Yakiniku Yoshi hits the spot in so many ways: It’s an attractively designed restaurant with a mellow vibe, good service and excellent food. About the only warning I’d give is that if you’re looking for a happy hour to get loud and whoop at a game on TV, you’ve come to the wrong place. Yoshi is better as a date destination or a place to go with friends who can appreciate a better yakiniku experience.

The experience

From the time you pull into the parking lot for Yoshi (yes! parking!), you feel the draw of this lovingly designed restaurant, which opened just over a year ago. What had been a gray block has been transformed by painting the solid wall aside the parking spaces with a colorful geometric pattern. It’s an immediate pick-me-up and telegraphs the enlivening experience you’re about to have.

Looking toward the restaurant, the entrance is welcoming. Flags fly above the entrance, adding to the sense of balance but also making the spot easier to find. That’s helpful because the hardest thing about Yoshi might be finding it for the first time. (It’s on Young Street in Moiliili, more or less behind Cafe Sistina.)

Inside, the restaurant is spotless and quiet but not uptight. The decor is functional and stylish, with wooden chairs and accents of brick and steel. The grill, a smokeless infrared design, produces little heat at the table. Overall, the interior is comfortable and up to date.

Servers are well informed and good-natured about explaining the various cuts of meat offered. When it’s busy, diners will usually handle their own grilling, but the servers keep an eye out to protect you from leaving cuts on too long and, when time permits, will demonstrate the best way to handle your order.

It’s all pretty Zen, by which I mean it has flow and feels effortless, though you are actually getting somewhere good. There are few distractions from the dining and your companions, so go prepared to enjoy yourself.

The food

My oh my, the food is THE reason to come to Yoshi.

The happy hour set menu is not elaborate, but it is pretty darn good. The $32 set includes a well-dressed, tangy salad, serving of rice, two 2-ounce servings of pork loin and pork belly, and three 2-ounce cuts of prime beef, including well-marbled, U.S. Kobe-style beef cut as kalbi. Dipping sauces are offered.

With an additional side order, one set can easily satisfy two, as the meat is rich and tasty. On my visit we shared two sets among three people and had more than enough food.

Customers have the choice to substitute cuts from this basic set, choosing Tontoro (pork jowl), beef tongue, intestine, shrimp, Ika Geso (fried squid) or pork sausage. That’s an attraction, allowing for repeat visits before all the combinations have been exhausted.

It’s possible to spend hundreds of dollars on yakiniku sets at Yoshi, if ordering direct-from-Japan beef, so the happy hour menu is something of an entry-level sampler, in that regard. The cuts served are not as rarefied as the wagyu sets, and there is less embellishment. But if affordable dining is your pau hana goal, this certainly qualifies, and allows for a taste of the fine dining offered here.

The drink

There’s a bar here, but alcohol is not the focus of this happy hour, and that’s a nice change of pace. Bud or Bud Light can be had for just $2.50. Ichiko shochu is $3.50, and wine by the glass is $4.50.

The verdict

Yakiniku Yoshi is on my short list of attractive pau hana destinations, with an upscale experience at an affordable price.