Haven't been here in a while. And our excitement about returning after a long time for lunch ended up in a total dissappointment.
The appetizers tasted ok, though they were plated without any effort. My Ahi Sandwich was a tasteless desaster, an my coffee was watery and not fresh.
The staff was ok... but not more.
After calling a friend of mine who knows our local restaurant businesses very well I found out that there's a new chef and also that the resort ownership changed.
It is far too expensive for the mediocre quality, and we are so sad since Ola's was always worth the stop going out to the North Shore.
Not anymore...
Beautiful location and decent food. Would give it four stars, but service is only mediocre and there are limited vegetarian options. The veggie sandwich is about the most boring thing I've ever eaten. Dinner menu much better -- the cheese plate is fab. Overall, though, you can't beat it for the views and cocktails.
Review Source:Don't go here. Â Very overpriced for what you get.
The waitress brought my drink order and argued with me that was Bourbon and not Scotch. Â I've been drinking bourbon for 28 years and this was NOT bourbon though she kept telling me it was. Â Who do you think was wrong? Â $2 tip was far too much; not earned by arguing with me.
I believe since Turtle Bay became independent and no longer a Hilton Hotel, they have gone down hill fast. Â Their facilities need upkeep. Â The door exiting the hotel to Ola's was stuck and didn't open completely without pulling hard as it creaked and moaned.
This is a Public Beach. Â The Ola is separated by a rope and although this may be acceptable, it needs to be better controlled. Â I was sitting at a table overlooking a fat guy eating a box of Cheese-Its in a personal beach chair. Â Not appealing. Â
This is not a great place to spend what they charge (drinks/food) and you can find better. Â The cost of rooms at this hotel are way overpriced and with such, one would expect a better controlled facility (Ola). Â
Just don't make the stop here for food/drink. Â It's overpriced and only a local beach to view from the outside chairs. Â I'm not returning here... that's for sure.
I ate here for two different occasions during my wedding festivities at Turtle Bay.
I had a lunch here for my mini bachelorette party. The lunch options were very good and I enjoyed my octopus salad. I love how Ola is right on the beach - it's open, airy, and the waves are crashing nearby. Beautiful setting. Downside to Ola - when dining with a large party, they do not take multiple credit cards and you can't charge things to your room.
We also had our dress rehearsal dinner here and the setting was even better at night. Candlelight, the sunset and the ocean. It was so beautiful. We had gazpacho (average), a shrimp pasta (delicious), chicken and asparagus (good) and miso butterfish (amazing!!!). Everyone loved the dinner entrees! For dessert, we chose either a vanilla bean creme brulee (delicious) or a sea salt chocolate cake (good). Service was impeccable. My champagne glass was always topped off and dirty plates were cleared immediately.
I love the food at Ola and I'm looking forward to eating there again when I visit Turtle Bay again.
We stayed at Turtle Bay Resort from 21 May, 2013. We had cocktails at Ola's at their beach front tables. Their banana Chi Chis were the best we had during our stay. The waiter was very friendly and fantastic to chat to. Also very attentive. Â We returned the next evening for the same and it was also great.
Our party of eight had dinner the night before we left. Â We thought the popcorn was odd. The steak was great as long as you did not order it well done. I usually order well done and it's fine at other restaurants but it was tough as nails and my husband valiantly swapped his very tender medium well steak with me. Â Of our eight meals we had three orders of medium well however they were all cooked to different degrees. My sister in law had her whole meal replaced when she asked for her steak to be cooked more as hers was too pink, and it arrived very quickly, so that was good.
The children's menu included dessert and the three children said they would have their ice cream. Strangely the ice cream all arrived on the same dish (three scoops of ice cream) on one long plate and they had to share. When I questioned it the waitress said the chef liked to be creative, so we had three children fighting to eat their icecream from the same plate which didn't bother them but did bother me.
Overall the cocktails are fantastic, the dinner service certainly not perfect. The staff are very friendly, the meals all arrived at the same time which I think is important, the staff are attentive, they are happy to deal with any problems and the cocktails on the beach can't be beaten. We would eat there again. Â
Just as an add on the toilets were not clean and could do with some attention.
I was really looking forward to eating here. It was my friend's birthday, so I wanted a nice place, it was recommended on Yelp and it was in that "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" movie, so I knew it was beautiful.
The service was pretty good, though he did forget a lot, even though he had the swagger of 5 star service. The host was lovely, she came by the table later and had a great chat. Complimented my friend's dress.
I had read the reviews on Yelp complaining about the popcorn instead of bread and thought it was silly, but in the place, the popcorn looked silly, and it was greasy and cold to boot.
The food is really what killed it for us. My red snapper was dry as dirt. My friend's steak didn't wow her. And we got desert - her chocolate cake was dry. The waiter did take that off the tab, seeing that she didn't really eat it. So plus for that.
Ultimately, it's a beautiful restaurant right on the beach. If only the food lived up to the locale, it would be a not to miss spot!
On this visit- I stopped in Ola's on a Saturday afternoon for a drink and snack with a friend. Â
We sat at a table on the sand and had a great server (Liz who introduced herself to us a Ola Liz which just cracked us up!!) who took great care of us! Â Great drinks, good tuna appetizer with some great chips to scoop it up with,and friendly personable service which is not the norm around here.
The people watching is spectacular as it is just off the public beach and pretty much anything goes!
The only downside? Â Those are some really uncomfortable straight backed chairs they have there! Â They definitely want you to eat and "move on"!
I've been to Ola's twice in the past month or so, both times for lunch. Â The lunch staff was friendly but slow as molasses on both occasions. Â The restaurant was bustling, but not extremely busy. Â There were some empty tables on both visits. Â I ordered the fish sandwich and the chicken curry salad sandwich respectively. Â
Although the fish sandwich that I got was raw, the waitress attempted to explain that it was cooked appropriately and it was "rare." Â Now, I've had quite a few preparations of fish, many of those preparations are served rare. Â I know the difference between cold, raw fish and rare fish. Â Apparently the waitress did not. Â
The curry sandwich was tasty, but it was an "open" chicken curry salad sandwich. Â I didn't realize that distinction when I ordered it. Â I'm not sure why they would serve it in that way. Â It seemed as though my sandwich was missing the top bun. Â Either serve it as a sandwich with two pieces of bread or serve it like a salad on some greens. Â This half of one and half of the other takes away from the enjoyment of the sandwich.
The view is spectacular and the prices were reasonable. Â I may give this restaurant one more try, but for dinner. Â Often, dinner service is a completely different experience than lunch service. Â We'll see!
So we had to make a visit to Ola for dinner after watching Forgetting Sarah Marshal a 100 times! I'm sure that is a 100 reviews.lol.
Anyways we had a few drinks at the Surfer bar for happy hour, then walked down to Ola. We were lucky enough to have just a short wait for a beach table, but unlucky that the tiki touches had a gas leak so they were not in! Bah that kinda ruined what I have envisioned but the food actually made up for it.
I ordered the fresh catch which I think was a Opa fish, and wife ordered the butterfish. Both were amazing and tasted very fresh. We passed on desert but I was impressed with the fish we had.
My only complaint, which is a big one, is I thought it was a little over priced and for what you pay they give you popcorn instead of fresh bread?? I really can't see me going back to spend that much money for that. I would have given Ola 4 stars if they gave bread or lowered the prices. We were starving and we finished the basket of popcorn and were never offered a refill either? Â
Also, I know that its not their fault but even though it was set up beautiful eating on the beach, not having the tiki touches really hurt the ambiance. Overall good fish but not a good value. Note to management, Please get rid of the popcorn!
Probably the worst part of our amazing Turtle Bay staycation / birthday celebration / engagement celebration! And by probably I mean definitely. Which is unfortunate because we had heard such fantastic reviews about this place! Â
Our server, for a lack of better words, was a dick. There was some sort of miscommunication, or non communication between the nice hostess that sat us, and the "dick" about sitting us at a bar table while they had our dinner table cleared... because we never got moved. When we asked the server about this after our appetizer came out his response was "oh, I wouldn't have rushed you through to ordering if I had known you wanted to move" WTF. so we got rushed because we sat in the bar? And to boot my food wasn't all that great.
Highly recommend Turtle Bay, skip Ola and try the new restaurants!
First I would like to say that the service from the staff was superb. That's where the good ends. The food here is TERRIBLE...my wife had a burger and I had the curried chicken sandwich. The burger was plain and the guacamole was sour. The server made this good by offering us some complimentary avacado. The curried chicken was salty and seemed like they just made it with some curry powder and salt...I could have made it at home. To top things off the rice was very salty and sour....horrible.
I am a local here on the island. This a reason that i would not come to stay at the resort. I feel sorry for all the travelers that are stuck here with this horrible food.
Good food. Good portions. Good location. Good service.
We didn't get to see any huge turtles during our 2 visits but everything else worked out good. Worth a stop if you take the Kam Hwy from Waikiki/Honolulu area up north towards North Shore side.
They have more than enough parking over here
~ Food, Ambiance & Service ~ Â Every part of this experience was FANTASTIC!
Brought family in from out of town and couldn't be more pleased with our evening. Â The hostess was incredibly friendly and promptly sat us, you could tell she loved her job! Â The food was simply amazing~ and our server was well versed in the ingredients ~ which is super helpful if someone in the group has allergies! Â Even with the rain, the restaurant was filled with conversation and energy. Â Our dinner was perfect, and we about licked our plates clean. I Â haven't had fresh fish like this in a very long time. Â We will be back! Â
Tip: You must try the HUMMUS TRIO and POKE starters! Â I can't think of a better way to start the dining experience. Â They have great coffee too!
( * Not a bad atmosphere for kids too!)
My love affair with Ola was adversely affected on our recent trip.
It started when they served use popcorn instead of the usual bread. I understand the chef is enjoying his new popcorn machine, but really? When you're paying $30+ for an entree popcorn just doesn't cut it.
Popcorn aside, the food was good, but not great like last time. The garlic edamame wasn't as garlicky as before. The Miso Butterfish was good. My husband was disappointed by the short ribs and their lack of flavor. The drinks were good, but they really do need to get a Malbec by the glass. We passed on dessert because the offerings were typical of every other restaurant.
Ola, please fix this because we love your location and want to go back!
While this beach side bar has an amazing view and location, it seems a bit pricey. The service staff was excellent and very friendly. The menu was diverse and should satisfy everyone. There's even a kids menu.
While a reservation is recommended, many people don't want the tables actually on the sand so there's a good chance of walk-up dining if you ask for one of those. Also, you can always sit in the bar which offers the cheapest burger around at $12!
Try the Kalua Nachos....a creative take on the old stand by.
By the way, the fresh fish was perfectly prepared.
We ate here on Monday during our stay at Turtle Bay and again on Tuesday for lunch. Â First off, this place is not as nice as it pretends to be. Â It is on the beach and as such has been beaten by the ocean breeze and salt air. Â That being said the food is pretty darn good, but I think it is much better suited as a place to grab lunch and not plan a nice dinner. Â The views during the day are great, especially during whale season because on Tuesday my g/f and I watched Humpbacks in the ocean jump and swim around, a very cool experience.
Review Source:We have been going to Ola's for a long time. Each time we leave we say it will be the last but then decide to give it one more chance. After last nights dinner though, we finally decided this was it. When you arrive at a nice restaurant ($30-40/plate), you don't expect to be given plain boring popcorn as a snack! The bread they used to serve now costs money which is fine but popcorn? Also, it would nice if they worked on their vegetarian options. They now have to entree options but the salads are mediocre and the pupu options include fries or edamame. The North Shore has much better restaurants.
Review Source:Fantastic beach side restaurant at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North shore of Oahu. Â Service started slow then became way too fast. Â Drink order happened about 15 minutes after we were seated.
Couldn't decide so I had an island staple of the pulled pork sandwich. Â Pork flavor was awesome, almost wished there wasn't any barbeque sauce on it. Â Ordered with white rice as one of our starters was the garlic fries. Â
Garlic fries were a bit cold when they arrived. Â Also ordered the Edamame beans which could have fed 6 people as a starter, seriously. Â But when our dinner arrived about 3 minutes after our starters, I regret ordering a first course. Â Overall the servers were polite and knowledgeable. Â View was very good and would recommend to anyone. Â Expect beachside service, and you will be more than happy.
LUNCH:
My gf and I came here while staying at the resort. We figured since we were at the beach, eating lunch here would be convinent. For appetizer, we had the "marinated octopus", which we regretted. It had barely any taste and was unappealing. Going to Foodland and getting a pound of tako poke would of been a better choice.
For entree, we decided to split a burger. We had the "portabella mushroom burger", which was AMAZING! A MUST TRY!!! This burger saved our lunch experience. It's a burger w/ fresh grilled vegtables and of course, portabella topped with a pesto aioli and served in between a taro bun.
The service during our experience:
The host/hostesses seem more interested in chatting then, working and making customers feel welcomed. Our server was nice, ok but not very attentive. During lunch time I suggest getting take-out.
We came here after leaving a near by restaurant that didn't have any menu items we found appealing.
Sadly we came during that odd hour where full dining wasn't available..just bar stuff.
I was driving so I had the virgin colada.
We both ordered hamburgers which came with fries.
The only neg is that we ordered extra fries because the menu did NOT state the burgers came with fries. So waiter brings out the burgers, plated with fries then another full plate of fries. Uhmmmm...he maybe should have let us know that our meal came with fries so we didn't have to get the extra order.
Granted the side order of fries has like cheese and bacon on it.
We returned mostly because my friend doesn't eat pork (we didn't realize there was pork topping).
I enjoyed the burger (nothing spectacular but not dry and cooked to my wellness) but the fries that came with it were okay. At least NOT soggy so that's good.
Our waiter was Lance Armstrong..although he will deny it. It's him.
Oh there is a nice beach view while seated at the bar area.
I recommend this place for lunch only. We really enjoyed the pork nachos and the slider sampler: one pork, one beef, one ahi poke! (The poke slider was the best!) And we did not hold back on the banana chi-chis either, which were smooth and delicious. All in all, lunch at Ola was very satisfying after a morning of swimming and surfing! We did this a few times and left happy each time.
Dinner, however, proved disappointing. I ordered the short ribs and was thoroughly disgusted by the excessive use of "five spice" blend. It was doused on all the meat AND the vegetables, and it tasted more like straight-up cinnamon than anything else. I don't usually complain about my food, but I did in this case. The server was kind about it and got us a free dessert, which was very tasty.
First  and foremost the worst service I have ever experienced in the islands. We were a party of 7. Took 15 minutes to even acknowledge that we were there. Even longer to get a glass of water. Our waiter needed some serious retraining. (John?) We ordered 3 appetizers. 2 came and then I think he forgot about the 3rd one until we mentioned  it. He came up with some excuse. On the bright side the food was good except for the fries which were lukewarm. I know we are on island time but he was just out of it.  The worst part was having to leave a tip for him. Never again......
Review Source:Save your money! I researched and found this restaurant to celebrate our wedding earlier in the day. It is rated as basically the best restaurant outside of Honolulu on the island. Wrong!
Why:
Waitress, while very friendly and energetic, forgot my appetizer and my drink on the first pass.
All the food was very under seasoned. Â While it was cooked properly and fresh, it still does not deliver for the price point we were paying. This includes apps and dinner.
After dinner our plates are cleared and our waitress disappears. For 15-20 minutes. We all have empty glasses, and there are still plenty of tables including a few other large parties like ours (8 people). We tried in vain to grab other waiters, but to no avail.
Finally the waitress comes over, with check in hand, and asks if we would like something else. Maybe drinks, coffee or dessert????!!!!! You are an expensive, classy(?) restaurant at a very nice resort! Get a clue. We tell her yes, we want our last course, and she can't hide the disappointment on her face. If you want to go home, pass us off to another waiter. We don't care. If you want your tip on an 8-top of all people who work in restaurants then finish the damn night.
Then dessert comes--lava cake with no lava...cold center...why isn't there any lava?
She says "sometimes there is no lava in the center?" WTF? Then it's just dry chocolate cake. Does anyone care here? It's only a wedding reception...
The point is this place either has gone way down hill, or they cater to people who don't know. There are lots of other great places to eat on the North Shore, and I suggest you find one.
We were staying at Turtle Bay Resort, and a candle-lit dinner on the beach for our last night sounded perfect. Our group of six made it down to the beach, and even though we didn't have a reservation, we were seated within 30 minutes of our arrival on the busy Saturday night.
The hostess originally seated us a little outside of the pergola, but we requested our table physically be moved closer to the beach. Our server was kind enough to help us arrange that and also move out some tiki torches closer to us so that we would have light. So sweet. Throughout the night, our server was amazing - great recommendations and very thoughtful.
Our dinner was amazing and delicious. Here's the run-down:
Roasted garlic edamame: Why isn't this on every menu everywhere? This made even the pod delicious, as everything was lightly coated in roasted garlic and bits of sea salt. Amazing.
Appetizer sampler: Poke was good but a bit salty. We loved being able to try all the delicious appetizers. The lettuce cups were probably the least favorite in this trio.
Kalua pork and goat cheese nachos: These were so good on the appetizer sampler, that we had to have a separate order of these nachos. Not sure how authentic this dish is, but it was mouthwatering. The Asian guacamole makes this dish.
Five-spiced braised short ribs: Best dish of the night! The short ribs were falling off the bones, and the roasted vegetables were delicious. Fingerling potatoes were also just the right texture of soft with a crispiness around the outside, but not mushy.
Grilled New York Steak: Why so much red meat on an island, where we should be eating seafood? Well, this was our last night, and honestly, we were all seafooded out. This steak proved to be just the landfood we had been craving, though, with delicious crumbled bleu cheese on top and the most delicate and yummy island mushrooms.
Grilled Fresh Island Fish: Yes, we had fish, and this one was delicious. I don't remember the name of the fish, but it was flakey, but not as flakey as halibut. The spinach luau cream on the bottom of the plate really made the fish delectable.
For dessert, we had the passionfruit creme brulee with caramelized banana and the chocolate lava cake with Tahitian vanilla ice cream. Dessert was delicious, but the creme brulee was a little too sweet for me.
The ambiance on the beach, the rolling waves, the light breeze, and views were wonderful at this restaurant. If you can't dine beachside for whatever reason, dining under the pergola, which had tall, sliding clear glass doors would have been equally fantastic.
Definitely stop by here for a special dinner if your near the North Shore. Pictures to follow.
I really wanted to like this place, I was disappointed from the minute I got there, we had reservations and we went on time and they had seats open however, they told us to sit for 5 minutes, during this time people walked in without reservations and were told to wait and were seated before us! What was the point of getting reservations? Â Next we were sat down to endure a one hour and ten minute wait for a, what we joked about later as being, "a plate of fried oil", the fries especially, it was so drenched in oil that it was a soggy mess of fries stuck together, none of us were able to finish our plates because we actually care about our health, If I ever go back to this area it will definitely not be for dinner but for a quick beer on the beach, thats why i gave it 2 stars instead of one.
I know this place smells amazing but fight your urge to eat here, or at least sample things then choose weather or not this is where you want to bring the family, I would suggest trying the nachos or the 5 season short rib, haven't tried them but they looked good,
Don't get the salmon salad, don't get the linguini, don't get any pulled pork plate. And STAY AWAY from the fries, They also brought out a popcorn starter that is drenched in butter and salt, if it was lightly topped with salt then this would actually be the best thing we ate there,
What a nice experience! Â Considering we were playing tourist visiting friends staying out at Shark's cove in a Beach Condo. Â What a great day! Â So we thought how classy and cool it would be to dine on the beach, or in our case fairly close, since we chose to eat under the covered Pergola since it looked like rain! Â but everything from the Pupu garlicky Edamame to the "Local" Green salad were excellent. Â We have never dined at the Turtle Bay before, so the experience was great especially for being Kama'aina. Â The local Braddah at the front valet treated our party with total VIP treatment even though we weren't staying there. Â They even caught that their were two Kupuna with us and offered to shuttle service us down to the beach-side restaurant from the lobby..How sweet is that? Â
Anyways, I think this night would be an All seafood night, and well worth it. Â We had the Miso Butterfish, which was Huge! and ono as were all the accompaniments. Â The large U10 Seared scallops were cooked perfect, I had the Kiawe Grilled Kanpachi over Okinawan Sweet potato Puree, not a fan of potato and fish would have preferred the rice like the Butterfish dish, but just my preference. Â the grilled asparagus and zucchini medley was great nice season and not over cooked. Â We also had a huge Prawn dish that was ono too. Â If you want a casual but really unique experience on the beach...a perfect storm of Ono!!! Â We got there at 5:45 and still had daylight enjoyed the ocean view and the calming waves and I could see this as a good romance dining location for those wishing to create a memory. Â
Just a note for some this might be pricey!  But remember it is a resort destination and come on your dining right on (in our case pretty close to) the beach...Sweet!!! The waitstaff and the busers were beyond reproach.  Also the best Kona Coffee Cheesecake ever!  Better than CKF(Cheesecake Factory)! Was a light creamy almost Tiramisu Mascarpone quality but with defined Kona coffee taste and nice finish with the chocolate cookie crust and the shaved dark chocolate top...  MMMM for sure!  Go for location  but surely enjoy the Kau kau and make it a special occasion plus nice wine selection too!
Overall, a pretty enjoyable dining experience.
Came here for dinner with a few friends, we ordered a bottle or two of wine, from what I remember it was tasty.
We shared an edemame, which had no salt in it at all, which I actually didn't mind. I got the salmon entree and it was cooked well and the cream-based sauce was very well done. I also tried the cheese and pork nachos which was honestly the best thing I tried there.
Even with indoor seating, you get a great view of the beach, a wonderful ocean breeze, and then you get to tell people you dined at the same place that the movie FSM was filmed. Prices are expensive but yea you should expect that.
365 Challenge: #108/365
This is a little bit of a classier place on the beach, you can't go in barefoot and in your swimsuit. ;-)
My husband took me on a wonderful one-night vacay at Turtle Bay because my favorite movie is Forgetting Sarah Marshall. There is a scene filmed at Ola's, so of course we had to eat here!
We made reservations but got there about 45 minutes early and they seated us right away. I made the request to not be seated by any children and they sat us right by the rope on the sandy area. It was wonderful... until some douchebag family came in and sat themselves right next to us and babytalked their stroller-sized kid for 20 minutes. "AHHHHH BOO BOO BOO BOOO BOO BOO hehehehehe AHHHHH BOO BOO BOO BOO BOO Hhehehehehehehe" Is not what you want to hear when you are paying $150 for your meal. Seriously, people are not embarrassed to speak baby talk as loud as they can. Not cute. Â Also, we are not at your local McDonald's. Get a clue.
So after about half an hour of THAT my husband was like, "Let's just get our food to go and eat on our lanai... would be way more pleasant and romantic." When I went to the hostess stand, the ladies were all VERY sweet and asked if they could seat us elsewhere instead... now, this place is not big at all! But we thought sure, what the heck... so they moved us inside (near another family, but imagine this. The kids sat the eff down and ate. They weren't screaming or running around like it was a playground. It was amazing.) Â We thoroughly enjoyed our wonderful meal, our delicious drinks, and the great service from the chef, the waitress, and the hostesses. We had a wonderful evening here in the end... and SO understanding to our requests! Â The poor waitress didn't look thrilled to have to go that table that sat themselves either. Â Poor thing.
I also REALLY appreciated that the hostesses clearly were not only adhering to our request to be seated away from kids, but that they didn't sit any families near us either. Those a-holes just came in from the back and sat down instead of being seated. This isn't Ponderosa, either, people! Â I just REALLY appreciate the wonderful service and the efforts all the staff we dealt with put in to make us happy customers! Â Would DEFINITELY come back if we were at Turtle Bay again!
When on the north shore, this is a great place to stop for a meal. It's romantic, and has a beautiful view of the beach.
There is "indoor" seating that provides a roof over your head, but you'll still be able to enjoy the ocean breeze since the wall is open on the beach facing side. If you feel a little more adventurous, you can just sit outside on their beach tables. Have a meal and feel some sand between your toes!
The meal itself wasn't bad, but the entrees didn't quite jump out. We had the fresh seared fish of the day and the shrimp plate.
What I did enjoy was our appetizer, the kalua pork nachos. It's not a lot of food, but each bite was pretty enjoyable.
The view was the best part of this place.
This place may be somewhere between a 3 and a 4 star. But can't give 3.5 stars, so 3 it is.
Wowza~! Amazing!
Super great place, first swung by to grab a couple of drinks for the beach and they were delish. I had a grass skirt, soooo tasty! Seriously, it is on the beach.
Stopped by on a Sunday night for dinner w/out reservations and had no prob getting a table. They did ask for my last name though, not sure why. The night time beach view is good too. There were lots of people varying from dates to families to us randoms and the service was divine. Our server tried to push us gently toward more booze and pricier dishes, but was supercool when we stated that we are just munching and off to the bar afterward.
Yes it is kinda swanky, but if you order the appetizers as meals it isn't too expensive! We got the sampler and drool...........it was heavenly! The poke, the lettuce wraps, the nachos all fantabulous!
The prices and the air of snobbery are the only reason this isn't a 5 star review. You bet your ass I will be returning to this fine establishment next chance I get!
We came here with the family for lunch while running around the North Shore. Â There were 12 of us and the staff was able to accommodate us very well. Â Very friendly staff and well versed in the menu items that they offer. Â Ola's is an open air restaurant that offers some wonderful views and cool breezes right of the beach. Â In true Hawaii style open air is king, even in homes. Â
Now down to the nitty gritty of the review, the FOOD!!  Since there were so many of us we got several appetizers to try out.  We ordered the following: Ahi poke (almost Ahi sashimi with a light dressing and seaweed), Beef poke(very tender cooked beef with seaweed and a light dressing, and garlic edamame (heavy on the roasted garlic, which for a garlic lover like me was delicious).  For lunch I had the Striped Marlin sandwich  which was amazing.  The fish was cooked perfectly and not dried at all, still very tender and flavorful.  I tried some of the curry chicken salad which was very tasty as well.  The curry flavor wasn't weak but wasn't overpowering either.  Just a shade short of enough if you ask me, but I like my curry.  One thing I found interesting was that they only have bottled beer, no biggie because they have a decent selection of local brews.
Here's the rub, Ola is a good, not great restaurant but it's flaws get quickly overlooked by an incredible beachfront setting.
The open air restaurant sits literally 50 feet from the lapping water. Â There are even palm tree shaded tables on the beach where you can dine barefoot with the warm sand between your toes.
Bunnies rejoice. Â Top props goes to an ingredient rather than a dish, the incredibly fresh, locally sourced Pupukea field greens. Â Unreal.
The top dishes use the greens. Â The huge, lomi salmon salad is outstanding despite its misleading name. Â Fully cooked, roasted salmon is crumbled on a bed of the greens, dressed in a sweet miso sesame dressing, topped with deep fried won ton strips. Â Win!
The grilled fish sandwich with a side of the greens instead of fries is impressive with a thick slab of swordfish and great tasting spreads (lemongrass and cilantro oil atop, wasabi soy aioli below) all in a taro bun. Â
The grilled fish with a crab luau cream (locals, think squid luau) on roasted fingerling and Okinawa sweet potatoes is incredible in it's coconut creamy richness and harmonizing flavors.
Finally, sliders. Â Non descript except for the seared ahi poke slider. Win, win, win! Â The soy wasabi aioli and warm but crisp ogo perfectly blend with the flash fried ahi. Â Easily the best thing on the menu.
Important Tip: Tell the server how you want your fish cooked. Â The standard is well done.
Weak wine list.  Weird bar policy (they wouldn't make a mojito because it wasn't  on their mixed drink menu).
Friendly servers, very relaxed pace.
Not a destination restaurant and not serving true Hawaiian food as they claims, but if you're in the area, a worthy stop.
Some friends from the Midwest were visiting Oahu on their way to Kauai and I took them for a ride around the island. Â We stopped at the Turtle Bay Resort and decided to have lunch at Ola.
I had the Poke Bowl, three others had burgers and one had a fruit platter.
Good service, good food and we were on our way.
Wow. I don't think I've ever been more disrespected by a restaurant. I advise my fellow yelpers to not waste their time or money here.
Even before we got seated we noticed that the waiters were condescending and fantastically rude. They had a ton of open seats out on the beach front but we were graciously offered the one seat that was out under the beating hot sun. When asked if we could switch out the waitress blatantly ignored the request.
We actually didn't even get food, not even water for the entire 10 minutes we sat around after finishing reading the menu twiddling our thumbs waiting to get some service. After 15 minutes of waiting, we upped and left. You guys can take your hot plate of "eff you" back.
Beachfront bar. Tasty, strong drinks, and in the past we had their tasty pupus as well. We each had two lava flows and two margaritas, respectively and were happy with the prices considering the deliciousness of our drinks.
Parking here kinda sucks sometimes, but I did enjoy almost hitting a couple of tourists in the parking lot. HONK!
Food =3.5 stars, Service = 4, View = 4.5 stars (ur right on the beach!!). When youre seated u get 3 pieces of bread each and this bruschetta-type dipping sauce (yum). It felt like our waiter was taking awhile to get to us (not a ridiculous long while, but definitely more than 5 min) o a manager came over just to say "u look like u've been waiting a bit, Im sorry the server hasnt gotten here yet, can i get u guys started on drinks?" - i thought that was nice. Our server finally came over and she was soooo nice too!
We ended up eating the appetizer sampler which consisted of poke (really fresh and delicious - and im usually not a big poke fan), chicken lettuce wrap (id probably skip this next time, not anything amazing), and kalua pig nachos with goat cheese (please please please get this!!! Yum!). For dinner we had 5 spice short rib (so yummy and melt in your mouth soft!), and a tail of lobster (a tad over-grilled, but good). Finally dessert was a chocolate decadence cake ( basically a chocolate molten) with vanilla bean ice cream (soooo creamy and almost gelato-y). Inside the chocolate cake was delicious, outside seemed a bit dry.
Overall, everything we had had some great and awesome and memorable elements (like super fresh poke, ridiculous good nachos, and melt in ur mouth jyicy and amazing shortribs) but also some flaws (like a tad undercooked vegetables, and a tad overcooked lobster, or bland chicken).
Id definitely return to give it another go. Especially since the staff was so nice.
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
