On our Hawaii family trip, meals mattered as much as the hotel. Hunting for restaurants every time drains energy with kids, and in busy Waikiki, waits and reservations affect your rhythm. So we tried the Hyatt Regency Waikiki buffet right in our hotel; here’s our review of the Korean BBQ dinner buffet and the Sunday brunch.
Of all the dining we tried at the hotel, these two stood out most: the Korean BBQ dinner buffet and the Sunday brunch buffet.
Hyatt Regency Waikiki is a large hotel right across from Waikiki Beach, with plenty of dining choices beyond the rooms.
The Buffet at Hyatt is a great dinner buffet, and Sunday Brunch at Hyatt is a relaxed weekend brunch buffet.
The two have very different vibes, like two separate dining experiences in the same hotel.
Hyatt Regency Waikiki Buffet: Korean BBQ Dinner
In Hawaii, poke, burgers, steak and pancakes are exciting at first, but after a few days with kids you start craving familiar flavors. When menus feel too unfamiliar, mealtimes can become a chore.
That’s why the Hyatt Regency Waikiki dinner buffet was a welcome find.
Alongside seafood and meats, there are Korean BBQ-style dishes. You might wonder why eat Korean food in Hawaii, but on a family trip, familiar food is a real comfort.
The Buffet at Hyatt is on the third floor of the Diamond Head Tower, with an open-air feel facing Waikiki Beach. You can feel the Hawaiian breeze, so the vacation mood carries on through dinner.
The Hyatt Regency Waikiki buffet spread centers on seafood and meats.
The official menu features fresh crab legs, sushi, sashimi, poke, prime rib, kalbi short ribs and Korean BBQ options, and it really let each of us pick by taste.
Kids can pick familiar meats while adults enjoy seafood, poke and sushi, so the choice is wide.
Seafood and Meat for Every Taste
With hotel buffets, what matters most isn’t how fancy the spread is, but whether everyone in the family can find something to eat. Kids often avoid overly experimental or heavily spiced dishes.
The Hyatt Regency Waikiki buffet was easy that way. Seafood lovers head for crab legs, sushi, sashimi and poke, and meat lovers go for prime rib, kalbi short ribs and Korean BBQ.
Hawaiian poke and familiar meats on one plate turned out to suit a family trip well.
Given Hawaii prices, ordering seafood and meat separately at outside restaurants adds up. A hotel buffet isn’t cheap, but enjoying many dishes without going out with kids is a clear plus.
One hotel dinner during the trip felt right. After a beach day or tour, eating and resting in the hotel is far easier than heading out. On a Hawaii family trip, relaxed meals like this can stay with you longer than a packed restaurant crawl.
Dinner Atmosphere That Suits a Hawaiian Evening
The dinner buffet felt less like refueling and more like a dinner that wraps up a day in Waikiki.
Days are bright and busy, but evenings bring Waikiki’s laid-back mood. Eating in the hotel then kept our child less tired and spared the adults any travel.
The big plus of hotel dining is location. You can go straight up to your room, and if your child is tired, there’s no need to push on.
That small difference matters. Jet lag, sun and swimming can drain kids faster than usual in Hawaii, so a dinner with a short walk home was great for parents too.
The food was a steady, family-friendly spread. Rather than quiet, formal fine dining, think of it as a hotel buffet where you pick freely and enjoy a Hawaiian evening, which is easier with kids anyway.
Sunday Brunch: A Slow Hawaiian Morning
If the dinner buffet ends the day on a hearty note, the Sunday brunch starts the morning slowly.
Sunday Brunch at Hyatt is a brunch buffet held at SHOR restaurant.
SHOR faces Waikiki Beach, so the morning atmosphere is lovely.
Morning sun in Hawaii is special. With light and breeze coming off the ocean, you feel you can eat a little slower than usual.
The brunch menu captures the leisurely time between breakfast and lunch. The official menu includes made-to-order local eggs, a carving station, island-style poke, and sweet and savory brunch dishes.
You can keep it light like breakfast or go big like lunch, so it fits any itinerary.
With kids, the benefits of Sunday brunch are even clearer.
No rushing to a restaurant early, and everyone picks what they like. Kids had familiar brunch dishes, and adults added Hawaiian touches like poke and carved meats.
Why the Brunch Worked: The Rhythm
I care a lot about breakfast or brunch on trips. A hectic first meal makes the whole day feel rushed, while a relaxed morning keeps kids calmer and adults more at ease.
The Hyatt Regency Waikiki Sunday brunch delivered there. The variety was nice, but even better was how unhurried the meal felt.
Slowly filling our plates in morning sunlight beside Waikiki’s ocean felt truly Hawaiian.
Hotel brunch is predictable. Outside hotspots may have waits at peak times, and you can’t be sure kids will like the food.
Hotel brunches are designed for families, so there’s little risk of a miss.
They’re especially handy at the start of a trip or the day before flying home, when pacing matters.
Dinner Buffet vs Sunday Brunch
Both are buffets inside Hyatt Regency Waikiki, but the moods differ a lot.
The dinner buffet is a day-ending meal.
It centers on seafood and meats, and the Korean BBQ options make it filling.
It suits days when you want an easy dinner at the hotel after the beach or sightseeing.
Sunday brunch slows your Hawaii trip down, with an unhurried meal at an oceanview restaurant between breakfast and lunch.
With kids, sleeping in, coming down for brunch and starting the afternoon from there works well too.
If you can only choose one, it depends on your style. For variety with seafood, meats and Korean BBQ, choose dinner; for a slow Hawaiian morning, choose Sunday brunch.
Personally, the two played different roles, so think of them as a combo rather than rivals: dinner for heartiness, brunch for leisure.
Tips for the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Buffet with Kids
If you’re visiting the Hyatt Regency Waikiki buffet with kids, keep a few things in mind.
First, check reservations for the dinner buffet. Peak times get busy, and the hotel’s official information recommends reserving. With kids, meal timing matters, so set your dinner slot in advance.
Second, plan Sunday brunch with your Sunday schedule. A long brunch followed by the beach or shopping makes for a natural day. In Hawaii, a slow morning is worth it.
Third, check what your child can eat first.
Adults can explore new dishes, but one familiar dish makes kids comfortable. Korean BBQ at dinner and basic brunch dishes were practical for families.
Why It Stayed with Us
The Korean BBQ dinner buffet and Sunday brunch each made mealtimes easy in their own way. Dinner had seafood, meats and Korean BBQ for everyone, and brunch let us start the day slowly by Waikiki’s ocean.
Visiting lots of restaurants is fun, but moving, waiting and ordering every time can wear you out. Easy hotel dining eases that fatigue.
The Hyatt Regency Waikiki buffet isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime gourmet experience; it’s a meal where everyone picks what they like and the day flows on comfortably. That’s what I liked most, because with kids, comfort lasts longer than glamour.
If you’re weighing a Waikiki hotel buffet, the Hyatt Regency Waikiki dinner buffet and Sunday brunch are worth considering, especially if you’re staying there.
Rules and details in this guide are as of July 2026. Check the latest official information before you travel.
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Schedules and prices can change, so check the Hawaii Tourism Authority official site before you go.