Kaka’ako Is Having a Moment: Our Favorite Food, Coffee, and Hangout Spots Near the Office

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Cui & Lin Orthodontics is located in the Historic Gold Bond Building at 677 Ala Moana Blvd, Suite 801, right in the middle of Kaka’ako’s food and coffee scene.
• Highway Inn Kaka’ako, a family-run Hawaiian restaurant since the 1940s, sits practically next door at 680 Ala Moana Blvd.
• SALT at Our Kaka’ako (691 Auahi St) and the Kaka’ako Farmers Market at Ward Village (919 Ala Moana Blvd, Saturday mornings) are both an easy walk from our office.
• Kaka’ako’s growth, new housing, new retail, and a well-known outdoor mural collection, is part of why we chose to open here.

QUICK FACTS: KAKA’AKO AT A GLANCE

Our office	Historic Gold Bond Building, 677 Ala Moana Blvd, Suite 801, Honolulu, HI 96813
Neighbors on the block	Highway Inn Kaka’ako – 680 Ala Moana Blvd
Closest food hall	SALT at Our Kaka’ako – 691 Auahi St (5-minute walk)
Saturday morning stop	Kaka’ako Farmers Market, Ward Village – 919 Ala Moana Blvd
Neighborhood known for	Outdoor murals, waterfront park, and one of Honolulu’s fastest-growing residential districts
Office hours	Mon-Fri 9am-6:30pm | Sat 8am-1pm | Sun closed

 

What makes Kaka’ako one of Honolulu’s most exciting neighborhoods right now?

Kaka’ako is in the middle of one of the largest neighborhood transformations on O’ahu, and we get to watch it happen from our own front door. The district sits between Ala Moana and downtown Honolulu, where old warehouses and industrial lots keep turning into a walkable mix of homes, shops, restaurants, and public art. Kamehameha Schools, the neighborhood’s largest landowner, has added more than 1,300homes across a 29-acre stretch of Kaka’ako, with shops and restaurants built into the ground floors. Five more blocks are under construction now, and each one adds more places to eat, shop, and gather.

For us, that growth is not only a backdrop. We chose the Historic Gold Bond Building at 677 Ala Moana Blvd for our new practice because Kaka’ako has become a real neighborhood, one with a Saturday farmers market, a food hall within walking distance, and a coffee shop on nearly every block. Patients coming in for a consultation can make a morning of it: coffee beforehand, a walk past the murals, and lunch nearby afterward.

 

Where can you get great coffee near our office?

You do not have to go far from the Gold Bond Building for a good cup of coffee. Island Brew Coffeehouse’s Ward Village location, at 1108 Auahi St, roasts Hawaiian coffee and pours espresso with organic milk in a bright, easy space that works well for a quick stop or a laptop afternoon. Inside SALT at Our Kaka’ako, Morning Brew serves coffee, tea, and pastries in the middle of the food hall, convenient if you are pairing your coffee run with errands or lunch. A few blocks toward Ala Moana, Arvo Cafe has built a following for its plant-filled dining room and toast-forward brunch menu, a good option if you want to sit down for a while.

If chocolate is more your morning ritual, Lonohana, an estate chocolate shop using organic, locally grown cacao, is also part of the Kaka’ako food scene and worth a stop on the same trip.

 

What are the best restaurants near SALT at Our Kaka’ako and Ward Village?

SALT at Our Kaka’ako, an open-air retail and dining space at 691 Auahi St, is the easiest answer. Inside, Moku Kitchen serves upcountry Hawaiian dishes like kalua pork pizza and fish tacos in a stylish, casual room with a solid happy hour. Margotto Hawaii takes a different direction with a Japanese, Italian, and French fusion menu built around truffle-focused tasting courses, a good pick for a special dinner. Redfish Poke Bar, from chef Reid Matsumura, keeps things island-casual with poke bowls, salads, and dishes like okonomiyaki fries.

Right outside our door, Highway Inn Kaka’ako at 680 Ala Moana Blvd has been serving traditional Hawaiian plates, think laulau, kalua pork, and squid luau, since the 1940s, run by the same family the whole time. It is one of the neighborhood’s most established restaurants and about as close to our office as a lunch spot can be.

 

Where can you unwind with a drink or a casual hangout after hours?

Aloha Beer Company, at 700 Queen St, brews rotating beers with local ingredients and offers an indoor dining room, an outdoor beer garden, and a separate speakeasy space, so there is a setting for a quickpint or a longer evening out. It is a popular after-work stop for people who work and live in Kaka’ako, and it sits an easy walk from the Gold Bond Building.

 

What else is there to do in Kaka’ako besides eat and drink?

Kaka’ako’s outdoor mural collection, grown over years through the Pow! Wow! Hawaii festival and maintained as a neighborhood feature by Our Kaka’ako, covers building walls across the district and turns an ordinary walk between lunch and coffee into something worth slowing down for. On Saturday mornings, the Kaka’ako Farmers Market sets up at Ward Village (919 Ala Moana Blvd) with local produce, baked goods, and food vendors, a nice way to start a weekend before or after an appointment with us. Kaka’ako Waterfront Park, along the shoreline south of Ala Moana Boulevard, adds open green space and ocean views to a neighborhood that was mostly warehouses not long ago.

 

Why did Cui & Lin Orthodontics choose to call Kaka’ako home?

Dr. Christopher Lin grew up in Hawaii and graduated from Punahou School, and that sense of community shaped how he and Dr. Michelle Cui wanted to practice. A neighborhood built around walkability, local food, and public art fits the kind of practice they wanted to open: personal, community-rooted, and easy for patients across O’ahu to reach. Being steps from SALT at Our Kaka’ako and around the corner from Highway Inn means a consultation here can turn into an afternoon in one of Honolulu’s most walkable neighborhoods, not only an appointment.