When you first enter Kailua Town from the bottom of the Pali, one of the first establishments you will come across is Kalapawai Café & Deli which is located on the left right across from the surfboard shop. Even if you aren’t aware of what Kalapawai is, its rich olive paint, white framing, lush shrubbery, and the mass amounts of people that tend to congregate automatically catch your interest. 

When you first walk into Kalapawai, you’ll be faced with their drink station on the right and a cashier/bakery on the left. However, you will continue to walk forward until you hit the second cashier station next to the drinks. Similarly to the bakery station, they will have a variety of side dishes for you to order along with your main dish whose menus are located right above the second cashier. They have a breakfast and lunch menu as well as a separate dinner menu that is only available at night. Once you’ve decided on what you’d like, the cashier takes down your order, gives you a table number, and asks you to head to the second cashier where you can order drinks, desserts, bakery items, or just pay for your meal. Once that transaction has ended, you’ll get your drinks and then figure out where you’d like to sit.

Kalapawai has three different seating areas with a mini patio in the back secluded by the shrubbery and a few trees, the main dining hall located within the restaurant, and some chairs and seat near the entrance. My fiancé and I decided eat in the main dining hall and took a seat in the back across from the kitchen. The interior is a collection of eclectic decorations such as local Hawai’i art (which is changed out from time to time), a multitude of various alcohol bottles, fish netting, dark glossy wood, and a dim 

interior to help customers feel more relaxed while waiting. Once the food arrived, my fiancé and I were both surprised and somewhat unimpressed. He had ordered a meatball sub and I had ordered a Kailua BBQ pizza. While both orders were pretty small in size compared to the price (our entire total including drinks was $25). The meatball sub was especially disappointing with only one half of a loaf of bread and 

three meatballs with a slathering of marinara and parmesan cheese. The pizza, though small in size, was actually quite delicious but so thin so as not to be filling. By the end of the meal, my fiancé and I couldn’t help but still feel hungry and ended up grabbing food on the way home.

Overall, Kalapawai Café & Deli is one of those restaurants that is worth visiting  at least once since it does have a unique offering of food selections and ambience, but I think some of its hype comes from catering to the overpriced, hipster crowds and is definitely not something that is cost-effective nor worth the price that you pay. However, I can’t say that the visit was entirely all bad, I just wished there was more bang for my buck.