Totoya (Oahu) - Onolicious Hawaiʻi

Totoya is a Kaimuki restaurant that's popular for kaisen bowls and negitori bowls with generous potions of sashimi over rice. It's a small restaurant and there's often a wait, so come early or late. Bonus: it's great spot for solo diners ^_^

Totoya opened in Kaimuki late 2024 and it's been packed ever since.

They opened in the former Otto Cake space and I was impressed that they managed to turn a small bakery space into a full restaurant!

It's counter seating only and there are not many seats. The lines are often long so come early or come late.

They're open for lunch and dinner and I like going for a late lunch (around 1:30-2pm) which seems to have the shortest wait time.

You can order via QR code (there's one posted at every seat). Or just order with the server. I like ordering with the server. It's faster, easier, and you can get recommendations and questions answered.

Location

Totoya is located on 12th Avenue in Kaimuki, which is a super delicious area. It is so delicious that I made an entire eating guide for the whole neighborhood.

Kaimuki is also a walkable neighborhood (it's hot, but definitely walkable!) so just park your car and get ready to explore and eat for a few hours.

What To Order

The menu is split into two sections: neigitoro bowls and kaisen bowls.

What's the difference?

They are both rice bowls topped with raw seafood. For a negitori bowl, the seafood is chopped up into very small pieces, like a fine mince, For the kaisen bowl, the seafood is served sliced, sashimi-style.

One is not necessarily better than the other, it just depends on what you're craving. However, the neigitoro bowls here seem to be the thing to get. Why? Because it comes with the shoyu-egg sauce! More on that below.

Negitoro Bowls
So the menu page above shows all the different neigitoro bowl. There are four options:

Ume: original bowl
Take: original plus ikura
Matsu: original plus ikura and uni
Tokujo: original plus ikura, uni, and snow crab

The "original bowl" includes a big school of their negitori which is a finely chopped mixture of tuna, scallops, squid, cucumber, kazunoko, green onion, tobiko. Plus side of nori and sesame seeds. It also comes with...

...this small dish with a raw egg yolk and Totoya's homemade shoyu (soy sauce).

Use chopsticks to mix the egg yolk and shoyu well. Then slowly pour it over the negitoro bowl. Mmm, so good!

Note: if you love raw egg dishes, make sure to try TKG.

My mom ordered the Tokujo which came with the snow crab. I got the Matsu bowl which is the same thing but without the snow crab.

Kaisen Bowls
The other type of bowl they have is the kaisen bowl. Pictured above is the kaisen bowl menu. As you can see the kaisen bowl has sashimi style slice (as opposed to finely chopped seafood like the negitoro bowls).

The kaisen bowls do not come with the shoyu-egg sauce, but because everyone seems to love the sauce, you can order it as a side to add on.

All the bowls come with regular miso soup, though you can upgrade to shrimp head or crab miso soup. I had the regular miso soup this visit, though may try the crab one next time.

The bowls are a good value. It's not the best quality you'll ever have (the prices would have to be a lot higher for that), but it's fair for the price and the portion is very generous!

Menu instructions from Totoya in Kaimuki.

How To Eat

They have instructions taped along the counter showing how to eat each bowl. I like this! Makes it fun and interactive.

Step 1:
Use sesame seed grinder to sprinkle sesame seeds over the bowl. Nice touch! I love sesame seeds and appreciate having the grinder available to each diner.

Step 2:
Mix the egg yolk shoyu and drizzle it over the bowl. I like to drizzle half of it first. And then once I've finished half the bowl, then I drizzle on the rest. This ensures I get a little in every bite ^_^

Step 3:
For your first bite, just try tasting the negitoro with a spoon.

Step 4:
Then try wrapping some of the negitoro and sushi rice with the nori and enjoy.

Bonus:
For the miso soup, sprinkle some yuzu shichimi for a bit of heat and extra flavor!

Insider Tips

A few tips that will be helpful for your visit:

Counter seating only and not many seats. Come solo or with a friend. I wouldn't come in a group larger than two people.
There's street parking alone 12th Avenue, or you can park in the paid parking lot (enter on 12th Avenue right by Duk Kee and Via Gelato).
Shortest wait time seems to be late lunch, around 1:30-2pm.