Merriman's Honolulu

Wow -- what a meal. This was easily the best dinner we had while on vacation in December. A recommendation from our cab driver from the airport, we went to Merriman's after looking it up on Yelp. We liked the atmosphere and the food looked fabulous. Needless to say, our expectations were surpassed.We started with the biscuits and an escargot style dish. My mom got a mojito and I opted for a diet cola -- they use craft sodas here, so if you want Coke or Pepsi, be prepared. The biscuits, as an expert on biscuits, we fluffy, buttery, and honestly some of the best I've had outside the American south. I ordered the steak frites -- I only eat steak on special occasions and this was worth the money for sure. Perfectly seasoned with a savory herb butter... melted in my mouth! My mom's mahi hit the spot for her as well and started a trend with her that would go through the week: she ate mahi at least once a day for the duration of our stay.The service was excellent. Our waitress was just the right amount of attentive and even gave some greatrecommendations of other places to try on the island of Oahu during our stay. We will definitely be returning next time we are in Oahu.

Perhaps having many in my friend group rave about company parties, engagement announcements, marriage proposals held at this venue, I had a high expectation of fantastic food, great servce, and immeasuable ambiance. So when retired, traveling aunty and uncle from New Jersey visit and ask where is a great place to take the family (that they have never been to before) , Merriman's was a natural choice. Walking distance from our home, we used our footmobile..... best report to make about this place. They asked if we had reservations on a Tuesday night, which we did not, the staff rolled their eyes and guffawed. Minus one from the current post of 4 stars.Six ppl in our party, they sat us at a round table in with 2 empty seats in the run of the kitchen and service area. More eye rolls from the server who had to repeat herself and we had to keep asking her bc it was soooooooo super loud. Eye rolls from the staff for them to have to step around us. Minus one more star...Maybe I am just not acclimated to what I was told was fine-dining; however, was that a misspelling on the menu about a cut of meat I was told later was steak and frites.... With a T? Minus one more...Not to mention fewer than 10 entree items? I can't even recall. Our bellies ached as we stared out at the LnL across the street, knowing we could have gotten 3x the portion for at least half the price. O stars now...Ambiance outside Merriman's was a lot more relaxed and open. Then again, this is our community, and we enjoy this everyday. We very well could have packed a picnic lunch and posted up under the stars and had a much better time catching up and talking stories. Our family would give Merriman's T minus negative 1 had it not been for the nice staff person at the end who took our family photo w two of our camera phones. We already have plans for aunty and uncle's next visit... we will go BBQ at the house and enjoy the pool and each other. I do not reccommend this place as the menu is scant, the prices are neither worth the flavor nor the portion, and most of the staff are unkind. Maybe we caught Merriman's on a bad day. We all left hungry. Even in what we are told is an egg shortage, I felt like I had egg on my face for suggesting this place.

I think they brought their lunch prices down a little since they first opened! I never returned because the prices (when they opened) were outrageous!But now they have a great lunch menu and HAPPY HOUR is also very reasonable. Food is delicious and service is top notch. Truffle fries are amazing.

The good, the bad, and the annoying. The good: My mahi mahi was pretty tasty - well cooked and well seasoned. The service was also good. The bad: Prices aren't too bad for the area but the serving sizes are small. So small that if you don't order an appetizer you will leave hungry. No thought whatsoever seems to have been put into the sides plated with the entrees. Every plate I saw go by, including ours, had the same tired steamed broccoli. My partner's plate also had some steamed carrots and 2 cubes of potato (that was his starch). I also got some buttered rice. One bite of it had some garlic flavor. White rice and steamed veggies were really giving me a school lunchroom vibe. My partner was not too happy with his fish special, ono and crabmeat with the aforementioned 2 cubes of potato. Although he thought the crab tasted good he said the sauce lacked flavor and had the sever not said there were capers he never would have known. The annoying: The noise level is ridiculous. The server had to keep repeating herself and it was next to impossible to hold a conversation. Add that to a lengthy wait (about 40 minutes for food that took less than 15 minutes to eat) and it did not make for an enjoyable experience.

This is the definition of a 5 star restaurant. Everything was incredible from the food, the service, the atmosphere, the ambiance, everything was absolutely amazing. We walked in and were greeted by live music, we had a short wait for our table, and then the feast began! We tried their incredible biscuits, the octopus appetizer, and the ribeye special. But I have to say, what stole the show was the seafood pot pie. Was on the fence about ordering it but it's truly one of a kind. So creamy and delicious, with generous portions of lobster and scallops. Ultimate comfort food.Also special shout-out to our server Sarah who made the night even more amazing with her excellent service. She was so kind and helpful, and really took care of us.

Excellent restaurant in the Ward/Kakaako area! I recently had a work lunch here and I was genuinely impressed. I can't believe I've never visited this place before after driving past it so many times. This would be a top pick for a first class Tinder date! Let me paint the picture. You've been on Tinder for 3 months with no luck whatsoever. Then, that special one comes along. The one that shares your love for hiking, boba drinks, Star Wars, and corgi pups. You went to Starbucks and had some holiday lattes together and have already exchanged a few kissy face emojis. Now is the time for a really nice meal together. Yes, this place is that good. Anyway, the food was excellent! I had the Makai, which is the fresh catch (it was ono on the day I went). It came with rice and broccoli with a delicious glaze on the fish and broccoli. I also had the biscuits, which were much better than I expected. We also orderd the hummus, which has one fatal flaw--it needs to come with way more chips to eat it with! Even when we got "more" chips for it, there weren't near enough; and I'm a heavy dipper (not a double dipper). My suggestion, don't serve it with the little bowl of veggies. Serve it with more chips, a sufficient amout to finish all the humus with. For dessert, I had the bread pudding. It was spectacular, but for you purists, beware, it contained pineapple. The service could not have been better. Andaiah was fabulous! We sat inside, but they also have outdoor seating. I highly recommend this place if your looking for a restaurant that's a step up from the average. Cheers.

I was really excited to try another one of our famous Hawaiian Regional Cuisine chef's restaurants! We were a party of 12 celebrating birthdays and the new year. We each would definitely come back! Flavors were absolutely delicious for everything we ordered! A few things we tried included:Macadamia nut encrusted Mahi MahiCast iron roasted chickenBone in Ribeye steak specialPoblano mashed potatoes Bag of biscuits Bread pudding Chocolate purseI look forward to trying more of Merriman's dishes!

I brought my team here for our holiday dinner a few weeks ago. We had a reservation and waited about 15 minutes before being seated. I ordered the Mac Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi ($44), which came with two filets, a generous portion of rice, and some veggies. Unfortunately, for me, the dish lacked a bit of pizzazz. The nuttiness of the crust overpowered the Mahi Mahi's flavor, which was disappointing. I only took a few bites and ended up bringing the rest home for my boyfriend. On another note, the poblano mashed potatoes stole the show--it was zesty and absolutely delicious. I wish I had ordered more because, as they say, nothing haunts you more than the food you didn't order lol! I also tried a cocktail called "A Honu World". Firstly, I appreciate the pun because there's a literally cut out of a Honu on the ice cube! So cute!The prices were fair for what we received, and the atmosphere was lovely. The service is awesome too. My glass was topped off frequently. The only hiccup of the evening was when one of our entrees was mistakenly delivered to another table. However, the server handled it wonderfully, bringing a flight of poke and pupus as a gesture for the guest who had to wait. We really appreciated the effort to make things right. I'll definitely return to try their cast iron chicken and, of course, another round of mashed potatoes. Btw, they have "Just Lettuce" salad on their menu for $9, which is so camp. I'll have to try it next time for a full review lol. This is a great spot for little get together's or for a fun date night. They often have live local music playing outside, which adds to the ambiance. For parking, we found it convenient to park at D&B or Whole Foods.

Had a lovely lunch with a friend today. Food was good, company great, service was great! Manager Chad kindly stops by each table to check on the guests. Very nice! My only concern is it's very loud and prices are a bit high. Found out parking is in the back... you need to come from the Ewa side of Waimānalo street or it us an illegal left turn I to parking srea. I must have missed the parking sign... only saw delivery area sign. There are 2 stalks that are for salon only so be careful.

This is a long review because there's a lot of things that were worth it but also things that weren't so bare with me.Celebrated our anniversary at Merriman's. Restaurant looks high scale, but casual which I loved. Service was great the whole time. Right off the bat, complimentary prosecco for our celebration! And at the end of the meal, they gave us a scoop of their house made vanilla ice cream with a message. We ordered extra drinks, an app, entree and dessert.Recommendation:Coffee-Tini - one of the better espresso martinis I've had. Perfect balance of sweetness to vodka.Smash Burger & Fries - SO GOOD. Burger was very flavorful and buttery, never got soggy. Only downside was that the ratio of fries was so little (see picture).Waialua Chocolate Purse - thought we had to open up the paper like laulau then realized it was edible LOL it was really good and unique. Def recommend.OKs:Roasted Beet Salad - This one was good, but it was like any other salad.. nothing unique so I didn't think it was worth $17 especially for the size.Makai Fish Special - I really wanted the fish tacos but the server notified me the fish for the tacos was salmon and I don't think salmon tacos sounded pleasing so I opted for the Fish special which was some type of white fish, with a tomato based puree and a couple broccoli and potatoes.. it was OK. Good enough to eat but fell a bit mid - don't remember the price on that. If I didn't have two desserts at the end I'd probably be still hungry.Overall, I would recommend. Even though I was meh about some of the menu items, overall for this type of ambiance and service, it's actually a good price. I'll most likely get something else if I come for lunch again. Looking at the dinner menu, will definitely try coming for that.