Bernini Honolulu – Fine Italian Cuisine Restaurant on Oahu, Hawaii

Bernini Honolulu

I heard about this cute little restaurant from a friend, so four of us gave it a try one evening. We finally located it, and I must say, the exterior lighting and appearance of the Bernini Honolulu eatery was very classy and attractive, (reminiscent of Taormina Sicilian Restaurant in Waikiki).

The interior is tastefully decorated as well, very upscale, and attractive. My only criticism of the Bernini Honolulu interior decor and lighting would be to either get rid of the refrigerated display case and its bright fluorescent lighting immediately inside the entrance.

Or, if this display case is necessary, install some cool temp. incandescent lighting inside to highlight whatever you want to emphasize. The fluorescent lighting in the case wages a battle with the rest of the very classy lighting throughout the restaurant.

Now for the important topic — the food:

We first tried a sampling from their Antipasti selection and chose the Chef’s Selection of the Day $28.00 — A trio including Tuna Carpaccio w/ Sicilian Lemon Sauce, Porchetta – Homemade Slow-cooked Pork Ham, and Venetian Style Marinated Octopus and Potato Lightly flavored with Anchovy.

We also ordered Grilled Scallops with Eggplant in a Balsamic Reduction Sauce $14.00 All antipasti selections were quite tasty, however a little sparse with respect to volume. We ordered a bottle of Prosecco, (Flor Prosecco), to accompany our antipasti ($39.00) , which was quite good.

The main dishes we ordered were all under the “Pasta” heading and were all spaghetti offerings including Ricci de Mare – Fresh Sea Urchin – Peperoncino Style $26.00; Vongole Bianco – Fresh Clams in a White Wine Sauce $22.00; Chicken Carbonara – Creamy Spicy Chicken Sauce $18.00; and King Crab – in a Tomato Cream Sauce w/ Broccoli $24.00.

We enjoyed an excellent meal at Bernini Honolulu.