12 quintessential date-night restaurants in Honolulu

Moku’s open-air dining room is a relaxing first-date spot, cooled by the Pacific Ocean breeze. Daily live music takes the edge off, and so does one of the area’s best happy hours: Flirt it up over a couple of the restaurant’s award-winning mai tais or margaritas, and if drinks slide into dinner, you can keep your night going with easy crowd-pleasers like hand-tossed pizzas and sautéed ahi.

Et al.’s unlikely location—inside a supermarket—makes it an especially quirky first-date destination. But there’s something super smooth about stepping past shoppers and into a calm and cool oasis. Grab a spot at the bar and floating island or a corner booth, depending on how things are going. If you can swing it, go for the daily afternoon special and get to know each other over specialty cocktails and chic small bites like oysters, ahi tartare, and more.

With its trendy, reclaimed wood-and-brick digs and easy-to-love apps—pork belly baos, lobster shu mai, and more—Lucky Belly will score you lots of points with your date. If you’re looking for something more substantial, there are bowls of ramen dressed up with elegant accents like porcini dust and oxtail wontons. The restaurant’s buzzy Chinatown location means you can easily segue into after-dinner drinks—some of Honolulu’s coolest bars are just steps away.

Pasta and wine are always a good idea, especially if you’ve got something major to toast. Book a table on Quiora’s quiet, sunset-washed lanai—translation: uninterrupted ocean views—for a postcard-perfect moment with your beau. The restaurant’s extra-attentive staff (you’re at the Ritz-Carlton, after all) will start you off with pitch-perfect drink recs to go with Hawaiʻi-inspired Italian food like fresh garlic prawns from Kauaʻi and plates of housemade pappardelle with Big Island oxtail.

Few places in Hawaiʻi combine the classic charms of a steakhouse with breathtaking sunset views like The Signature does. The dining room is a vision in mahogany, decked with round leather booths and floor-to-ceiling windows. The restaurant is also a rare place where you and your SO can actually dine on a white grand piano, complete with candles, place settings, and a house pianist who plays nightly, making it one of the most over-the-top romantic experiences on the island.

La Mer is one of Honolulu’s most luxurious restaurants and has defined fine dining in the Islands for decades. There are sleek, white-tableclothed corners, majestic Diamond Head views, and elaborate French-inspired food like kampachi tartare and poached lobster. Add a sexy seaside soundtrack and decadent perks—Cheese carts! Caviar! Champagne!—and you’ve got everything you need for one seriously grand proposal.

Put your grilling skills to the test at this lively Korean barbecue restaurant. Weekend nights at Sura are perpetually packed, thanks to a massive all-you-can-eat menu of kalbi, pork belly, and other meaty hits. You and your date can cook it all up on your personal tabletop, along with apps like mac and cheese, steamed eggs, and cheesy corn—food that will shuttle you to Seoul’s bustling streets.

James Beard Award winner Robynne Maii steers this idyllic bamboo bar in the freshly renovated White Sands hotel. There are lots of playful accents, including swings that double as bar seats and a water fountain grotto. But it’s the drinks that shuttle you to a bygone era. Get any of the four mai tais or the Chaising Dreams, a zero-proof pineapple concoction, graze on grilled coconut shrimp, and be transported to retro mid-century Hawaiʻi.

Amuse Bar is a dream date-night spot for wine enthusiasts, equipped with high tables and a state-of-the-art wine system that serves a selection from 50 bottles plus snacks like pizza and truffle fries. It’s also set in the ultra-chic Honolulu Design Center, so you can both live out your HGTV fantasies as you sip and browse. For a more typical sit-down dinner experience, head next door to Amuse’s sibling French restaurant, Stage.

This inviting, Kyoto-inspired escape is all oak panels and bamboo accents. Despite being by the pool at the Breakers Hotel, it’s a cozy respite from touristy Waikiki. Expect top-notch Japanese food that’s just as comforting as the interiors, plus a collection of solid only-at-Wasabi dishes like a baked California roll and a broiled half papaya “boat” filled with shrimp and scallops that keep the date-night regulars coming.

This imaginative seasonal American spot is what landed chef Robynne Maii her James Beard Award in 2022. And even though the dining room draws a serious crowd for an inventive mix of French, Italian, Korean, and Hawai‘ian flavors, the bar is unofficially dedicated to regulars. Fête’s all-day service means you and your SO can make a tradition out of popping in for a glass of wine and carbonara with Portuguese sausage, plus a scoop of the housemade rocky road ice cream for dessert.

Impress your bestie and their date by grabbing a table at this easy-to-miss izakaya. J-Shop lives in a grocery shop in a hidden parking lot off Young Street, and it’s where in-the-know locals go for knockout sashimi and sushi sets, plus always-changing daily specials like breaded and deep-fried octopus bites. Crack open a drink of your choice (it’s a BYOB spot) and tack on a group shopping session before or after your meal.