VB
Vintage Books
A hidden speakeasy where literary charm meets innovative Asian-inspired fusion cuisine and craft cocktails.
4.4(5 reviews)
$$$
restaurant
asian-fusion
cocktail-bars
Innovative dishes blending Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese influences with local Hawaiian ingredients.
Expertly mixed cocktails including zero-proof options, featuring creative presentations and balanced flavors.
Sampler of handmade tacos with options like wagyu, octopus, pork belly, and fresh catch.
Generously portioned dishes like lamb ribs and crab rice cakes, ideal for group dining.
Decadent desserts like baked cheesecake paired with rich hot chocolate or specialty cocktails.
Intimate, speakeasy ambiance perfect for dates, celebrations, and memorable nights out.
A hidden speakeasy where literary charm meets innovative Asian-inspired fusion cuisine and craft cocktails.
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Vintage Books in Honolulu offers an unexpected dining adventure behind its unassuming facade. Step into a moody, speakeasy-inspired atmosphere where creative Asian-fusion dishes and expertly crafted cocktails take center stage. Our menu features inventive tacos, perfectly cooked kampachi, and shareable plates like lamb ribs and crab rice cakes, all designed to delight the senses. With a 4.9-star rating from hundreds of reviews, we pride ourselves on providing a memorable experience that blends warm service, artistic presentation, and bold flavors. Whether for a romantic dinner, special celebration, or exploring Honolulu's rising food scene, Vintage Books invites you to discover the magic behind the bookshelves.
Food and drinks at Vintage Books are delicious, both menus designed by creative and talented folks. Highly recommend the crab rice cakes and the Meet Cute cocktail - so rare to find a great mango cocktail, I ordered two. Lamb ribs were excellent but maybe a little overhyped by these reviews and Google AI. Note many plates are portioned for 3+ people so expect to walk with leftovers (e.g. lamb ribs were a full rack but will make great tacos later). Service was fast and attentive but maybe a little brusque, perhaps to match the lovely NYC inspired decor. An excellent addition to a rising food scene in this neighborhood, check it out.
I honestly wasn’t expecting much from this place from first impressions of the walking in. But after entering the doors behind the reception area, I was blown away, very unexpected. I loved the atmosphere, the colors, ambient lighting, & employees. They have a specific menu for dinner which was nice. The drinks were amazing even the zero proofs. Overall, it was a great experience and I would 10/10 go again:)
This place has potential to be amazing, and has a lot of excellent qualities, but there are some areas in need of improvement. The decor and set-up is great. The speakeasy, moody vibe comes through well and is super fun. However, the floor was sticky and the dining room chairs are really low (relative to the tables) if you are under 6 feet tall. This made for an uncomfortable dining experience. Additionally, the silverware was dirty (food remnants both on fork and knife) and the individual plates were uncomfortably small. The service for dinner (nearly empty restaurant) was poor. Our waitress was inattentive and other employees were quite loud doing their own thing while the four of us in the restaurant dined. The two hostesses were delightful on the other hand and were super welcoming. Major kudos to them. The food had potential but didn't quite get there. The kampachi was delicious and cooked perfectly, but its accoutrements were lackluster and distracting at best. The leek oil did not have much flavor and the onions were similarly flavorless. The menu lists it coming with an "herb salad" which I did not expect to mean a light sprinkling of a single herb cut up into little pieces. The dish needed more flavor and balance, with less oil. The Cowboy salad was good, but nothing exciting. We also got 3 tacos (conchinita, wagyu, and octopus) for $27. The presentation was rough (add some garnishes other than calamansis please) and the tacos were tiiiiinyyyyy. The best part was the tortillas--delicious and handmade. But, the octopus was not cooked properly and was chewy, gummy, and boogery all at once. The wagyu was fine. However, the conchinita taco was EXTREMELY spicy with no warning whatsoever on the menu that it would be so. I would highly recommend adding at minimum a "spicy" symbol to not alarm. Overall, the experience was mediocre. Again, I see a lot of potential and hope this restaurant hits its stride and reaches that potential, but until then--it's a pass from me.
The restaurant made not only our stomachs full, but hearts full. Such a memorable experience! Our night began with Cowboy salad, which gave us an intro to Asian-inspired (Thai/Vietnamese impression, in particular to this dish) flavors, full of fish soy sauce fragrance and a nice balance of heat, salt, and sour. The tone this dish gave excited us to what comes next. We also enjoyed Ulu Taco Flights, where we got to explore beef (Suadero), Pork (Pork Belly), and fish (Fresh Catch) tacos. Beef was stunning and brave to mix Wagyu with cilantro, quite a new experience, especially us being from Japan (we don't quite see this in Japan, but it worked very intelligently - it was one of our favorite dish tonight). Pork one cleverly combined fattiness and heat, making the dish unstoppable. My favorite out of the three tacos were fish one - the skin was cooked to perfection, making it crunchy like a chip, but fish cooked moistly. Hot dish-wise, we were welcomed with a warm, crispy House Karaage, full of ginger aroma. The chicken was well-marinated with Shoyu, sake, and had a sweet kick, making it good on its own but also match very well with the kewpie mayo (which also had a sweet kick to it) and kimchee catsup. As for the last savory dish, we had (maybe it was too much food, but nothing stopped us) Island Kampachi. Again, awe to the chefs. The fish was cooked so, so perfectly. Even as someone coming from a country which consumes fish a lot, this dish amazed us with how moist the fish was kept, which is definitely not easy to accomplish. Hats off. The flavor was a mix of fish soy sauce, giving southern asian impression, but the garnish (red daikon, perhaps?) gave a Japanese-inspired impression as well. Great fusion - this was certainly one of our favorite dish tonight. Even though we were full, we could not resist but get Baked Cheesecake and Hot Chocolate. Baked Cheesecake was covered in fruits - and the cake itself too was much lighter (but flavorful) than we expected. Hot chocolate was very rich in texture and falvor, making it a fantastic partner to the cheesecake. Let's also not forget about the cocktail (I had Tutu's Old Fashioned). It was simply delicious, well balanced with strength, sweetness and sourness - with beautiful garnish and perfectly shaved ice to make the glass a perfect companion to my meal. The service and atmosphere was nice and warm - friendliness of our waiter felt comfortable. We felt very welcomed and it made our night a special one. I would certainly come back again, and I would strongly recommend people to come visit this venue!
We love this place! My friend and I have come here twice and the food is always excellent, the service is warm and friendly, the atmosphere is beautiful. The presentation was particularly lovely this evening! Thank you for a wonderful dining experience!
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