The headline promised discounts, so we read the list looking for one that was ours. Favorite Son, the all-day restaurant at the Ambassador hotel on Kūhiō Avenue, is open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day and comes with a long list of perks. The percentage discounts, though, go to students, hotel guests and hospitality workers, as Hawaii News Now describes them. A visitor staying somewhere else is mostly looking at menu prices, a daily 4–6 p.m. pau hana with its own posted menu, and three free hours of parking with a meal.
What happened
Hawaii News Now (HNN) reported on September 12 that Favorite Son, at the Ambassador Hotel of Waikiki, “has launched an all-day menu concept” under the slogan “Where Waikiki Begins.” Executive Chef Justus Keliehor — who, the station says, previously led culinary teams at Basalt Waikiki, Hideout at The Laylow and the Ritz-Carlton Turtle Bay — joined HNN Sunrise Weekends to show off the menu, the perks and the weekly events. The report calls the restaurant new. Neither the report nor the hotel’s own page gives an opening date.
The restaurant’s page on the hotel’s website is where the prices live. It lists the address as 2040 Kūhiō Ave., hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and a menu that runs from a $4 guava Danish on the breakfast list to $38 signature garlic shrimp among the after-5 p.m. mains.
Here are the discounts and weekly specials the two sources list, and who each one is for.
| Perk | Who gets it | When | Listed by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15% off | Students, with a school ID | Daily | Hotel page and HNN (ID on hotel page) |
| 15% off | Hotel guests | Not stated | HNN only |
| 50% off | Service Industry Night; HNN says hospitality workers | Sundays, 8 p.m. to close | Both |
| Pau hana | Anyone; its own menu with prices (hotel page) | Daily, 4–6 p.m. | Both |
| Tacos & Tequila | Anyone; specials not priced | Tuesdays | Both |
| Prime Rib Night, 10 oz | Anyone; $48 on the hotel page | Fridays (HNN); Fridays and Saturdays (hotel page) | Both |
| Parking | Diners, three hours free | Daily (hotel page) | Both |
Both sources also list a no-cover DJ pool party at the hotel’s Waikiki Swim & Social on Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. For dogs, the report mentions dog-friendly patio perks, and the hotel page files water bowls and tennis balls under “Paw Perks.”
What it changes for a Waikiki stay
For most of the day, it changes what you pay only if you fit one of the discount rows. Otherwise, the menu price is the price. From the hotel’s page:
| Menu section | Prices |
|---|---|
| Shareables / pupus | $13–$24 |
| Waterman rice bowls | $26–$29 |
| Salads | $16 |
| Crafted handhelds | $22–$29 |
| Mains (after 5 p.m.) | $34–$38 |
| Desserts | $10–$14 |
The clock matters as much as the price. The doors are open all day, but the mains section is marked after 5 p.m. That includes the roasted local catch at $35, one of the five dishes Hawaii News Now singled out. The other four are on the all-day menu, which the page times at 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.: the ʻulu and artichoke dip ($17), the fried garlic noodles ($17), the Hawaiian ʻahi poke rice bowl ($29) and the chocolate almond cake ($14).
If you do qualify, the math is modest. Fifteen percent off the $29 poke bowl is $4.35, so $24.65 before tax and tip. Neither source says whether the 15% applies to drinks.
The pau hana is the one deal open to everyone, and it has a real menu. The Happy Hour tab on the restaurant’s page, headed daily 4 to 6 p.m., lists these (checked September 26, 2026, Honolulu time):
| Pau hana item | Pau hana price | Same item on the all-day menu |
|---|---|---|
| Fried garlic noodles | $13 | $17 |
| Favorite Son poke | $16 | $24 |
| ʻUlu and artichoke dip | $14 | $17 |
| Roasted spiced carrots | $10 | $14 |
| Kona kanpachi crudo, blistered shishitos, baked chicken wings | $17, $8, $14 | Named differently on the all-day menu, so we don’t compare them |
| Beer and seltzer (Miller High Life, Heineken Silver, Heineken 0.0, Maui POG seltzer) | $5–$7 | Not listed |
| Wine by the glass (Mionetto prosecco, Whitehaven, Carmel Road) | $11 | Not listed |
| Cocktails | $10–$12 | Not listed |
So the food cuts are posted and easy to measure: $4 off the noodles, $8 off the poke. The drink side lists prices but no regular prices to compare against, so we can’t tell you how big that discount is.
The parking is the clearest perk for a visitor who drives. Both sources say diners get three complimentary hours. Neither explains where you park or how the validation works.
What we would do — and what we wouldn’t
We would not move our afternoon for it. Our eating day starts around 2 p.m. — a happy hour if the beer is the point, takeout back to the room if it isn’t. At 2 p.m., Favorite Son is a full-price restaurant for us. We are not students, we are not staying at the Ambassador, and the Sunday discount is built for people who work in the industry, at an hour when we are winding down anyway.
The pau hana is the version we’d actually consider. Four to six is later than our habit, but $13 garlic noodles and a glass of Whitehaven, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, for $11 is a reasonable afternoon. The beer list is where it falls short for us: lagers and a seltzer at $5–$7, no IPA on it. As we found writing about Yard House, a sit-down has to earn its place with what is on tap, and here the wine does more of that work than the beer.
The dish that got our attention is the garlic noodles. Dashi shoyu, crispy garlic, bonito flakes, $17 on the all-day menu and $13 at pau hana: salty, shareable, and the kind of plate that goes with a cold beer. If it can be boxed, it fits the way we actually eat even better than the pau hana table does. Neither source mentions takeout, so that would be our first question.
We would skip the 7 a.m. opening and the cake. Coffee and fruit in the room is our breakfast, and neither of us has a dessert habit. That part is good news for somebody else.
Who this is better for: guests at the Ambassador (ask about the 15% at check-in, since only the news report mentions it), students with ID, anyone driving in who wants three free hours, dog owners who want a patio, and anyone in hospitality looking for a Sunday night out.
We have not eaten at Favorite Son. Everything above comes from the news report and the hotel’s page, not from a meal.
Before you plan around this
- Two sources, two disagreements. The hotel-guest 15% appears in Hawaii News Now’s report but not on the restaurant page, which lists only the student discount. Prime Rib Night is Fridays in the report and Fridays and Saturdays on the hotel page. We would go by the hotel page and still call before counting on either.
- Unpriced specials. What Tacos & Tequila costs, what the Sunday 50% covers and whether you need to show proof of a hospitality job are not spelled out in either place. The pau hana menu gives its own prices but not regular drink prices.
- One weekly night isn’t running yet. The hotel page lists a “Pre-fixe Monday” as coming soon.
- Prices, hours and perks were checked on September 14, 2026 (September 13 in Honolulu), and the pau hana menu and all-day hours on September 26, 2026 (Honolulu). They can change. The restaurant’s page on the hotel site is the place to re-check.
Details
Favorite Son — Ambassador Hotel of Waikiki, 2040 Kūhiō Ave., Honolulu. Open daily 7 a.m.–10 p.m.; all-day menu 11 a.m.–9 p.m., mains after 5 p.m.; pau hana 4–6 p.m. Phone (808) 941-7777, per the restaurant’s page as of September 13, 2026, Honolulu time.
If someone tells us the garlic noodles travel well, the walk over to Kūhiō gets a lot more likely.
