Seed Restaurant – Waialae, HI

This is probably not going to be a well-received review of the restaurant but I have to be honest in my reviews. I am surprised that Seed Restaurant is averaging 4.5 stars on Yelp right now. Based on my experience, I’d give them a 2. But let me explain why. I also think Seed Restaurant is ultra cool for doing what they do in terms of being a justice restaurant. You can read more about their mission at their website.

We showed up to the restaurant at about 6 pm on a Saturday night. I expected it to be busy and to have a wait. We were greeted very nicely by the hostess, she was definitely training. While the trainer and the trainee herself were very nice – it was incredibly disorganized. They were constantly giving estimated seating times that were already passed (i.e. You should have a table at 6:30 – when it was already 6:45, etc.). They told us a few times that we would get a table soon because people were finishing up their meal. Well, we waited over an hour. There were a few tables of folks who were done with their meal and were just chatting for the longest time…I feel like that’s kind of rude if you see a whole bunch of people waiting to get in!

Anyway, I observed the service that night. Not only was the wait list a bit of a mess – I overheard a customer whose reservation was lost and it was for a big party. Anyway, after an hour or so – we finally get seated. We got our seat in the back corner and by the way – this restaurant doesn’t have air conditioning (just an FYI on how to dress).

Our waitress came up to our table and didn’t utter a single word. I had to say hello and then just tell her we were ready to order (since we had an hour to browse the menu). We tried to order fresh juices but were told the juicer had just broke. Disappointment #1. How was the food? Oh boy, here we go…

140414-01Baked French “Fries” – $2.50
What a disappointment. Even sliced so thick, the fries were dry and hard as a rock. I don’t know how they were able to overcook such big slices of potato but they did. Inedible.

140414-02Signature Fresh Catch (Ono) – $13.95

140414-03Sigh. Where do I start? Overcooked and underseasoned piece of fish. It was so dry – I felt like a can of tuna would have given better quality fish. There was no flavor at all, luckily my dining companion had dipping sauces I could use. What a waste…

140414-04Here are my mixed vegetables. I basically got all carrots – they trying to tell me something??

140414-05Shabu-Cut Grilled Meat Platter – $12.95
Does the meat look koge to you? It’s definitely not how dark the photo is, this is how it looked in person.

140414-06Doesn’t that look…burnt? My poor friend…he was not happy.

140414-07Here are his mixed vegetables. There are two dipping sauces, one is a garlic chili sauce and one is some kind of herbed oil but it basically tasted like oil. I was biting into the chili pepper to access some kind of flavor for my meal and paid dearly for that…lol.

We were originally going to order dessert too but definitely did not feel like ordering it after the food and service we received. I watched as our waitress talked to every table around us, making conversation, etc. I don’t know why she treated us poorly compared to others. Needless to say, we will not be returning anytime soon. It’s really too bad because I do want to support the mission of this restaurant. Maybe I can give them a chance after a year or so, they have only been open for a month.

By the way, thanks everyone for the kind words on my last entry. I’m sorry I haven’t had time to respond – it’s been hectic and I had to get a new post up. Will definitely respond soon. 🙂 Today, we went to bai san for my Mom. I do appreciate my family coming together to show up for her. She didn’t have her family here in Hawaii but my Dad’s side always shows up in spades. Much mahalo for that. Hope you folks are doing well – I’m excited for the three day weekend. Look at me, it’s not even Monday yet. Happy Monday folks!

8 responses to “Seed Restaurant – Waialae, HI

  1. Anon .com

    First of all, how nice that you have bai San for your mom. Do you do the preparations or your dad. We used to attend the services for my dad’s parents. Now that my aunt who did the preparations passed that tradition isn’t done as before …your mom would be so proud of you being the strong woman you are!

    Secondly this place doesn’t sound good at all…

    • Hi Anon. As of now, my dad and his wife actually do the preparations. I guess I’m pretty lucky she works so hard to keep the tradition going. She folds a lot of the money we burn too. My dad’s side of the family also comes out every year for it so I appreciate that. I know I should learn how to do it too because it all gets lost…hard to learn all the rules though yeah?

      And yeah, my thoughts are, no go. Not worth it.

  2. Arlene

    Broken juicer? Yikes. And what happened to those potato wedges? They look really old! I won’t say what I think was going on with the waitress. It’s an odd thing to say, but I find some Yelp reviews too positive to be true, especially after one Yelp Elite admitted she was told not to be negative in order to achieve Elite status (long thread on Talk). Biased, much, yelpers?

    From the way you handled yourself with that misguided kid, I think your mom would be proud of the way you turned out.

    • Is that what it is?? Old potatoes? Even sadder. Very interesting tidbit about Elite. When I look at reviews on Yelp (and I still love Yelp!) – I definitely don’t just go on Elite’s words. Honestly, they probably get some kind of perk or recognized for being Elite or worst, point out that they are Elite. I try to remain biased in my reviews and I think it’s hard when you have your face for all people to see…maybe it’s just me.

      Thanks for the kind worst Arlene – I do hope she is proud as well. It’s sad we had such a short time together but I will always remember and cherish the memories we did have.

  3. kristian

    oh, man…what an experience! everything seemed to have been over done. i didn’t even finish my meat and you know i love meat. thanks for sharing my vegetables, btw. hahaha. we didn’t even finish the fries also. as if the hour wait wasn’t mad enough, we almost finish two rounds of M.A.S.H., along with some doodles before our meals came out. then! we had another wait for our check where we finished our hiragana lesson and some katakana. not once were we asked how everything was during our meal and that’s pretty hurtful.

    justice was definitely not served. especially on a platter. *crickets*

    • Hahaha hold on Kristian. I think you need to share your last comment that night with my readers. You remember that one? 😉

      You gotta admit the game of MASH was awesome. Even though you couldn’t finish mine. Sorry you got Shindong. Your Japanese writing was awesome, as anything you ever write is.

  4. SupMonarch

    Not going to lie, baby octopus reminds me too much of the movie Alien and I don’t understand how someone cremates chips (yes I said chips) like that.

    So I’m not going to insist we go to this place

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