KAKAAKO CAFE — Restaurant in Honolulu

Known for their Bagel puffs. If you've never tried a Bagel Puff, you should go. Very good coffee. Eat-in coffee, if iced, is served in handled Mason jars; cute and sweet and plenty of room for milk or any sugars. Eat-in plates have restaurant quality presentation. Customer service is absolutely wonderful.

A must try is the egg white Benedict, made with a custom Taro bagel, fried kale, house-made Kalua pork, and their own Hollandaise. Kale pot pie is also a best seller.

Interior feels like the set of Friends, with leather couches, chalkboard menus, and local characters coming in and out. Your receipt can also be emailed to you - - bonus points for not adding extra paper to an already overcrowded wallet!

Although the address says it's on Kapiolani, the easiest way to get there is to travel up Cooke Street and turn onto Kawaiaha'o Street (correction from earlier mistake) turning into the Imperial Plaza parking structure on Kawaiaha'o. Free validated parking for 2 hours! Unheard of in Kaka'ako. Make sure you keep your parking pass on your dashboard. Handicapped parking is on the ground floor, but you have to access it from the second floor. There are signs pointing the way.

Free WiFi. If you use 5Star app, you'll get free items after so many points. There's usually a 50% off tray at the front of the store, so check there if you plan on eating the bagels or Bagel Puffs that day.

Accepts credit cards. Strongly recommend. Would return. Great for girlfriend lunches, coffee dates, or just...

Their quality has dropped significantly in the past couple of years... Sadly too. Their bagel sandwiches were awesome. Today was a different story, and I feel really bad writing this review. Still ate the sandwich because I paid for it, but the pictures will show that the bagel was totally soggy, like it wasn't cooked all the way through, or a sauce sat on the face of the bagel for a really long time. Obviously it's still edible, but a huge disappointment. Also the salad dressing was just oil and Italian seasoning... They used to have a really nice dressing, and the salad is really sad too, just those bag spinach salads from Costco type...

Also the strawberry Nutella bagel, was a sad looking bagel... It was cut off, and the strawberries were really sad, I understand it's not quite strawberry season anymore, but again, quality...

Edit: just checked out the plain bagel, and it's barely toasted... Like they threw it on the grill for like 2 seconds on each side..

But the kicker, is that it's cut so wonky... It's dished in on the bottom side where it's super thin... Really sad.

It's sad when the quality of restaurants start out so strong, and as the years go by, things start going downhill...

The customer service was good, accommodating with the switch of the bagel from strawberry to play for the Nutella.

The cashier was new but really kind, so overall, this place is just not as it was when they first opened.

2...

Been meaning to check out this cafe since it's around the corner from where I work, but after a friend brought back a small sampler of their monthly soft serve yesterday I had to stop by today.

I ordered their curry chicken sandwich and their bagel pizza and earl grey soft serve (this month's flavor) for my sis and we both approve. The curry chicken sandwich had a nice full portion and their house dressing was delicious. My sister enjoyed her pizza and is asking me to stop by again soon after I'm pau with work haha!

Looking at their website, it is a bit out of date in terms of their menu and their social link (ie, they list teri chicken sandwich on their site but I didn't see it on the board there though I could have easily missed it, haha). This is nowhere near a complaint, just want to let the fine folks know! The rest of the site is very well organized and list what to expect from each option.

It's a very cozy spot to hang in with good amount of seating inside and a public space just outside. Very good food, soft serve, and service. Planning to try more from their menu that caught both my and my sister's eye....