Flying steak knives arrive at Ala Moana

No reservation? Be prepared to wait

It's best to make a reservation well in advance. Otherwise, be prepared to wait for a table, as these ladies did on a recent Wednesday evening. The place was jammed around the dinner hour with locals and tourists, equally distributed between Mainland folks and Japanese nationals wielding digital cameras. It took more than a half hour to secure seats for five without a reservation.

Lots of local families were in attendance to celebrate various occasions, but there were also several groups of twentysomething friends, enjoying their teppanyaki probably before a night out at Pearl or the Mai Tai Bar.