Will be in Honolulu for about a week. Staying near Waikiki. Any recommendations for restaurants (fancy and casual), scuba dive company (i am PADI certified), area for young kids to snorkel (approximately 5 yr old). Planning to hit Pearl Harbor and Polynesian cultural center. I remember long time ago there were target shooting shops. Might check it out.
Ten years ago my daughter and I stayed at the Prince (at the very NW end of the hotel strip) and we absolutely loved doing breakfast/brunch each morning at the Harbor Pub (Harbor Pub & Pizza). Killer “home-style” breakfast options. We went with the Eggs Benedict each and every day. Typically made with fresh Mahi-mahi (instead of Canadian bacon) and as good as either of us ever has had. Same for the incredibly good Bloody Mary’s. It was just down the sidewalk from our hotel. Pics from the internet:
One of our pics:
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Also, I had asked the board for sushi recommendations and SteveC recommended Tokkuri Tei. We went. It was wonderful.
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We liked Chiba-ken about a decade ago and online it looks same, but seems menu is more focused on sushi than when we went. Should still be nice for casual.
Marugame Udon for noodles. Casual.
We have done boat-accessed diving from both Oahu and Hawaii (big island) and we don’t bother diving in Hawaii any more – not enough soft corals, not much fish life, lots of dead coral. We do enjoy the manta ray diving and snorkeling on the big island, which obviously isn’t near Waikiki.
Snorkeling, https://hanaumabaystatepark.com, closed Mon&Tue to give fish a break. It can be very crowded, and reef is trashed from so many people, but still stuff to see.
Shave ice for the adults and kids: Where to Find the Best Shave Ice in Waikiki - Local Getaways Hawaii, with snow cap.
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It’s a shame whenever I see beaches with dead corals and people touching marine life, feeding fishes, etc. phuket is a prime example of it. Bleeched corals, barely any fish and you can see and smell the fuel in the water .
Thanks! We’re about an hour away from Honolulu right now
This is our favorite spot in Honolulu and the only spot I can even think to recommend. Not a food town in our experience, which continues to puzzle me because the whole economy is built off tourists who are all need a place to eat and have money to spend.
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Yes, good point – food in Honolulu is generally meh. I live in a tourist town and tourists usually don’t want to spend the hours to dine or the money for a high-end experience: they’re tired from touring all day (hiking, skiing, surfing, or just drinking mai tais at the pool!). An exception on the islands is Maui where most couples and newlyweds visit (relative to Oahu or the big island) and food on Maui is generally better. But it’s still not on par with Napa, Sonoma, San Francisco, Seattle, or LA. Many of the mainlanders that moved to Hawaii are seemingly not foodies, so that plays into the market as well.
@ylee, also check The 38 Best Restaurants in Honolulu, Hawai‘i - Eater and other places they mention. It’s not entirely dire for food, but … it’s not as awesome as one would expect.
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It’s a shame whenever I see beaches with dead corals and people touching marine life, feeding fishes, etc. Bleeched corals, barely any fish and you can see and smell the fuel in the water .
Yeah, Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt) is worst I have seen myself with people standing on the reef so only their waist was in the water. It didn’t have the smell of fuel on the water, so that was good! But, the Red Sea diving away from Sharm was epic and absolutely awesome.
North shore is interesting – big waves and the shrimp trucks have good very casual food. Check up to date information for which shrimp trucks are best up there. There is also a few epic shave ice place on north shore – Matsumoto and Aoki. We hit one on the way in, walked on the beach and were impressed with the surfers and the big waves, and hit the other on the way out.
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If you can, definitely recommend getting to downtown/Chinatown area. By far the most interesting restaurants in Honolulu are there in my opinion.
Fancy dinner and great wine list:
Casual dinner and great wine list:
Incredible cocktail program:
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It’s been so many years since I was there, my favourite restaurant (King Crab) has long closed. The only one that I really liked and is still open is La Mer at the Halekulani Hotel. Aside from the food & service, it was where I first had Opus One - the 1997 vintage recommended by the sommelier.
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Are you planning on a trip to Cebu anytime in March or April? I will be there around those months. If you are, maybe we can meet up.
The Pearl Harbor Museums are free right?
Went to Harbor Pub for breakfast this morning. No mahi mahi Benedict’s and the Bloody Mary’s were meh. But better than last night’s dinner
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Damn! Sorry about that, David! 
No worries. We had a nice breakfast. I should have seen it coming when I asked the barkeep while waiting for a table whether the BMs were as good as they were 10 years ago and we smirked.
Free but require reservations.
That’s the only spot I know of. I think the reservation fee is pretty reasonable. It is worth it for the reservations - the last time I visited I was making reservations a day or two before and the available times were pretty limited.
Okonomiyaki Chibo is great (Beach Walk).
The food at House Without a Key was much better than expected, and the sunset views are crazy.
Holey Grail Donut truck.
Poke Fix is great.
5-Star Poke is also good (small food truck park with Huka Dog and Angry Shrimp
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