Binchotan

Amazing Food! Amazing Service!

We have been to the restaurant twice and each time it has been exceptional. Chelsea was great server. Highly recommended.

The ambiance is amazing! The service was great! The food was just ok and way overpriced. 5 people costed over $600 with food, drinks, and tip. The food was not that great. The sushi was good, stick with that.

Second time here for us, the first was such a great experience. Happily, so was this second time.

Binchotan is another beautiful restaurant in the Fairmont Orchid Hotel. The cuisine is primarily Japanese. Binchotan is a Japanese cooking technique whereby food is grilled over very hot white coals. The grilled food is served on skewers. Additionally, the restaurant offers traditional sushi and sashimi. Overall, the food, service and atmosphere are excellent. These is a delightful bar inside with an extensive wine, beverage and sake menu. Seating is both inside and outside.

The atmosphere was great, the food was highly overrated. The portions were small, and the price way above the value received.

We had the BBQ grill special that included beef, chicken, pork and shrimp. In addition to the 2-3 pieces of each of the items mentioned, there was 9+ pieces of a small green pepper. I assume this was to make the dish look much larger than it was with cheap little peppers.

Been to several of the Kohala Coast Japanese restaurants, and they were all much better food and value.

New restaurant needs work. Food not arriving in timely manner. My wife got her dinner I didn’t. Sucks

All and all a nice place. I have seems a mixed reviews and so I was a little nervous. I was seated promptly. The restaurant was pleasant and the server very attentive and friendly. The food food was tasty and well prepared. The price point was just about right for a Hawaiian hotel restaurant. All and all a nice dinner.

Enjoy the club-like intimacy of dining in the bar area lounge where we have eaten on three occasions. The food is imaginative and service with an aloha spirit. We also appreciated them being willing to turn down the overhead music so that we could better enjoy our conversation.

Our dinner companions had one of the sushi rolls and weren’t very complimentary of it but we stuck with the Nigiri and it was some of the best sushi my partner and I have had anytime, anyplace as it was fresh, creamy and delicious. If for no other reason I would go there just for the sushi. The bar also came up with some very creative craft cocktails that we all enjoyed. The service was excellent as well. This is a new establishment at the Fairmont so I don’t know if the sushi will always be of such high quality but it definitely was on this night so I would highly recommend to give it a try

It was the worst meal we had at the Fairmont. Don’t know who is writing the good reviews. It was slow service, marginal food (that’s being kind) and still shocked how awful this Fairmont truly is. Every restaurant and food option was dismal. The skewers are literally 2 skewers with 3 bites of meat each. An actual bite and that’s it for the price it was the worst. Go anywhere else.

We were so looking forward to this new spot in the Mauna Lani resort area. Service was fine, food just okay with very small portions but the biggest issue is the odd menu. No nice leafy pan asian salads, skimpy skewers, minimal sushi and seafood. We were hard-pressed to even find enough appealing items to order. We also did not like the casual attitude of “the food comes out whenever it’s ready, in any order”. No attempt to pace the meal or create a nice order to things...not very civilized. What’s next, no plates and eat with your hands while crouching around the fire? Hopefully they will work out the kinks. At least our server was very nice.

It took a very long time for cocktails.
They served our food to another table
Waitress was very sweet
They had no specials for fresh catch or anything

When we approached the hostess she was kind enough to inquire if we were there for a special occasion. We told her it was my husband‘s 70th birthday that we were celebrating. They waited five or six minutes to find us a table and then escorted us to a table in the bar area not out on the beautiful patio overlooking the ocean . the waitress came over gave us our menus and left she then came back and asked if we had any questions she did not adequately or at any point explain to us any part of the menu or how The items were served. Dinner came at a pretty rapid rate one after another when they final part of our meal came it was a board with five or six items on it . the chicken on the skewers was cold , the meat on the skewers were cold, some of the asparagus had not been barbecue roasted. Finally after finishing dinner the waitress came over and asked if we wanted dessert we said no, though I did ask for a cup of hot green tea. The waitress cleared away part of the dishes but left other dishes in front of me she then brought the teapot and a cup she asked me if I wanted any lemon sweetener cream milk I told her that just sweetener would be lovely. She brought me the sweetener and no spoon and then I noticed on the teapot that it in itself was cracked right down the middle of the teapot at that point we called the manager and pointed out all these items to him
It is difficult to give a positive rating at this time even though the manager did comp our meal.

All main course dishes are on skewers and it is tapa style eating. The pork belly is to die for and the ribs are really good as well. They have a crab salad that it amazing, maybe the best part of the whole dinner.

I went there primarily for the sushi and I was disappointed, the sushi rice was just like regular rice, not sticky and no flavoring. The other dishes that were tried were excellent, as was the service.

So bad we had to leave. We are guests at the Fairmont Orchid where this restaurant is located. Despite having reservations, they made us wait and then had no table for us. They offered us a seat near the bar, which we accepted, but then became the forgotten customers. 30 minutes to get a drink and later those were nearly gone and appetizers (edamame--most simple appetizer) still hadn't arrived. I asked the waitress if it was too difficult to service our table because of our location. She insisted it wasn't, but it didn't improve her service. We decided to cancel the rest of our order, just pay for the drinks and leave. The restaurant manager said we didn't need to pay for the drinks and wanted to make it up to us. It was an appropriate offer, and we accepted the free drinks but we no longer wanted to stay. We said we just wanted to put it behind us and go eat in the lounge at the Fairmont where they also serve food. He seemed to accept that, but while my wife and I were trying to relax in the lounge, a hotel manager intruded on us and insisted that we let her make amends, etc. We said we just want to move forward and forget about the previous restaurant. She would not respect our wishes and we had to consent to the way she wanted to do things before she would leave us alone. If she could have just let us do what we wanted, this wouldn't have become a major event and my wife and I could have enjoyed our evening more. Moral of this story is if you make a reservation at Binchotan and they don't have a table for you, don't go in and don't tell them where you are going. They just might track you down! By the way, I'm 57 years old and this is only the 2nd time I've ever had to leave a restaurant out of thousands in several countries.

My second dining experience here and not disappointed. Excellent service and quality of food. So many delicious menu options. Good drinks and wine menu also. Highly recommend!

Beautiful setting. Service needs improvement but it’s a new restaurant so that could explain the forgetfulness and not best service. Excellent food! So many great choices! We are definitely returning to try more.

Binchotan finally opened and it was worth the wait! Food and service were flawless. We'll be back soon.