Azul

Absurdly overpriced for the value. Lacking in freshness and creativity. Save your money and walk across the street.

Expensive and greasy, not a combination I like. I think since the resort is between ownership that may have impacted the experience. However, my wife summed up the experience best, «at least we didn’t get sick.» I would go here.

Worst Valentines ever. Horrible ambiance, horrible service, food was mediocre and cold.
We made reservations weeks in advanced and they seated us in the overflow ballroom in spite of available tables in the restaurant. The ball room was filled with round tables much like a frugal wedding reception. We sat down and couldn’t hear each other over the blaring Red Hot Chili Peppers and other similar music. Bright lights. Plain linens, nothing romantic. Ten minutes before water came. Pre fixe menu was only choice and it seemed to baffle the servers as they managed to give some people the same course twice but skip others. It wasn’t that crowded because many couples were seated then bolted, wisely, when no one checked on them after waiting for service. I asked them to turn down the music and ordered a bottle of wine. The music changed to kabuki (not kidding). Three courses later the wine showed up to accompany our luke warm pasta. We noticed some people had bread so we asked for some which showed up with the main course. Would have been nice with the goat cheese appetizer…
Food was mediocre, not horrible. Goat cheese appetizer, «crab» salad was mixed greens with less than a tablespoon of crab; lobster farfalle was decent; small filet mignon and two shrimp was good; dessert cakes tasted like bad cafeteria food. They automatically added 20% gratuity. We had them remove it, of course. This was such a sad, sad attempt at mass romance. Good thing I am happily married. Felt terrible for the new couples who thought this was going to be special. $ 75 per person — felt like we were robbed.

My girlfriend and I spent NYE 2014 at Azul for dinner. Had made reservations on OpenTable and then Sienna called to inform me that they had two seatings for NYE and asked which I would like as the online options were slightly off. I also informed her at that time that I planned to propose later that evening and asked if there was any possibility of a special table I would be very grateful and willing to pay. She let me know that she would take care of us and even invited us to come slightly early to get seated. We arrived and the table she had just for us was incredible! Very private, quiet, and romantic. Perfect for the evening ahead. Already elated with the experience, and food hadn’t even been served, we sat enjoying the table and were visited by Chad who had a great attitude and let us know our server would be out shorly. Roxy came out shortly after and immediately made a great night perfect. She had an incredible attitude. The night went great, the food was good, the drinks were great and we couldn’t have asked for a better dinner to kick off the special evening ahead.
Thank you Sienna for going above and beyond. Thank you to Roxy and Chad for their tremendous service and great attitudes!
Dave and Lari

Don’t do it! Just don’t!
To start off, Azul is located in the Marriott hotel which will closedown shortly to be remodelled which is why this might be as bad as it is now…
There are a bunch of AAA 4 diamonds on the wall, if they are for blandest of bland food then it’s legit…
There were 5 of us so we had a variety of dishes as follows : —
Caprese Salad — was ok but 3 slices of tomato and mozzarella for $ 17 is a little steep :)
Tuna Salad — over cooked tuna, generic salad.
Surf & Turf — this was my dish at $ 80 and literally was totally bland and tasteless, not my expectation.
Risotto — literally no taste, not sure how you remove any taste of anything but they managed it here. Potentially they have a «remove the taste’o’matic» machine which all the dishes are run through.
Service was fine though, Chris our server was cool just the food is overpriced and tasteless, go somewhere else instead. Anywhere…

Have you had one of those experiences where you don’t mind spending the money but expecting the taste to be as good as the cost. Well, this isn’t the place. Highly disappointed with service and food. It’s not so much about the money but more about the principle.
My friends and I Spent Christmas Day at this restaurant because it was in a nice location and had seats for a large group of 8. They never explained that there was a set menu! Anyway when we arrived, we were ok with it as it sounded appealing… Here’s what we received:
Carrot/​Ginger Soup — Was luke warm when it arrived
Shrimp/​Papaya Salad — Was fine (probably the best thing on the menu)
Strawberry Risotto (Little Weird combination but it tasted fine but it was not hot or close to being warm. I could understand the idea of keeping the strawberry cooler than the risotto but the risotto tasted like it was pre made and sitting out for awhile).
Veal Sausage with Mahi Mahi over Mash Potatoes and Asparagus — The appearance looked great but again food was cold when it arrived (Same explanation to the Risotto above). I could really tell if it was hot, it would of been 100% times better. Veal was a little interesting flavor but the Mahi Mahi was fine.
Dessert — Cherry Tiramisu… Do not attempt to make this yourself. I think it was a good idea but the combination just didn’t work with my palate. It was a combination of runny and dry.
I’m not trying to trash or hate the place as the view was great. It was a bummer that it was super windy and they sat us outside when there were ample seats inside. You know, we had a nice waiter but it shouldn’t have to take 10 minutes for coffee to come after ordering it. I was unsure if they were short staff as every time they served us their were 3 guys bringing out our food.
What blows my mind is the whole «You have a party of 6 so we have to automatically add 20% gratuity on top of your bill for large groups.» Is their a bill in the legislature that passed that requires us to pay this automatically? Like I said, it’s not so much about affording the food, but the service you’re getting. It was slow and the food wasn’t great (which isn’t the waiters fault) but they need major improvements.
Last, I heard the entire hotel was closing soon so their’s the possibility of «We really don’t care as this place is closing anyway» kind of attitude. I don’t know?!? Anyway, if you’re gonna chance it, do it but if your food does not come out right, remember that I TOLD YOU SO!

It’s really to bad that Azul will be closing due to the buyout of Ihilani.
From the romantic ambience and excellent service to the delicious menu and full selection of wine. Azul would’ve been our go to restaurant. Def need to follow this Chef.

I agree with many of the people who rated this restaurant average.
My boyfriend made same day reservations for us to have dinner here on a Saturday night. We were seated immediately with no wait time to sit inside or outside. We chose outside. As we walked through the restaurant to be seated outside, I was surprised at how quiet this «Four Diamond“restaurant was for a Saturday night. I only saw one indoor table occupied and the bar had just a few people mingling.
We were seated with our menus at a four person table. The setting for the extra two were cleared promptly. We didn’t see our waitress for about 5 minutes. It took another 5 after that to get water and 1 cocktail.
We ordered the calamari to start– BLEH. What the hell is this? It was not crispy and fried. It was soggy coating. The calamari itself was very tough and chewy. PASS ON THIS. I promise you. SO not worth it. Bland and cold and boring.
For our main dishes, I ordered the lobster pasta and my boyfriend ordered the night’s special: pasta and meat balls.
My dish was not bad but not great. For $ 40, I wanted to eat the whole plate but instead I got undercooked pasta with lobster. The lobster was fine… nothing extraordinary. I can’t imagine the pasta without the lobster though. The light, creamy sauce worked with it.
My boyfriend really enjoyed his meatballs and pasta. The meatballs had huge chunks of bread crumbs holding it together and he liked that.
The best part of the meal was the bread and butter served at the beginning. The butter was smooth and guava flavored. To die for!
In the end, the service was just OK– it was slow. I didn’t receive a water refill until I asked and she just seemed SUPER flustered throughout the night. She dropped napkins and would try to pick up too much at once. To be fair, it looked like she had 6 tables. On the other hand, she also never looked at us when she spoke… kind of weird come to think of it.
Probably won’t be back.

Very average food for the high price tag. The moon fish was too fishy and the steak had no flavor.

The atmosphere is very comforting. Very low and warm lighting by candle light. Beautiful linens, and the staff are extremely professional.
With that said, the food was okay, nothing that sticks out that would make you want to write home about. The cocktails are very good though, had a Mai Tai and is one of the better ones that I have ever had, which says a lot being, that live to go to Chinese/​Polynesian restaurant to try their version of Mai Tai’s and Scorpion Bowls.
If you are in the area, and want a nice romantic evening with drinks and candle light dinner, then this is a good place to come to, but don’t expect a wow factor from the food,

The food was completely unremarkable. Vey blah Italian food. Fancy table cloths and warm wine do not make a great dinner. I would NOT eat here again.

Our entire family enjoyed our meal including the drinks. You must try the Lulliki Mou martini … Unreal
Meals were terrific and he best meal we had in Ko Olina the last 2 years coming to Oahu.

Very average. I had the gnocchi and I have had much better. The waiter did let me know that it was frozen and that he recommended another pasta. I find it strange that a JW Marriott would serve frozen gnocchi. Go figure. The place was empty, maybe 4 tables full on a Sunday night.
Service was excellent though.
Wife had the lobster pasta and liked it.
Granted that we are in Hawaii and in particular Ko Olina where there is no competition and no incentives to be good. And no real competition to keep prices down.
Forewarned is forearmed here in Hawaii. High prices and meh food.

This place was AWESOME!
We were seated right next to the water and had a great, attentive waiter.
The drinks were fabulous, and I ordered a caprese salad which was good as well. I also got the gnocchi with alfredo sauce. Simple, but delicious! They had a special dessert — panna cotta… I’ve never had it before and am not usually a fan of such desserts, but it was great!
A little pricey, but you get what you pay for! We will definitely be back.

Beautiful scenery, awesome & very friendly waitress, but… the food just did not meet our expectations. I could honestly say, Olive Garden and CPK makes better pasta dishes and they are cheaper! The only thing that was enjoyable was their Calamari and desserts. The staff were just amazingly friendly and accomadating, so it made up for it.

This high end restaurant within the Ihilani hotel caters to vacationing couples, families and wedding parties. Or like me, a Hawaii family enjoying a stay-​cation. Our waiter Stuart gave us exemplary service. He treated us professionally and with lots of aloha. His recommendations were right on. He provided background on the new Italiancp chef and owners of the hotel which I appreciated because it felt personal. It’s very apparent he likes working at Azul. In fact, I get the impression that the employees enjoy working at this hotel. It’s been a pleasant experience staying here and I’ll definitely return.

Over-​priced, merely average food in a good location. Not worth the price. Tried it twice with my wife and we weren’t impressed. The sauce tasted like it was from Campbell’s Tomato Soup, only watered down so much that it only kept the color of it and not the flavor.
Roy’s or Monkey Pod are nearby, and better.

Azul is a subpar place dressed in nice clothes that doesn’t warrant anything near the price on the menu. It’s a total joke and shouldn’t have anything over three stars.
I proposed to my girlfriend on the rocks of Ko Olina, and it was wonderful. I chose to dine at Azul afterwards, as it was a reasonable, cheaper alternative to Roy’s with an allegedly more romantic atmosphere than Monkeypod. I booked on opentable and called ahead explaining the situation, asking if they could do anything special for me.
They could have told me «no,» but instead they led me on and allowed me to figure that out for myself. We walked in to no congratulations, no nothing. We were seated in a random spot literally in the middle of the outdoor seating area. Lots of noise, clearly better seats available that were given to other people. We waited a while (5 – 10 mins) for water and the waiter disappeared for long periods, although he was okay when he was around. The bread took about 15 minutes to make it out to our table and a refill request went unfulfilled until the meal was basically over.
The food is okay. I had a spicy seafood pasta, which was not bad but didn’t warrant the steep price tag. My fiancé had the mahi mahi pasta, which tasted bland and like it was made with a thick paste. It wasn’t good at all. My stomach felt awufl afterwards, so im not sure what they do to the food here. We also got to witness the owner doting over a table next to us throughout the duration of the meal in his overdone Italian accent and cheap clothes that he looks like he picked up at the swap meet.
The prices here are steep and in no way representative of the quality of food or service. The waiter, who was a nice guy, tried telling me my pasta dish shouldn’t have cheese added to it because of «Italians and their food rules,» which is 100% BS. Everyone who has any Italian roots, or has seen an episode of «The Sopranos» for that matter, knows cheese can be sprinkled on just about any pasta dish. Not his fault, but it shows the level of training these guys have. Even if this is true in some part of the culinary world, at least give the customer the option.
Let me be up front here: I understand I am nobody special. But I did just experience a once in a lifetime event, and chose this place over everywhere else to celebrate immediately afterwards. At no point was this decision acknowledged or redeemed in any way, except by our waiter, who we told in passing.
In closing, this place is a joke. It’s Olive Garden quality food at exorbitant prices. Pay the extra 5 – 10 bucks per dish and try Roy’s. I wish I did.

The atmosphere is excellent. Very romantic. Outdoor dining surrounded by pools of hammerhead sharks and sting rays. We had the fresh fish of the day, Mahi Mahi grilled with an herb crust. With a very nice white cream sauce drizzle.
The dessert was decadent… although I can’t remember what it was… and that is due to the great cocktails! They are strong yet good. I had a mango mojito martini or two… they were awesome!
I enjoyed this place. Prices are the usual resort pricing. Adults only, leave your kids at the Aulani.
I’d recommend this restaurant to others.

My girl friend and I decided to have a 1-​night staycation out in Ko’olina, and for dinner wanted to eat somewhere not easily accessible to town (like Roy’s). While doing my Unilocal research, it seemed as if a lot of the restaurants out in the area did not have too good of reviews, besides for Azul which had ‘okay’ reviews. So we decided to try.
And I would have to agree that Azul was just okay for me, too. First off, the whole Ihilani hotel is under construction so to get to the restaurant from the Shuttle drop-​off was kind of a maze. Hopping over holes, ducking under poles, and trying not to breathe in cement. Once we got there, the place was pretty empty, but we were seated in a cozy area with other parties so felt comfortable.
We ordered: lobster bisque, lobster feticcini, eggplant parmesan, and beef carpaccio. Sadly to say that the lobster bisque was the best thing we ate. Everything else was not bad, but really nothing special.
Service was slow at first, but the food came out quick (which I expected since there weren’t too many parties since the hotel was closed).
I’d say good to try once.