Restaurant Review: Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion

While in Rancho Mirage, we enjoyed a dinner at Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion.

I had never heard of this restaurant, so I was surprised to hear they had locations in 10 states, including one not far from where we live.

We arrived as a party of ten, with 4 kids. They sat us immediately, and no sooner had we sat down than they brought out appetizer plates for the kids. There were a few pieces of cheese quesadilla, with some other small items. This immediately occupied the children so the adults could focus on the menu.

Two of our party enjoyed the sushi appetizers. The portions were very substantial for the price, made fresh, and tasted wonderful. I chose a combination appetizer, which turned out to be an excellent choice. While the potstickers and vegetable rolls were decent, the shrimp sticks were top notch, as was a spicy Tuna Poke. Not to be outdone, though, the szechuan St. Louis Ribs were outstanding. The meat was tender enough to fall off the bone. They were a bit sweet, a bit spicy, and they disappeared from everyone’s plate. Even Catherine got in on the fun!

For entrees, I chose a Parmesan Crusted Swordfish. This was fine, but paled in comparison to Michelle’s choice. Her grilled seafood trio started with a Hibachi Style Chilean Salmon with a citrus ponzu sauce. The sauce really made this piece of salmon pop. Next we had Blackened Ahi Tuna with a Soy Mustard Butter. Also an excellent choice. The trio finished with Misoyaki Butterfish, finished with a Pepper Soy Vinaigrette. Butterfish is basically Black Cod. I generally don’t see Blck Cod on the menu very much, so I was glad Michelle ordered it. The Butterfish was the best of the entrees, in my opinion.

All this was accompanied by a Ravenswood Tedeschi Zinfandel. This is one of the Ravenswood reserve wines I haven’t had. It’s a very good fish wine, as long as you have a good sauce to stand up to it.

Dessert was a pre-ordered Chocolate Souffle. It was more like a Molten Chocolate cake from Morton’s than a souffle, but it worked out just fine. To put a perfect ending to the evening, each kid got a complimentary ice cream sundae, complete with their name written in chocolate.

I’m not sure what was more compelling. The fish was fresh, the food imaginative. But as a father of an almost 3-year old little girl, it was truly a great treat to be able to have dinner in an upscale restaurant with our daughter and have her be entertained the entire time. An older couple even stopped by to compliment us on how well-behaved all the kids were.

Moral of the story: It’s worth your time and money to give this restaurant a try.

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