Seven Bottles, Zero Boring Choices
· Honolulu · Contemporary tasting menu · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · August 15, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Pai Honolulu’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
Seven bottles. That's the whole list. At most restaurants, that number would be a red flag — here, it reads more like a curator's edit, the kind of tight selection that says we thought hard about every single slot. The geographic sweep alone — Germany, Spain, Italy, Morocco, California, Burgundy — tells you someone at Pai is paying attention.
For a tasting menu context, a curated short list actually makes sense, and this one earns its brevity. You've got Selbach-Oster Pinot Blanc from the Mosel anchoring the whites with precision and restraint, Fefinanes Albariño bringing Galician salinity, and a Punta Crena Vermentino from Liguria that almost nobody in Honolulu is pouring. The red side is equally deliberate — a Maison Roche Bourgogne Pinot Noir, a Moroccan Syrah from Chateau Thalvin's Zenata appellation, and a semi-sweet Dolce Rosso from Emilia-Romagna that's clearly there to play with dessert courses. The Margerum Riviera Rosé bridges the gap. The notable gap: no sparkling, no half-bottles.
We don't have confirmed by-the-glass data for Pai, but in a tasting menu format, pours are often course-matched rather than ordered à la carte — which would actually be the smart play given how deliberately this list is constructed. If they're offering pairings by the glass alongside each course, that changes the game entirely. Worth asking your server when you sit down.
The Bottom Line
Pai's wine list won't impress anyone counting bottles, but it will surprise anyone counting countries — seven wines, six regions, zero filler. If you trust the kitchen's tasting menu, trust whatever pairing the list is built around.
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Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Proper
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Solid Range
Steep
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Acceptable
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Merriman's Honolulu delivers a wine list that punches above the typical Hawaii resort-area offering — genuinely good producers, a clever small-format section, and enough variety to reward a curious drinker. The pricing skews steep and the list won't surprise anyone, but you won't be embarrassed ordering here either.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Kaimukī · Honolulu · Wine Café & Bistro
Brix and Stones is doing something genuinely valuable for Kaimukī — bringing a thoughtful, accessible wine program to a neighborhood that needed one. The Caymus carafe pricing is a bona fide deal and the Meinklang shows real taste, but watch out for the bubbly markups and a list that could use a little more rotation to keep regulars coming back.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Kakaʻako · Honolulu · Wine Bar & Spirits Lounge (BYO Food)
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.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
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Waikiki · Honolulu · Italian with local Hawaiian influence
Fresco is a solid resort wine list doing exactly what it's designed to do: keep guests comfortable and the floor moving. If you're looking for adventure, you'll need to look elsewhere — but if you just want a cold glass of something decent with a view of the Pacific, it gets the job done.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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