GREAT EATS HAWAII: RICHO RESTAURANT

Sunday, June 12, 2011

RICHO RESTAURANT

RICHO RESTAURANT
HONOLULU, HAWAII

UPDATE: RESTAURANT CLOSED.
Richo is one of those restaurants that we drive by daily but never seem to try. When I got a Groupon or Living Local Deal of the Day for half off, we decided to buy the coupon and give it a taste test. Almost did not make our reservation because we went into the parking lot on the left of the building. This is primarily a parking lot for apartments and there were no stalls available for Richo. We exited the lot ready to go somewhere else. My wife called the restaurant and asked if they had any additional parking. Yes, the hostess said on the left side of the building in another lot you can park in any stall. Great to know. We did the U turn and went back and found plenty of parking. We entered Richo not knowing what to expect. The people on the phone spoke broken Japanese and not Korean. When we walked in we were greeted in Japanese very enthusiastically by the young Japanese workers. We were quickly brought to a small room and asked to remove our shoes. This was cool. We got our own little private Japanese style Tatami room that was very comfortable and super private. Wow... I like this set up. While you sit on the floor, the bottom is dug deep so your legs can hang down to the floor. The Japanese waitress quickly brought our drinks and the waiter dropped off a bowl of soy beans. When the bowl was empty, they kept filling it up until our first appetizers arrived. This was unexpected and a nice way to start the meal. The menu is pretty simple at Richo. It is a cross between Korean and Japanese. We just went for it and tried a little assortment of things that looked good. Prices are very fair here. Not much over $20. We started with the Kimchee ($3). This was super fresh, crisp and delicious. Not too much spice and heat. Nice balance of flavor. Next up was the Ahi Poke ($8). Nice cubes of fresh Ahi Tuna with onion marinated in soy and sesame oil. The Charcoal Ox Tail ($5) was delicious. Pieces of Ox Tail that were bbq on the grill and served with salt and pepper. Next was a half order of the House Special Chi. The waitress called it a Korean pizza. It was (7). It looked like pizza and was stuffed with a variety of vegetables and seafood. Shrimp, scallop, mussels and calamari. It was good but had a somewhat gummy consistency that I could not enjoy. The star of the show was the Richo Volcano Nabe ($18). This is a huge serving of vegetables, pork, seafood and intestines served on a cooktop at your table. You heat up the bowl for around four minutes. When it begins to boil, the food should be cooked through. You then mix it all up and serve it in bowls. This was really good but lacked the big Volcano flavor I was looking for. Needed a kick with some hot sauce or something. We all enjoyed it. We wanted some more protein after the Volcano so we ordered Beef and Chicken BBQ Skewers ($11.95). We received one beef skewer, four chicken and one skewer that was 100% fat. I think they do this on purpose because the fat skewer was really good. The chicken was good but a bit dry. Again needed some good hot sauce. We finished dinner with a chocolate sundae ($6). This thing was fantastic because the placed Frosted Flakes around the bottom and side of the sundae. The Frosted Flakes added a new dimension to the ice cream and was awesome. The staff brought out a bucket of new toys and let Keli pick one out to take home. She took a Rubik's Cube and is still playing with it as I write this. As we got up to leave Richo's the entire staff stopped to say thank you and presented a bunny with a basket filled with candy. This was a great dinner experience. Loved our private booth, loved the service and liked the food. I will return to Richo's very soon. Only complaint is that we did not get our rice served until were were almost done with our meal.