Bernini Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii, Italian Restaurant Details

Food:

The white truffle pizza is just ridiculously good. The staff and owner are very friendly and accommodating. Tiny parking lot, but a short walk from the Ala Moana Center!

Food:

The worst restaurant I have ever visited.

We tripped to Hawaii from Japan this summer and ate at this horrible restaurant.

We chose to visit this restaurant because my wife read several positive reviews on her favorite Japanese magazines. She was eager to eat sea urchin pasta there.

The food was OK, but it was just a typical Japanese style Italian food.
Since I wasn't expecting to eat Japanese-Italian food in the US, and I know so many other restaurants they serve far way better Japanese styled Italian restaurants in Japan, I was very disappointed. I wanted to eat real Italian, or American style Italian food in the US!! Sea Urchin was in very small portion, too. 　I later found out the restaurant were run by a Japanese owner. If you are not Japanese, it may be good to visit there to see what typical Japanese Italian restaurants are like.

I would give three stars on food, and why I had to give nothing but one star was because of their services.

The waitresses there were horrible. The waitress who served us was a Japanese lady apparently never experienced waitress and she does not know how to talk and does not know what to do, she does not even know how to smile. When I asked for the check she told me she would print the percentages of tip we want to give her. I never experienced this kind of service but by the time I knew she is so inexperienced, I told her to put 20% of tip which is what I usually tip. She brought the check but quickly disappeared and never showed back for more than 10 minutes, so we decided to leave the table.
I could not find the Japanese waiter, so I talked to another waiter who wasn't Japanese and told her that I want to pay and leave. She looked at the check and told me very arrogantly, “Why you are not paying any tip?" I was very embarrassed but I try to be gentle and calmly told her the tip is already included in the receipt, when she found out her mistake, she never apologized and disappeared. It was closed to $400 on total by five people. I found the Japanese waiter and told her we were so embarrassed but she also did not apologizes and just told us to come back again.
I would never never visit there again.

Later, I found out why there are many "Bernini Honolulu" reviews in Japan.
It was run by a Japanese owner and he runs three cheap Italian restaurants in Japan. The name is also "Bernini," and you can eat similar food at less than half of the price.
I think the owner just paid some money to write good reviews in Japanese magazine.

Food:

Be careful!!! If you are Japanese, they add 20% of service charge automatically without telling you anything. Sneaky!!! I've been there many times, every time when I made payment, I almost paid double tip! It makes me disappointed, even food is good though.

Food:

Try the pizza as a shared appetizer...it's awesome.

Food:

A "hidden gem" set a "stone's throw from the Ala Moana shopping center", this "subtly sophisticated" offshoot of a Japanese chain co-owned by Tokyo-based chef Kengo Matsumoto dishes up "creative, tasty" Italian fare, including "Roma-style pizza and pasta", accompanied by an "excellent wine" list; the "random location makes it feel like a secret", but lately "word is out on how delicious" the food is, so "plan ahead" reservationwise.