Kalama Village Center

There is a new poke bowl spot in Hawaii Kai's Kalama valley shopping center.... It is very reasonable and delicious. I had the mix bowl which contained wasabi ahi poke with miso tako over a bed of high grade rice!!! BRUH... was so ono( delicious ) I bought some garlic soybeans and poke by the lb. Just because the flavors were so good that I know this soybeans will be more then good. Please try this place for yourself but only tell your closest friends. I would like this spot to continue to serve their bowls. Man going back asap fo sho!

The Kalama Valley Shopping Center is in transition. Looking at it as a first time visitor, it has seen better days for sure. Deserted and most likely forgotten, this once vibrant hub of economic activity in this portion of East Oahu has been vastly erased from the community's consciousness for a while. Normally, I would frequent Koko Marina shopping center or the Hawaii Kai Towne center in my outings to Hawaii Kai, but I felt compelled seek this place out just to see Kalama valley, the surrounding neighborhood, and the larger community. I was here on July 4, but clearly the shopping center was not at all a thriving engine of commerce in this area.Located on Kealahou Street, this derelict shopping center is nearby to the Koko Head Botanical gardens, which I included on this day trip to Kalama Valley before heading to Sandy Beach for much needed R&R before returning to work on the day after the 4th of July. Yep, gotta work on a Friday, especially when there's a crapload list I need to get done or I get busted. Anyhow, also nearby are some community parks for sports, and a cute little golf course. Kalama Valley Shopping Center reminds me a little like Aina Hina Shopping Center, but wow, I didn't know it was this bad out here. There is a private parking lot, but as you can imagine, it's virtually empty. Pretty sure it's lone active tenant, Thai Valley Cuisine isn't filling it up packed on the daily, but its good. If you are like me, TheBus route #23 passes by this shell of a shopping haven, but I think that the Thai Valley Cuisine is pretty good. (See review).Not sure what else to say about the Kalama Valley shopping center, since there's not much to review about a shopping village that's lost it's mojo. I should do some research as to why this shopping center is the way it is. Hoping that there is a revitalization plan in the works, just so it will be a better visit the next time around. This mall is like your basic community strip mall that can be a decent vestige of community pride when the investment is there and the community is behind this instead of venturing out to Koko Marina and Hawaii Kai Towne center for their everyday living and entertainment options.There wasn't much in the way of chairs and seating areas around this strip mall. There is restroom facilities here, but under lock and key. Looks like the upkeep isn't particularly good and it probably had lead to the shopping center's decline, among other issues. As mentioned before, I have faith that this shopping village can overcome its challenges and be a spotlight of economic prosperity that the entire community can enjoy. Just not recently, I'm afraid. Just gotta believe and I'll be coming back when that time has come. I do like the architecture that this shopping center sports. Reminds me of the Kona-Keahole International Airport, where the roofs are pyramid in shape.Support local!Unrated.

This place is, at present, more or less a ghost town which is a shame since it seems a half decent location for certain things being in such a residential area, near a park and a school. It would be perfect for a cafe and a corner store like 7-11 and things like that to cater to the residents of the neighborhood all around it.But that's not what it is right now. It does have some things going on, like some sort of automotive place and a Thai restaurant. The OSPCA Is also temporarily housed their while they build their new facility. Overall, though, it's not a place you'd visit unless you had a very specific reason to do so and really not somewhere you would want to linger.