Kaimana Farm Cafe

Plenty of vegan / gluten free options, as well as meat and fish. Excellent sides. Owner is the chef and is super friendly. Recommended!

I chose to dine here on April 6 based on reviews about allergy accommodation, but unfortunately left very disappointed. The restaurant was unusually busy (as the owner mentioned), with what seemed to be just the owner cooking and one staff member at the front. Upon ordering, I clearly communicated that I was Celiac and also had peanut and tree-nut allergies. My partner and I were sharing our meals, so the allergy note was requested for both bowls. The lady suggested we order a drink while we wait for our food, which my partner did. After a 45-minute wait, our meals arrived but with substitutions (sides doubled up as they ran out of what we ordered) that were not communicated. I found sliced almonds in one of my sides, despite my allergy. After 10 mins of waiting for someone to be available, I asked the owner to clarify if there was nuts in any of the sides, he admitted there were almonds and possibly walnuts in the soba or brussel sprouts and explained there was no allergy note on the order. While he was very nice and apologetic, no solution was offered, and I was left with nothing safe to eat. We also did not receive the drink until after our food was served, what was the point of ordering the drink then? To make matters worse, the front-of-house staff was visibly overwhelmed and unwelcoming. There was no effort made to notify customers about substitutions, reservation/order cancellations, or delays—something I witnessed multiple guests frustrated over. For a restaurant that promotes itself as allergy/diet preference-aware, this experience was unacceptable. We left our $47 meals untouched and went elsewhere.

Doing gluten free in Honolulu is hard. My 12 year old daughter recently learned that she was gluten intolerant so we were on the hunt for gluten free places. Kiana Farm Cafe is the best place that we found. She had a delicious gluten free garlic shrimp bento. The rest of us also got gluten free meals and found the croquette and dijon chicken delicious. The staff was great with the kids too! We will be returning!