new create dishes they've come up with then.

An incredible experience!! An unforgettable dining experience with very approachable flavors. The cocktail pairing was the highlight of the dinner and very worth it. The staff use creative flavors and techniques (ex clarification, citrus foam) for their cocktails. Stand outs were the wagyu with banchan and the snacks course with the oyster, lobster roll and salmon "toast".

Had a really good experience at this unique restaurant. It's a fairly small affair with an open kitchen and lots of really good spirits. The food was quite amazing as it is freshly prepared for you, theater style. The service was very attentive yet not over bearing.The food was very delectable. Staring out with bite sized morsels with incredible tastes. The only piece that caught me off was the very sour in some spots sauce with the hamachi fish. However, the rest was well paired in both texture and taste.I'd certainly visit again once they start to introduce even more interesting items in this omakase style. Would definitely recommend a visit.

Fantastic dining experience at Bar Maze -- favorites included wagyu ribeye giant musubi, golden osetra caviar loaded baked potato, washugyu flatiron, shave ice with caramelized apple, cinnamon toast milk. This was one of the best and most creative fine dining options on Honolulu. Highly recommended.

One of the best meals I've had in Oahu, hands down. If Hawaii had Michelin star restaurants, this place would for sure have one or more. The place is small and reminds us of a an exclusive Japanese sushi spot.We've done Omakase experiences before so we were worried at first that the larger experience would be too much food, but it was definitely manageable. They do not overload with you endless courses. Each portion was the perfect size, and by the end you don't feel overly full. Not only was each course extremely unique, but the alcohol pairing with each course was fantastic as well, with each special drink complementing the course. We added the black truffle to our Citrus and Herb course and we haven't been able to stop thinking about it.Our server did a great job describing all the courses. We had a lot of questions and she made sure we were very informed with every dish coming out, and the best 'order' to eat the food in. Each drink came out with a great description as well.

Celebrating a special occasion? This was truly a remarkable dining experience!!We were lucky to find parking in their small lot and arrived a little early for our reservation. Luck continued because there were open seats in the center of the bar, offering us front row to watching them prepare our lovely meal.For my viewing pleasure, I watched this craftsman carefully carve an ice cube to be placed in my Stonefruit Highball. Such precision! The refreshing flavors and artful presentation, wow! It's more than a shaken cocktail.As if I wasn't already WOWed, the Omakase snack set was presented with the paired beverage. Petite morsels that were so tasty, you just knew the rest of the courses would be equally delicious. Of the three snacks, my favorite was the crisped nori wrapped around a flavorful treasure :)For the 1st course, the slices of yellowtail were delightfully served over shredded fennel and dressed with a local tomato vinaigrette. This paired well with their cinnamon and pomegranate vodka, spritzed with bergamot.For the 2nd course, don't you dare call it jook LOL this tsuyahime rice soup, topped with Dungeness crab, was delicately seasoned with ramps, a flowering perennial with hints of onion and garlic. The paired beverage had yuzu, aloe, gin, and absinthe.Before bringing the 3rd course, we were presented with Hokkaido milk bread and a yummy butter sauce that had nice sized lump crab meat. What's not to like about that winning combination?While others opted for wagyu, we picked the rack of lamb for Course 3. Cooked perfectly, it was so tender and served up with a variety of local Banchan. The Japanese whiskey paired well with this!In closing, the strawberry shaved ice with pistachio and rhubarb, was a refreshing treat. They gifted us with a few other desserts that were not mentioned on the Omakase menu.Thank you to everyone at Bar Maze. I appreciated the level of detail in your craftsmanship. I also appreciated the pleasant flow of information before each course. I learned a lot about the ingredients used and Chef's culinary style. Thank you also to Yelp Elite Randy S. for this recommendation. I really enjoyed this special occasion :)

Bar Maze is a mix of food cuisines, a mix of food and cocktails paired together in the hands of two high performers, Ki Chung and Justin Park. It is a tight vertical space - not currently fully utilized - where the focus should be on sitting at the counter to appreciate the open bar and kitchen. The coziness of the seating makes the food and drink laid in front of you appear bigger than it is. It is a mix of open empty space and a tightly focused serving area.The menu is prix fixe, called an omakase, with a choice of alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage pairings with the food courses. The food courses are not laid out as quantity heavy platings. The cocktails are not high proof. The idea is that both are built to work together to create ranges of flavor. There is mouth watering richness and bright flavors and colors. Some flavors may be drawn across courses and drinks but each course and beverage pairing can stand alone.As much as the menu may look static through a month, there is the ability to tweak flavors in the food or drink to the point where it looks the same each night, but everyday something gets a little better.The snacks served as starters almost feel like a course in itself. The way they are presented - the shapes, the colors, the flavors - is almost like a deconstructed kaiseki hassun. An interlude between courses of Hokkaido milk bread with a rich and deep sweet corn butter elevated even more by dungeness crab is more of a transitional taste than a palate refreshment. And though a shave ice is listed as the final course, in a very typical kaiseki meal close there is following series of dessert bites - each one another thank you note from the kitchen.You will have a server who presents your food and cocktail pairings who is able to give you details on the ingredients and expected flavors. It feels very personalized. As you watch the kitchen meticulously plate you can tell all the heavy prep has been done hours ahead. Servers and kitchen staff work quietly and efficiently. When you see no extra steps, nothing extra lying around in sight, you realize this is a high preforming staff.Very welcoming. Worth returning again and again.

Ki is the man. Great experience, good portion and excellent pairing with the food. Service is awesome. Friendly!

This is literally my favorite restaurant by far in the world and I'll tell you why. Every time I make it out to Oahu no matter if I'm there a week or two or even just on a short layover I make it a point to make a reservation to this place to share in, not only what is consistently some of the most innovative and inventive foods and cocktails you'll ever have but also the wonderful level of Aloha, Ohana, and just pure love and joy for serving their customers. Each time I go you can really feel the warmth of this place when you enter into such a beautifully bright and wonderfully modern looking space with high ceilings. I love the throwback 90s hip-hop and pop music that they play along with dinner and each time I go even though they recognize me now...they spend the time to explain each course which is so delicately and beautifully put together. It is an absolute symphony of wonderfully unique flavors and fresh ingredients from the island as well as a nod to the best of Asia. One of my favorite things about coming here is the seasonal shaved ice at dessert and each time I come it is such an interesting array of flavors that you would never expect from black sesame to rose to banana -you can expect some of the best shave ice that you'll have topping off a meal that you'll never forget.I'm also not ashamed to say that there are times when they serve the scallop course with bread that I will generously sop up the rest of the sauce into my bread to delightfully. Enjoy every single drop of that sauce. Also, don't put it past me to lick the bowl if needed.The protein course a can vary depending upon the season from pork to duck to an upgrade to their A5 Wagyu all of which with the banchan is just so well prepared, meticulously plated, and every bite is intentional...and that's what I love about each moment of this meal... it feels like a multi act symphony with such a complex orchestra of ingredients that dance in your mouth with so much joy. You will never forget your time at Bar Māze!