We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive
consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex,
national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other
characteristic protected by law.
Since 1947. Family-owned and operated. Highway Inn has been serving authentic Hawaiian family recipes to the people of Oahu since the end of the plantation era. Our Waipahu location is just a few blocks from the original Highway Inn location, founded almost 75 years ago. Our Kaka’ako location is in Urban Honolulu and is popular with locals for business lunches and tourists staying in nearby Waikiki. Serving Hawaiian Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, beer, wine and cocktails, open seven days a week. In September 2025, we launched Tutu's Place at the Bishop Museum, and 1950's themed plantation house / retro diner setting, serving coffee and shaved ice along with our traditional Hawaiian fare and some items unique to the cafe.
Featured on the US and Canadian Food Network Channels. We are women-owned and use ocean-friendly packaging.
Highway Inn has been in continuous business since 1947, serving Hawaiian and American Food to the people of Oahu. Hailing from the west-side of Oahu, Highway Inn was established by Japanese Immigrants who had recently returned to Hawaii after being interned for much of World War II. After some 66 years in Waipahu, Highway Inn, under the leadership of its third generation of owner expanded its operations to bring the Island's best-loved Hawaiian Food Restaurant to Kaka'ako in Honolulu, and then to the Bishop Museum.
Highway Inn is famous for its Hawaiian Food. Hawaiian Food is the amalgamation of all the locally grown food that was native and brought to the Islands by successive waves of immigrants and settlers over the last few hundred years. Hawaiian staples are poi, taro leaves, lau laus, and poke. More recent innovations are pipikaula, haupia, squid luau, lomi salmon, beef stew, kalua pig, and nowadays we add ribs, burgers, quesadillas, tacos, salads, and appetizers, all made with some local flair.
In 2010 Guy Fieri from the Food Network visited and showcased Hawaiian Food to his viewers. Over the years, Highway Inn has won many awards from and via the local media, business, and government organizations and is perennially a winner of Best Hawaiian Restaurant on Honolulu Magazine’s Hale ‘Aina award. Recently, In May 2017 Highway Inn won USA Today’s Best Kalua Pig Sandwich in the State Competition and won the Honolulu Star Advertiser’s Hawaii’s Best Hawaiian Food in 2018 and 2019.
