Solera

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Modern Hawaiʻi Table in the Heart of Waikiki

Solera sits inside the Ritz Carlton Residences on Kalaimoku Street, steps from Waikiki Beach, and operates under the G.LION HAWAII hospitality group. The premise is straightforward and personal: revisit the flavors that raised people in Hawaiʻi, then refine them through Japanese technique and contemporary care. The result is modern Hawaiʻi cuisine that feels, in the restaurant's own words, "both familiar and new—comforting, yet elevated."

The Kitchen's Point of View

Executive Chef Reid Matsumura shapes every menu around that tension between memory and craft. "I want guests to feel something familiar—but experience it in a completely new way," he has said. "This menu is about comfort. It's about the flavors we grew up with, the dishes we crave, and the memories tied to them—refined through technique and presented with intention."

That philosophy plays out across all dayparts. Breakfast and lunch draw on island staples—Loco Moco, Okonomiyaki Chicken & Waffle, Breakfast Banh Mi, Pipikaula Short Ribs, fresh Ahi Poke—reimagined with a globally informed touch. Evenings shift into a more deliberate register, with an à la carte dinner menu and a five-course Chef's Favorites prix fixe that moves from a Solera Caesar with Sweetland Farms Tomme and creamy turmeric dressing through Cornbread Johnny Cake with caviar, Lump Crab Polenta, and Prime Flat Iron Steak with Wagyu gold potato purée and sauce bordelaise. A beverage pairing is available throughout, and the wine program's depth earned Solera the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence—recognition that reflects a list serious enough to anchor multi-course dinners and dedicated wine events alike.

The Room and the Evening

The dining room gives way to a Bar & Lounge where live piano plays Tuesday through Saturday evenings, and bar bites are served on those same nights. The dessert program includes a Kakigori created in collaboration with Michelin-starred Chef Yoichi Ishizaki from Ginza, Tokyo—shaved ice built on Hawaiʻi's beloved local dessert tradition and finished with island-inspired ingredients, bridging two food cultures in a single bowl.

Solera also runs a recurring Specialty Dinner Series and the quarterly Mahalo Fest celebration, as well as curated wine dinners—evidence of a restaurant that treats its beverage program as integral to the modern Hawaiʻi dining experience rather than an afterthought. Complimentary valet parking is provided.