Rokaru Shabu Shabu

Wednesday February 26, 2025 first time, here and we didn't have a reservation. But, we was seated in a few minutes. We decided to go with the AYCE as it was $5.00 more than the regular sets. It seemed like a way better deal. Regular sets is 1 protein and 1 trip to the vegetables bar. AYCE is 4 protein and many trips to the vegetables bar. Appetizers included. So, we ordered 2 shrimp shumai, gyoza and fried chicken. There is plenty parking and there is plenty businesses in the Waimalu shopping plaza with Safeway. The ambiance is casual and comfortable which is nice. The place is really well lit and cool inside. It came with green tea ice cream or a strawberry sorbet which was nice. Oops! A soda was included with a free refill which was nice too. This was a good place to try for an AYCE hot pot and we will definitely be back again!! I highly recommend trying this place!

Attentive service and that's really appreciated at an all-you-can-eat restaurant. The AYCE menu has a great selection and variety of appetizers, meat, soups, veggies, rice and noodles and there's even a premium option that increases tour choices. It also comes with dessert. And if you're not looking for a buffet of choices, they have several different sets to choose fromThe quality of meat is stellar and I would pay them another visit in the future. The seating and tables have ample space and you won't feel cramped.Definitely make reservations as they can get busy, but we risked it and were seated right away.Plenty of parking out front in the Waimalu lot.

TLDR: 5/5 s! Great pricing, great staff, and great broth!~My first hot pot experience in Hawaii was Shabuya at Ala Moana, and that was awesome but I think I would definitely make Rokaru my go-to based on location/convenience!Rokaru is in the same plaza as the Safeway/Office Depot in Aiea, so it's super convenient if you live or work in the area!~ I really love Rokaru because it's super great pricing and there's no time limit/crunch to your dining; additionally, the staff is so friendly and it is. very homey vibe inside the restaurant! My boyfriend and I went after a shopping day and were super hungry; when we showed up there was a big party dining in, but they still seated us within 10 minutes which was awesome. ~ We got the Shabu Shabu Set for One to share and it was MORE THAN ENOUGH for is after adding one extra meat choice! We got the Chuck Roll & Beef Belly with the Spicy Tonkotsu Broth & Ramen, and it was a great combination! You could definitely feel the broth soak into the veggies & meat and I LOVED it. Additionally, when we ran out of/were running out of broth to cook up the rest of our food, the staff came by and topped off our pot to help us cook the rest, which was AMAZING! Granted, it was just regular Tonkotsu broth, but they offered to add spice for it if we wanted! If you're looking to try any of their appetizers, I would highly recommend the Garlic Chicken! the chicken fell apart so nicely and the seasoning wasn't extremely salty, which is what I'm used to for garlic chicken. For dessert, you get a complimentary ice cream, catered by Dave's--I also love this restaurant because they support local businesses, which is awesome to see! ~Overall, we had SUCH a great experience at Rokaru, and we 100% are going to come back! Give them a shot; you won't be disappointed!! They give you a sizeable amount of meat (honestly we were so full off of just the first meat choice!) and even though they have a smaller veggie bar, the bowl they give you is big enough (we only got one trip since we did the Shabu Shabu Set). The only recommendation I would make is maybe one day expanding the veggie bar, but everything they had to offer was more than enough already!

We loved rokaru when they were in Pearl highlands, but this location is a little more convenient.Made a reservation online bc we knew it would be busy on a Saturday especially during the holiday season. Like the new feature that we can go up and get our own veggies and the restaurant is double in size. It was really busy, so service could have been better. We had to flag down our waitress to order more meats and beverages. The bathroom could have been cleaner and some of the utensils given weren't clean. The plastic laydel spoon was also melted from a pervious party. Had to ask for another one. AYCE standard comes with unlimited soft drinks and a small scoop of Dave's ice cream for dessert. This first experience at their new location wasn't the same as their old location. But we'll be back to continue to support local Ono food

Great staff. Our server Hailey R was patient in explaining the menu. Miso and goma broth were good. Good selection of veggies. Liked the option of healthier noodles.

Perhaps they need more servers, but it is not really acceptable to call this All You Can Eat. They only came 4 times to take orders. My party was constantly waiting to order more meat. They were busy a bit after we came, but only 2 people were taking orders. The guys who cut meat are nice, but they need to find a way to have people get servers' attention. It was okay on the inside, but not as nice as the previous location. Maybe I'll try it one more time in a few months to decide if it is worth going back. The broths are still good though.

Finally! Made our way to their new location! What a spacious spot! No more long wait or having to be turned away cuz maxed out seating! Service is still great, always! Food YUM yum YUM! Self service veggies! Only Tofu, Eggplant, Mushrooms and beans sprouts are still in the back, order from your server!

I wanted to like it but was honestly kind of let down. I will have to say their saving grace was the amazing and hard working service. All the servers and food runners were so friendly and welcoming, hence the 3 stars. The system of ordering and food options were meh though.There are two AYCE options to choose from, standard or premium, where premium is just a few dollars more and includes pupus and better proteins. We went with the latter. The meat quality is good, and we made sure to order all the premium beef options plus pork belly and some seafood. Kauai prawns are huge, so definitely stock up on that. Proteins could be ordered 4 at a time. For pupus, the taro arabkiki (fried sausages) and candied bacon were pretty good. There were like 3 veggies you had to order from the server, but otherwise there was a self-serve veggie bar. I will have to say that they had an extensive selection of starches, with noticeably healthier options like tofu or zucchini noodles. There is a large selection of broths, of which I chose the spicy goma. They seem to have a lot of special items for broths or menu items, so be sure to ask! The sesame sauce is pretty good, and the yuzu sauce is tangy and fresh.The things that were kind off include things like having to ask for sauce bottles instead of having each bottle at a table or a self serve sauce bar, 1 tong and 1 ladle for a whole table of 4, small bowls for each person rather than plates to scoop food out to, and only 1 large plate to get veggies from the bar rather than everyone being able to grab plates themselves. While we were never denied and requests from the servers, it just got annoying to have to keep asking for things. I enjoyed their playlist, but it was pretty loud inside and hard to hear. Recommend to make a reservation on yelp as wait times can get pretty long. Parking is easy in the large parking lot. Will probably try again to see if this one time was a fluke.

I came here for dinner with family on a Saturday night and it was busy. We had to wait about 20-25 minutes, but the hostess was so sweet and tried to keep us informed of how long more we would have to wait. Once seated, we ordered our first round of meat and veggie choices. I love the variety of vegetables and noodles. Since they were very busy we had to wait a while for our dishes to come out. Overall, we had a great meal and the service was good even with the wait. Happy eating!

Great food took awhile to cook everything but service was excellent kept coming up to ask if we needed more meat. We had a big group but everyone got what they wanted in timely manner.