Our editorial purpose
Visitors and kamaʻāina should get useful dining information — where a place is, what it serves, what it costs, and whether it fits the occasion — rather than generic promotional copy.
Restaurant owners are welcome to submit information or corrections. An owner submission is a source of facts, not an editorial endorsement, and it does not change how a restaurant is described or recommended.
Recommendations serve the reader first. That rule outranks every commercial one.
How we research and verify
We build and check listings from sources we can point to:
- Restaurant websites and their official reservation, ordering, and menu links
- Official social accounts, when that is where current updates are posted
- Direct corrections from owners or their representatives
- Public records or reputable reporting when relevant to the claim
Changeable facts — hours, menus, openings, closures, pricing, reservation availability, and promotions — need fresh verification and are never presented as permanent. Call ahead when a detail matters to your plans.
We do not state or imply that a restaurant was personally visited unless a named contributor actually confirms that firsthand basis.
Where a rating or review comes from another platform, we identify that source. Restaurants of Hawaii does not present another platform's rating as its own firsthand rating.
A visible verification date appears on an article, list, or listing only after a person here completes that check and records it. Most records do not carry a date yet, and the absence of one means only that: no human check has been recorded. Please confirm hours, pricing, and availability directly with the restaurant when no date is shown. A verification date is never generated automatically from an edit, a publication date, or a paid listing tier.
Recommendations and rankings
Directory and browse pages list the restaurants in a place or category. Those pages may contain clearly labeled Sponsored listings, which receive paid display priority. Paid display priority is advertising — it is not an editorial recommendation and it is not a statement that the restaurant is better.
Curated “best,” guide, and ranked content is different. It uses stated, reader-focused criteria. Payment may not determine editorial inclusion, ordering, praise, or review outcomes.
A restaurant cannot buy a “best” designation, a favorable review, an editor pick, or inclusion in an article.
When a list is curated manually, we preserve the documented editorial order. When a page is a directory rather than an editorial ranking, we label the page and the sponsored placements accordingly.
Selection criteria consider:
- Relevance to the page or question the reader arrived with
- Accuracy of the information we can verify
- Usefulness to the intended diner
- Verified evidence rather than commercial status
Sponsorships and advertising
- Every paid placement is labeled Sponsored.
- Owner verified is a separate status. It means the representative and the submitted information were checked. It is not a quality endorsement.
- Sponsored businesses receive only the placement or presentation stated in their agreement.
- Sponsorship does not guarantee traffic, reservations, orders, leads, coverage, rankings, or results.
- Complimentary meals, gifted products, affiliate relationships, or other material relationships are disclosed if they ever apply.
HawaiiWebSEO may appear in owner-facing contexts as Restaurants of Hawaii's independent marketing provider. It does not control dining recommendations or editorial rankings.
You can read the current sponsorship paths on our advertising page, and restaurant owners can compare listing options on list your restaurant.
Corrections and updates
If a detail is wrong, tell us. Readers can write to us through contact, and restaurant representatives can submit updates through list your restaurant.
Submissions are reviewed against available sources before any change is published. We treat factual corrections — an address, a phone number, hours, a closure — separately from requests to change an editorial opinion, which we consider but do not treat as corrections.
Material corrections are made transparently where that is practical. We do not maintain a public changelog, and we do not promise a specific response or correction timeframe.
AI-assisted work
AI-assisted tools may help with organizing research, drafting, editing, metadata, and image planning.
AI output is never treated as a factual source or as approval to publish. A human editor reviews factual claims, voice, cultural context, disclosures, and final publication.
Generated imagery is never represented as documentary evidence of a real restaurant, dish, person, or event.
Accountability
This policy will evolve as we add contributors, verification fields, and reporting systems. When those exist, this page will say so plainly rather than in advance.
Questions, disagreements, and corrections are welcome through contact.
Effective August 22, 2026.