Big Island Grinds

in Waikiki

My Mom wanted to treat Bev and her family out for a nice dinner. She suggested to go to House Without A Key at the Halekulani Hotel, saying that it was a great place to go to during sunset, with live music and hula right next to the beach.

Halekulani is a beautiful hotel. While walking through the hotel, I noticed some beautiful flower arrangements and lush green grass everywhere… it reminded me of Hilo since they had a lot of anthuriums.

Here’s one of their arrangements (huge flowers!) and the entrance to House Without A Key.

We were asked if we were here for cocktails or dinner, then led to our seats. It was a beautiful location.

Beneath a huge kiawe tree, musicians were just setting up to play. Directly behind them was Waikiki beach. There were a lot of people already enjoying their drinks and food. It was very pretty.

One thing I noticed is that the vibe here is very easy-going. The waiters gave an impression that we were welcome to stay here all night long to just “chill”, yet still, they were very attentive.

I resisted ordering an alcoholic beverage since Bev’s parents or my Mom don’t drink, so I got their signature Halekulani Iced Tea.

This iced tea looked great and also tasted great too. They used a piece of cane as a swizzle stick. Pretty cool, huh?

Bread and lavosh was brought to our table.

The bread was yummy! Crusty and soft in the middle. The lavosh was also excellent.

Here’s the menu:

The selection here was very limited, but sometimes that’s good. There were seafood appetizers, salads, and familiar American-type dishes. The prices were also very reasonable considering the view and free entertainment.

I ended up ordering the Spaghetti with Meat Sauce ($13.50) since I felt like eating spaghetti.

I was skeptical about ordering this since it seemed odd having just spaghetti in this beautiful setting by the beach, but it was actually pretty good. The sauce was fresh and homemade tasting, and the meat was very flavorful. The garlic bread was very crusty and slightly chewy (good), with a great buttery/garlic flavor. The only bad thing about this dish were the noodles, which were a little overcooked.

Bev ordered the Fresh Island Catch of the Day ($16.50), which was Salmon. So, umm, where do they catch Salmon in Hawaii?

I should’ve ordered this. The salmon tasted so good! The inside was moist, and the outside had a great flavorful crust. There was a creamy dill sauce over it too which complimented the salmon perfectly. The vegetables tasted super fresh and were all cooked just right. One of the best pieces of salmon I had in recent memory.

We were all too full for dessert, so some of us just ordered coffee.

Coffee was just ok, but it was served in a nice pot.

We all stayed until near closing time, enjoying the music from a guitar, steel guitar, and ukulele. There was also a lovely hula dancer.

I would highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to have a leisurely dinner or cocktails with a beautiful view and entertainment.

Hey, check out this Lamborghini parked right outside of the hotel!

House Without A Key
2199 Kalia Rd (At the ocean end of Lewers St, Mid-Waikiki/Makai)
Phone: 800-367-2343
Web Site

This entry was posted by James on Thursday, November 17th, 2005 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Oahu, Restaurant Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.