Waikiki Leia

Perfect for feasting with the eyes. Waikiki Leia is my favorite new discovery. I came across this unmarked restaurant while walking in the neighborhood, and was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the chapel adjacent to the restaurant. Social media influencers flock to Waikiki Leia for the picture perfect dining experience. Bring your incognito shades if you're shy and want to avoid getting caught in someone's livestream. The menu features Japanese cafe favorites, like omelette rice (オームライス). Each lunch entree comes with the option of the daily soup or salad. Today's soup was corn consumée, leaning on the sweet side for those with a local palette more accustomed to corn chowder. The salad came with a mango dressing, which would be perfect for panna cotta or other dessert dishes. The salad was fresh and crisp. The grilled vegetables and tofu were well prepared and satisfying. Want to know a secret about those picture perfect parfaits? It's Dryer's! Walk-ins are welcome, despite the "reservations only" posts on their website and Instagram. It's best to call ahead to reserve a spot and make sure your table is ready. Reservations may be made in English, but don't be alarmed if your first greeting is in Japanese. Carpool for best results. There's plenty of parking in the private lot in front of the restaurant. With nine stalls, including a handicap access, there's plenty for the size of the restaurant. The neighborhood is full of cars parked on the street, so take a tip from Kaka'ako and avoid overcrowding.

Excellent atmosphere, good food, good for small groups and small parties. reservations are requires, limited parking. We had a good time there.

I have always seen food influencer come to this place and I can see why. It's beautiful and very quiet inside. I love how there is a chapel inside where the restaurant is. My friend and I went for their breakfast and they open at 9am. We were the 2nd customer tomorrow get seated. The inside of the restaurant was very lovely. We sat inside by near the outside patio. There isn't much on the menu for the morning time but we shared the pancakes and the French toast. We were expecting the pancake to be big but it was four small fluffy pancakes and three different sauce to pour on. The taste of the pancakes felt like you were back in Japan! The French toast was HUGE. We were actually expecting it to be small but it did the job done and made both of us full! The price is quite expensive and I would go again for special occasions only. Wonderful experience and a beautiful place to have a meal! :)

Absolutely lovely venue but mediocre food :( my friend and I were so excited to try this place and spent most of the time talking about places we could get better versions of what we had ordered here.Great service too.

Such a cute little place. We came here to celebrate "friendship" over lunch. We sat upstairs with the view of diamond head. I had the teriyaki chicken sandwich. And it was delicious. My friends had the beef stew with two slice of baguette bread and they loved it. Wish there more bread for the beef stew. Very friendly staff and awesome photographer. =) The decor, the chandelier, the ambience, the staircase going up, the little waterfall, the chapel, we wanted to take photos of it all. There's even a toto in the women's restroom. A very nice place to celebrate.

Wedding chapel and restaurant venue at the foot of Diamond Head. Beautiful venue for a small wedding or intimate brunch. You're also able to reserve up to five on Open Table. Parties greater than 40 are usually seated in the first floor dining room which may extend to the lawn fronting the waterfall. Parking is a hassle as there's limited stalls and street parking.I came as a party of six and was set up in the private room upstairs overlooking the front entrance and chapel. If you're looking for a wedding venue this is an intimate setting with multiple options to have your photos taken. We ordered multiple dishes, the crusted, salmon, with shrimp; soufflé pancakes; roasted ribeye; teriyaki chicken sandwich; seafood, rice, gratin. The baked salmon was a little dry needed to be eaten with the vegetable salsa. Ribeye was tender and delicious. Highly recommended dish would be the seafood rice gratin. Chock full of various seafood with tons of flavor. PS: corkage fee of $10, bring your vino.

Super cute restaurant in a wedding venue. We started with the soufflé pancakes. They were fluffy and nice. They were served with the tiniest containers of syrup, which surprisingly proved to be enough. I had the pork katsu sandwich and it was ok. Pork generally is kind of dry unless you're ready good at making it. So this was rather dry. My friend had the beef stew and it is not served with rice! So weird for an Asian place. For dessert, we had the chocolate parfait, which was huge. It was just OK though. This place is basically ok food in a really pretty setting.

3/16/24 - Made reservations for breakfast over the phone. She informed me that breakfast is 9-11 so I made it at 10 & she also added that we would need to be done by 11. But I wish she informed me that the whole menu isn't accessible til 11. So we only had 4 items to choose from. But nonetheless my husband and I still enjoyed ourselves and we'll definitely come back to try the rest of the menu. Parking is small gets full fast and then you'll have to find street parking. Luckily someone just left and we were able to park inside. Entrance is beautiful with a cute little chapel. Then when you enter the restaurant area it's also beautiful. There's 2 stories. We didn't see the 2nd floor. They sat us on the first floor with a great view of their water fall & diamond head view in the background. Food - like I said earlier there was only 4 entrees to choose from. We decided on Soufflé pancakes & Avocado toast with prosciutto & corn potage. Soufflé pancakes 5/5 so fluffy & delicious. It came with 3 small pancakes & 3 little cute cups of syrups: Maple, Coconut & raspberry I think. Also came with sliced strawberries & blueberries, a little stingy with the fruit lol. Avocado toast w/ prosciutto 3/5 we added an onsen egg which we felt definitely completed the dish. Although it was an additional $4 for it it was ok, nothing special about. Could've done with more prosciutto. Corn potage (Japanese corn soup) 3/5 tasty but small. Maybe some crackers or small bread or croutons would've made it complete. Definitely gonna make reservations to come back for lunch.

What a gem! I had no idea such a quiet, serene haven was hiding in plain site! Waikiki Leia is located on busy Monsarrat Ave, right across from the little shopping complex with Bogarts, etc. I didn't know what the parking situation looked like so I ended up finding street parking around the neighborhood, but it turns out that they have maybe 8 stalls available for guest use.We were visiting for lunch so we got seated on the ground floor. I love how this restaurant opens up to the patio which has lots of greenery, along with a waterfall fountain thingy. Sooo picturesque! I think the only thing missing from the experience was not having a glass of champagne to enjoy the view lol (They didn't offer a drink menu so I assume they don't have any liquor)- Souffle pancakes: good, but I've definitely had better, fluffier ones. I did like how they were small & easy to eat. It came with 3 different syrups in the smallest cutest pourers.- Seafood doria: This reminded me of my childhood! Growing up my mom would also make this. I don't feel like many restaurants on Oahu carry this dish & also I don't usually cook with dairy so this was a real treat that brought me back to my younger days!- Omurice: very good! I liked how they presented the egg & it was just a bit runny. Yum!- Fruits parfait: nothing super special, the cone was pretty good!The servers were very friendly but I think since the restaurant was kind of full, it was slower than expected. But they were so nice- they dropped what they were doing to take photos of us in the garden! Will be back again for dinner service since I enjoyed the food & the views!

Location is very quiet and private!Food is well done and staffs are very friendly and accommodating