GREAT EATS HAWAII: BERNINI HONOLULU

BERNINI HONOLULU
HONOLULU, HAWAII

We had already booked reservations at the new Bernini Honolulu prior to my five day Pasta Fest. Eating pasta again didn't seem to be a problem. I dove right in and loved every bite. Dining with our good friends Tom and Arlene made this night even more special. Tom is officially retiring and selling his condo in Hawaii. While this is sad, we all enjoyed this special time together at Bernini. Bernini Honolulu is the sister restaurant from Bernini in Japan. The celebrated Head Chef has won numerous awards and has made a name for himself in Japan. We were all curious to see if this Bernini was as good as what they write about in Japan. First off, Bernini is located in a somewhat commercial district across from Ala Moana Center. The entrance is on Waimanu Street across from KHON Television. Parking is limited in the lot to about 10 spaces which seemed good enough on this night. We entered the restaurant and was greeted by a nice Japanese lady that quickly took us to a nice quiet table near the back of the restaurant. Moments later our waiter appeared and offered various waters or "tap water" with lemon. He offered to take our drink order, but we opted to wait for our guests. Once they arrived we ordered a nice bottle of Chardonnay. The wine list while small offers bottles from around $39 to $1200. Small selections from Italy, France and California. We started with a Pizza Romana for the table. This is Roma Style Pizza with thin crust. Seemed every table had a pizza on it when we walked in and just had to try one of these. The Margherita Pizza ($16) was light and delicious. Simple Mozzarella Cheese and Basil. The slices were cut rather large so we ended up cutting them in half. We followed the pizza with Prosciutto from Parma ($14). Thin slices of ham covered in Arugula. This was very good and did not last long on the plate. The Antipasti Misti ($28) was a large plate of the Chef's selection for appetizers. The plate consisted of fresh Ahi Tuna that was absolutely fantastic plus several dishes of marinated octupus and potato lightly flavored with anchovy. There were certain bites of this dish that just floored me with great flavor. For entree's we tried the Beef Ragu Linguine ($19). The stewed angus meat sauce was good and the pasta was cooked perfectly but the dish included a bunch of thickly sliced zucchini that did not seem to belong in a Beef Ragu dish. Liked this despite the zucchini. The "King Crab" Linguine ($24) was served with Broccoli. My wife and daughter said it was "great". The Penne "Norma" ($18) included grilled eggplant, Ricotta Cheese and Tomato Sauce. Tom ate all of it and said it was good. The Half Chicken "Al Forno" ($19) was half a Crispy Chicken served Bernini Style? Looked good and Arlene seemed to enjoy it. The desserts were o.k. I liked Bernini and would return in a heart beat.

Click links below to view more posts on Bernini;

https://greateatshawaii.blogspot.com/2022/01/bernini-honolulu.html

https://greateatshawaii.blogspot.com/2022/01/bernini-honolulu_23.html

https://greateatshawaii.blogspot.com/2022/02/bernini-takeout.html