These days, chefs can be like rock stars, attracting food groupies who follow them from one restaurant to the next. On O'ahu, chef Sean Priester has his share of devotees.

In the late '90s, doing a stint at the much-missed Manoa café Fresh Market, he served affordable, innovative breakfasts, catching attention with details as simple as homemade ketchup.

And who could forget his weekend brunches, with dishes like scallop, prawn and crispy bacon frittata at the Wild Mushroom in the Richards Street YWCA? Then Priester surprised diners with Azure's Jazz and Blues Jam, his Sunday supper club, serving Southern comfort plates of pan-fried catfish with black-eyed pea gravy and Carolina babyback spare ribs.

It was a sad time for Priester fans when the Y gig ended and he went underground to do catering.

When he resurfaced last year, Priester shot to the top — as executive chef of the venerable Top of Waikiki. Up an elevator to the 18th floor and two short escalators, the restaurant is a three-tiered cake ride, which creeps 360 degrees every hour.

Opened in 1965, Hawai'i's only current revolving restaurant is a testament to the times — its '60s design has been around so long that it's stylish again, despite being slightly worn. Threadbare carpet spots and some abraded tabletops aside, the place still fills with guests who gaze out at Honolulu's city lights.

For me, dining at the Top was dizzying. A step onto the rotating floor made my friends and me feel as if we'd had one too many, though we hadn't yet had a drink. Under fixed ceiling lights, our table gradually moved through fluctuating brightness and dimness, adding to our wooziness — but a couple of cocktails solved that.

What I couldn't ignore were mismatches in what the restaurant wants to be and what it actually is.

On my visits, the staff's distant demeanor lacked professionalism, giving me the impression that I was at a casual eatery, not a restaurant with $30 entrees. Climbing up and down the restaurant's levels, the wait staff appeared rushed as they looked for shifting tables. Chipped plates, spotty silverware and guests in T-shirts and shorts also lowered expectations.

Priester has reworked his classics on a menu that spans East to West, a bewildering, eclectic mix of techniques and ingredients.

That pan-fried catfish is now pecan-lemongrass-crusted catfish with Hawaiian chutney ($24) — thank you very much — with the filet marinated in a lemongrass curry, coated with chopped pecans and served with papaya-mango-banana chutney, Thai ratatouille, mint raita and crispy herbs. And that bacon and seafood pairing has become — pardon me — a shellfish curry risotto ($26) with basil pesto, spicy tomato sauce and carrot chips.

The elevation of Priester's cooking often results in overdone combinations where flavors clash. Braised North Shore Cattle Co. beef short ribs Thai-style ($24) were lean, tender, boneless hunks in a tangy, sweet barbecue sauce that didn't go well with the accompanying bed of curry-tinged roasted vegetable-saffron couscous. Separately, each was good, but together it was a different story.

Szechuan seafood en papillote with sake sorbet ($27) had wonderful components, but again, the two weren't a perfect match. Shrimps, scallops, mussels and fish with baby bok choy, mushrooms and potato chunks were baked in parchment paper. A blast of heady, fragrant Southeast Asian flavors emerged from the hearty Mediterranean-inspired stew. Meanwhile, the sweet sorbet, meant to refresh the palate, melted quickly. I tried to eat it with the seafood, but alternating between hot and cold and such different flavors was weirdly unpleasant.

Underseasoned meats would have been bland without the often-too-strong sauces that covered them.

I appreciate Priester's adventurousness, going for ambitious, concept-heavy food in large portions, but the entrees mirrored the service — lacking the polish and finesse associated with superior fine dining.

Priester's tremendous talent can still be found — in the appetizers ($5 to $12). All his culinary deftness seems to go into the more elegant options such as seared scallops with braised pancetta ($9) — the smoky bacon a salty counterpoint to subtly sweet shellfish and creamy Jerusalem artichoke puree.

The desserts I sampled were mediocre — an achingly sweet, soupy chambord-balsamic zabaglione with grapefruit gelee and honey-glazed pineapple ($7), and an ordinary chocolate brownie a la mode ($7) that didn't belong on a menu listing a "Bordelaise deconstruct ... and espuma."

I suggest drinks (the bartenders make a good mojito) and small-plate dining at The Top. Take a bottom-tier table for the best view. Without haute-dining constraints, the restaurant's novelty and gimmicks — like a juicy, beef tenderloin served sizzling on a heated rock ($10) — aren't so wobbly. People who like sweet-sauce-soaked foods such as barbecued ribs will find a lot to like about Priester's menu, and the promise of his appetizers will keep me hanging on to find out what the next spin will be for Priester and the Top of Waikiki.

Reach Helen Wu at hwu@honoluluadvertiser.com.