Ro's Recz

Address: 255 Beach Walk

Arancino is an Italian restaurant with multiple locations throughout Hawaii. There are two locations of Arancino in Waikiki, and one location in The Kahala hotel. Unfortunately, all 3 of the locations are closed right now, but I hope that they will be reopening soon (and I really hope they are not permanently shut down).

I have some great memories at Arancino, as it was at the restaurant where I was watching a huge baseball game (through my phone). Throughout the dinner, it was looking bleak for my team, but in the 9th inning they had a huge comeback and ended up winning The World Series the following day. While that is not the only reason I like Arancino, it is one reason why Arancino will always be in my memory.

Apart from the baseball game memory though, Arancino also just has great Italian food. Similar to Bernini, Arancino blends Italian-Asian cuisine, but I would say Arancino leans more towards the Italian side. When the Waikiki location was open in Hawaii, they had some great lunch specials, and they have especially big discounts for kama’aina (local Hawaii residents). I remember there being a lunch special with soup/salad and pasta for about $15, which is a great deal for a place of Arancino’s quality.

One of Arancino’s most popular dishes is its uni pasta, but all of the pastas that I have tried have been really good. I consider Arancino to be right on the level of Bernini and La Cucina, and those would be the first 3 restaurants I would think of when craving Italian food in Hawaii. Now I just have to wait for it to open up, hopefully in the near future!