Explore Hawaii Sub-Club: Brunch at Waioli Tea Room

If you have never been to the Waioli Tea Room, you are missing out.  Join us for a coffee and a bite to eat in this historic house and gardens.  Once you’ve been here once, you’ll be back on the regular for the fantastic food, the meaningful mission, and the peaceful atmosphere.

Now known as the Waioli Kitchen and Bake Shop, this delightful tea room operates on the grounds of the Salvation Army.  Open 8am-1pm from Tuesday to Saturday, they serve breakfast and lunch items made from high-quality artisanal ingredients as well as housemade baked goods (the ube white chocolate scone is to die for; Amy recommends buying a few for the next day - heated up with a little butter it is out of this world).  When you arrive, order and pay at the counter and then come find us - we’ll try to grab some large tables depending on how many RSVP.  Carpooling is not a bad idea as their lot can fill up, although you never seem to need to wait long for a spot to open.

The tea room started more than a century ago as vocational training for the girls living in the orphanage there.  The Salvation Army no longer serves orphan children in Hawai’i, but rather is one of the largest providers of treatment for individuals suffering with substance abuse disorders.  The new Waioli provides vocational training for graduates of programs for the treatment of substance abuse disorders and for individuals recently released from incarceration.

Be sure to make time to wander the grounds after brunch.  My son has identified more than 20 species of plants on his “Seek” app on the iphone wandering around.  Behind the Tea House, you’ll also find the Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Grass House, a replica of the original that was once there.  The structure was built as a guest house by Princess Ka’iulani’s father, businessman Archibald Scott Cleghorn, at their estate.  In 1889, Stevenson and his family stayed in the grass house.  The hut was auctioned off in 1926, and moved to the current location, where the Salvation Army restored it.  The hut was rebuilt in 1983, and again in 2012.

Reservation Deadline: January 11, 2024

Cancellation Deadline: January 11, 2024