Hy’s New Happy Hour Makes the Grand Steakhouse More Accessible for Everyone

Now you can bask in the old-world steakhouse cool of Hy’s without having to fork over fifty bucks for steak.

Kudos, Hy’s, for rocking the retro til it came back in style.

Hy’s Steakhouse is almost four decades old, and it’s hardly changed at all: Bow-tied waiters still carve steaks and flambé desserts tableside in a dining room that’s all white tablecloths, mahogany and chocolate-brown leather. All that’s missing is the smell of cigar smoke in the air.

But more than smoking laws have changed outside of Hy’s, and perhaps in the face of shrinking expense accounts and a younger audience to be wooed, Hy’s recently introduced a happy hour. Which means now you can bask in the old-world steakhouse cool of Hy’s without having to fork over fifty bucks for steak. Happy hour is available in the lounge and offers $8 glasses of wine and cocktails, including a perfectly good Blood and Sand (Scotch, Heering, sweet vermouth and orange juice), complete with a Hy’s swizzle stick made just for this location. (You’d hardly guess it, but Hy’s is actually a chain.)

From left: French dip, oysters, escargot.

For food, get the escargot ($12), baked in the classic dimpled dish with lots of butter, and served with bread to soak it all up. I wish the French dip had slabs of prime rib instead of crumbly shavings, but it’s decent for $12 (and the au jus? Totally worthy of a steakhouse.). While the presentation of the raw oysters ($15)—on a vintage-styled silver platter filled with crushed ice—is spot on, the freshness of the seafood is less so.

The food’s not exactly the point, though: Happy hour at Hy’s makes this grand restaurant more accessible than it’s ever been, giving everyone a chance to dress up a bit and enjoy the show. And that’s enough to make me pretty happy.

Happy hour 5 to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, free valet parking, 2440 Kuhio Ave, 922-5555, hyshawaii.com.