A restaurant designed with everyone in mind

If live music, long happy hours and tasty bites are all an important part of your weekend, Lily Koi Restaurant and Lounge should more than deliver. In a move that makes Lily Koi one of the more interesting bar/restaurants to open on the Leeward side in recent years, the owners have managed to combine a “finer” dining feel with a contemporary cocktail lounge - and keep the two flowing nicely.

Unlike other spots in town that merge mid-dinner from a restaurant to a nightclub, Lily Koi has been well-designed to accommodate all. There’s a lounge area complete with comfy couches, scattered tables, and a waterfall within a few steps of the bar, and then the main dining room is toward the back of the restaurant.

Located above the wonderful, family-run Mexican restaurant El Charro II, and on the site of the old Buffet 100, Lily Koi Restaurant and Bar opened its doors in December, and customer comments have been positive.

“We’ve been getting a really great reaction from customers,” says managing partner Dennis Kinoshita,“and everyone seems to like how the restaurant looks - and how the food tastes.”

For some, the look is almost too nice.

“Yeah, we’ve had folks open the door and say ‘oh it looks too fancy,’” says executive chef Keith Ogata, “but they soon realize that it’s not too pricey, and that we’re pretty relaxed.”

Ogata returns to Hawaii (he’s a Castle High School and KCC grad) via Las Vegas, where he spent the last few years working with super star chef Joachim Splichal, and the menu he’s devised at Lily Koi includes a couple of dishes that seem set to become local favorites.

“People love the short ribs,” says Keith modestly,“and they seem to really like the braised pork belly and the rib eye, too.”

Next time you’re shopping at Pearlridge, keep Lily Koi in mind.

I stopped in for lunch the other week and had an excellent grilled vegetable foccacia sandwich with house-made pesto that I would highly recommend. I was also impressed with a generous serving of pan-seared scallops with a golden, crunchy truffle potato croquette that was perfectly light and fluffy inside.

Or if you want to keep it strictly nightlife, go after dark for some great live music on weekends, a late-night bar menu and pupu that include mushrooms stuffed with lump crab and herbs, addictive hot wings, steamed clams and Maryland-style crab cakes with a homemade garlic saffron aioli.

Lily Koi Restaurant and Lounge

98-150 Kaonohi St.

Aiea

486-8488

“We’ve had folks open the door and say ‘oh, it looks too fancy.’ But they soon realize that it’s not too pricey, and that we’re pretty relaxed.”

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