Kealoha closes today - another one bites the dust

Their info if anyone is interested in going today

12206 Central Ave
Chino, CA 91710
(909) 590-0604
kealohas.com

Sorry to hear of this closing. How was the food? How were their drinks? I saw that the Mai Tai is mentioned on the "closing" flyer. It's very nice of them to raffle off some of their decor. You'll have to let us know what their "new concept" is when it opens this Friday. That's not much time to do a remodel/re-theming. Please let us know how it goes.

Their food was good and their Mai Tai was very good and served in a bucket mug so it was large. It was a cool place, very sad. :(

Unfortunate for the loss of ono grinds, but "another one" ??

Was it ever "one" to begin with ?? :D

Aww... so sad to hear this place closed... we wanted to make it out there, but it was pretty far out from our regular travels.

We were glad to see that its original incarnation, Honolulu Harry's, was continuing as Kealoha. We went to Honolulu Harry's a couple of times, wayyyy back when we first got into Tiki... They had a great mural, and an interesting waterfall wall in the restaurant, plus lots of Ku lamps in the bar area, and other tikis... can't remember the mai tai (it was quite a wile ago!), but if Boris gives it the stamp of approval, it had to be good... and he was reviewing the Kealoha mai tai, which could have been even better!

Sad to see any place that tried to imbue tiki into their atmosphere close down, so it's definitely one to lament losing!

My wife and I were frequent visitors to Preston kealohas "taste of the Islands". kealohas was indeed tiki lite but the grinds were very good, the Mai Tai quite tasty and the place definitely had an island vibe.
The last 3-4 visits we noticed a change in the air and Preston was nowhere to be seen. He's a good host and alway's stopped to chat. Our menu favorites were becoming increasingly unavailable and new faces were bringing "hot buffalo wings"and other new menu items for the patrons to sample.we were reading the writing on the wall and hoping against hope.
I wish that I could have gone to the farewell but ironically we were in Honolulu (Preston's hometown) on Sunday.i hope a tc'er got the hula girl. He also had a suffering bastard mug on the bar back that I tried many times to buy from him to no avail.
Btw,there use to be one or two tv'so -last visit we counted ten. The Friday and Sat. Hawaiian music(live band) was no mo. So much for change-gonna miss em!

On 2013-11-04 01:30, nui 'umi 'umi wrote:
Btw,there use to be one or two tv'so -last visit we counted ten. The Friday and Sat. Hawaiian music(live band) was no mo. So much for change-gonna miss em!

Yup, transitioning to an "other" kind of restaurant/bar. Very sad, but that might have been required for the owner to survive. Specialty restaurants can be a very tough biz. It's very tough to know how to hit it exactly right, yet fortunately for us there are a number that do make enough money to survive. We need more of those. I'm sure your patronage was appreciated.

Sent an email to Preston asking if he is going to reopen elsewhere. I will pass on any info that I get.
Btw, did anyone here get the hula girl or a lamp.

It's now called Cruisers American Grill. I wasn't able to make raffle night. I hope people here got the souvenir lamps, etc. Pic taken today but didn't go inside yet.

Went to “Back home in Lahaina” ( most excellent Hawaiian restaurant in Carson Ca. last night. There I met a friend who is a close friend of Preston Kealoha. He told me that Preston has no plans to open another restaurant. I hope he succeeds in whatever he does,
Cheers, sorta
Btw,the

"Kealohas" thread in “locating tiki” reflects that the restaurant was open for only two years-so sad.

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2013-11-18 14:59 ]