Kealoha's Taste of the Islands & Mai Tai Lounge!, Chino, , CA (restaurant)

Name:Kealoha's Taste of the Islands & Mai Tai Lounge!
Type:restaurant
Street:12206 Central Avenue
City:Chino,
State:CA
Zip:91710-2422
country:USA
Phone:
Status:unknown

Description:
Formerly known as Honolulu Harry's. Opening January 2012. I just received an email from Preston Kealoha. It read as follows:

" Honolulu Harry's Is Reopening as Kealoha's Taste of the Islands & Mai Tai Lounge!

Preston is back and is very excited about the upcoming opening of Kealoha's Taste of the Islands and Mai Tai Lounge! Many of your old favorites will be returning to the menu. New dishes will be added and will soon become your favorites too!

Follow our progress on our newly designed web site

http://www.kealohas.com

If I am in town, my brother and the wives plan on going on opening night for a taste of their Mai Tai. We plan on taking pictures and noting any remodeling that is completed. Hopefully they will have a new handcrafted recipe that will satisfy our purist taste buds.

I received the following bulk email from Preston asking for ideas or requests for his menu:

We would like to thank you for the many wonderful comments you shared with us since we announced our upcoming opening in January 2012. If you have any special requests for menu items or any other suggestions, please forward your ideas to: [email protected]

I received another email from Preston. He is looking for entertainment ideas and has employment opportunities for those looking for a job. Here is a synopsis of what he had to say:

Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions regarding what you would like to see returning to the menu in January of 2012. Your feedback is very much appreciated.

We are currently in the process of planning our entertainment for Kealoha's Taste of the Islands & Mai Tai Lounge. Please forward your suggestions to [email protected]

Employment Opportunities

Beginning the week of January 2, 2012, we will be accepting applications for energetic individuals who would like to join our staff. Please apply in person on Monday - Friday between the hours of 2:00 - 4:00PM

Visit our Web Site
kealohas.com
to download an application.

I received an email from Preston announcing the opening of Kealoha's Taste of the Islands & Mai Tai Lounge. They will open on Thursday, March 15th at 4:00pm. I hope to be there with my brother and our wives. I will post some pictures and report on their Mai Tai. Hope we see some fellow TC ers there.

I wanna check out the tiki factor. As Honolulu Harry's I enjoyed the "island vibe" at Hono Harry's. There was not a lot of tiki although you could get a sorta tropical drink in a tiki mug, I intend to post a full report the day after the grand opening. Got my fingers crossed!

Aloha Tiki Vato!

Mahalos for posting this, just saw it today!

We visited Honolulu Harry's once before, but it's a little off our beaten path. We'll definitely check out the new establishment... according to their website, the mai tai lounge is open late, so we just might be able to make the opening night (off work at 8pm, so we probably won't be out that way until 9pm-ish...). Maybe we'll see you there!

[ Edited by: tobunga 2012-03-10 21:13 ]

My wife and I went to Kealoha's only to discover that they had not received their ABC license. We left. My brother and his wife will be going there for dinner. He will post a review later.

Very disappointed that the Mai Tai lounge was cut off. My wife CeCe had an appetizer (coconut shrimp) that was such a generous portion she had to take most of her entree home. I had ahi poke for starters (broke da mouf!) .My entree was the Mahi mahi, a steal at 18 bucks. Preston Kealoha is from Oahu and the restaurant definitely has an island vibe . Preston told us he expects the abc license to arrive any day now. He has been approved but you gotta have the certificate on the wall.

Tiki factor is low. There are some cool Ku lamps in the lounge. Mai tai's will be served in 3 faced bucket mugs (no name on the mugs) and I spotted about a half dozen nice mugs on the empty liquor shelves but I don't know how or if they will be used. All in all we enjoyed the visit. It's a bit out of the way for us but we intend to return and try out the drinks in the lounge. As Preston described the Hawaiian style Mai tai he is going to serve in the Mai Tai Lounge (I think the beachbums million dollar mai tai is as good as they get) I promised myself to get back there and have one of Preston's with some poke just as soon as Preston gets the lounge up and running. Sorry, no pix, I left my camera in the car.

Went to kalohas and sat in the Mai tai Lounge. Tiki factor has increased since my last visit (4.5 on a scale of 1-10). Pupus were excellent, an authentic Hawaiian band was playing cool tunes and songs. The mat tai that the owner Preston Kealoha had been telling me was ono was indeed very good and not overly sweet that is typical of Hawaiian tropical drinks.It is served in an extra large bucket mug-gotta be 16 /18 oz.s. our waiter said they use 3 oz.s of rum in each drink. In such a large mug the ratio of rum to pineapple and other stuff made the drink on the weak side for those of us "purists" that prefer the T V's or DTB's Mai tai. Again the island vibe and aloha spirit is high due to the efforts of a very friendly staff and the lovely decor in the entire restaurant. I don't think they will ever have ,to quote BBBen 'layers of Tiki" but I liked it for what it is'
Btw, prices are low to moderate , I missed happy hour cuz I had to stop at a thrift store on the way to Chino. Things evened out though cuz I found a Yap storyboard, a small slit drum from Bora Bora, and some other cool tiki stuff.
Cheers

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2012-04-22 13:43 ]

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2012-04-22 13:45 ]

We can't get our here as often as we'd like cuz of the distance to Chino coupled with Friday evening traffic. Now there is a Hawaiian band on Saturday. Means CeCe and I will be getting out there more often. Tonight Preston Kealoha was giving me the lowdown on upcoming events at his restaurant/lounge. on Jan 25 he'll be bringing in a band direct from the islands. On Jan 27 there is a genuine luau planned. He gave me names and details but I had already consumed a very tasty Mai Tai and slammed down a cold longboard. So in the interest of accuracy I'll wait until I see the official blurbs before I pass em on.
Once again, Kealohas is light on tiki but the grinds are ono,the drinks are tasty, and the place definitely has an island vibe.
Cheers

Here's a pic of Kealoha's Mai Tai-not one for the "purists"but tasty nonetheless.

Alas, Kealoha's is closing. I received this E-mail from them today.

Aloha Friends,

Join us today, Sunday, November 3rd for a fun farewell celebration at Kealoha's. Come in and enjoy your favorite island cuisine for one last time! We will be holding raffles every half an hour from 5pm until closing. At 8pm, we will be raffling off Leilani, our life size hula girl manikin.
Each member in your party will receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win the Hawaiian decorator items that have been a part of Kealoha's since it opened almost two years ago. You must be present to win!

Also our new restaurant with an exciting new concept and menu will open on Friday, November 8th!

On behalf of the management and the staff of Kealoha's, we thank you for your customer loyalty and for your support! Aloha!

Our new, exciting restaurant will launch on Friday, November 8th! We will be closed on Monday November 4th through Thursday November 7th!

I have no information on what the "new, exciting restaurant" will be but, seeing as how they are raffling off their décor, it's likely to be something very different. If anyone knows anything more, please share.

First, here's a general thread with more discussion on Kealoha's closing.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=46377&forum=1&10

And second, as feared, the "new, exciting restaurant" is completely non-tiki.

http://www.cruiserschino.com/