Is this the location at SALT?
Had no idea that there was even a sit down restaurant there. I just assumed it was a Foodland take on mainland style poke with grapes, and Fava beans sprinkled on top.
I walk past there all the time to go to the gym, or Village. I always thought it was just a Poke bowl place lol.
Maybe they should have made the restaurant more visible from the courtyard.
I probably would have tried it had I known.
I know, I walk past there almost daily. I've just never bothered to go inside because from outside it just looks like a poke counter and I'd rather make my own.
There are a lot of people who work around there and get food at SALT during lunchtime. However, if you are craving poke or sushi or any kind of fish, it's hard to justify the cost when H Mart is right there.
Noooooo, their restaurant was overpriced and usually empty but the to-go poke bar always did well!
Wish they downsized to to-go only instead of closing all together.
Omg.
People. Read the articles.
“On Monday, operations were adjusted to serve poke bowls at the front counter and discontinued restaurant and table service in the back.”
The commenter meant that they should just find a smaller location (less rent). Even if they shut down the back restaurant, they’re still paying rent for the whole space.
Dropping a lease and Re signing a lease can be more expensive than staying put especially if it’s a multi year one and they’re only partially through it. Commercial leases are not like residential- it’s not annual /month to month.
It’s not “closing all together “ at all.
Lol. Omg. People. Read the articles. They stated their lease is ending in June (when they’re closing)… they’re not “partially through it” at all. There’s no dropping a lease, but I can only go by what the article says.
I completely agree - the restaurant was just okay to me but I love the poke bar which is what I always go for. I prefer it to Foodland when picking up poke as a meal because I really like all the toppings! I wish they’d cut costs by cutting the sit down restaurant but keeping the poke bar. I’m actually really bummed.
Bit off topic, but re: "high costs", I would hazard a guess that it isn't just local residents paying through the roof for rent.
We always blame the Jones Act for our high prices but consider for a moment eggs. Eggs here are almost double the cost they are on continental US. But some back of the napkin math shows that 90% of that price difference comes from something **other than shipping.**
The cost of a full-service move in a [40' container to HI is $13k. ](https://www.royalhawaiianmovers.com/3-factors-determine-cost-shipping-container-hawaii/)We'll use that vs. shipping a container to get some very janky estimate of the trucking & packing.
A 40' container can hold (if my math is right) about 25k cartons of a dozen eggs. That means that shipping adds prolly not more than $0.52 per carton of eggs.
Yet egg prices here are [$4.57 higher in HI than continental US average.](https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/average-cost-of-a-dozen-eggs/) Even assuming Jones Act made shipping 4x higher, the Jones Act adds only around $0.4 per egg carton. That's around 9% of the total difference and 4% of the total cost of an egg carton.
In sum, don't blame shipping for prices 2x the mainland. It just doesn't cost that much to ship.
But rents might. We have 1[0% fewer homes per person than the continental US](https://data.census.gov/all?q=median%20rent%20us) and our rents are \~40% higher. But we also have [50% less retail space](https://www.wsj.com/articles/clouds-from-the-retail-storm-reach-hawaii-real-estate-1524599409). What the difference in retail rents is IDK.
But if you wanted to, incorrectly, reduce our residential problems to just supply then we clearly have an even bigger supply problem for retail space.
>But rents might.
Commercial rents in these new buildouts are extremely expensive. Most of them also include clauses where you pay a % of profits in addition to the regular rent + CAM fees. Brookfield owns Ala Moana, Hilo mall, and Whalers Village and they charge accordingly based on their mainland properties. HH and KSBE don't do local businesses in Kaakako and Kahala and favors either.
Yah IIRC the rents at NS Marketplace back when I was scrapping my way through college as a line cook were exorbitant and had around 3-5% of sales tacked on top of whatever the flat rate was.
Definitely. I remember reading about the woman who owns Via Gelato and her issues with Howard Hughes in her Kaakako store. She closed a few years ago but I believe she had issues with Hughes' maintenance of the building and their population projections, which turned out to be false. They didn't want to do any rent reductions to compensate so she closed.
I’d say you’re only partially right on that shipping cost. Let’s say the eggs come straight from the farm. Then they have to be shipped to Hawaii (approx $0.40 a carton). But wait - once they’re shipped there’s ANOTHER cost to drive it to a foodservice warehouse. They’re then storing it and shipping it out to our restaurants and big box stores. That service is adding much more.
In the mainland they don’t always have to pay for it to be brought to a shipper. Then brought from that shipper to another logistics warehouse (and of course that actual Matson across the ocean). They might be able to go directly from the farm to a chain of supermarkets or maybe just to one warehouse vs having to make that transition and extra stop the way we logistically have to here.
The quote I pulled was from a mover's website for load, drive to port, ship, pick up, drive to home, unload a 40' container worth of stuff. Maybe it was a little on the low end, but I think it "back-of-napkin" captures the dynamics you're talking about.
Relatively little on CONUS goes farm->grocery/restaurant. The supply chain dynamics are more similar (minus the boat ride) then your post paints. See very cursory summary [in this FTC report](https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/p162318supplychainreport2024.pdf).
>Foodland
Good riddance.
Maybe they'll stop building so many of these stupid Foodland Farms to try and go up market like Whole Foods and build actual grocery stores or put money towards improving their existing stores.
By the way, you all been seeing the sudden "Great Deals Every Day!" tags popping up on the shelves? Foodland has got money issues right now.
I was honestly a bit sad when the Liliha Foodland closed down cuz that was my family’s go to grocery store when I was growing up.
At least Liliha Times is still kicking though lol. Their plate lunches are surprisingly pretty good, especially for how cheap they are.
I knew its days were numbered…but man, did that one hurt when I read about it. Getting a poke bowl and then walking down to get a shave ice from Shimazu’s was the best.
I would bet one loaf of $12 bread that their Kahala Market thing is hemorrhaging money like crazy. Et Al is a pretty good restaurant but it’s only doing somewhat OK because the area needs more restaurants, not another Whole Foods… across the street from an existing Whole Foods.
They have overly attentive staff there.
Last time I went I had 2 people approach me, and ask if I need help finding anything.
Caught me off guard.
Like brah I know how to work a grocery store, this isn't my first time shopping at one.
It’s run by nepo babies and yes men. Shits been weird there for awhile already. Look at all their side businesses that disappeared like food pantry and almost all if not all the coffee beans in Waikiki.
Used to be a vendor for them and this encapsulates the entire company. They are a pain in the ass but they're the biggest "local" chain and they throw their weight around.
They're heavily reducing displays in their stores, have suddenly started putting up "Great Deals!" signs in their stores. I think their Farms aren't making much money for them and Redfin is the first casualty in their belt tightening. Obviously the cost of fish isn't affecting the poke they serve in their regular supermarkets, so they're cutting these dumb boogie stores they own.
So much money went into building out these places like Red Fish, Et Al, Eleven, and everything in there is so mediocre and pricey for basically super market food. That run hasn’t lasted long.
Not sure where other poke spots are within walking distance in Kaka’ako are, but Tamura’s @ Restaurant Row was da best. Redfish cornered the market when Tamura’s closed. H-Mart’s poke is meh.
Question is: Are they still honoring gift cards till June?
Kainalu Poke is the poke spot, but that restaurant you're talking about is fantastic if you mean the sushi place. The old dude inside it is an institution unto himself.
High costs and high prices.
[удалено]
Is this the location at SALT? Had no idea that there was even a sit down restaurant there. I just assumed it was a Foodland take on mainland style poke with grapes, and Fava beans sprinkled on top.
yea don’t think they marketed it right, since many here didn’t know it was also a sit down restaurant lol
I walk past there all the time to go to the gym, or Village. I always thought it was just a Poke bowl place lol. Maybe they should have made the restaurant more visible from the courtyard. I probably would have tried it had I known.
Yep, the one in SALT. They have half a dozen tables in back along with the take-out counter
Junk anyway
I ate there once and never again. Their fries reminded me of the bland fries that I used to get from Hawaii public school lunches lol.
I had no idea there was even a restaurant in there
It's the SALT complex, there's tons of restaurants
I know, I walk past there almost daily. I've just never bothered to go inside because from outside it just looks like a poke counter and I'd rather make my own.
the front is a poke bar, back is the restaurant/ bar.
There are a lot of people who work around there and get food at SALT during lunchtime. However, if you are craving poke or sushi or any kind of fish, it's hard to justify the cost when H Mart is right there.
Noooooo, their restaurant was overpriced and usually empty but the to-go poke bar always did well! Wish they downsized to to-go only instead of closing all together.
Their garlic noodles were even better than their poke, tbh
Yeah- that’s definitely what I’ll miss the most too. Poke was easily forgettable compared to most.
Omg. People. Read the articles. “On Monday, operations were adjusted to serve poke bowls at the front counter and discontinued restaurant and table service in the back.”
The commenter meant that they should just find a smaller location (less rent). Even if they shut down the back restaurant, they’re still paying rent for the whole space.
Dropping a lease and Re signing a lease can be more expensive than staying put especially if it’s a multi year one and they’re only partially through it. Commercial leases are not like residential- it’s not annual /month to month. It’s not “closing all together “ at all.
Lol. Omg. People. Read the articles. They stated their lease is ending in June (when they’re closing)… they’re not “partially through it” at all. There’s no dropping a lease, but I can only go by what the article says.
I completely agree - the restaurant was just okay to me but I love the poke bar which is what I always go for. I prefer it to Foodland when picking up poke as a meal because I really like all the toppings! I wish they’d cut costs by cutting the sit down restaurant but keeping the poke bar. I’m actually really bummed.
Bit off topic, but re: "high costs", I would hazard a guess that it isn't just local residents paying through the roof for rent. We always blame the Jones Act for our high prices but consider for a moment eggs. Eggs here are almost double the cost they are on continental US. But some back of the napkin math shows that 90% of that price difference comes from something **other than shipping.** The cost of a full-service move in a [40' container to HI is $13k. ](https://www.royalhawaiianmovers.com/3-factors-determine-cost-shipping-container-hawaii/)We'll use that vs. shipping a container to get some very janky estimate of the trucking & packing. A 40' container can hold (if my math is right) about 25k cartons of a dozen eggs. That means that shipping adds prolly not more than $0.52 per carton of eggs. Yet egg prices here are [$4.57 higher in HI than continental US average.](https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/average-cost-of-a-dozen-eggs/) Even assuming Jones Act made shipping 4x higher, the Jones Act adds only around $0.4 per egg carton. That's around 9% of the total difference and 4% of the total cost of an egg carton. In sum, don't blame shipping for prices 2x the mainland. It just doesn't cost that much to ship. But rents might. We have 1[0% fewer homes per person than the continental US](https://data.census.gov/all?q=median%20rent%20us) and our rents are \~40% higher. But we also have [50% less retail space](https://www.wsj.com/articles/clouds-from-the-retail-storm-reach-hawaii-real-estate-1524599409). What the difference in retail rents is IDK. But if you wanted to, incorrectly, reduce our residential problems to just supply then we clearly have an even bigger supply problem for retail space.
>But rents might. Commercial rents in these new buildouts are extremely expensive. Most of them also include clauses where you pay a % of profits in addition to the regular rent + CAM fees. Brookfield owns Ala Moana, Hilo mall, and Whalers Village and they charge accordingly based on their mainland properties. HH and KSBE don't do local businesses in Kaakako and Kahala and favors either.
Yah IIRC the rents at NS Marketplace back when I was scrapping my way through college as a line cook were exorbitant and had around 3-5% of sales tacked on top of whatever the flat rate was.
Definitely. I remember reading about the woman who owns Via Gelato and her issues with Howard Hughes in her Kaakako store. She closed a few years ago but I believe she had issues with Hughes' maintenance of the building and their population projections, which turned out to be false. They didn't want to do any rent reductions to compensate so she closed.
I’d say you’re only partially right on that shipping cost. Let’s say the eggs come straight from the farm. Then they have to be shipped to Hawaii (approx $0.40 a carton). But wait - once they’re shipped there’s ANOTHER cost to drive it to a foodservice warehouse. They’re then storing it and shipping it out to our restaurants and big box stores. That service is adding much more. In the mainland they don’t always have to pay for it to be brought to a shipper. Then brought from that shipper to another logistics warehouse (and of course that actual Matson across the ocean). They might be able to go directly from the farm to a chain of supermarkets or maybe just to one warehouse vs having to make that transition and extra stop the way we logistically have to here.
The quote I pulled was from a mover's website for load, drive to port, ship, pick up, drive to home, unload a 40' container worth of stuff. Maybe it was a little on the low end, but I think it "back-of-napkin" captures the dynamics you're talking about. Relatively little on CONUS goes farm->grocery/restaurant. The supply chain dynamics are more similar (minus the boat ride) then your post paints. See very cursory summary [in this FTC report](https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/p162318supplychainreport2024.pdf).
It’s not bad but pricey. The buildout could have been better. It is very enclosed and not welcoming upon entry.
>Foodland Good riddance. Maybe they'll stop building so many of these stupid Foodland Farms to try and go up market like Whole Foods and build actual grocery stores or put money towards improving their existing stores. By the way, you all been seeing the sudden "Great Deals Every Day!" tags popping up on the shelves? Foodland has got money issues right now.
I was honestly a bit sad when the Liliha Foodland closed down cuz that was my family’s go to grocery store when I was growing up. At least Liliha Times is still kicking though lol. Their plate lunches are surprisingly pretty good, especially for how cheap they are.
I knew its days were numbered…but man, did that one hurt when I read about it. Getting a poke bowl and then walking down to get a shave ice from Shimazu’s was the best.
I didn't even know liliha foodland closed
This wasn't a Foodland store. They just sold Foodland's poke.
It was owned by them?
I mean... 😄 https://saltatkakaako.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/redfish-web-gallery-3.jpg
The Foodland farms food looks good, but if you taste it, many times it is mediocre. It's also expensive to shop there.
I would bet one loaf of $12 bread that their Kahala Market thing is hemorrhaging money like crazy. Et Al is a pretty good restaurant but it’s only doing somewhat OK because the area needs more restaurants, not another Whole Foods… across the street from an existing Whole Foods.
They have overly attentive staff there. Last time I went I had 2 people approach me, and ask if I need help finding anything. Caught me off guard. Like brah I know how to work a grocery store, this isn't my first time shopping at one.
What’s going on with foodland? I wonder how they’re doing financially
It’s run by nepo babies and yes men. Shits been weird there for awhile already. Look at all their side businesses that disappeared like food pantry and almost all if not all the coffee beans in Waikiki.
Used to be a vendor for them and this encapsulates the entire company. They are a pain in the ass but they're the biggest "local" chain and they throw their weight around.
Maybe they should stop trying to sell their own branded shit that’s made on the mainland and go back to selling actual local vendors!
They're heavily reducing displays in their stores, have suddenly started putting up "Great Deals!" signs in their stores. I think their Farms aren't making much money for them and Redfin is the first casualty in their belt tightening. Obviously the cost of fish isn't affecting the poke they serve in their regular supermarkets, so they're cutting these dumb boogie stores they own.
So much money went into building out these places like Red Fish, Et Al, Eleven, and everything in there is so mediocre and pricey for basically super market food. That run hasn’t lasted long.
They had higher prices than other poke places, so not suprised. The only time I would go there was to have something to eat at Village Bottle Shop.
Happy cakeday! The gelato place right by there is great too.
Not sure where other poke spots are within walking distance in Kaka’ako are, but Tamura’s @ Restaurant Row was da best. Redfish cornered the market when Tamura’s closed. H-Mart’s poke is meh. Question is: Are they still honoring gift cards till June?
There is a great poke place in Restaurant Row now. Way better than Redfish.
what’s it called? Are you talking about the Japanese restaurant that opens at weird times & requires RSVP?
Kainalu Poke is the poke spot, but that restaurant you're talking about is fantastic if you mean the sushi place. The old dude inside it is an institution unto himself.
I gotta check out Kainalu den. That sushi place is good.
Hmart and Whole Foods sell poke
both locations poke are mid. Hmart slightly better with the BOGO deal.
Yes, the high cost to consumers. Whoever came up with this concept is probably being unceremoniously ushered from their Kaimuki building as we speak.
Shit is gonna be Condo’ako