Early or late, you can enjoy eats and drinks, and hit the dance floor

We've reviewed Pearl's fresh cocktail menu — created by Las Vegas-based master mixologist Francesco Lafranconi. We've reviewed its Italian-kissed cuisine conceived by chef Donato Loperfido. Both very good.

But it was time The Night Stuff found out if owner Beau Mohr's two-month-old, multimillion-dollar, self-described "upscale restaurant that has a dance floor" was a good nightspot as well.

The verdict depends on what kind of nightlife you're looking for, and what time you arrive at your friendly neighborhood mall-based ultralounge. Its namesake bauble may not have any facets, but Pearl sure does.

I've been to Pearl at around 8 p.m. on a Tuesday: small crowd, downtempo world-beat house setting the soundtrack, pineapple mojitos and cool chats with bartenders and servers.

I've watched a Saturday evening at Pearl slowly morph from a similarly laid back early scene into a full-blown, late-evening gathering of stylish (and not-so-stylish) twenty- to fiftysomethings grooving to Justin Timberlake, Madonna and Nelly Furtado.

But when I reported for Night Stuff at about 11 p.m. last Friday, Pearl was all about a surprisingly eclectic, wall-to-wall mix of patrons, indulging in conversations, cocktails, hookups and mild forms of nightclub debauchery.

Every barstool in Pearl's trio of lounge areas was occupied. We quickly scored a booth (with silk throw pillows and raised-seating meant to encourage eye-to-eye interaction with passersby) and commenced patron-watching. One had to admire the mix.

Among the mostly club-dressy, thirtysomething crowd: a girl in a Brad Paisley-like Stetson, a gold-medallion-over-puffy-shirt dude, a guy with a Mohawk wearing Abercrombie & Fitch, a dreadlocked rude boy and a Polo-shirted dad type, with golf buddy.

Patron's activities were a bit surprising considering their, ahem, age. Behavior never got completely out of hand, but a more prolific writer could write a book on how 30-plus folks meet cute, flirt, impress each other and hook up.

A trio of out-of-town engineers at the table next to ours flirted with just about every XX-chromosome soul passing by before doing body shots off a co-worker gamely laying on one of Pearl's illuminated onyx bars.

Activity on Pearl's smallish dance floor offered little surprise, until a couple of women began playfully groping various parts of each other's anatomy.

Others, however, seemed happiest ordering from Pearl's food menu (we couldn't resist an order of sweet, diminutive Kumamoto oysters or a small platter of truffle-oil infused prosciutto-wrapped Kurobuta pork tenderloin), imbibing (sadly, there were more bottles of Corona and Heineken floating among patrons than the lounge's delicious fresh cocktails) and conversing.

Which Pearl do I prefer?

No disrespect to the fine art of the body shot, but my personal preference would be the weekday early-evening lounge, with its quieter, loungy vibe and more personable service. Food and drink at Pearl are good enough to warrant trips just to enjoy them.

As a nightlife writer, though? Weekends ... late p.m. and early a.m. After all, body shots and moms and dads dating partners young enough to call them Mama and Daddy are far more fun to write about.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.