Pack one pair of closed-toe shoes. That solves the entire Hy’s Steak House problem before you leave home, and we know it because we did not: on a May 2017 visit one of us was stopped at the host stand for wearing sandals, and the evening opened with a run to a shoe store instead of a drink.
Hy’s is the dark, English-club-looking room set back from Kūhiō Avenue that keeps coming up when you ask around about steak in Waikiki. Its own menu page says the steaks are “Cooked over traditional Hawaiian Kiawe in the Heart of our Dining Room” — the grill is out in the open, in the middle of the dining room — and the restaurant’s site describes more than 45 years in Honolulu. It is also the only Waikiki restaurant where we have personally been turned around at the door.
The dress code, in Hy’s own words
The reservations page splits the policy into what is required and what is not allowed. Required:
| Official wording | |
|---|---|
| Gentlemen | ”Collared Shirts and Closed-Toe Shoes” |
| Ladies | ”Business Casual or Evening Attire” |
Not allowed:
- Beachwear, “Including Swimwear and Flip-flops”
- Athletic wear — “Gym Attire, Sweatpants, Sweatshirts, Hoodies, and Jerseys”
- Informal headwear — “Beanies, Bandanas, and Ball Caps”
- Oversized or excessively baggy clothing
- Tank tops or sleeveless shirts, for gentlemen
- T-shirts
- Clothing that is overly revealing or carries offensive odors
Three things stand out when you read that list with a suitcase in mind. First, footwear is specified only in the gentlemen’s line — the ladies’ line names no shoe at all. Second, T-shirts are named outright, so the collar is not a suggestion; the site does not mention aloha shirts either way, but a standard aloha shirt has a collar, which is exactly what the rule asks for. Third, and this is the part people skip: “Management reserves the right to refuse service to any guest whose attire is deemed inappropriate, regardless of reservation status.” A confirmed reservation is not a shield.
The night we went shoe shopping
On our May 2017 visit we showed up a little before the 5:00 pm opening, and several groups were already waiting. The sign by the door then was much blunter than today’s website: “COLLARED SHIRTS AND SHOES REQUIRED. NO SWIMWEAR OR BASEBALL STYLE CAPS.”
We read it and talked ourselves into being fine. One of us was in an aloha shirt, shorts and sandals; the other in a sleeveless top, a skirt and sandals. No swimwear, no ball cap, and the aloha shirt had its collar. The people waiting around us ranged from a full suit to shorts and sneakers, which made the whole thing feel loose.
It was not loose. The doors opened at 5:00, we said at the host stand that we had no reservation but wanted happy hour, and the answer came after a look downward: the sandals on one of us did not count as shoes. The other of us, also in sandals, drew no comment at all — which lines up exactly with the footwear rule being written only into the gentlemen’s line. With a line behind us, there was nothing to negotiate. We walked out, bought a pair of closed-toe shoes at a store nearby, came back, and got in.
The cost of that detour was not the shoes. It was the seat. By the time we returned, the comfortable lounge tables were taken and we were tucked into a tight spot behind the bar. At a bar-and-lounge happy hour with limited seats, the advantage belongs to whoever walks in at 5:00 dressed correctly.
Happy hour in 2026, and what it costs
From the happy hour page, checked September 3, 2026:
- When: “Nightly · 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM Last Seating”
- Where: “Exclusively in the Bar & Lounge”
- Booking: “Reservations Highly Recommended – Limited Seatings Available”
That 6:30 is a last seating, not a last call — sliding in at 6:20 is not what the window is built for. The published list:
| Savory | Price |
|---|---|
| Steak Bites | $35 |
| Mini Beef Wellington | $32 |
| Hy’s French Dip | $31 |
| Black Garlic Burger | $25 |
| Ahi Poke | $21 |
| Oysters on the Half Shell | $17 |
| Shrimp Cocktail | $15 |
| Chopped Salad | $13 |
| A5 French Fries | $11 |
Sweet items — Seasonal Cobbler, Tiramisu, Brownie Lava Cake — are $14 each. Classic cocktails (Martini, Manhattan, Daiquiri, Bartender’s Choice) are $13, and the sommelier-selected white and red by the glass are $13. Two details worth having in advance: there is no beer anywhere on that published list, and the fine print adds Hawaiʻi state tax of 4.712%, with a 20% service charge on checks split three or more ways and on parties of eight or more.
We have not eaten off this 2026 list. Everything above is the official menu as published, not a meal we sat through.
Is it still the cheap door into a steakhouse?
Our own receipt is the honest comparison here. On that 2017 visit we ordered four plates — beef carpaccio $12, escargot $10, bison and lamb sliders $12, and a mini beef Wellington that was then $10 — plus four drinks between us, two beers and two glasses of wine. The check came to $77.48 including tax.
Rebuild that same kind of order today — four plates and four drinks — and the numbers move hard. None of those first three plates are on the current list, so take four of what is there: mini beef Wellington $32 + ahi poke $21 + black garlic burger $25 + chopped salad $13 = $91, plus four glasses of wine at $13 = $52. That is $143 before tax and tip, against $77.48 all-in nine years ago. The single cleanest data point is that mini beef Wellington: $10 on our check, $32 on the menu today.
The dinner room moved the same way. We came back in May 2018 with proper shoes and had the actual steak; the filet mignon was 7 oz at $53 then, and the current menu lists a 7 oz filet mignon at $89. That evening’s check was $224.08 with tax, for two people who ordered starters and a salad along with the steaks.
None of this makes Hy’s an outlier — Waikiki restaurant prices in general are not where they were. It does mean the old framing of “happy hour is the sneaky cheap way to eat at a steakhouse” no longer survives contact with the bill.
What we would do, and what we would not
Our default Waikiki evening is a bottle from a grocery store and takeout with the windows open, and $13 a glass is not far off what a whole bottle costs us at Longs or Target. So no, we are not making Hy’s happy hour a habit, and there is a second reason: 5:00 pm is late for us. We start drinking mid-afternoon, and by the time Hy’s opens we are usually already settled in for the night.
What we would do is this:
- Pack the shoes regardless. One pair of closed-toe shoes covers Hy’s, and it also covers Michel’s at the Colony Surf, where the same item is the one most travelers leave at home. It is one pair in the suitcase against an entire evening lost at the door.
- Treat Hy’s as an occasion, not a deal. What you are buying is the room and that kiawe grill burning in the middle of it, which no grocery-store bottle replicates. If we want that, we will go and pay for it on purpose rather than pretend the happy hour makes it cheap.
- Arrive at 5:00, or reserve. The site asks for reservations and says seating is limited. Our own detour is the case study for what happens to walk-ins who step away and come back.
- If the goal is discounted steak specifically, the Signature Prime Steak lounge is the one where the steak items themselves come down in price, and Ruth’s Chris in Waikiki runs a longer bar-only window earlier in the afternoon. Both start before 5:00, which suits our clock better.
Before you plan around this
Every price, hour and rule above came off hyswaikiki.com on September 3, 2026, and restaurants change all three without announcements. Re-check the happy hour page and the reservations page the week you go, especially if you are booking for a group: the site states a $50-per-person charge for parties of eight or more cancelled within three days, and a $50-per-person cancellation fee during select holiday periods regardless of group size.
Our 2017 and 2018 checks are what we paid on those nights, not what you will pay. They are in here as a rate of change, not as a menu.
The details
- Name: Hy’s Steak House Waikiki
- Address: 2440 Kūhiō Ave., Honolulu, HI 96815
- Phone: (808) 922-5555
| Last seating | |
|---|---|
| Monday – Thursday | 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm |
| Friday – Sunday | 5:00 pm – 9:30 pm |
| Happy hour (bar and lounge only) | 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm nightly |
Note that the dining hours are also written as last seating times, not closing times. Official site: hyswaikiki.com.
Bring the shoes, and the rest of the evening takes care of itself.
