The Ultimate Korean BBQ Experience In Kaka’ako

The Ultimate Korean BBQ Experience In Kaka’ako

[Music] Hey guys, hope you’re having a a great 
day. Today I’m at Onkee Korean Grill House here in the Ward / Kaka’ako area. I was invited by James.
James: So yes, my name is James. I’m a YouTube broadcaster. I go by the name James Travel Eats. 
I recently got back from New York City and I’ve got a feeling to make some videos now and 
some YouTube shorts.
Misty: Alright. Thank you, James, for inviting me today. And if you want to check 
out his YouTube page, I’ll put the YouTube page here so you can see it’s James Travel Eats. And 
looking at the menu because I’m just going to say James, a lot of my viewers are kind of not into 
expensive things. So I’m just warning you that this place is quite expensive. For a grill 
house, my first impression was…you will see them grilling for us. We’ll show that. But when 
you walk in, you don’t smell any smoke. So that is fabulous. Like you don’t smell that smell and it 
doesn’t get on your clothes. So, that’s great. It’s kind of fancy. You might want to dress at 
least in a polo shirt or something, you know. But not too too fancy, but I don’t think it’s like 
shorts and t-shirt kind of thing. Maybe you could, but…And it’s funny, we ran into Melissa 
Chang, who I filmed with at Kailua Market, and that was just a coincidence. So, they’re filming by the 
bar. So, she said hi. That was really weird in a funny way. In a good way. Yeah. So, getting back 
to that, sorry. The waiter came, so we had to order. Most of my viewers don’t like expensive 
places, but that’s what I’m here for, to try it, so you don’t have to go and you can just watch the 
food and enjoy what you see. And if you do want to pay for it, then that’s fine. You can come here. 
But supposedly, it’s like the hottest new Korean barbecue here. And we’ll see about that. But 
it does smell very good. James said that he wanted to go all out and so he got the premium 
cut of meat, which is the most expensive set. So, it’s like a set. So, that’s what we’re going to 
have. And we’re going to try their famous potato truffle pancake. I believe that’s like really 
popular. And then their marinated fried chicken, which is a new thing on the menu.
James: So, I ordered the Modelo. This is one of their premium beers here at Onkee. I’m going to 
wait to do a cheers with Misty. Misty: And I got a Terra, which is a Korean beer. So, they do have Korean beers like Cass and Terra and other beers such as Modelo, which is a good beer. So, cheers. 
James: Cheers. Here we go. Cheers to Food Fiend and Misty. Misty: And James. Misty: The banchan came out. I will say service 
is very quick and light. Our waiter is very nice. So it looks pretty authentic to me. You’ve got 
fresh kimchi, which is a plus in my book. I don’t really care for too fermented kimchi. So, I 
like that it’s fresh. And then we have some Korean chives right here. And that’s very traditional. 
Some like Korean onions with a dressing on there, Korean potato salad, and some daikon kimchi with 
some dipping sauces for our meats. All right, so the waiter came out and they grill the food for you. So he put on the filet mignon and I wasn’t recording, but they were greasing up the pan 
or the grill with some beef fat. There is a lot of Wagyu meat with a premium cut. It is a little 
small for a local appetite perhaps for the price anyway, but the thing in the bowl is a boneless 
kal-bi. I was mentioning that I don’t smell smoke. The filet mignon is on the grill right now and you 
don’t see smoke. Whatever ventilation system they have is amazing. And you don’t smell it at all. 
It doesn’t get on your clothes and you don’t smell it in the restaurant. It’s really kind of cool how 
it sucks it into the system. So James is going to try the truffle potato pancake.
James: Mmm. At first bite, you get a big kick of the truffle flavor. A little saltiness, but you still taste the potato. 
And it’s very, very good. I would rate this 8.1. Very good.
Misty: Okay, I’m going to try the truffle pancake next. And it looks very crispy and the outside 
has like truffle cream sauce on there. That’s yummy. It’s crunchy on the outside. You can see the crunchiness, but it’s soft on the inside. And that truffle sauce is good. It’s creamy. 
Has a strong truffle flavor. You can even smell it. Melissa is here.
James: How are you doing? How are you?
Melissa: Good. How are you? Melissa: Are you enjoying your your food?
James: So far, so good.
Misty: We are. This is delicious.
James: This is absolutely wonderful. Misty: So, they said that this 
truffle pancake could only be ordered at the bar, but it became so popular that you 
can now order it at the restaurant. Look at the crispy edges here. It’s like 
little potato French fries. So, this is the sweet and spicy fried chicken 
here at Onkee. I’m going to take my first bite. James: Mmm. It’s really soft in the middle. There’s a slight crisp on the outside. You get a hit, kick of spice. I think it’s that Korean…it seems similar to what 
they put on kimchi, but it’s a different type of spice. It’s good. I like it. Yeah. 
Very nice. Okay, I’m going to try the chicken next. They are nice with service and they put it in these small little bowls instead of just piling it on your small plate. So, it’s got some 
nice patterning of the sauce there. That’s good. Definitely a strong gochujang sauce, but it’s 
balanced. It’s got a little sweetness to it. It’s not too spicy to me, but I could see if it not your thing spice, but I think it’s more pleasantly sweet and has a good crunch. All right, I guess 
I’ll try the the filet mignon. He cuts it up in pieces and I’m going to dip it in their sauce. He says 
there’s plum, some chili, sesame seed, and shoyu. Oh, that’s good. The meat’s so soft. Yeah. And 
the sauce is good, too. I’ll try it with some kimchi. So, you have to order rice separately, 
but I don’t really eat rice too much – I know that’s weird. I eat my plate lunches, but I usually eat 
and cheat once a week. But I ate rice yesterday so…and I’m not too hungry. So I just think the 
meat and veg is good. But if you want the rice, you can. If you’re wondering why I don’t have 
rice, but the kimchi, it’s fresh. So let’s try it out. That’s pretty good. I like it because I like 
fresh kimchi. Okay, James’s thoughts on the fresh kimchi. James: Here we go. Coming in. That’s 
not your normal kimchi flavor. That’s more of a fresh cabbage vegetable taste. You can taste…I’m 
not getting that fermented normal taste of it, but it’s good. It’s fresh. I like it. Misty: So, the waiter was saying  that if you do prefer fermented kimchi, they do have it. You just have to ask, but I prefer the fresh. And I do like the flavors. 
There’s a lot of garlic in there and it’s very tasty. And here are some Korean chives, garlic 
chives. Very flavorful as well. Goes really well with rice or the meat. So, this is the short rib 
that he’s cooking next. Looks nice and fatty. And they’re really good about cleaning the 
grill between each meat so it doesn’t stick or have that burnt taste from the last meat that they cooked on. So, that’s really nice. Very good service here. Okay, I’m going to 
try the short rib. It’s nice, juicy, and fatty. It just like melts in your mouth. 
And it’s kind of like natural. There’s no seasoning on there. So, it’s either the 
sauce you’re dipping it into or they have these salts that you can try. There’s a 
smoked Hawaiian salt and a regular Hawaiian salt. And you dip it. kind of like what you do in 
Korea. That’s how they do it. You season it yourself. But there’s no sesame seed oil 
dip. But if you’re wondering if it’s bland, you have to have the salt yourself, 
which is good because some people don’t like they don’t like too much sodium or other people 
have different preferences. James is going to try the short rib next. James: Yep. Here we go. Going in. 
Misty: He’s got the salt there. So he’s smart. Akamai right there. James: We have the sauce as well.
Alright, we’re doing a live reaction. Here we go. James: It’s so soft. It’s fatty. Mmm. It’s 
delicious. I love it. 9.2 out of 10. Highly recommend the short rib. Misty: I’m going to pair it with some  kimchi and the short rib. Definitely good cuts of meat. That’s why it’s expensive. It definitely just melts in your mouth because 
it’s so fatty. It’s a good once in a while treat. Obviously, you’re not going to eat this kind of 
cut of meat every day. One, for the price, and two, probably for your health, but you 
know, it’s a good special occasion thing or treat yourself kind of thing. I like it. This is 
the daikon kimchi. And, I’m going to try some. That one’s not my thing. It’s a little sour. 
That makes you pucker, but you know, I know people like sour stuff or fermented stuff, but not 
me. James: Yeah so, that is very sour. It gives me the normal kimchi vibe kick, but there’s something 
about it that just didn’t work well with me. I’m not going to give it a rating, but I’m going 
to say it’s probably on the low end as far as everything else. Everything else on the high 
end, that particular item there, the vegetable on the low end. Misty: And yeah, not to knock it, but 
I think if you like really sour fermented stuff, you’d probably enjoy it. But yeah, that was 
really potently…it makes you pucker kind of sour. So it depends on your taste buds. James: Chives. Okay, so here we go. Go on these here. Oh yeah, it’s a really fresh chive taste. Just like the 
kimchi made fresh. Tastes good. A little bit of a sour spice kick I’m getting to it, but 
not bad. Here’s the onions here. Give those a try. It’s got some sort of a red sauce in there. 
I’m not really sure what it is, but here we go. Oh, yeah. Not as sour as that. But there is a fresh onion taste. And I do like like maybe a vinegary hit. I’m 
getting a vinegary hit from it. But it’s good though. I like it. Misty: There’s a potato salad here. 
James: Potato salad here. Here we go. Let’s go in here. I’ll grab one of the pieces on the end. There’s 
a little bit of cucumber on it. Here we go. James: Oh, that’s apple.
Misty: Oh, it’s an apple?
James: That’s was an apple.
Misty: Oh, yeah. I see. Now I do. So, there’s pieces of apple and potato. So, I think the big 
chunk is I think this might be the potato. James: But that apple was good. I like that. Oh my god, it’s so good. And you know, there’s another piece here. James: I think it’s got all apple.
Misty: Oh, it’s all apple? That’s odd. Interesting.
James: That’s not..I don’t see any potato there. Maybe you go and give it a 
try. That was good. The sauce was nice. I like the sauce. Like a mayo texture. Soft, you know, 
smooth. Goes down easy. I love it. Misty: Okay, so I’m going to try this apple salad with the mayo. 
Kind of reminds me of like a Waldorf Salad or something. I think I actually got a Korean 
pear on one of them. Like so I think the ones with the red skin or apple and then it’s mixed 
with pear. But it’s an interesting…It’s good, but it’s an interesting 
sweet and savory with the mayo. You wouldn’t think it would go well together, but it’s good. 
And it I’m looking at it a little closer. It looks like there’s pumpkin seeds in there, too. So, 
it’s kind of like a healthy little salad. Very unique. I like that. Something different. I’ll try the last banchan…is the onion. The onion is raw purple onion or red onion. 
And it has a refreshing vinegrette that’s not too sour, but in a Korean style with that 
gochu – the Korean chili pepper. But I don’t think they put too much because it’s not spicy. I 
think they soak the onion a little bit, so it’s not too potent. Like eating 
that, you still get an onion flavor, but I wouldn’t say it would give you like bad 
breath or something like that. It’s actually good. And I think it’ll pair really well with the 
meats. Full-on Japanese Wagyu from Japan. Looks very fatty as well. In a good way. It’s going to 
probably melt in our mouth. Okay, so here is the Wagyu beef. I’m excited to try it. I think 
it’s such a expensive cut that I don’t… I’ve never…I don’t know. I had the Kobe beef when we 
went to Osaka, but you know, like Wagyu, I’m not sure if it was that great. So, I’m just going to 
try it without the sauce, just in its pure form. It just like melts in your mouth. So good. 
I have no words other than it’s amazing. James: Oh my God. Yeah, that is spectacular. I’m at a loss for words 
right now. You get every hit of beef flavoring, fattiness, texture-wise, so soft, delicious. 10. 
Misty: Wow. Yeah, I think so, too. I agree. I will say though, I try to put myself in other 
people’s shoes. If you don’t like the fatty bits or fatty cuts of meat, it might not be for you 
because you do taste that fattiness and the chew, but it just like melts in your mouth. And
like James said, it is without any seasoning. It has that natural beef flavor. Nothing 
to mask it. And it has a good sear, like that charred taste. He grilled it really 
well. And he did explain that he took it off the grill to cut it up because he didn’t want to 
cut it on the grill because I guess it would continue cooking and you don’t want to overcook it
because it would probably get so burnt from the fat juices and stuff. So I think the people 
that cook our food do a really, really good job of grilling it because like I said, you did have 
the choice. He asked us if we wanted to grill, but I think I would burn everything. So 
I’m glad that he’s cooking. Alright, so this is the kal-bi that was grilled last. He said 
it’s everyone’s favorite and that’s why they grill it last. So, try it again. It’s got a good sweet 
flavor on the sweet side. Lots of sesame seed oil, garlic, ginger, and all the things that you would 
expect in a good kal-bi. And it’s very good. The quality of the meats here are fabulous from all 
the cuts. They pick the right cuts. All of them are easy to chew. They just almost like melt in 
your mouth. You just need two chews and it just goes down like butter. So, very good marination. 
I can see why it is done last. Would go really well with rice. James: I’m grabbing a fresh piece of 
marinated kal-bi off the grill here at Onkee. Mmmm. So good. So soft. Just everything you know 
from a very good marinated piece of short rib and it would go well with rice. Again, spot on. 
Everything here is spectacular. I love it. Misty: Okay, we got dessert. So, we tried…They only have 
two different things for dessert here. It’s very simple. It’s chocolate ice cream 
or vanilla. So, I got vanilla. James got chocolate. It’s got cocoa nibs on it. We 
did taste it. It’s very good. It’s a typical, you know, ice cream. It’s good, creamy, and the 
thing is, both of them have cocoa nibs on them. So, it’s like cacao. It’s very dark chocolatey 
and very strong in chocolate flavor. So, if you like that, it’s on both of the flavors 
of ice cream. We also got Bingsu on the house, which is the Korean shave ice, I guess. 
That was very nice of the manager. And I think, to be honest it was Melissa that 
helped us out because she said she does the social media for Onkee. So by bumping into Melissa 
here. Thank you again Melissa for your help. But it’s got the kinako, which is the pounded up
grinded dry soybean topping. Some I believe like is it condensed milk? Condensed milk. And then
some sweet azuki beans. And then you just pour the shave ice in these bowls they give you and put 
your own toppings on there. James: Scoop fluffy snow right there. And then I guess the 
next part is the toppings. You want the toppings. Put a little bit of that in there. Okay. And here we go. A little bit of the condensed milk. Little bit 
of that on there. And lastly, the the beans. There we go. I’m going to give that 
a try right now. Right out here. Oh my. I got a real good kick 
with the beans. Maybe it’s because that was majority of what’s 
in there. Let me take one more taste. Oh, yeah. That’s good. It’s refreshing. You 
want to cool off? Get yourself some Bingsu from Onkee. That’s really good. I like 
it. Misty: My bowl is a little plain. I’m strange. I was telling James that I don’t like azuki beans. 
I never did like them – even in shave ice. So mine just has kinako and the cream in there. That’s pretty good. It’s not too sweet. It’s 
refreshing. It’s just like a creamy shaved ice. James: How fluffy it is with like a spoon. Like look, 
it’s just like been sitting there for a while and it just.. James: Like you’re in a snow cone and it just came right out.
Misty: And then like try drop it back in there. Misty: Like it’s just like powdery.
James: It’s crazy. It doesnt even melt. It’s crazy.
Misty: Yeah. And it doesn’t get packed together and hard.
James: It’s It’s absolutely 
fabulous. I’m amazed. You know what? Let’s Let me just do a little bit of a pour on that one and 
try it just with that sauce on there. Like so. Misty: Yeah. It’s like a creamy sweet sauce. 
James: Creamy sweet sauce. And here we go. James: Mmm. Yeah. Melts. 
Refreshing. Cool. Not overly sweet either. I really like that flavor. Really, really good. James: Overall, Onkee Korean Barbecue very attentive staff. As soon as we came in, the servers came to us 
immediately. They asked us what we need. They gave us our drink menu. They had our food 
menu. They’re very, very nice here. The manager came out and checked up on us as well.  
They did give us a few complimentary items as for free. I’m going to give Onkee Barbecue, this 
is coming direct from the second time being here, a good 9.3 out of 10. Absolutely loved it, and I 
highly recommend anybody else who wants to come here and try it out. All right, my final thoughts 
were that it was really very good. I came in here not so…honestly like not knowing what to 
expect and I hear the hype about it. I’ve heard it from friends and when I start to hear too 
much hype about things – if you notice I don’t go to things right away because I really don’t believe 
in…I don’t have the patience to stand in line and I believe when something’s new and hot and new 
it doesn’t matter to me. I think you need to work out the bugs sometimes, you know, when 
you’re new. So, I like to give it some time. So, I’m glad I had the chance to come here. Thank 
you, James, for inviting me here. And it was on him. So, I’m honest with everything. Usually, 
I pay for everything. I offered you some money, but you insisted on inviting me. Thank 
you. Thank you, sir. And everything was very delicious. I actually was proven wrong. 
I was thinking it wasn’t going to be terrible, but you know, like hearing so much hype from other 
people that it would be like just normal or just okay, but I would say yes, it is pricey, but 
the quality is there because you’re getting the quality meats from Japan. You can see it when you 
walk in. The hostess was gracious enough to point that out. You see the Wagyu beef in the cooler 
right when you walk in with the wines and they show you the showcase their meats. I definitely taste 
the quality and the texture and the taste of the beef. The natural beef taste comes out and all the 
sides were great. Except you know that’s just my personal preference. I didn’t like the daikon because 
I don’t like sour stuff. But I think most people in general would like it. It’s not like terrible 
or anything. It’s just my personal thing. The drinks were great. They have a great cocktail menu 
and wine menu as well if you’re into that. And I love the service. Where else can you 
sit back and enjoy freshly barbecued kal-bi and have it grilled for you? Usually you have 
to do it yourself. And like James said, the service was very attentive and I enjoyed 
myself. So, thank you. And the interior is very hip and modern and clean. And again, we’re saying 
it again, but the most impressive thing is you don’t smell smoke at all. There is many people 
eating here and everything is all grilled. You have to get grilled items and you don’t smell 
any smoke in here. So, hopefully this was informative for you if even if you’re not 
going to come here because it’s out of your budget. I hope you enjoy just the showcase of the food. 
And if you do want somewhere special to eat at, definitely come down here. And if you’re on a 
budget and you still want to try it, try lunch, right? Wait. Isn’t lunch cheaper? James: Yeah, I was here 
for lunch one day and the the prices are a bit lower, more accommodating. They have lunch set 
menus, so you can get a precooked kal-bi with all of the banchan brought out to you on on like a platter 
and whatnot. You can do that or you can order side dishes like mackerel or some of their 
noodles, spicy noodle dishes, which are okay. But I’m going to rate this dinnertime special 
way beyond that. I love coming back here, giving this a second chance. Misty: Alright, so if you found 
this informative, please like and subscribe if you’re new, and I’ll see you next week on another 
food adventure. Take care, everybody. Thank you, James, for inviting me. I appreciate it. And 
aloha. Have a happy Aloha Friday. Peace out. ✌🤙🌈🌺

In this video, I am joined by James of JamesTravelEats who invited me to eat Korean barbeque at one of the newer Korean restaurants serving Japanese Wagyu beef. We went to Onkee Korean Grill House, located in the Ward Village area. Very expensive, but worth the taste and quality.

Onkee Korean Grill House
1000 Auahi Street Unit 220
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 312-3758
Open everyday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Happy hour is at 4:30 pm -6:30 pm

Main Home

For parking, park at the Whole Foods parking lot off of Queen and Kamake’e Street. Parking is free there. Go down the elevator on the parking lot side (not the Whole Food’s side) near Holy Grail Donuts. Cross the street makai and look to the condominium to the right. Onkee is in the condominium on the second floor. You’ll see the elevator in the turnaround area across from the Ward Theater parking lot that takes you directly to the restaurant with signage.

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