Natural Wine Oasis in the Middle of Nowhere
Kakaʻako · Honolulu · Wine Bar & Spirits Lounge (BYO Food) · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · June 23, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Brix and Stones’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
You walk into a second-floor lounge on Waimanu Street — cigars, spirits, and a wine retail wall that immediately signals someone actually cares. This is not a restaurant wine list; it's a curated natural wine shop where you're allowed to drink your purchase on the spot. In Honolulu, that alone makes it worth knowing about.
Owner Rick Lilley has built a 60-to-90-bottle selection that leans hard into natural and low-intervention producers — pét-nats, méthode ancestrale sparklings, orange wines, and small European and New World labels you won't find at Safeway or Total Wine. The European sparkling game is real: Laurent-Perrier Brut La Cuvée and Gondolino Rosé Prosecco Extra Dry anchor the fizz end of things, with a handful of natural pét-nats rounding out the category nicely. The list has gaps — no deep cellar, no verticals, no old-vine throwbacks — but the intentionality is obvious. Brix and Stones isn't trying to be everything; it's trying to be the natural wine shop Honolulu needed.
Glass pour documentation is murky — this place operates more like a retail-with-seating model, so bottles are the main event. A 'J. Bordeaux' carafe option does show up on the menu at $55, which suggests some pours are available, but formal by-the-glass programming isn't the focus here. If you want to drink by the glass, ask — the staff knows the list well enough to guide you.
Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley — $85
Caymus retails for $90 on the mainland, so at $85 on-site in a Honolulu lounge, this is essentially at or below cost — rare to see in Hawaii where everything carries an island premium. It's not the most exciting bottle on the list, but the math is genuinely good.
Natural Pét-Nat (méthode ancestrale sparkling)
Brix and Stones actively promotes these low-intervention sparklings and they're the spiritual center of the list. Most guests gravitate toward the Champagne or Prosecco, but the pét-nats represent what this place is actually about — funky, alive, and a world away from the resort wine lists dominating the rest of Honolulu.
J. de Telmont Champagne (187ml)
A 187ml split at $45 is a brutal ask. That's a quarter-bottle format retailing around $7, and even accounting for the lounge experience, the math doesn't hold up. Order a full bottle of something more interesting for the same spend.
Gondolino Rosé Prosecco Extra Dry + BYO charcuterie or takeout from a nearby Kakaʻako spot
This is a BYO food situation, so lean into it. The Gondolino Rosé Prosecco is light, slightly sweet, and bubbly enough to cut through cured meats and salty bites — grab a charcuterie board from a neighbor and you've got a proper evening.
The Bottom Line
Brix and Stones is the kind of place that shouldn't exist in the form it does, in the city it's in — and that's exactly why you should go. The markup swings from genuinely fair to eyebrow-raising depending on what you order, but the natural wine focus and knowledgeable staff make it the most interesting wine stop in Honolulu by a comfortable margin.
· Honolulu · Steakhouse
Morton's Honolulu gives you a competent, Cabernet-saturated list that will reliably satisfy the guest who came for a big steak and a big red — just don't expect any surprises, and watch the markup on the entry-level bottles. Send a friend here if they want comfort, not if they want discovery.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Waikiki · Honolulu · Latin American / Tasting Menu
El Cielo earns its reputation on atmosphere and food, but the wine program is a black box — and in a city where you're already paying tourist-tier prices, a list you can't see or trust is a list you should probably skip. Order a cocktail and save the wine night for somewhere that wants to earn it.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Waikīkī · Honolulu · Steakhouse
Ruth's Chris Waikīkī is a dependable splurge for steak night, but the wine list is corporate comfort food — Napa-forward, markup-heavy, and unlikely to surprise you. If wine is the point of your evening, this isn't your destination; if steak is the point, it'll get the job done.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Proper
Waikiki · Honolulu · Seafood / Steak
Chart House Waikiki is giving you a safe harbor, not a destination — the list is functional, the by-the-glass selection is surprisingly broad, and a couple of smart picks exist if you know where to look. Come for the ocean views and the fish; just don't expect the wine list to match the scenery.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Honolulu · Honolulu · Hotel Wine Bar
Vintage 1901 is a well-organized hotel wine bar doing exactly what it should — giving visitors something better than the minibar without demanding too much effort or knowledge. The port program is legitimately great and worth your time; the rest of the list is competent, if a little sleepy on value.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Honolulu · Rooftop Wine Bar
Tchin Tchin is a perfectly pleasant place to drink wine with a view, and nearly everything being available by the glass means you can graze without committing to a bottle. Just don't come expecting discovery — come expecting a solid pour and a great sunset.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
List Variety
Markup
Glassware
Staff
Specials & Deals
Storage & Temp
