Restaurants in Kapolei/Aulani area

[OffToDWD]

Any recommendations for restaurants in or near Kapolei/Aulani area? Open to any type of cuisine but would to try some local foods! Fav shaved ice place? We'll have a rental car. Thanks in advance!

 

[jlcrouse]

Following this post as I had a similar question!

 

[Great3]

For restaurant near Aulani, I enjoy MonkeyPod during their happy hour, food is quite good.

For local food, I recommend Queen Street Cafe, it's by the Stadium / Pearl Harbor area.

For shaved iced, I say Matsumoto Shave Ice is the best, but it's long drive just for shaved ice, so of course combine it with some other activity at the North Shore.

Great3

 

[Lain]

If you want to eat like a local, your “next stop” should be Zippy’s. There’s a location on Kamokila Blvd. right off Kapolei Parkway.

While Matsumoto’s Shave Ice in Haleiwa is world famous, and worth a stop if you’re up in the North Shore, the shave ice onsite at Aulani is also quite good! Get it with ice cream and condensed milk; Mickey ears optional.

And since we’re talking about food nearby, the açaí bowls at Island Vintage Coffee in the shopping center across the street are really good. The Lilikoi Moana bowl is my personal favorite. Their poke bowls are really good too — much better than the ones served at Ulu Cafe; although the ahi poke at the Makahiki dinner buffet is very high quality and melts in your mouth like butter.

 

[PolyDad]

Any recommendations for restaurants in or near Kapolei/Aulani area? Open to any type of cuisine but would to try some local foods! Fav shaved ice place? We'll have a rental car. Thanks in advance!

Assaggio’s in Kapolei has excellent Italian food. My family went there in January and loved it.

 

[akmac57]

When we stayed at Aulani, we did not have a car. We never found this wasn't an issue at all. We could walk right across the street to a little plaza with several restaurants. As mentioned earlier, there is Monkeypod which also plays live music at night. You can make reservations in advance. There is also a place called Pizza Corner--with very generous portions. Finally, we also enjoyed the Mexican restaurant called Just Tacos. (There was a local cuisine place, but I would not recommend it. We went to Maui after our stay at Aulani, and I have lots to say about great local restaurants and food trucks there.)

 

[OKW Lover]

Another vote for Assaggio in Kapolei. Also, Monkey Pod is just OK as far as we are concerned, but we really enjoyed Roys' which is just a short walk away.

 

[gregf71]

We may be in the minority here, but in 2018 we had a fairly poor experience at Monkeypod. It started with the seating, ended up moving our table twice due to direct (and hot) sunlight, and then the food was honestly nothing special in our opinion. I will give one VERY positive recommendation though since you will have a car...it's a bit further in than Kapolei, but in Waipahu there is a Leonard's Malasadamobile set up!!! If you don't want to make the trek into Honolulu to find the brick and mortar store, then this is a great option! We stopped at the Waipahu location when driving back to Aulani in 2018 for a late afternoon treat. Our plan for this year's trip is to hit it on the way out from Aulani for a quick and awesome breakfast! They have a few other locations for their mobile bakeries around the island:

https://www.leonardshawaii.com/malasadamobile/

Definitely worth the effort to get some!!!

 

[OffToDWD]

Thanks, everyone, for all these great suggestions so far!

 

[kyton]

MonkeyPod, Roy’s and Just Taco’s for dinners whilst we tend to visit Ruby Tuesday’s and Denny’s for breakfasts.

 

[mmouse50]

any really good mexican food places? Will have a car

 

[lovewdwfun]

Limon Rotisserie Peruvian food in Kapolei was a surprise family hit! No kids menu, but our kids all got empanadas and loved them. They also had live music. Monkeypod was Ok- not amazing, but convenient.

 

[izzy]

We really enjoyed Koa Pancake House in Kapolei. We had breakfast there and found it to be really good and well-priced for Hawaii.

 

[OffToDWD]

Limon Rotisserie Peruvian food in Kapolei was a surprise family hit! No kids menu, but our kids all got empanadas and loved them. They also had live music. Monkeypod was Ok- not amazing, but convenient.

Oh!!! My kids actually really enjoy Peruvian food and empanadas... will definitely give this a try. Thanks!!

 

[nkereina]

We liked Pizza Corner and Monkeypod, both across the street from Aulani, but they are tourist prices and not what I would consider experiencing local cuisine. Good for a meal, but definitely use your rental car to explore other areas, even outside of both Ko Olina and Kapolei.

I highly recommend a visit to the North Shore - Matsumoto is the main stop for shave ice and we loved it. Kono's is a little quick service place but has amazing food. Haleiwa Beach House is a nicer sit down place in the same area.

 

[OKW Lover]

Haleiwa Beach House is a nicer sit down place in the same area.

Another vote for the Beach House. Good food and a beautiful location. If they have loco moco that day, get it. Best on the island!

 

[OffToDWD]

We liked Pizza Corner and Monkeypod, both across the street from Aulani, but they are tourist prices and not what I would consider experiencing local cuisine. Good for a meal, but definitely use your rental car to explore other areas, even outside of both Ko Olina and Kapolei.

I highly recommend a visit to the North Shore - Matsumoto is the main stop for shave ice and we loved it. Kono's is a little quick service place but has amazing food. Haleiwa Beach House is a nicer sit down place in the same area.

Thanks! We'll definitely explore around the island as we are there for about a week and half. Added these 2 as "to try". Very excited! Thank you

 

[thedogatemyhomework]

queen street isn't really close to aulani...and depending on when you try to go you can end up in heavy traffic there and back (they also close fairly early so its primarily a lunch spot...food is very good tho). there are a lot of good food spots next to it, 2-3 minute walking distance from it as well...palazzo (itallian) and hughleys (southern) theres a fairly decent mexican spot nearby as well, but parking can be an issue.

pretty much other than zippys expect any "local" spots to be fairly small shops so potential for lines and lack of parking.

also...avoid five guys...or just walk by the one in kapolei and gasp at the ridiculous prices (last I bothered looking I think it was basically 2-3x or more what it is in any other state). I think kua aina is still open in haleiwa (they closed the ones they had in kapolei and near ala moana)...and for basically the same price (or less) you get a better, bigger burger...unless that location closed up too...

 

[CanadianEmily]

This is not by Aulani at all, but I second a trip to the North Shore! We enjoyed Fumi's Kahuku Shrimp Truck (though I'm sure most of the shrimp trucks are great!) and Ted's Bakery. Having a car is great. We've never stayed at Aulani, though, but we loved spending most of our time on the North Shore.

 

[lilfroggie]

I agree with all who say "go to North Shore" We had good food at Zippy's and Teddy's Bigger Burgers (for fast-casual stops). I can't tell you if either have locations near Aulani as we only walked through that area of Oahu (around the 4 "lagoons" near Aulani). There is so much more to see on the island!!