In the past two weeks I've had in-depth conversations with two of Hawaii's savviest food experts, restaurateur George Mavrothalassitis and critic John Heckathorn. In both cases, they have essentially written off Waikiki as a place where mass-market chain restaurants are going to be the only serious players, outside of a handful of hotel restaurants. That could swim upstream, as Nobu's -- a very upscale chain -- enters Waikiki later this year. Mavro said, basically, you'd have to be crazy to start a restaurant in Waikiki as an independent restaurateur because the rents are too high. Roy's, which will open at the new Beachwalk Development -- is a wierd hybrid, both a chain and local but still very good. Heckathorn expressed optimism that the success of Roy's would entice more local restaurateurs to enter Waikiki but it would take time. Personally, I hope we see a lot more local, unique restaurants in Waikiki, as the food offerings there have become quite stagnant once you get beyond the usual suspects. Yes, there's lots of great food to eat (Bali, Halekulani, DK/Sansei, Tiki's, Singha Thai, Hula Grill, Sergio's, Golden Dragon, Hanohano Room, Lewers, Kyo-ya) but for the most part those guys have been around for a while and haven't changed a whole lot. And considering the density of tourism in Waikiki, its fairly surprising that there aren't more things happening down there in terms of interesting eats. Thoughts?
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