Basalt

My mom and I have been to Basalt restaurant several times during our two week stay in Hawaii, and each visit has been exceptional. The consistently amazing food, especially their gluten-free options, never fails to impress. The staff is not only friendly but also remarkably attentive, always making us feel welcomed and remembered. A five-star experience every time!

Great food and easy atmosphere here. They have Gluten Free options and we're able to inform us of what could be modified. They make bread rolls that are black that seem to be a heavily advertised item as Charcoal Rolls. These aren't GF and honestly I couldn't find the appeal. The butter looked amazing, not so much the rolls. Also got the catch of the day and Ahi. The Ahi was perfect, the catch of the day was not too bad, but a little too strong on the Panko. Had a good time overall.

Normally it wouldn't be 5/5 but in Waikiki... well, you have lots of "fancy" places that are only fancy by price and look of it, with very average-tasting food. I know that the best options are food trucks and small neighborhood spots, but sometimes you want to sit down in a restaurant, which becomes a challange. This place is a bit simpler and it seems this is the way to go here - forget the pretentious restaurants that DO NOT deliver, go somewhere like this, nice but not crazy. That means the food was good here. It's not the best in the world, but we enjoyed it. We started with some salad, pretty average but nothing to complain about. Then for the entrées- my company was pretty happy with the prime rib. As for me, the gluten free options are marked on the menu, but as in many places they are limited. I was tired of steak so I asked if there is any chance they could modify and give me fish with no crust (there's fresh cash in macadamia panko crust) and whatever else would be needed to make it gluten free. They did! And it was very tasty, the fish was delicious, there was great caper-tomato relish that made it bright, and tasty mashed potatoes that were very rich, but I couldn't stop myself from eating a bit. We finished with Crème Brûlée, which was the weakest. I had to try it as it's passionfruit custard and I love passionfruit, but it turned out to be very sweet. It's tasty, very tasty, but you can't have a lot. The berries cut nicely through it but it wasn't enough to have many bites. The sugar on top of it was very thick so we just put it aside and only ate the custard. Overall, with so many places in Waikiki that are overpriced and not up to taste, I can recommend this one as a spot where you can enjoy the food for a change.