Waikiki Wally's

My friends and I go to Wally's all the time and we never leave feeling disappointed. The whole ambience of the place delivers good times and unexpected run-ins with unusual, yet friendly and charismatic, people. While you are sitting at the bar sipping down mai tai's while eclectic music is playing in the background, you can watch the bartender innocently entertain you while he flips liquor bottles in the air and shuffles mixers and glasses from hand to hand, or be easily distracted by the playfully kind Tranny's shuffling through from Lucky Cheng's. Later in the evening, as a larger crowd gathers in, you can have a great time with your own group of friends or mingling with other groups. All-in-all Wally's is a fun bar to be to top off your night with a lively, fun bartender, descent happy hours, and great drinks. Pros: Awesome Bartender/ Great Drinks Cons: Food could be better more

This place was a disaster. I made reservations for an afterwork outing to celebrate a friend's graduation. The place looked pretty nice online and we were pretty excited. We got to Wally's and the place is one step above a hole in the wall. There were two other people there, two women having drinks. There were sixteen of us and they seated us right away as they has our tables already set up. Unfortunately, they gave us two food menus and two drink menus for all sixteen of us. The waitress seemed to be pretty spacy and had to keep going back to the bartender to ask questions about happy hour (with the exception of 2 for 2 beers, there was no happy hour). Themed drinks were $9 for what was pretty much a coffee cup. They finally brought water to our table, which consisted of 1 pitcher and a stack of small dixie clear cups, placed at one end of the table. We decided at some point that we were going to leave after one drink and not eat there. This is when all hell broke loose. The person sitting in front of me had gotten up from her chair. I didn't notice at the time, but she was doing some kind of leg shake, jig thing and looked quite disturbed. The other end of the table got wind of this and went into a panic. After following her eyes and the rest of our party, I realized that there was a cucaracha (I can't type the english word), a big one, crawling towards me. Apparantly, my friend has shaken it loose from crawling up her pant leg. I stepped on it, and got up from the table. After everyone had gathered up their things we were making a bee-line for the door, only to hear ""What's the big deal, it's only a little ......"" Oh, by the by-in all the melee, the you-know-what (he was not little, by any stretch of the imagination) hadn't died and had made his way across the floor. I stepped on him again and this time, finished it. I hope that wasn't their mascot or something. This place is a dump is what I'm saying. Avoid at all costs. Pros: I made it out alive Cons: Bugs...bugs...bugs... more

This place is a disaster. Stay away at all cost. The staff was high or drunk, not kidding. We never recvd. our meals after our appetizers. We were the only table in there other than 1 at the time. It is dirty and the drinks are kind of bad. We left and went somewhere else. They forgot to charge of for like 4 rounds of drinks----which was a bonus. It was really bad, touristy and not kitchy. Just groos! Pros: drunk staff does not charge for all drinks Cons: too many to list more

Have been here twice before and on each visit the place is emptier than the last and for good reason. Whoever's running this place clearly has no idea what they?re doing. It?s a shame, though, cause I love tikki bars and it?d be great to have one here in NYC, so if the owners are reading this, here are some tips to fix it and maybe actually get some customer traffic in your joint. 1) The facade of the bar is barely lit. We actually thought it was closed as we approached it. Spruce it up with some new lights and maybe a nice paintjob. 2) The inside is dark, but in a bad, spooky way (like you?re hiding the fact the floors haven?t been cleaned in ages) rather than a cozy, romantic way. Brighten it up a little (and then redo them dirty floors once we?re able to see them). 3) As far as decorations go, spruce up that waterfall, fill up or get rid of that empty aquarium and get some more items that highlight the tropical theme. 4) Your drinks are over-priced and under-liquored. We paid $15 for a scorpion bowl-sized mai tai that tasted like it had about $2 worth of booze it in. A good profit-margin yes, but not if you?re only selling 5 of them a night. I can?t stress this enough. If you serve good drinks at prices honest, hard working people can afford, then people will come. Start running some happy hour drink specials and stiffin the booze content up and but more fruit in your drinks (ours barely had two) and you?ll do ten times the business of what you have now. more

Is this a joke? I made a reservation expecting it to be crowded and then walked in to find the place empty except for two stoners at the bar. I can't speak for the food, because we left after being seated, afraid that we would catch something. more

I went there 2 years ago and had a great time. I remember enjoying dinner and the place was packed. I am not sure if it changed owners or what happened. But all I thought in my head were Gordon Ramsey's exact words ""Oh No...Bloody Hell"" Cons: Everything about the place more

ok so they change the name whatever reason but ,the thing is that just as long as the hula dancer's are there and a good service is good then that's all that matter's most .now i've been there and when i sat down for dinner with my wife the host . an islander guy came over and lei'd us and welcome us as if we'er in. hawaii on a vacation coz of the way he greeted us and then start's us of with this mai-tai drink and it is great and so is the pupu platter and entree and then the dancer's are wonderful and so was the guy too HE DANCE AS WELL so go and see them . for what they do best . Pros: drink's food and dancer rawbar too! wow more

Okay. So I will get straight to the point. My mom ows Waikiki Wally's and I have witnessed everything she has been through to make the restaurant the best it can be. The place has improved so much: Food, service, decor, organization, etc. I will admit that i hated the food at one point, but I have learned to like the food. Now i can say that the food is almost perfect with taste and presentation. I have had many parties there and a lot of the people seemed to like it. Some of the people liked it so much that they came to have dinner nights later. The bar area is very decorated and detailed, the mural sets the scene of Hawaii, the lights bring a warm feeling to the space, and the hula dancing and live birds are VERY entertaining. The aspect that amazes me the most is the WATERFALL. The waterfall amazes many of the people who eat there as well. Overall, I find Waikiki Wally's to be one of the most fun restaurants in the city with great food, drinks and service. So recommend it to all your friends and they will see what a great place it is to eat. Pros: decor, food, drinks, service. EVERYTHING. Cons: more seafood on the menu more

I've been to this place a few times and, given its proximity to Lucky Cheng's, it's always a trip because you get to cavort with the 7 foot (sort of) chicks from Cheng's, who hang out at wally's like its some sort of break room. also Cheng (of lucky chengs fame) works there as a busboy. im not sure exactly how that works but hes a pretty weird dude and i think weird people are great fun. waikiki wally's is like some sort of a weirdo-warp. even you become weird when you go there and it feels oh so wonderful. Ive eaten there a couple times and the food is great. I always get my drinks quickly and the staff and bartenders act like my friends. I am a really boring person unless i get loaded. Since im not loaded this review is totally boring but dont be fooled by my lameassness. wally's is cool and im into it. more

Went with a big group for drinks and appetizers and we all loved everything about the restaurant. The decor is simply over the top. The drinks were very good, especially the Tidal Wave. (Had a few too many,...) The appetizers we had were great - coconut shrimp, pineapple chicken wings, and the glazed ribs. Pros: decor drinks hawaiian hostess Cons: bad hangover more

This place has some potential, but has too many problems to warrant a visit. The food was bland, the service was slow, and slightly overpriced for the quality. Definitely don't recommend. Pros: occassional transexual (from Lucky Cheng's) walking around Cons: mildew smell, food, service, prices more

People looking to find authentic Hawaiian food and atmosphere will be sorely disappointed. I have been here two times and both times the service was poor and the food was more Asian fusion than true Hawaiian. The last time I went to celebrate a friend's birthday, one of the bartenders was drunk and we waited so long for our drink order that we ended up leaving to go to another spot. I'm surprised Wally's has stayed in business for this long. more

Sure, it's ok with a staff that has a good time, but these people were drunk AND nasty! Food was ok, but service was horrible. 5 DO NOT mind a partying staff, but then, at least, I want to be entertained and not see them roll their eyes and stink from boozy breath. They looked cool and all (but the scene is all a bit 80's out dated...). The curly, dark haired female bartender is unfriendly and a besser wisser. It doesn't even look that Hawaiian or whatever it's supposed to look like. Drinks were nothing special. Pros: Kind of fun interior Cons: Bartender, wait staff, attitude more

This place truly does not deserve whatever hype or quality compliments it has received or I have heard...My friends and I dropped by on a Sunday, and there was absolutely NO SERVICE (the supposed only female bartender even told us there was no one else but her, and given that there were people in there waiting to dine and drink, that was ridicoulas!). There was even one male bartender who was clearly drunk or stoned or both (he stumbled to us, and almost toppled our table!), and who tried to take our drink orders, but then we never saw any coming back. PLUS, the table next to us, when the group left, the dirty dishes were left for a good ten minutes! My group and I cancelled whatever drinks we ordered (no food order since there was NO wait staff) and left. more

Their website indicates nightly music (last night we all thought we were going to see the Hulabillys), and much to our disappointment, found out that they don't even have live music!!!! The drinks -- well, at best - mediocre - (not even an umbrella in my Mai Tai!) The service -- slow slow slow. The food -- I didn't even taste it because it looked so gross. Did I have a good time? Yes, I did, only because it was my friend's b-day party, but NEVER NEVER would I recommend this place for any kind of event whatsoever. (But if you do want to have an event there, I'll bet there will be no problem because the place was empty, i.e., I don't think seating is ever a problem.) Cons: Crummy bartender more

Terrible is the only word to describe this ""restaurant."" The food bordered on disgusting. At the least it was inedible and WAY overpriced. Do not order the pu pu platter unless you like paying $10 (per person!) for one piece of chicken (?) covered in some smelly sauce and a burnt spare rib (at least thats what I thought it was). The drinks weren't as bad but extremely overpriced. Our waiter was terrible. Wouldn't leave us alone at first and then disappeared. Then he decided to add his 20% tip onto our bill! For our party of 5! Like wrote it in in pen beneath the total! Cons: Overpriced, horrible service, horrible food more

My husband is from Hawaii so I thought he might enjoy some Hawaiian cuisine. Warning -- this is NOT what Hawaiian food tastes like. Lau lau pork, usually steamed in taro and tea leaves, tasted more like burrito filling. Huli huli chicken (they call it hula hula chicken -- ha ha) had some cheap orange sauce on it and was very dry. Our waitress was nice, but inattentive. We finished our drinks after the appetizer, but she didn't offer to get us more until we were served with desert. That's not a bad thing considering how bad one of our drinks was. The spiced monkey could kill a monkey, it nearly killed us. It tasted like banana-flavored rubbing alcohol. Save your money for a trip to the real Hawaii instead. Pros: Friendly enough Cons: Food, Poorly executed idea more

Lets start with the ambience- with the bamboo tables and tableset, culture masks hanging on the walls, waitress's get ups and the real parrots, this restaurant scores a 8/10!!! Very cute. The food was absolutely delicious! The ribs are a must try -- not the regular bbq sauce flavored ribs, and the seafood stew. The banana rum split was fantastic, too! Service was very nice. The cons about this place is that its a bit small and when you get a rambuncous party like the way I did, its extremely, extremely noisy. Everyone was shouting.... Portions were not enough and everything you order (even the drinks) takes a while. However, since this is the only real Hawaiian-like restaurant in NYC thank goodness its a good one! I look forward to my next meal there! Pros: Food, Ambience, Service Cons: Size of Portions, Noisy, Slow in serving more

Waikki Wallys, as the name suggests is like no other. IT's a Hawaiian themed restaurant that goes the fulll length complete with welcoming ""lays"" and tropical cocktails. The food and drinks are good. Dress code is ultra casual to none (which is a good thing!). It is a small restaurant despite appearances with a small bar attached. Truly unique it is worth going to once with a gang of friends. Don't expect 5 star dining but do expect a great time. more

Expected a good time and left feeling completely disappointed. The drinks were tasty, but overpriced and had to remind the waiter several times. The food had to be the worst in NY. Hula dancers were unenthusiastic and practially absent. This place has real potential but I'll never go back. Try adding sauce with the pupu platter, ditch the spam-like tofu, and give the hula dancers a raise. more