The year in restaurants got off to a tepid start. Restaurants continued to open at a fast clip but new ideas and enthusiasm were in short supply as restaurateurs’ woes continue to mount in light of rising costs of ingredients and running a business, increased competition from nontraditional purveyors, and a labor shortage that leaves diners complaining about a lack of service in restaurants big and small.

We’ve already seen the downsizing of restaurants over the years and that will continue as diners demand, on one hand, more value and speed, and on the other, more exclusivity. A couple of the biggest dining trends this year indicated this is a likely scenario.

ENTER THE HOT BAR

If 2017 was the year of the food hall, 2018 was the year of the hot bar, when grocers demonstrated their ability to compete against restaurants for dining dollars.

The arrival of Down to Earth and Whole Foods Market in Kakaako, and the evolution of Foodland Farms at Ala Moana Center called attention to the diversity and quality grocers can bring to the table. Their big advantage is being able to leverage the cost of ingredients due to bulk purchasing power, while not needing to spend money on the kind of ambience associated with food halls.

Hot bars provide the ultimate customized meal because every dish and add-on is the diners’ choice, from building a salad with 20 ingredients or going full-on paleo with meat and a handful of veggies. It’s a format well-suited for various demographics: older people who may not want to cook often, singles who don’t eat a lot and don’t want to visit restaurants alone, and busy parents who want to augment a main dish at dinner time.

With more to prove and less ego than restaurateurs, hot bar managers have been open to listening to the requests of the people they feed and delivering the simple, high-quality fare diners crave. A person could get spoiled this way.

FEAR OF GLUTEN

Gluten phobia is out of hand. Only 1.5 percent of people suffer from celiac disease or allergies that set wheat or gluten products off limits, but constant headlines and food sales pitches promoting gluten-free products have convinced people that gluten is the root of all their ailments.

It doesn’t help that the symptoms of gluten sensitivity — such as abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, tingling or numbness in hands and feet, and chronic fatigue — are common to dozens of other conditions. What registers as gluten sensitivity may just be a result of overeating.

Nevertheless, these days gluten-free options abound at every type of restaurant. You can sub a typical wheat-based pizza crust for a cauliflower crust at California Pizza Kitchen or Pieology, get a buckwheat crepe (in spite of the name, it’s a seed unrelated to wheat) instead of a wheat flour one at Le Crepe Cafe, and choose gluten-free non-soy-based sauces at Gyu-Kaku restaurants.

SET MENU

A number of new Japanese restaurants in town built their business model on the prix-fixe format. That is, a multicourse meal typically in the $75 to $85 range (per person). The price tag isn’t outlandish, given the quality of the meals, and it also guarantees a degree of privacy and exclusivity for the kind of diners who have seen it all and expect a ­little more coddling than most restaurants can offer.

For me, Akira was the best new restaurant of the year in offering lavish omakase tasting menus at a cost of $58 and $85 per person, along with excellent service.

Not far behind were Chikara Yamada, bringing Spanish-influenced Japanese omakase to Piikoi Street, and Paris Hawaii, with its French-influenced fusion tasting menu served in Waikiki.

A seat at the kitchen counter at Paris Hawaii provides a show of chef Yuta Yamanaka and his staff at work, and interpreters on hand allow diners to ask questions about locally sourced ingredients and techniques used. Yamanaka also brought from Paris the idea of tea pairings with courses, with selections such as mamaki, acai kombucha and chocolate teas lending a healthful vibe to the menu. The restaurant has been nominated by USA Today as one of the top 20 in the nation for 2019, and public voting at 10best.com is open through Jan. 7.

FOOD ON A STICK

Yakitori restaurants started proliferating last year, and the trend continued this year with some variation. Former Kohnotori grill master Takashi Ando, for instance, decided to avoid taking multiple small orders and going the omakase route at his newest restaurant Yakitori Ando.

While we’re most familiar with Japanese yakitori and robota restaurants, Honolulu Skewer House brought something new to town with its Chinese-style feast of skewered foods, called lu chuan. The difference lies in heavier sauces of garlic, soy sauce and Sichuan peppers.

And this year, the hidden invitation-only yakitori restaurant Toridokoro Matsumoto went public because, unlike in Japan, Hawaii Yelpers proved they couldn’t keep a secret by revealing the restaurant’s address. After that, there was no use trying to maintain its exclusivity and mystique.

EXPANDING PALATES

Due to Hawaii’s geographic isolation, the local food scene can seem in-bred with the same-old flavors. Japanese cuisine has been the most diverse due to a constant flow of restaurateurs from Japan. More recently I’ve been buoyed by an influx of flavors from Burma, China and Korea, thanks to arrivals such as Rangoon Burmese Kitchen, Joy Cup Noodles Mean offering Chongqing noodles, the aforementioned Honolulu Skewer House introducing Beijing-style street fare, Hamjipark specializing in L.A.-style Korean pork and stews, and Bifa Seafood Restaurant bringing the flavors of Seoul. I hope these places catch on so others take a chance on more worldly fare.

LESS SERVICE

Due to a labor shortage, restaurants struggle with finding employees who stay. More are giving up the search and adopting a counter service format, with no price breaks for lack of service. I don’t like the idea of standing in line to pay $30 for an entree at Paia Fish Market Waikiki, but that’s becoming a constant reality.

The other downside to this approach is the proliferation of paper waste, unavoidable because to-go boxes are the only option when dish washers are in short supply.

Otherwise, I’m looking forward to what 2019 will bring. Happy new year!

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.