Two Hawaii Best Restaurant Winners, Both In Strip Malls

Two Honolulu restaurants we visited this week could hardly have reached the pinnacle of their fields by more varied routes. Both are in strip malls in Honolulu, away from the tourist scene. One, Cafe Kaila, has spent nearly two decades building one of the most dedicated breakfast followings in Hawaii, while Chao has only been on the restaurant scene for less than a year.

As far as accolades, Cafe Kaila, owned by Chrissie Kaila Castillo, won the coveted 2026 Hale ‘Aina Gold for both Best Breakfast and Best Brunch in Hawaii, along with Silver for Best Service. Chao won Gold for Best New Restaurant in Hawaii and Best Vietnamese in Hawaii, while owners Chancelor Kim and Dong Dang got Restaurateurs of the Year by Honolulu Magazine.

They are in totally different neighborhoods and serve entirely different cuisines, while providing experiences that are almost impossible to compare directly. But what they share is even bigger than what separates them. That includes neither sitting in Waikiki nor relying on an ocean view, a resort address, or a visitor-centric location to draw in a steady stream of people through their doors.

Cafe Kaila has been at this for nearly 20 years.

Cafe Kaila opened in October 2007 and is at Market City Shopping Center on Kapiolani Boulevard just below the H-1 Freeway. We’ve driven right by it for all those years and never even thought to stop until this year’s awards.

When we got there at 11 am, there was no line. But there was a sign-up board outside, together with a row of chairs, hinting at just how popular it really is. Even with no line, we were told to put our name on the list and wait outside. We were promptly seated while we noticed more and more people coming. To manage crowding, there’s a 90-minute limit per table during peak hours.

Cafe Kaila is not a restaurant anyone visits for architectural drama. It is a nondescript joint location in an aging strip mall. Yet it is bright, casual, compact, and very busy. Tables are not too close together, so the room didn’t feel overwhelming when every seat was occupied, which they were. The view is strictly of the parking lot and H-1 and nothing more. Still, it is a very quick drive from Waikiki, and if you circle the front and back of the Ben Franklin anchored strip mall, there’s plenty of free parking, which in Honolulu is always a pleasant surprise.

None of the apparent drawbacks of its location has kept people away from Cafe Kaila, although waiting is one of the most consistent observations found in years of reviews. Lines often form soon after the cafe opens at 7 a.m., with weekends producing the longest waits. The restaurant uses its written waitlist.

Cafe Kaila built its reputation on familiar food fare.

Cafe Kaila’s breakfast menu is served until closing, and lunch starts at 11:00 am. Jeff ordered the Italian omelet with potatoes and sourdough toast. It was excellently prepared in a way that’s now almost old-fashioned. Rob ordered an egg breakfast combo with French toast and roasted potatoes. Everything was delicious to the point of being a surprise.

The common thread is not a culinary reinvention. It is a familiar breakfast food prepared with enough attention that people remember it and come back. James Beard Award-winning Honolulu chef Robynne Maii once described Castillo’s cooking as fresh, honest, straightforward, and well executed. We’d concur.

The Silver award for Best Service also speaks volumes. It was warm, attentive, and helpful. That’s not something easy to maintain in a busy breakfast room where customers are waiting outside, and tables need to turn quickly. At the same time, we never felt the least bit hurried. Our bill before tip was approximately $50 for two.

Chao took a completely different route to fame.

Chao opened just a year ago at the Nuuanu Shopping Center, 1613 Nuuanu Avenue. That strip mall is anchored by O’Reilly Auto Parts. The Chao spot itself had reportedly been vacant for nearly a decade and was in need of the complete buildout it received. What emerged, directly adjacent to the auto parts, is a contemporary Vietnamese fusion restaurant serving about 70 guests, including at the full cocktail bar, lunch, dinner, happy hour, weekend brunch, and even a later-evening neighborhood following.

Its name means “welcome” in Vietnamese. Managing partner Chancelor Kim has described the concept as a neighborhood bar with good food. That completely undersells how ambitious the menu is, but it helps explain why the restaurant does not feel like a formal special-occasion dining room at all. It is comfortable and casual, while feeling slightly upscale at the same time.

Kim and Dong Dang own the restaurant, but Binh Ngo is the very creative executive chef and partner. The same ownership group operates Paradise Poke two doors away, and the restaurants reportedly share some food sources.

Before we arrived, our OpenTable reservation mentioned that the dress code was “business casual.” It was actually very casual and informal.

Chao isn’t stuck inside any definition of Vietnamese food.

The menu moves easily between familiar homestyle Vietnamese parts and a far more contemporary side that borrows freely from European cuisine and other techniques. Pho, banh mi, chicken rice, spring rolls, and Vietnamese iced coffee provide some traditional foundation. Elsewhere, surprising Vietnamese flavors appear in beef carpaccio with nuoc cham, grilled octopus, seafood ceviche with coconut and lime, bone marrow with herbs and chiles, and an amazing soft-shell crab pasta with lemongrass beurre monte french sauce.

We went for dinner but were told that the brunch menu expands the culinary range further with dishes including braised brisket loco moco over chicken-fat rice, shrimp XO congee, and five-spice duck confit with waffles. Other dishes that have attracted widespread recent attention include hamachi kama, pork collar, chicken rice, and happy-hour soft-shell crab.

We were promptly seated, and the waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu and helpful with suggestions. The menu seemed somewhat challenging for anyone not eating meat. But the waiter was very helpful on options. We selected the Soft Shell Crab Pasta, Roasted Eggplant, Grilled Sweet Corn, Charred Bok Choy, and Spanish Octopus. For dessert, the Che Bap was a highlight, and Rob began with an Old Fashioned.

The food would have been unexpectedly delicious, had we not known about the accolades in advance. Every dish arrived just right in every way. From the sophisticated but not over the top flavors and textures, to the actual presentation, it was all done with great attention to detail.

The family story that’s still largely missing.

Chao’s food has already received substantial coverage. The people behind it have had less mention. So we asked. Ngo is the executive chef and partner. His upbringing, training, family history, and route to Chao remain largely absent from the public record. During our visit, we were told that the chef was born in Hawaii, that his parents came from Vietnam, and that his mother’s cooking helped inspire the restaurant. We were also told that he attended a University of Hawaii culinary program and that the other chefs in the restaurant all came from the same Kapiolani College program.

The food evolution described to us ranged far beyond Vietnam. French influence was evident in various parts of the menu, while other dishes appear to draw from other European, Hawaiian, and New Orleans food traditions. We were also told that the restaurant uses Cafe du Monde coffee, inspired by the owners’ visits there, and cans of the chicory coffee created an art wall over the bar area. That coffee appears in the Vietnamese iced coffee served.

Our bill for two before tip was $125.00, which was a good value for the quality of food offered.

Parking may be the restaurant’s least glamorous limitation. The Nuuanu Shopping Center lot is small and often full, while nearby street parking is scarce. TheBus stops directly in front, which may be the easiest option for some diners.

These could not be more different versions of award-winning Hawaii restaurants.

Cafe Kaila and Chao share more than their 2026 awards suggest. Both operate in ordinary Honolulu shopping center strip malls outside Waikiki. Both have interesting and limited free parking. Both depend entirely on people intentionally seeking them out rather than wandering in from any resort. Both emphasize authentic from-scratch cooking, and both serve food grounded in comfort even though the execution is decidedly more ambitious.

The differences are much larger. Cafe Kaila has nearly 20 years of repetition behind it. Its reputation rests on consistency, hospitality, generous and reasonably priced breakfast food, and the ability to keep familiar dishes desirable through thousands of services.

Chao is still a work in progress, defining itself. It moves between pho, cocktails, seafood, French technique, brunch, bar food, and contemporary Vietnamese cooking, while aiming to be both a serious restaurant and a neighborhood gathering place.

Neither restaurant needs a Waikiki address or an ocean view to justify the trip.

Cafe Kaila shows what can happen when a self-taught cook keeps doing familiar food well enough and long enough to become part of Honolulu’s best restaurant landscape. Chao shows how quickly a new restaurant can achieve acclaim when its food, bar, ownership, and timing all land just right.

What we found at the table was surprising excellence that reaffirms Hawaii’s restaurant abilities.

Let us know about your experience dining at Chao or Cafe Kaila.

All Photo Credits: © Beat of Hawaii. Lead photo is the strip mall where Chao is located.

By Rob and Jeff, Beat of Hawaii.

Some of the most meaningful parts of Hawaii are the ones visitors walk right past without knowing they are there. We’ve spent nearly 20 years finding them firsthand for BOH as full-time Hawaii residents reporting on travel, culture, and island life, and telling you what they mean for your trip. Join us →