Roy’s

Butterfish under Yamaguchi’s hand

Misoyaki sets the pace for Roy Yamaguchi, chef at Roy’s in Waikiki, Honolulu, where the pass still carries his Pacific Rim grammar. Roy Yamaguchi came to that grammar by stages: formal training at the Culinary Institute of America, California kitchens from 1976 to 1984, then his own 385 North in Hollywood from 1984 to 1988. When he opened Roy’s in Honolulu in 1988, he brought those habits into contact with the products and appetites of Hawaii, not as nostalgia, but as a working method.

The line here runs through European sequence, Japanese seasoning, California restaurant timing, and the ingredients Yamaguchi learned to take seriously in Hawaii. His own account of Hawaiian cooking resists the easy frame. “Everybody thinks about Hawaii as a luau, SPAM, poi, which is all great stuff, but in the last 20 years, we’ve really made a lot of progress in really defining what we can do with products that come from the land.” At Roy’s, that position becomes a kitchen discipline: sauces are not decoration, seafood carries the argument, and the plate has to hold several influences without letting any one of them turn into costume.

Nut crust, miso glaze, butter sauce

The signatures make the method legible. Macadamia nut crusted fish puts texture first, using the island nut as more than garnish; the crust has to protect the flesh while giving the sauce something to meet. Misoyaki butterfish works from the other direction, with the glaze built into the fish before it reaches the table. Crab cakes, short ribs, and the hot chocolate soufflé widen the range, but the seafood is the clearest read on the house.

Roy’s serves both à la carte and prix fixe formats, which matters because the food can move either as a single chosen plate or as a sequence. The kitchen’s Pacific Rim fusion is not a loose category here. It is a set of repeatable decisions: miso with butterfish, macadamia with fresh catch, chili sesame butter with crab, sauces tuned to carry sweetness, salt, heat, and fat without flattening the fish. The beverage side follows in a quieter register, with a curated wine program and cocktails such as mai tai and pineapple martini sitting beside the food rather than competing with it.

The room at service pitch

The room in Waikiki runs lively, with white tablecloths, window tables, ocean views, and the sound of a full restaurant moving through service. It is not a hushed temple to the plate. The work happens inside turnover, conversation, glassware, and the forward motion of a large dining room, which makes the pass more important, not less.

That energy suits Yamaguchi’s cooking. A dish like macadamia nut crusted fish can feel polished at the table, but it depends on timing that starts earlier: the cut of the fish, the crust, the sauce, the handoff. The same is true of misoyaki butterfish, where softness, glaze, and heat have little room for correction once the plate leaves the kitchen. The ocean view belongs to the room; the discipline belongs to the bench.

A founder still holding the line

Roy’s now sits within a broader family of Roy’s Restaurants, while the Hawaii houses remain under Yamaguchi’s control. That continuity is the point to keep in view. The restaurant is not only a memory of Hawaii Regional Cuisine; it is a place where the founder’s early training, California years, and Hawaii commitments still meet in service.

If the room is loud, the method is steady. Follow the plate that has carried the house the longest: misoyaki butterfish at Roy’s.