Last month the Royal Hawaiian reopened with much fanfare. And a new restaurant. I never have high hopes for hotel restaurants here. The Sheraton fell flat with Twist and RumFire—their food is as lackluster as the settings are mesmerizing (there must be some sort of Demetri Martin equation there). But dinner at sister operation Azure last week? Boy did that quash my skepticism.

What was the Surf Room is now a grand, cool, all-white space, with the kind of head room you find in spots like 11 Madison Park—OK, maybe not that high, but just so phenomenally airy and with a real ceiling, not that Styrofoam stuff so many local rooms have to settle for. It immediately makes the list of best dining rooms on the island, along with spots like La Mer, Nobu Waikiki and Kaiwa (topic for a future blog post!). More after the jump. Continue reading “Azure review: The beautiful room is not empty”