Tortilla Republic

My husband and I found this through YELP and it was wonderful. Over the course of the week we tried breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each was amazing. We lived in New Mexico for 10 years so we are pretty picky about Mexican food. The combinations of flavors are wonderful. Thank you Chef!!

We've returned to the states (Michigan) and miss it already.

The table side guacamole, the carnitas and the steak fajitas were great!
Open Table is there perfect option for reservations.

After looking at our planned dinner itinerary for our Hawaiian honeymoon, we saw a lack of variety and decided to add Tortilla Republic to the list.  As far as Mexican food in Hawaii goes, this was great.  Located in a more upscale shopping plaza and near resorts.  The food was of high quality and the prices fair for the island.  The restaurant seemed fully booked and very busy during an early April weekday night, so if you plan to go, probably better to make reservations.  We used OpenTable and didn't have any problems.  There were families with annoyed faces waiting around for theirs though, so plan ahead.

As for the food, the carne asada and fish tacos were excellent, as was the salsa tasting appetizer with homemade tortilla chips.  I shared a soup with my husband, which was amazingly good.  Our server was friendly and seemed genuinely to care about your dining experience.  She came by multiple times to check on us, maybe one or two times too many, but it wasn't in poor taste and not a big deal.  The establishment is relatively big and there seemed to be spaces for all types of parties big and small.  The ambiance is what I'd call casual candlelit (we went at night), not romantic or anything, but could be, depending on where you sit (there is a lit up tree in the background with some booths against the tree that looked like a romantic spot, but it was already seated with patrons when we got there).  Restaurant could be called hip depending on the crowd.

We were seated upstairs on the balcony where there was a bit of wind.  Bring a coat if you plan to go at night, just in case.  Not really a fault of the restaurant, but should be noted.  Good change of pace if you're tired of local food or cooking for yourself.