I decided I should write a review as soon as I can after I have eaten at a restaurant rather than waiting two weeks. So tonight, a friend and I tried Kalapawai Cafe in Kailua. Those of you from or familiar with Kailua might be thinking, "Kalapawai, isn't that the store by the beach?" Kalapawai Cafe is associated with the Kalapawai Market, but it's not the little shop you go to to pick up a soda on the way to the beach. Oh no, this is a very different experience.
I had my eye on the Cafe for quite a while now, but since we are creatures of habit and always go to Fat Boys, Amina Pizzeria, or Round Table Pizza, we didn't have an opportunity to try it. Then recently, I read a review by Wanda Adams in the Honolulu Advertiser. She gave it four out of five forks, which is a pretty high mark coming from her.
This is an interesting place. It's kind of like a deli, where you can go to the counter and order items to heat-and-eat at home, or you can order a sandwich, salad, or pizza. They also serve breakfast. From 5 p.m., it turns into a table service restaurant. We arrived at about 6 p.m. tonight (a Saturday), and while a number of tables were taken, there was no problem getting seated right away. We were immediately provided with water, although we had to wait just a bit for our server to arrive.
We were tempted to order an appetizer, but decided against it since we both wanted a starter. I was going to order a side of fries, until our server informed me that the entree I was thinking of getting already came with fries (the menu items seemed to list only the main part of the entree, not the side dishes, so you should ask about what comes with the dish). Our server was pretty good, but I felt things could have been done a little better. For example, I don't think we were ever asked if we wanted anything other than water to drink, which led me to forget to ask for a flight of wine which I asked for after placing my food order.
A wine flight consists of 3-2 oz. pours of wines you select from a specific list. I chose a rose, a semillon (which I had never heard of before -- it was a delicious white wine), and a pinot noir. The pinot listed on the menu was not available, so they substituted another pinot, which was fine. However, my server never told me what it was replaced with. I didn't really care, but it would've been nice if the information was volunteered.
For starters, my friend ordered the Maui Onion Soup, which my friend greatly enjoyed. I started with a side Caesar salad, which turned out to be quite a big portion for a side order! It was slightly different from a traditional Caesar, with a lighter dressing, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Our server's second mistake was not offering me any fresh ground pepper, which I later saw was available when I spotted another server carrying the pepper mill to another table. However, I have to say that what I enjoyed at this place, which possibly led to the forgetting of offering fresh ground pepper, is the team server approach. Other servers brought our food and took plates away, so we were not completely dependent on our server alone. I actually prefer this kind of team work to the "you take care of your own station" type of place.
Anyway, off my soap box about service...for our entrees, my friend ordered a parmesan-crusted stuffed chicken breast (I think it was stuffed with spinach and riccotta) which was served with vegetables and what looked like homemade pasta. she gave me a piece of the chicken and it was excellent, and both visually and edibly moist. I ordered the steak frites with peppercorn sauce, served with shoestring fries. The cut of steak was a bit different, I think maybe a flank steak. My only minor complaint about this entree was that I ordered the steak medium rare, but it was done a little more toward medium -- in hindsight, I suspect this may have been intentional given the cut of the meat.
We looked at the dessert menu and while there were some tempting options, nothing really grabbed us, so we ended our meal there. I could not finish my meal, so they boxed it up for me. Our check came out to about $59 plus tip. While our server could have done things a little better, overall the service was pretty good and I would definitely recommend it to others. I also want to go back for lunch and try their sandwiches, which are only available during the day. There are a number of other items that looked good in the deli counter and that I saw others eating (brushcetta and pizza come to mind).
So the next time you're in Kailua looking for some grub, go and check out Kalapawai Cafe!
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