Aug. 25, the grand opening of the International Market Place, was also the target date for restaurant and retail tenants to open their doors. Of the restaurants destined to open on the third-story Grand Lanai, only Roy Yamaguchi’s Eating House 1849 and Michael Mina’s Stripsteak were able to open their doors to first-day guests. Consummate pros that they are, there was no question they would be open from Day 1.

For James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Mina, failure is not an option. I’m not talking about ego or reputation or even the lure of financial gain from attracting even a handful of the approximately 30,000 daily visitors who come to roost in Waikiki but need a place to eat beforehand.

While I’ve heard some imported chefs dissing Hawaii’s food scene lately, it’s quite the opposite with Mina, whose affection for the isles is palpable. He’s been a frequent isle visitor over the years and has searched for opportunities to open a restaurant here to establish a home base.

The chef was given the opportunity to open his first restaurant, Aqua, in San Francisco in 1991, when he was 22. More restaurants and concepts followed in Las Vegas, and today, The Mina Group manages 29 restaurants across the country, from Seattle to Miami, and in Dubai.

Although the Stripsteak concept is not new, the Waikiki restaurant puts a contemporary twist on your father’s steakhouse. Taking a cue from Hawaii’s strong Asian and chop-suey heritage, it breaks from standard steakhouse tradition to offer sushi bar selections and international fusion flavors.

The direction of the new restaurant is also rooted in Mina’s observation that people no longer feel joy by walking into a steakhouse and feeling too stuffed to walk out. He said most people today want to eat lighter and cleaner, and he wants to give them those options.

Not that there’s any shortage of decadence here.

The restaurant encompasses 8,600-square-feet of equal parts indoor and comfy open-air patio seating for up to 120 guests. A private dining room with a view of the International Market Place’s 160-year-old banyan tree seats up to 36.

You can begin feeling the aloha with an HRS 5-7.5 cocktail that gets its name from The Aloha Spirit Law in the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes that most locals don’t even know about. The law requires that all Hawaii citizens “must think and emote good feelings to others” in the spirit of akahai (kindness), lokahi (harmony), oluolu (pleasantness) and other positive attributes. The Mina Group has done its research out of respect for the community, and that counts as aloha too.

Mina has been on the restaurant floor every day, and diners may also find themselves being served by Mina Group’s unassuming president Patric Yumul, who doesn’t simply stroll the floor keeping watch and barking orders. His humble demeanor doesn’t give away his position, the better to gauge what diners are really thinking and feeling.

Given Hawaii’s love of seafood, page one of the dinner menu is full of raw options starting with steakhouse-style seafood towers, offered at market prices. The Ohana tower for two to three features a whole lobster, four each of oysters, shrimp, sashimi and nigiri sushi, plus one sushi roll and a bowl of poke. The Luau tower for four to six increases items from four to six pieces, adds one more sushi roll and another poke dish, plus king crab.

Michael’s ahi tuna ($19) is Mina’s take on poke, with the sweetness of Asian pear, the subtle texture of pine nuts and the heat of jalapeno and ancho peppers. Some consider it light in comparison with our soy-drenched version, but I liked the delicacy.

Sashimi is excellent here, and one of my favorite preparations was kampachi ($25) accompanied by the crunch of thin sliced cucumber, with lime-shoyu sauce and the bright citrus and spice of yuzu kosho.

Small plates start with charred edamame ($10) with toasted almonds and alaea, and blistered shishito peppers ($14) served over watermelon carpaccio and draped with strings of espelette pepper. The watermelon comes in handy should you pick the rare hot shishito.

“Instant bacon” of Kurobuta pork belly ($20) was tempting, but I’m one of the rare locals who prefer tasting pork instead of a sweetened shoyu-based sauce. A tempura oyster sitting atop the pork made the dish worthwhile.

The heft of Hudson Valley foie gras ($31) is lightened with a serving of brioche and roasted pineapple, but when eaten together, the pineapple overpowers. Just a sliver would be enough.

Salads ranging from a B-L-T wedge ($17) accented with Nueske’s bacon, and heirloom tomatoes served with housemade ricotta-stuffed burrata ($17), help you maintain a balance with meatier options to come.

The entrée list is topped by a “Pono” selection of locally sourced dishes such as seared ahi with quinoa pilaf and Chinese broccoli with crushed jalapeno and pineapple ($39), and free-range chicken with Okinawan potatoes and Hauula tomato curry sauce ($29). Kauai shrimp was layered over a fiery red coconut curry ($32), too hot for the local palate.

The restaurant’s priciest dishes are labeled as “Must Try” items. They do help to define the restaurant, but conservative local diners will wonder why Michael’s Kona lobster pot pie ($95) costs so much. It is delicious though, arriving in a pot capped with puff pastry that becomes the base for the lobster, baked with brandied lobster cream, Hamakua mushrooms, spinach and black truffle. The lobster tail is cut into sections for easy sharing.

Also on the Must Try menu is a World Wide Wagyu plate ($155) featuring about 3 ounces each of Japanese A5 striploin, American skirt steak and Australian short rib. Trying this once may inform your choice on a return visit. For me, the Japanese wagyu was the winner. It appears among broiler specialties at $34 per ounce.

You won’t go wrong with steaks ranging from 10-ounce prime flat iron Angus ($44) to 20-ounce Angus rib-eye ($69) served with any of nine “accompaniments” ranging from classic béarnaise ($3) to a butter-poached lobster tail ($25). I opted for the sinful miso-foie gras butter ($4) and sublime shiitake-chimichurri ($3). One thick and rich, one thin and green, they provided nice counterpoints with each alternating bite of rib-eye.

Of course there are steakhouse sides ranging from black truffle mac and cheese ($15) to baked russet potato halves topped with bacon marmalade ($12). Our waiter told me that the smashed Yukon Golds ($13), a liquidy, buttery mash, changed her life. I’m still waiting, but I did swoon over equally buttery creamed corn with a touch of jalapeno ($11).

For dessert, the restaurant delivers a credible take on malasadas ($12), a quartet filled with your choice of guava, Kona coffee or Tahitian vanilla cream. After a full dinner, I appreciated the lightness of guava shave ice ($12) layered over coconut-lime tapioca with slices of haupia.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com. For more photos from this week’s restaurant go to bit.ly/2bWkE1q.