Diners' Choice: Contemporary American restaurants in Hawaii

OpenTable

Updated 05 April 2025

Looking for restaurants with the best overall Contemporary American cuisine in Hawaii? You’re in the right place. Each month OpenTable analyses more than 400,000 new diner reviews. We sort the results by category to help you discover new favourites. It's a great partnership: you reserve, eat, and review. We listen...and deliver the results for all to benefit. Enjoy!

Spoon and Key Market

4.9

4.9 (112)

$50 and over

Contemporary American

Wailea

About the restaurant

On Wednesdays and Thursdays, we pause our lunch service at 4pm and resume at 4:30pm for sunset service.
Both reservations and walk-ins are welcome.
On Fridays and Saturdays, the dining room closes at 3pm and dinner reservations begin at 5:30pm

Top review

JessicaVIP

Dined on 10 Apr 2025

Great restaurant! Salads were delicious, the burger and chicken were both great as well and deserts were great. Went with a 7 yr old and they were an accommodating with pasta :) server was great as well, and the patio seating was perfect. The pricing was inline with local restaurants with the exception of the chicken at $50…that was a little high.

Senia

4.8

4.8 (85)

$50 and over

Contemporary American

Honolulu

About the restaurant

Senia invites you to share well-crafted drinks and delicious food in a comfortable, convivial environment. We celebrate Hawaii’s abundance of beautiful ingredients and showcase the delectable results of diverse cultures and multi-discipline culinary training coming together.

Senia's founding Chef/Owner, Anthony Rush, has decades of culinary experience at the two and three Michelin-star level. Chef Rush applies his abundant and extraordinary talents to two different menus. Our à la carte menu highlights refined casual dishes, making Senia a great neighborhood restaurant. Our tasting menu, offered on Friday and Saturday nights at our Chefs’ Counter, is an exclusive and beautiful gastronomic experience that highlights incredible ingredients and exceptional technique.

Senia’s name is a play on the word “xenia”, the ancient Greek ideology of hospitality where strangers and friends alike were treated with the same regard. It is in that spirit that we welcome you to join us.

Top review

BelindaVIP

Dined 5 days ago

Food was exquisite and service was very professional

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Experience

Tasting Menu

Fête

4.8

4.8 (4048)

$31 to $50

Contemporary American

Honolulu

About the restaurant

2022 James Beard Award Winner for Best Chef Northwest & Pacific.

Rooted in the local farm-to-table movement — a place where seasonality and culinary tradition are celebrated in tandem. One part Hawaii and one part Brooklyn. The atmosphere shares a brasserie feel with a laid-back island sensibility—a celebration and homage to all of our favorite things we enjoy eating and drinking.

Crafted with brick & reclaimed wood, our urban Hawaiian farmhouse features an open kitchen, lush plant wall, brick walls, and lots of natural light in a historic Chinatown building. The bar mixes classic and modern cocktails with artisanal flare with a well-curated wine list.

Top review

Megan

Dined on 8 Apr 2025

We had a wonderful time at Fete! The food was absolutely amazing and Chris was an excellent waiter.

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4.7

4.7 (1400)

$30 and under

Contemporary American

Honolulu

About the restaurant

A Hawaiian Sense of Plate

If there are no reservations available at your desired time, understand that we hold our patio seating, communal table, and bar stools for walk-in customers only. Please call to reserve parties larger than 8 guests. We are open to walk-ins only for Happy Hour ("Pau Work") from 2pm to 5pm Tuesday - Saturday and offer a pupu menu and drink specials.

Hang Loose at The Hen

Top review

RobinVIP

Dined 1 day ago

Food was delicious with some unique combinations. Servers were helpful.

Arden Waikiki

4.7

4.7 (254)

$31 to $50

Contemporary American

Waikiki

About the restaurant

SHAREABLE BITES, UNFORGETTABLE NIGHTS.

Poised to become your new favorite, at Arden Waikiki, we celebrate Hawaii’s harvest with shared plates that redefine island dining. Rooted in local fare, every bite invites you to savor elevated flavors through a down-to-earth experience.

Helmed by Executive Chef Makoto Ono and Pastry Chef Amanda Cheng, our menu showcases the vibrantly diverse culinary expressions of Hawaii. From bold, creative shared plates to fresh, field-to-fork classics, Arden Waikiki brings the best of the islands to your plate.

Accolades: Sunset Magazine "Best Restaurants in the West" 2024, EATER "One of the Best 21 Restaurants in Waikiki" 2024, Honolulu Star Advertiser 'Ilima Awards: Ovation Award Winner 2024, EATER "One of the 38 Essential Restaurants in Honolulu" 2024

Top review

Jennifer

Dined 1 day ago

Very fresh and top quality ingredients. Creative menu and best dessert- get the baked Hawai’i!! Service was fantastic and the atmosphere was chic. Loved it!

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4.7

4.7 (806)

$30 and under

Contemporary American

Kapolei

About the restaurant

Mahi'ai Table, Foodland's first full service farm-to-table restaurant.

Top review

Henry

Dined on 3 Apr 2025

Food very tasty and service is quick. Kinda noisy couldn’t hear the live band but whole dining experience was great!

Veranda - Moana Surfrider

4.8

4.8 (1150)

$50 and over

Contemporary American

Waikiki

About the restaurant

Our renowned Victorian tradition of “Afternoon Tea” under the historic banyan tree invites guests to indulge in a variety of tropical tea blends accompanied by a selection of delicious finger sandwiches, scones and delicate pastries.

Please Note we are a cashless restaurant. We only accept credit cards or room charges as form of payment. A 20% gratuity will be added to all parties of 6 or more and for parties of 5 or more that request split checks.
We kindly ask to refrain from balloon decorations to ensure the views for others are respected. Guests are welcome to bring their own cake/dessert for an additional fee of $7 per person.

Top review

KIMBERLYVIP

Dined 6 days ago

10/10! Went for the once a month butterfly experience tea. It really just added to the already amazing experience!

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Experience

Butterfly Tea Time

et al.

4.8

4.8 (1517)

$30 and under

Contemporary American

Honolulu

About the restaurant

et al. is a new full-service restaurant, bar and neighborhood eatery offering an imaginative menu of multi-regional dishes drawing inspiration from local produce and ingredients at the peak of seasonal flavor.

Top review

Melissa

Dined 3 days ago

Restaurant is quite nice. It’s a wide open space, so it can get a bit noisy at times. Food is very good. Portions are so so, some dishes smaller than other but always tasty. Prices are fairly reasonable for the overall experience.

Mariposa at Neiman Marcus - Ala Moana

4.7

4.7 (5870)

$30 and under

Contemporary American

Honolulu

About the restaurant

THE MARIPOSA located on Level 3 of Neiman Marcus ALA MOANA greets you to a panoramic view of the Ala Moana Beach Park located directly across. Enjoy seating in our Dining Room, or on the Lanai.

Mariposa Restaurant boasts a spectacular ocean view and extraordinary cuisine from Executive Chef Lance Kosaka.

Find your favorite menu items plus new selections too. Open daily for Lunch: Sunday 11am - 4:30pm (last seating), Monday - Saturday 11am - 3:00pm (last seating)

Our Sunset Lounge Menu is offered Thursday 5pm -7:30pm, Friday 5pm - 7:30pm & Saturday 5pm - 7:30pm (last seating)

Enjoy a commanding view of the Friday Night Fireworks display from any seat in the Restaurant or on the Lanai.

For your convenience, please enter from the Mariposa private entrance, ocean side Mall Level of Neiman Marcus.

Hours may vary on Holidays -- please call for more information.

Top review

Chris

Dined 4 days ago

The hostess started to seat us and got stopped by a customer so rather than ask the customer to wait, she turned her attn to her and my family were awkwardly waiting in limbo. Then as the waiter was taking our orders, he was interrupted as one of us was ordering and had to step away for a minute. Felt a bit invisible overall, unfortunately. Pork chop and wagyu burger were great. Chicken milanese was bland.

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Monkeypod Kitchen - Wailea

4.7

4.7 (10739)

$30 and under

Contemporary American

Wailea

About the restaurant

Aloha, we are open daily from 11:00am to 10:00pm, with our last seating available at 9:45pm. We accept reservations & reserve a large amount of space for walk-ins. If your desired reservation is not available, please join our waitlist in person daily. Happy Hour is available daily from 3:30pm-5:00pm (excluding select holidays).

Our chef driven concept is led by the classically trained, award winning chef, Peter Merriman. Peter is a culinary pioneer and one of the founders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. He has always been inspired by the people and products around him and this spirit has lead the movement to look at food in Hawaii in a new light. Monkeypod Kitchen by Merriman embraces this passion! Each item on the menu demonstrates our commitment to craft and showcases high quality, socially conscious ingredients, creative preparations, and perfect execution.

Top review

VinnyVIP

Dined 3 days ago

Amazing! Great food and even better service mahalo!

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Popular dish

Margherita

Popular dish

Pete's Fresh Fish and Chips

Popular dish

Coconut Cream Pie

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