New York Steakhouse Energy, Aloha State Prices
Waikiki · Honolulu · American Steakhouse · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 7, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed Wolfgang's Steakhouse by Wolfgang Zwiener’s wine list and gave it The Rager — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The wine list lands on your table with the confidence of a place that knows exactly what it is: a New York steakhouse that happens to be sitting in the middle of Waikiki. Dark wood, white tablecloths, and a list pushing 500 bottles — this is not a place that cobbled its wine program together as an afterthought. Best of Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator eight years running backs that up.
The list is built around two pillars — California Cabernet and Bordeaux — and within those lanes it goes deep. You've got the full roll call of Napa royalty: Caymus Special Selection, Silver Oak, Jordan, Peter Michael, Stag's Leap Cask 23, and Opus One all present and accounted for. On the Bordeaux side, Margaux, Lafite, and Mouton Rothschild anchor a serious First Growths section that gives the list real gravitas. Where it's thinner is outside those two worlds — if you're hunting Burgundy, Rhône, or anything from the Southern Hemisphere, you'll find options but not depth. Sommelier Jon Biyajima keeps things curated and intentional rather than sprawling.
Fifteen to twenty-five options by the glass is a solid pour program for a steakhouse of this caliber, and the rotation reflects the list's California-heavy personality. You're not going to find esoteric natural wines here — expect Chardonnay, Cabernet, and a few crowd-pleasing reds that fit the dry-aged beef mandate. It's not a by-the-glass hero situation, but it gets the job done for a pre-dinner pour while you decide what bottle to commit to.
Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon — Not individually listed — ask staff
Jordan punches well above its price point in a list full of four-figure bottles. It's the move when you want serious Alexander Valley Cab without the Opus One hit to your credit card.
Patz & Hall Chardonnay
Everyone at a steakhouse is eyeing the Cabernets, and Patz & Hall gets overlooked. It's a genuinely great Sonoma Coast Chardonnay — restrained, site-driven, not the butter bomb people expect — and it's a smart call if you're splitting a table between red and white drinkers.
Pétrus 2019
At $4,800 a bottle in a restaurant setting, you are paying a massive premium on top of what is already one of the most expensive wines in the world. Unless someone else is picking up the check, this is a flex purchase, not a value play. The wine is extraordinary; the markup is not.
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23 + Dry-Aged New York Strip Steak
Cask 23 is built for exactly this moment — it's structured enough to stand up to the intense, funky depth of dry-aged beef, but it has the elegance to not steamroll the meat. This is the pairing Wolfgang's was designed for.
Monday — Half-price wine night every Monday — the single best reason to plan your week around dinner here.
The Bottom Line
Wolfgang's Honolulu earns its Rager badge by delivering a genuinely serious wine program in a city where most restaurants are coasting on tourist traffic and markup. Monday half-price wine night is one of the best kept secrets in Waikiki — show up, order the strip, and let Jon point you toward something worth drinking.
Kahala · Honolulu · Italian
Arancino at The Kahala is doing something genuinely unusual for a hotel-adjacent Italian restaurant in Hawaii — it's built a list around obscure Northern Italian producers that most diners won't recognize, and that's exactly the point. Markups are on the steeper side and we can't vouch for glassware or staff knowledge from the available data, but the wine selection itself earns respect. If you know your Nebbiolo from your Barbera, this list rewards attention.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Honolulu · Seafood
Mina's Fish House isn't building a wine program — it's building a dessert wine moment, and that is a genuinely uncommon thing to find at a restaurant of this profile. If you're eating dinner here, you'll need to source your table wine elsewhere on the menu or order cocktails; this list doesn't cover that ground. But if you want to close out a Four Seasons meal in Honolulu with a glass of 2013 Tokaji Aszú or something out of the Madeira cellar, this is a quietly excellent place to do it.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Waikiki · Honolulu · Italian
Quiora isn't trying to be a wine destination, and it doesn't need to be — it's a 22-label Italian restaurant list on a rooftop in Waikiki with an ocean view doing the heavy lifting. But the list is genuinely considered, the glass-pour selection is deep for the size, and pricing is fair by hotel standards. If you're eating here, drink the Tintero rosato or the Selbach Riesling and enjoy the sunset.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Waikiki · Honolulu · Italian / Californian Coastal
Botanico is doing something genuinely unusual for Waikiki — building an Italian-forward wine list with real regional depth and mostly fair pricing in a place where restaurants routinely treat wine as an afterthought. The by-the-glass program alone is worth a seat at the bar. If you care at all about what's in your glass, this belongs on your radar.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Honolulu · Hawaii Regional
Moku Nui is a casual Hawaii Regional spot that has no business running a wine list this thoughtful — and we mean that as high praise. Fair glass prices, a sommelier clearly making intentional choices, and enough variety to reward the curious drinker. If you're eating here, skip the default beer order and let someone at the table order the Vouvray.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Waikiki · Honolulu · Seafood
Azure is a genuinely lovely place to drink wine — the setting does a lot of heavy lifting and the France-Italy-Hawaii focus is a sensible match for the island seafood menu. Just go in knowing resort markup is real, and if the tasting menu with wine pairing is available, that's likely your best shot at getting something memorable poured without having to guess blind from the list.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· McLean · American Steakhouse
We don't fully understand how a six-bottle list this good ended up at The Palm Tysons Corner, but here we are. If you're eating here and care about wine at all, this list deserves your attention — especially that Sancerre at $23. It's a small program, but it's a thoughtful one, and in a category full of lazy steakhouse lists, that counts for a lot.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· The Woodlands · American Steakhouse
We're working with event-night evidence, not a full house list, so drawing firm conclusions about Del Frisco's Grille's everyday wine program would be dishonest. What we can say is that a six-wine promotional dinner built around one producer family isn't a reason to make this your wine destination. Come for the steakhouse experience — but don't expect the wine list to be the main event.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Occasional
Acceptable
· Ashburn · American Steakhouse
Eddie Merlot's is a dependable upscale steakhouse that delivers on the beef side of the equation. The wine program appears to be functional rather than inspired — a crowd-pleasing list built to sell confidently, not to excite. If you're coming for a business dinner or a straightforward date night and want a Napa Cab with your prime-aged ribeye, you'll be just fine. If you want something to talk about on the drive home, you might need to bring your own bottle or do a little pre-visit homework.
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.
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