‘Welcoming everyone like family.’ New restaurant brings taste of Hawaii to Phenix City

This Hawaiian food truck has opened its firstbrick-and-mortar restaurant in Phenix City.

Kalani’s Hawaiian Style Cafe, 711 13th St., opened March 2. The Hawaiian restaurant has replaced the former German Food, Gifts and More.

The restaurant comes from Kalani’s Mixed Plate, a Hawaiian-cuisine food truck that has served food in the Columbus and Fort Benning area since 2020.

“This is my passion” Sayles’ journey to brick and mortar

Kalani Sayles, the owner, told the Ledger-Enquirer her love of cooking is generational. She grew up on the island of O‘ahu in Honolulu, Hawaii, learning how to cook from her mother. Her mother used to cater for local schools, bringing homemade dishes to sporting events, so she wanted to open a restaurant.

“This has always been a dream and passion of mine,” Sayles said. “It took a lot of work to get to this point, and it took a lot of years.”

In 2003, Sayles left O’ahu with her husband, Brandon, to move to his duty station at Fort Benning. She started Kalani’s Mixed Plate, her food truck, as a pop-up restaurant in Columbus during Saturday Market Days on Broadway in September 2020. Then she got a contract to operate at Fort Benning in November 2020. Sayles started the food truck business in 2021.

Sayles knew she always wanted to expand into a restaurant, and the perfect opportunity came in 2024, when the owners of German Food, Gifts and More in Phenix City mentioned they were leasing their former building.

“The price was right,” Sayles said. “It’s a median for us, my house and my husband’s job.”

Sayles’ mother visited the cafe the first time onits public opening day. She described the scene as an emotional, full-circle moment.

“We were all crying,” Sayles said. “This is because no one understands, unless you’re in this type of field, what it takes to run this operation. A lot of people open up a business for the money part. But, I’m not opening up for that. This is my passion.”

Serving local Hawaiian cuisine

Sayles considers the type of food she serves at Kalani’s Hawaiian Style Cafe as “local dishes,” which aren’t “traditional” Hawaiian dishes but food you can find at restaurants while visiting the islands. These dishes, Sayles said, represent the diversity of the people who live in Hawaii.

“We call it a Hawaiian restaurant because it’s run by us Hawaiians,” Sayles said. “We have Hawaiian cuisine, but we are also still serving local food from different types of cuisines you can see in Hawaii.”

Popular dishes on their menu include the garlic shrimp plate, poke bowl and kalbi plate. Traditional Hawaiian foods like ‘Lau Lau’, pork steamed in luau leaves, and poi, mashed taro root, are not on the menu at Kalani’s Hawaiian Style Cafe, but Sayles said she brings the taste of Hawaii through the restaurant’s ambiance and the food’s taste.

“If you ever wanted to go to Hawaii, this is the place that you can come and experience it,” Sayles said.

A common misconception, Sayles said, is that Hawaiian cuisine uses pineapples in their dishes. Neither Kalani’s restaurant nor her food truck includes pineapples in any dishes.

“The authentic Hawaiians do not put pineapples in their food,” Sayles said. “We love pineapples as fruit. Nothing against them.”

Future of Kalani’s Hawaiian Style Cafe

Sayles said there is much to look forward to at Kalani’s Hawaiian Style Cafe. Beyond expected changes like putting up outdoor signage and stocking the gift shop, the restaurant also will expand its menu.

The restaurant mainly serves the same dishes from the food truck location, but with this updated menu, the restaurant will serve dishes exclusively available at the cafe. The restaurant also plans to add a breakfast menu and an indoor bar with a new drink menu.

Sayles says said she wants her restaurant to become engaged with the local community by catering for high school sporting events and creating care packages to donate to homeless communities in the Chattahoochee Valley.

“We welcome everyone like o’hana, or family,” Sayles said. “I don’t care what race you are, what color, what size, everybody’s welcome, even the homeless off the street. If they’re hungry, they want something to drink. It’s going out to them. We take care of everybody. Everybody’s being treated like family here. So you ain’t got to worry about nothing. We won’t turn away anyone.”

Sayles also keeps busy with other passion projects. She started writing a cookbook with her favorite recipes, and she hopes to create a cookware line.

“There is so much stuff I want to do,” Sayles said. “There’s so much stuff that’s gonna happen that’s in the works.”

To keep up with Kalani’s Hawaiian Style Cafe, customers can follow the Facebook page Kalani’s Mixed Plate LLC.

This story was originally published March 18, 2025 at 9:25 AM.