formaggio grill

bring mouthwash. with an $85 bill for two people (minus tip), you'd expect i'd have great things to say about the place. unfortunately i do not. from the start, the waitress holly was very rude, seemingly inconvenienced by the fact that we weren't there to consume large amounts of wine. she perked up for us momentarily when i ordered their $35 rib eye steak; i hadhighhopes. my wife ordered their lobster mac & cheese. both my wife and i are sure that most of the lobster in the mac and cheese was some mystery substitute (had some lobster, but mostly what we decided was pork). my steak tasted alright to begin with, but the chef botched the sauce pretty badly (tasted like charcoal, only worse). it was the most bitter meal i'd ever had, so bad i couldn't finish even a quarter of it. worst part was the after-taste that i spent the next hour trying to get out of my mouth.

we left very dissatisfied for the price paid. normally, we'll give restaurants a second shot: come back another time or ask the waitstaff to correct what ever we didn't like. not here. i wanted to have our waiter holly take the steak back so they could make it edible, but she disappeared for a good 20-25 minutes and we were ready to go.

short on good wait staff, short on the details, we won't be trying formaggio grill again.

italian/hawaiian -- interesting. this place looks sort of italian, with slick, modern fittings andhighceilings. and it's got lots of italian touches on the menu with ahi wrapped in prosciutto and paninis. but we went for the seafood, because that's what you do in hawaii, as far as i'm concerned.

my wife is a sucker for lobster bisque, and we order it wherever we see it. formaggio's version, which is tomato-based instead of straight creamy, was almost as good as the #1 version we had in a place in fort myers, florida which is now closed, so we'll never have its like again. therefore, i'd go to formaggio grill for that if i was back on oahu.

the opakapaka with capers and mahi-mahi with sundried tomatoes (those are a couple italianate touches, eh?) were pleasing. another notable standout was the tiramisu. lots of times this is a cliche of a cake, but formaggio's take on it was a square piece that had a rich coffee flavour. good stuff!

excelent service good food they over did my burger, and replaced it with no problem, and gave us a free tarimisu for our troubles, the food was filling and up to myhighstandards, awsome.

great place. great atmosphere.highceilings, lively place. food and service excellent. top pick in my home town of kailua.

excellent food, great menu, and service that went above and beyond. we went to the restaurant with a 10 month old in tow only to find out they didn't havehighchairs. we were undeterred and decided to keep our son on our laps. when our food was brought out, a staff member asked if he could hold our son so we could enjoy the food while it was still hot. of course, we took him up on his offer and enjoyed a warm meal while our son was entertained by a great staffer. i am sure we couldn't have had this experience on a peak fri/sat, but we were impressed none the less. we will absolutely return!

wonderful atmosphere and even better food and wine. be sure to try the kobe hamburger - it's to die for! prices arehighbut you definitely get what you paid for - quality.

wonderfully ahead of it's time. this casual yethighquality restaurant and bar is exactly what hawaii needs. large menu offering a range of delicious items. and perhaps hawaii's best wine list. genuine kind service. gotta check out this great kailua bistro!