Where Kapahulu Avenue's Old Favorites Went This Year, and What Moved Into Their Spaces

For anyone living at the Diamond Head end of Waikīkī, dinner out often means heading up Kapahulu Avenue. This spring, five places on that list closed between March and June. By the first week of November, the pattern is clearer than it was in April. Much of what Kapahulu lost has moved to a new address or into new hands: one favorite relocated to Beach Walk, its old building sold to a New York arts foundation, and a yakitori counter's grill now runs as a Northeastern Chinese skewer tavern. Meanwhile, the places that never left are celebrating anniversaries counted in decades.

The closures are where it starts, since they decide what the rest of the avenue looks like now.

The Spring Kapahulu Lost Five Kitchens

HONOLULU Magazine's running list of 2026 closures, published in late July, logged these Kapahulu closures by month:

• March: House of Wong
• April: Fort Ruger Market and Side Street Inn's Kapahulu restaurant
• June: Dumpling Factory and Yakitori Glad

Two of those five already have a clear second act, and they account for most of the change a Kapahulu regular will notice this fall.

Side Street Inn Moved Closer to the Beach

Side Street Inn spent 16 years at 614 Kapahulu Ave., according to Pacific Business News, which reported in March that the restaurant would close there and move to Waikīkī. KHON reported the last Kapahulu service would come after the first week of April. At that point the owners were still finalizing the new lease.

The move happened. In late September, Side Street Inn opened at 280 Beach Walk in the space that once held Westman Café and Bills Waikīkī. You check in downstairs, and the dining room is upstairs. Aloha State Daily reported that the menu is the same family-style lineup. General manager Korie Sasano named the fried rice, pork chops, garlic chicken and kalbi as the most popular dishes, and pointed to the yakisoba and roast pork poke as the overlooked ones.

Kapahulu regulars will notice a few practical changes. The new location offers a 10% kamaʻāina discount and two hours of validated parking. When it opened, it was BYOB while its liquor license was pending. HONOLULU Magazine quoted co-owner Cheryl DeAngelo saying, "We are thrilled that we are finally opened." She runs the Waikīkī location with co-owner Lisa Meyers, and the magazine reported that lunch service was planned. The Hopaka Street and ʻEwa Beach locations stayed open through all of this.

So a pork chop dinner is still close for Gold Coast residents. It's now on the Waikīkī side of the Ala Wai, upstairs, with parking validated.

The Building at 614 Kapahulu Changed Hands Too

The more lasting change at Side Street Inn's old address involves the whole building. In June, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that the Vilcek Foundation had bought the three-story retail and office building at the corner of Kapahulu Avenue and Date Street for $15 million, with plans to set up a gallery there.

The foundation is a New York-based nonprofit that recognizes immigrant contributions in the United States and supports the arts and sciences. Jan and Marica Vilcek, who emigrated from Czechoslovakia, founded it in 2000. Foundation president Rick Kinsel said in a statement that it has awarded more than $17 million in prizes, grants and contributions.

The building itself has a long local history. Dillingham Construction built it in 1977 as the headquarters of Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. Later owners included Okada Trucking Co. The previous owner, WSC Capital LLC, bought it in 2015 for $14.2 million, so the 2026 sale came in about $800,000 higher eleven years later. The address that was a dinner stop for 16 years now belongs to an owner whose stated purpose there is a gallery, which is a new kind of use for that corner.

At 766 Kapahulu, a Grill Took Over From a Grill

Yakitori Glad's June closure had the most direct handoff of the year. Enkari moved into the same space at 766 Kapahulu Ave. and set its soft opening for Saturday, Aug. 15, Aloha State Daily reported. A yakitori counter's charcoal grill became the centerpiece of a modern Chinese tavern. The paper reported that the name refers to smoke and fire in Chinese, and described the format as similar to an izakaya, with a Northeastern Chinese menu.

Here's what the August menu looked like, as reported:

Enkari's hours are 5 p.m. to midnight Thursday through Tuesday, and it's closed Wednesdays. When it soft opened, it was still waiting on its liquor license. There's street parking, plus a paid public lot behind the restaurant. HONOLULU Magazine listed Enkari among Oʻahu's August openings.

New Manapua by the Safeway, and Anchors Marking Their Years

One new arrival on the avenue isn't replacing anything. KITV reported that Aloha Manapua opened its fourth location on Kapahulu Avenue and advertised steamed buns at $1.50 each. On its own Kapahulu website, the business describes its newest location as near the Safeway shopping center on Kapahulu. The brand grew out of a rebrand from Island Manapua and also expanded to Waimalu this year, according to HONOLULU Magazine.

Next to this year's arrivals, the long-running places look even more established. Rainbow Drive-In's Kapahulu location at 3308 Kanaina Ave. marked 65 years with a $6.50 chili plate promotion planned for Oct. 2, Aloha State Daily reported. In May, HI Now covered Ono Seafood as a Kapahulu staple that has passed 30 years. The family also runs a Hawaii Kai location and a mobile unit at the Kakaʻako farmers market.

So the avenue now runs in two layers. A 65-year drive-in and a 30-year poke counter are the fixed points. Around them, spaces change owners and concepts in a matter of months, and a restaurant that leaves can reopen within the same season.

The Corridor This November

Here's the year's movement in one place, for anyone planning a week of meals from the Gold Coast:

Kapahulu Avenue's lower end, at Kapiʻolani Park, saw a reopening of its own this fall. The Honolulu Zoo has reopened its African penguin and hippopotamus exhibits after significant upgrades, with a blessing and performances. A November evening can still start at the zoo end of the avenue and finish over skewers at 766 Kapahulu or pork chops on Beach Walk. One of those two dinners now sits on the Waikīkī side of the canal.

Chelsey has followed southeast Oʻahu block by block since the early 2000s. If you're thinking about what's changing around your own corner of Waikīkī or Kapahulu, Chelsey Flanagan is happy to talk it through. Let's Connect.