Empire Steak House

Finally made it to the new steakhouse that took over the old Pesca location in the Ilikai Hotel.We popped in on a Saturday night around 7:30 without a reservation. Plenty of seats at the bar and we like to sit at the bar so it was perfect.The atmosphere is great, this is one of the best spots to watch the fireworks on Friday nights. Ask for the window seats. The bartenders were attentive and we received our drinks quickly, which we appreciate! My lemon drop martini was perfect as was the old fashion.We sampled their sliders, soup and grilled octopus - all good and all we would order again. Next time, we will try one of their signature steaks for sure!

Had a wonderful brunch at the Empire Steakhouse. Parked for $1 and hour at the parking stalls alongside the boats by the ilikai hotel. The elevator ride on this clear day was wonderful as I approached the 30th floor. Got seated by the window to see much of the Hilton Hawaiian Village property and the very blue ocean & sky. I posted pics of my sights.I ordered oysters, the steak and the vanilla lavender creme brulee. There is a lunch set that includes an appetizer, main and coffee or tea starting at 11:45 am. I was very hungry so I got there at 11:15am and ordered ala carte. Everything was well cooked to order and I loved my beautiful brunch.Service was polite and courteous. I would return again.

Lunch special $39 for appetizer Fried Kalamari , Short Ribs, coffee was amazing taste, amazing price, amazing service by Sarah & manger Yu-san, amazing view at Top of Ilikai hotel!! You can not find any better lunch steakhouse other than Empire!!! Love love love this restaurant Just found this (Amazing manager Yu san)https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/video/2025/01/16/empire-steak-opens-up-ilikai/

My husband and I dined here for a nice date night dinner. They sat us near the window that gave us a beautiful view of the city. We ordered the following:Octopus ,Calamari, American tomahawk steak, Steak fries, Mac and cheese ,Garlic riceFood: 4/5I thought that everything was well seasoned and prepared. I enjoyed the octopus as it was nice and tender and was well complimented with spinach, olives and fried garlic and topped with a nice balsamic glaze. The calamari was well seasoned and came with a nice and spiced marinara sauce. The tomahawk was good, but could have honestly come with less butter. I wasn't too much of a fan of the fact that they had to tip the plate to keep the butter and fat oils being pooled on the bottom of the steak. However, the steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare. Steak fries and garlic rice were also well cooked. Unfortunately the mac and cheese was a huge flop. The macaroni was too over cooked and I hated that they cheaped out on the cheese and topped the dish with a literal slice of American plastic square cheese. Not fancy, and really ruined the dish for me.Service: 3/5Was okay, our server Yuri was good but seemed to be a bit overwhelmed. I think the restaurant is still in an adjustment period when it comes to having enough staff. Our poor server was running around so much trying to help all of her tables, but really could have benefitted had there been more staff working. This led to slower serving times for putting our order in, getting water refills, the bill, etc. They also seem to have an issue with their HVAC system because the ceiling was leaking condensation and dropping water on my shoulder. It was so bad that we ended up requesting to change tables, and even after we changed tables, we could see the water pooling on the floor. (they only moved us over one table over). I was quite disappointed with this part of our experience and was not even offered any type of apology or compensation.Probably won't be back.

It hadn't even been a week, but went back there for lunch this time. We both had the Power Lunch and shared.Complimentary Breads - They were kind of dry and okay.Meatballs - They were a little hard yet tasty. Calamari - Nice portion and delicious. Beef Short Ribs - The meat was big but a half of that was fat. Also there was too much rice. I'd have liked to have more gravy/sauce.NY Strip - Requested medium but it was almost well. This happened to the happy hour steak sliders as well. Disappointed.Mai Tai - It was as good as the last time.Margarita - Since I didn't like this last time, I asked to use the Cointreau instead of Triple Sec. It came out perfectly and yay without the crushed ice!I just can't believe how they cook the steak and this is a steak house. However, I might still come back here for the happy hour or even lunch, because it's at a convenient location for me, definitely not dinner.

Lunch at Empire Steak House... in Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii was a fantastic experience!Donna O. did the research:The Power Lunch (special) starts at 11:45am and ends at 3pm. It's a great deal for $39.95 because of the stellar view, quality meals, and great service! Located on the 30th Floor of the Ilikai Hotel, Empire Steak House is part of a chain which has three locations in New York and one in Japan. This Honolulu location used to house Pesca Restaurant. PARKING: we used the valet service. It totaled just $6 with validation.Julia was our efficient, competent, professional server. She was very helpful, friendly, and patient! She made excellent suggestions and gave us a delicious complimentary Tiramisu birthday dessert! Thank you so much!I ordered the moist, tender Grilled Salmon. It was preceded by complimentary fresh focaccia bread. We used the bottle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar that was on our table (after we finished off the butter) - yummy! My meal came with Sautéed broccoli and mashed potatoes... everything was cooked to perfection!Power Lunch comes with coffee or tea and a starter - I got the Fresh Mozzarella with Beefsteak Tomatoes... very fresh and healthy!I highly recommend the Power Lunch! I'd go again and get the Beef Short Rib and Calamari that Donna ordered! Thank you for letting me taste your lunch, Donna... and thank you for a wonderful lunch!Note: there's a private room with a better view at the other end of the glass wall... I'm going to inquire and reserve it for our next gathering!

A friend of mine asked if I would like to check out Empire Steakhouse. He saw somewhere that it recently opened, January 11th. I said yes, and I found us driving there ;) You can reserve on the website, OpenTable or by calling them directly at (808) 777-3100. We reserved our spot on their website. They are located at The Top of The Ilikai Hotel. Parking is valet only so make sure to get your ticket validated. We paid $6. If it's not validated, it's $29. As you enter The Ilikai Hotel, you'll find the elevator to your left. I promise you, you and miss it! This elevator is strictly for the restaurant only so it'll take you at the very top and then back down to lobby, when you're done. The view from the bottom is beautiful but once you get up to the 30th floor, it's even more spectacular! I went to wash my hands and came across an open door. I decided to check it out and found out they had a wedding hall. It's beautiful and so majestically simple! It's meant for 20 people. As soon as we exited the elevator, we were greeted with 3 ladies beaming with their friendly smiles. One of them took us to our table. As we sat, our friendly waiter came and said hello. He shared the specials of the day. He is Paul B. Super friendly and attentive. In fact, we were confused because it felt like we had more than 1 waiter. They were constantly checking in on us. He started his meal with the Lobster Bisque. It's creamy and delicious! I tried their French Onion soup. It's one of my favorite soup! They didn't disappoint me! For our main meal, he ordered the Bone-in Ribeye Steak. It was cooked to perfection and seasoned with simple flavors but so divinely crafted and so delicious! It melts in your mouth. He has sautéed asparagus for his sides. I got the Seafood Platter with lobster, crab, 2 oysters, and 2 jumbo shrimp.We ended our tastebuds with their New York Cheesecake with Fresh Berries for him. I had their Vanilla Lavender Crème Brûlée. Both are good except mine is so much more flavorful and creamy! We enjoyed our time dining with Empire Steakhouse. They delivered with spectacular service! I hope you get to experience it too! Thank you, Paul, Alfred & your tThank you for taking the time to read my review. Have a great ALOHA Friday.

Good food. Incredible views. Service needed a lot of improvement.Located at the formerly Pesca in the Ilikai Apt Bldg. As with any new restaurant, I wanted to try their lunch before diving head first into dinner. My friend and I went on a Friday for lunch. We both opted for the "Power Lunch" option ($39.95) which included a choice of appetizer, main course and a coffee or tea. Let's start with the good.The Beef Short Rib served with sweet Barolo wine sauce, rice and green peas was amazing. The tastiest short rib I've ever had. Super tender and perfectly seasoned. The Barolo wine sauce was slurp to the last drop worthy.The New York Strip was quite pedestrian. Although well seasoned, I expected a better cut of meat from a "steakhouse". Also it was an additional $10 on top of the $39.95 for the NY strip. The Meatballs in tomato sauce topped with Ricotta was good not great. The meatballs were moist but lacked a depth of flavor. However the tomato sauce with ricotta was delicious and helped to carry this dish. Fried Calamari - well executed with a thin delicate crunchy crust. The marinara sauce was exceptional. Slightly creamy texture and not acidic. Seemed like they do tomato sauce very well here. The service was super uneven and needed a lot of improvement. Although the team of servers were very professional and polite, there were a lot of mistakes and missteps. They repeatedly brought the wrong appetizers then they brought one appetizer but forgot the other. Then the main courses appeared before the 2nd appetizer. When the check was delivered they gave us the wrong check that was vastly lower than what we ordered. Our check should've been $110 + tax but the check they gave us was $58 + tax. I told the waiter of the error. 10 minutes later the manager approached our table to verify our orders. I said "we had 2 Power Lunches at $39.95 + an additional $10 for the NY Strip". Geez what's so hard to understand??? When he came back with the revised check, he overcharged us by $10. Seemed like the kitchen had their act together but the front of the house needed a lot of work. We will wait a few months for them to hopefully work out the kinks and come back for dinner. The food was definitely worth another visit. Valet parking in front or metered parking the back. Happy Eating!!

Finally, a true NYC steakhouse and one with the potential to become Hawaii's best.A classic steakhouse. No fancy starters rather the requisite raw bar staples, crab cake, fried calamari. Mains, animals. Traditional steakhouse sides.IMPORTANT NOTES:-- This is a mid tier steakhouse with major US city prices. Starters $30+. Steaks $100+ with Japanese A5 topping out at $450.-- The steak served at lunch is USDA Choice versus the USDA Prime for dinner.-- The restaurant is new. Lapses in service with zero ability to up sell will dampen the experience.To start, the calamari is very well made. Flash fried, so lightly crisp on the outside and very tender inside. The accompanying thick marinara sauce is flavorful but a simple squeeze of lemon is all that's needed. The crab cake, less successful. Mostly crab with little filler but it is plated with too much aioli resulting in an oily mouth feel. It is however well seasoned.The beef. USDA Prime dry aged in house. Opting for the king of steaks, the porterhouse for three. The steak is very well seared to a deep golden brown. It is well seasoned without being too salty. Guessing the steaks are dry aged for 30 - 40 days. No blue cheese funk or nuttiness. Very agreeable.Tip: Steaks are sat on a superheated plate in clarified butter. Order steaks one level below the desired doneness. Be sure to serve it all to individual plates as quickly as possible to prevent gross overcooking. Zero complaints on the simple, buttery mashed potato or the thicker than most but very rich and flavorful creamed spinach.Solid, well chosen wine list. Better still, their list of brown libations. Typical 300 - 500 percent markup above retail.Service is, putting it nicely, a work in progress. Interrupting a table conversation to ask how the food is, taking away one diner's plate before everyone has finished, holding a fork by the tines and placing it on the table. Little things that add up and make you question why you just dropped $400/pp. Hopefully it improves quickly with time.Note: sorry, no pics. Device free dining with visiting poker buds.Huge potential. Fingers crossed they make it. This could be the new regular spot for this steak lover.

We tried the happy hour here. They had decent prices for "classic cocktails" (please note this does NOT apply to their fancy cocktail menu) and draft beer. Only 3 beers were available on draft and only one local, which was very disappointing. In general, the menu listings didn't give much detail, though our server did go through it with us. I had the hamburger sliders (2), which happily have a side of fries. They were a little bland as they only came with some sauce and no other toppings or accompaniments. I liked the fries, but they were just a touch over-salted. There was light piano music playing and nice views from the top of the Ilikai.