Hy’s Steak House at 50: How a Calgary Steakhouse Became Waikīkī’s Wood-Paneled Time Capsule

Step off Kūhiō Avenue into Hy’s Steak House and Waikīkī disappears. There’s dark carved wood, shelves of old books, a stained-glass ceiling and, in the middle of it all, a glassed-in broiler where steaks sizzle over kiawe. It looks a lot like it did when it opened in 1976, and that’s the point.

This week Hy’s is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and it’s making the milestone easy to taste: from Nov. 11 to 17, a $50 filet mignon is available to the first 50 orders each evening, Aloha State Daily reported. Here’s how a steakhouse born in Canada became one of Honolulu’s go-to places for anniversaries, proposals and graduation dinners.

Born in Calgary, built for Waikīkī

The Hy’s name goes back to Hy Aisenstat, who opened the first Hy’s Steakhouse in downtown Calgary in 1955, according to a 2023 Eater history of the brand. The chain grew across Canada, with locations in Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Whistler.

The Waikīkī restaurant opened in 1976 as a partnership between Aisenstat and restaurateur Rod Gardiner, Eater reported. The two had already teamed up on Kobe Japanese Steak House in Waikīkī. Aisenstat’s son Neil, now president and CEO of the Canadian company, told Eater his father simply loved Honolulu.

The room was designed by Arthur Fishman, who also worked on the Calgary and Vancouver restaurants. It still sits at its original spot, at the base of the Waikiki Park Heights Hotel, 2440 Kūhiō Ave.

A room that was never remodeled away

What makes Hy’s different is how little the dining room has changed. Wood carvings, paneling and pillars came from Philadelphia’s Baldwin Estate, guest relations manager Bob Panter said in a 2023 Star-Advertiser Q&A. The Tiffany stained-glass ceiling panels came from a chapel; accounts of where differ, with Panter telling Eater it was in Baltimore and the Star-Advertiser piece saying outside Cleveland.

Panter has been there almost from the start. He began in 1977 as a busser, according to Eater, and called the interior a “time capsule.” He also told Eater that Hy’s first drew mostly tourists, then locals discovered it and kept bringing their families: “I’ve watched generations come through these doors.”

Meanwhile, the Canadian Hy’s went another way. Calgary’s original closed after New Year’s Eve 2006 when its lease ended, and it came back eight years later with a sleek, modern look, Eater reported. That leaves Waikīkī as the one that still looks like the old Hy’s.

Owners changed, the steaks didn’t

The restaurant has had several owners, and the timelines don’t fully match. Eater reported that Gardiner and Japan-based restaurateur Yoshitaro Kawakami bought out Aisenstat’s operating shares in the early 1980s and bought the restaurant entirely in 1992. Gardiner’s 2002 obituary in The Honolulu Advertiser dated his buyout of his partners to 1988.

Since 2011 the restaurant has been run by G.Lion, the Japan-based group whose Hawaiʻi arm, G.Lion Hawaii, also manages La Vie and Quiora, according to the Star-Advertiser. In 2018, the Star-Advertiser described the owners as the Tabata family of the G.Lion Group, and Wakana Tabata is listed as president of Hy’s on its 50th anniversary page. According to Eater, the group even used Hy’s as the model for its Akarenga Steak House in Osaka.

In 2024 Hy’s closed for a long renovation, mostly in the kitchen, and ran a weekly pop-up in the La Vie dining room in the meantime. The main dining room was kept in its original condition, the Star-Advertiser reported. Executive chef Brandon Bernal told Aloha State Daily that even the kiawe grill is the original, and that the artist who made the tile mural behind it came back to label each tile, take it down and put it back up on the new wall.

What to order

Hy’s is a classic American steakhouse with a lot of tableside show. USDA Prime steaks are broiled over kiawe, and servers make Caesar and warm spinach salads at your table and flambé desserts like bananas Foster, according to the restaurant’s website. Bestsellers named by the kitchen in 2024 included oysters Rockefeller, escargot in Hy’s house butter, beef Wellington and the porterhouse for two (prices have likely changed since that 2024 interview).

The 50th anniversary deals

• $50 filet mignon, Nov. 11–17, first 50 orders each evening. It comes with roasted Brussels sprouts, pancetta, a balsamic red wine reduction, creamy gorgonzola sauce and your choice of starch.
• $125 anniversary prix fixe, same week. It brings caviar vol-au-vents (Aloha State Daily called it an amuse-bouche), French onion soup, the tableside Caesar, the filet and bananas Foster flambé, per the Hy’s 50 page.
• Photo giveaway: Post a public Instagram photo of yourself at Hy’s, then or now, and tag @hyshawaii with #HYS50. Each photo is an entry for a monthly Legacy Menu for Two prize. Food-only photos don’t count.
• More to come: Bernal told Aloha State Daily the team plans to bring back retired dishes for limited runs throughout the anniversary year.

Know before you go

• Where: Hy’s Steak House, 2440 Kūhiō Ave., Waikīkī. Complimentary valet parking
• Hours: Dinner nightly. Last seating 8:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 9:30 p.m. Friday to Sunday. Happy hour in the bar and lounge from 5 p.m. (last seating 6:30 p.m.), and live music Wednesday to Sunday from 6:30 p.m., per the restaurant’s website
• Dress code: Collared shirts and closed-toe shoes for men; no beachwear, flip-flops, athletic wear, ball caps or T-shirts
• Reservations: (808) 922-5555 or OpenTable. The $50 filet is limited each night, so book early in the evening

Craving more Waikīkī deals? See The Lei Stand’s $8 weeknight cocktails and our Thanksgiving dining guide.

Sources

• Aloha State Daily, “Hy’s Steak House is celebrating 50 years” by Kelli Shiroma Braiotta (Nov. 11, 2026): https://alohastatedaily.com/2026/11/11/hys-steak-house-is-celebrating-50-years/
• Hy’s Steak House, official website and 50th anniversary page (checked Nov. 12, 2026): https://hyswaikiki.com/ ; https://hyswaikiki.com/hys50/
• Eater, “A Steakhouse Divided” by Dan Clapson (Sept. 29, 2023): https://www.eater.com/23885859/hys-steakhouse-calgary-canada-waikiki-hawaii
• Honolulu Star-Advertiser Dining Out, “Elevating The Experience” (Dec. 31, 2023): https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/12/31/dining-out/elevating-the-experience/
• Honolulu Star-Advertiser Dining Out, “New and Improved” (June 23, 2024): https://www.staradvertiser.com/2024/06/23/dining-out/new-and-improved/
• Honolulu Star-Advertiser Dining Out, “Sink Your Teeth Into The Best Eats” (July 22, 2018): https://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/07/22/dining-out/sink-teeth-best-eats/
• The Honolulu Advertiser, “Rod Gardiner, local restaurateur, dead at 65” (Oct. 1, 2002): http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Oct/01/ln/ln46a.html
• OpenTable, Hy’s Steak House – Waikiki listing (anniversary week special): https://www.opentable.com/hys-steak-house-waikiki