Tango Contemporary Cafe 1288 Ala Moana Blvd – Honolulu restaurant reviews (Oahu)

Tango is small restaurant sitting on the ground floor of the Hokua condo on Auahi Street across from the IBM building. We went their primarily because it was new and  it was not a chain. Generally we abhor chain restaurants…with some exceptions.

We called in on Saturday afternoon to make reservations for 7pm that evening. Although they could not accommodate my desired time, it was very close so I was pleased. When my date and I arrived, our friends had already been seated. There are two types of tables: regular small restaurant tables and then picnic tables. I felt fortunate that we got a picnic table because we were able to spread out a little and relax and enjoy ourselves.

Unfortunately, they were already out of the Swedish Skins which is what I really wanted and the rest of the appetizers seemed to be more standard Hawaii fare such as shrimp tempura and sushi.

For dinner, I ordered the plank steak and my date had the lobster and goat cheese ravioli. The steak was simple but good. I did enjoy it, but my date really did not think that his ravioli was anything special. And the pinot noir we were served from Oregon was not great, and definitely not worth the money.

The desserts our table chose were the berry compote and the kona coffee cake. Both were delicious and not the run-of the mill standard desserts, which was a welcome surprise. The desserts were fresh tasting and not enormous, which is what I prefer.

The service was nice, but the waiter was very inexperienced. He served plates at different times and completely forgot the sushi we ordered as an appetizer. He seemed extremely nervous. It is a new restaurant, so I hope they can work the kinks out of their menu and improve their staff’s skills. I think I will put it back on my list of restaurants to try again, but perhaps not for some time.

Phone number for reservations : 593.7288