Hokulani Bake Shop

It’s 9:30 pm on a Saturday night (Jan 9^th). They are closed despite Unilocal’s indicator they are open til 11 pm. Closed permanently?
Very disappointed. Second night we’ve tried and they are not open.

If I could give a negative stars I would!!! I definitely feel ripped off and taken advantage of. I don’t live on the island and really wanted to do something nice for my gf’s bday. Time was of the essence as this was going to be a surprise. So I picked this bakery for its location as it was only a few min from our hotel. I spoke directly to the owner on the phone and even texted. I know he read it because my phone informed me he did. I got no response and even waited a week which is today. You would think getting this text you would care enough to respond especially since you’re the owner…
I was very disappointed in the handling of my order. I made sure to call and repeat myself several times upon ordering to make sure that everything was done correctly because this was a very important event to me. Then I called the night before to confirm and was told my order was right and accounted for. Not only was my order lost and never recorded, but everything else was wrong as well, except for your company charging my credit card. Everything from the type of cupcakes, to the detailed inscription and the 3hr late delivery. To top it all off, you weren’t able to Reverse or at the very least discounting my order. Thank you for offering to going the extra mile and adding more cupcakes, but even that was not taken care of. At this point I am beyond bothered by the service that your company is providing. I appreciate the gesture of my next ordering being on you but it does not help when we don’t live on Oahu and we don’t come here very often. This is certainly the worst service I have ever had in my entire life by company or individual. I hope that you have a meeting with your staff to fix the obvious lack of communication in your business.

I’m visiting Hawaii from Australia and wanted to try a sweet treat.
Looking at the reviews of other Unilocalers, I knew I had to try the Hokulani Bakeshop.
It’s a cute little shop located in Waikiki which has a beautiful display of delicious cupcakes.
I tried the coconut cupcake and the Lilikoi cupcake and they both were ONOLICIOUS (delicious).
I thought I would only try 2 for my first time, but wished I had bought more lol
My trip had ended yet, so will be back to try some different flavour cupcakes before heading back to Aus.
Cupcakes cost me $ 3 each and were worth every dollar.
Fresh, sweet and oh so yummy!

Ordered a delivery online from Boston to have sent to some one on the island. Great selection to choose from. Delivery was great, got a call from delivery person to confirm every thing and they did a wonderful job! Recipient was extremely happy!

So I was eager to try this place out based on the hype from the TV show of CupCake Wars and them being a winner. But honestly this place was more like a chain cupcake shop that has gone commercialized; no local flair and no home grown feel to it that comes out in the taste. Just ok cupcakes. Sad to me, because it had so much potential, but it feels like they’ve lost their roots in order to make a buck.

Waikiki location. Can’t believe these guys won anything. Showed up about 8 pm on a sat after waiting to find the place all day. Got to this tiny kiosk of a business only to find terrible looking melted cupcakes in the display case. There must have been if this many a dozen in total. Why did they look so crappy. What no refrigeration here? What a disappointment. Save your sweet tooth for anywhere else. Keep looking

This review is for the Waikiki and Downtown location since this experience dealt with the two bakeries. I wanted to get some cookie favors for a going away party that we were throwing for our friend. I usually have a go to person to do custom cookies for me but she wasn’t available so I browsed through Unilocal and found that Hokulani Bakery makes sugar cookies. I saw the «Aloha» lei cookie through pictures and thought that’d be perfect for a going away gathering. So I did research on their website as well and decided to go in person to inquire about the sugar cookies since they welcome ideas for customization.
I went after work on a Monday and got to Restaurant Row around 530pm. On Unilocal,the hours stated that the downtown location opens til 6pm and figured I still have time just to briefly inquire about cookies. I get there and the lights are off and closed sign up. So I called the number to be sure and there was no answer. I was thinking did they close early or something?! So I double checked the hours and it’s supposed to be open til 6pm.
My gathering was already 5 days away so I just wanted to inquire sooner than later to see if they can take my order. So I thought, I’ll call the Hyatt Location. Although I do work only 5 minutes away from that location, I didn’t want to deal with parking so I came to restaurant row instead and on the website if there were any order inquiries to contact the main location.
I called the Hyatt Location number listed on Unilocal and the girl who was working that day tried to help me out with my inquiry. I told her that I went to the restaurant row location and it was closed. She stated that they close early on Mondays. I think they should revise the hours listed if that’s the case so people like me wouldn’t have to drive down only to find out it’s closed.
So I asked her about the Aloha Lei Cookie Inquiries and she said it can be done within the time frame I gave her so I was pretty happy about that knowing I can place an order for it just in time for the going away gathering. She said come down to the Waikiki location the following day to fill out order forms. I said okay and asked if I come down there, is validation included, then she said «yes, for 1 ½» free parking. So I decided I’ll drive my way back to Waikiki just so I can get it out of my hands and place the order the sooner the better, I always say.
I parked at the Hyatt structure and walked across the street to find the store. It took me over 10 minutes to find it as I was walking back and forth looking for it. Finally found it tucked away in a mini shop by urban outfitters. You’d totally miss it if you weren’t looking for it. It was around 630pm when I arrived there and their cupcake display case was a bit bare as for the cookie selection as well. They open til 11pm so I’d figure they’d still have more stocked up selections to offer but I suppose it’s whatever they have that day since it appears non of the baking is done there. So it’s probably best to go during the day.
I finally met with the girl on the phone and I said I called about making the orders for aloha leis. She asked about the colors and such and I asked if there were picture samples since there weren’t any cookies displayed. She said to look on their website. I was like okay, I suppose I’ll do that. I would think for a place that does cakes, cupcakes, cookies customization would have some kind of book to show what customers have ordered in the past like other bakeries.
Then I asked if they could make airplane cookies and she said yes so I figured that’d go perfect with the theme. I asked if they had sample pictures or ideas of what can be done but she told me to just google it. I just felt that she wasn’t much of a help in helping brainstorm ideas for what can be done for an airplane design. She seemed very disinterested and unpleasant to work with. This is not a place for consultation, you need to come prepared with exactly what you want, what colors, what designs, etc. I certainly wasn’t prepared as I stood there on my phone googling what type of designs I could do based on the airplane cutter she had told me.
After 30 minutes of back and forth decisions on the lei and airplane cookies, I finally decided what I wanted and ordered 10 of each set. It’s $ 4 a cookie and extra $.10 if you want customization letters. 20 cookies came out to about $ 85. Pretty expensive in my opinion but it was for my friend’s going away so I didn’t have time to search elsewhere.
Before I left, I asked for validation and she said we don’t validate here. But wait… I called you on the phone prior to coming and you said you validate for 1 and a half. «Oh, I thought you were talking about Restaurant Row» Why would I call the Hyatt location and ask for parking for Restaurant Row. Makes no sense. So I spent another $ 8 on parking for 45 minutes of parking in the Hyatt.
At this point, I’m already frustrated. I was just hoping for the best that the cookies will turn out.

I’m really into Cupcake Wars and I like to try the winners as much as I can. I was very excited to find out that Hokulani was walking distance from my hotel in Waikiki.
However, when I go to Hokulani, I was a bit confused about how they won the show in the first place. It was just strange that the cupcakes didn’t even look like the frosting was piped, just simply spreaded onto the cupcake.
Something that was also strange is that my family had a «buy 2, get 1 free» coupon, but the worker made us go out on the street to look for more to allow us to get that discount more than once. There were more than 10 of us there, so I don’t think the «limit one per customer» would apply in this situation.
The sweet potato cheesecake and shaved ice were both really good. The strawberry lihing lemonade tasted like an average strawberry lemonade cupcake mix I bought from Target. Most of the other cupcakes were average as well.
It was cool to say I tried it, but I’ve had better and cheaper cupcakes.

They shouldn’t bother staying open late because the cupcakes had all dried outage were hard, spent $ 31 and ended up throwing most of them away they were horrible

Five stars for their cupcakes! My favorites are guava, lilikoi and red velvet! I am not really a sweets person, much less an icing person. But I am a cream cheese person. And I can appreciate a cupcake with a good cream cheese icing! Hokulani bake shop makes the only cupcakes+icing that I will eat willingly and enjoy. I wonder if they do custom birthday cakes? If I had a cake made of guava and cream cheese frosting, I would pretend it was my birthday, order an entire cake («Happy Birthday Sasha».riiiiight) and spend the night watching Netflix and going to town on it.

Well they don’t open at 9am that’s for sure. No clue when. No other store hours posted and no one answers the phone. Apparently they just opened later today
Finally open! Awesome cupcakes! Nice girl at counter, very helpful. Got six for a birthday, they look amazing. One didn’t make it to the party. Lost it, no where to be found. Don’t send a search party, just go get a cupcake!

We tried 4 cupcakes after finding it on Unilocal & being its down the street from our hotel. 1. Sea salt caramel-​delicious! Our fav! Moist, caramelly-​goodness!
2. Snickerdoodle-​tasted like snicker double to me. Soft, very cinnamony. This was my hubby’s pick. He didn’t love but it did taste like snicker doodle, so… 3. S’mores-least favorite. Dry, just disappointing. Bummer because I love s’mores! 4. Red velvet-​yummy! No wonder it’s a fan fav, it is moist, cream cheese creamy!
Perfect treat to satisfy our sweet teeth!

Apparently, these guys won Cupcake Wars, or so I was told by some friends. We were shopping nearby and went to check them out. I’m not much of a dessert eater but I absolutely LOVE white cupcakes. And to tell the truth, the bakery at Safeway where I’m from does a damn good job with them, so here is my very first comparison on big vs. small taste-​wise, not by variety.
ATMOSPHERE:
The tiny shop is located in the Hyatt Regency Waikiki on the ground floor mixed in with the other shops in the mall. It’s take out only with zero seating. I don’t think any baking is done here. They have other shops across the rock.
CUPCAKES:
Vanilla Coffee Bean — There was just one lonely cupcake left in the entire case which the 3 of us shared lol. The color was a light yellow with specks of coffee, the texture was a bit crumbly and not as moist as I’d like, though the flavor was good and true to its name. I never eat the frosting on any cupcake because it’s just way too much sugar.
SERVICE:
The sole lady working the shop was friendly, inviting, and professional.
OVERALL:
Good, but not the best I’ve had.

I was looking for a vegan wedding cake and called this place to ask if they could make one.
I have a medical condition where my body can’t have animal proteins, so as a result, many of the things that I eat are vegan.
anyway, after asking if they were able to make a vegan wedding cake the lady on the other end said they could not. She answered very rudely and seemed very short with me. Mind you, I was very polite towards her, despite me not receiving the same courtesy.
I replied by saying «That’s no problem. do you happen to know of any other bakeries in your area that would be able to bake a vegan wedding cake?»
After asking my question I was hung up on.
I can only imagine how rudely this place treats their customers in person if they are going to hang up on someone over the phone.
If I could rate this place zero stars, I would.

We bought a few different cupcakes to try and I must say that I had a few that were yummy but a couple I just want to buy more and eat them all day! All of our cupcakes were moist and delicious though! Salted Carmel! Yummmmmmmmm… Anyway! The lady working there was sweet as pie! Delicious and I may just have to stop in again. I would have never noticed had I not been in the hotel, maybe as a sign outside?!?

My mom had a significant-​year birthday party and instead of getting a formal cake, we decided to get cupcakes from Hokulani Bake Shop. So glad that we did. This place has the Bombshadiggidyfoshizzle cupcakes!
We ordered three different types of cupcakes — guava, red velvet, and lilikoi /​passion fruit. All three were amazing, but my favorite was the guava. The frosting was a nice buttercream that was delicious. They even did some custom decorations on each of the cupcakes.
Go get this! It is delicious!
Food Grade: A!
Service Grade: A! (They had our order ready right when the store opened)
Worth the Money Grade: B+
Overall Impression Grade: A–

Wandering Waikiki this morning and trying to figure out a plan for breakfast. Health nut that I am, I decided cupcakes were an acceptable choice. This is a tiny little shop — more of a kiosk than anything. I went with the strawberry guava for my first choice, and asked the salesperson to recommend my second choice. She said that people are usually fans of the coconut cupcake, so I went with that.
I suppose I should offer up the disclaimer that cupcakes are actually on a lower rung of my dessert hierarchy, but I still think I can tell a good cupcake from a mediocre cupcake. I’d say the positives of these cupcakes were the moisture of the cakes themselves, and the frosting-​to-​cupcake ratio. The main negative was that I felt they were a little short on flavor. I really didn’t taste any strawberry or guava in the first cupcake. It just tasted more like a sugar cupcake than anything. The coconut cupcake tasted fine, but still a little generic.
So in comparison to the numerous other cupcake shops that I’ve tried, I’d say these were just so-​so.

I had a grapefruit cupcake with cream cheese frosting I believe. The decoration was soo cute and pretty!
The shop is super small; it can be easily missed.
I wish the cupcake had a bit more flavor to it. But the texture was super moist and you can’t screw up cream cheese frosting!
Prices are moderate, typical for a cupcake shop (compared to California shops). It was a nice treat that satisfied my sweet tooth craving.

If it wasn’t for Cupcake Wars, I probably wouldn’t have tried it. Thankfully, living conveniently close persuaded me to do so.
The prices for cupcakes was a bit on the expensive side. Their cupcakes ranges from $ 2.75– $ 4.00 per cupcake and are on a smaller size. For my first time, I was able to get the Strawberry Guava, Red Velvet, Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter and lastly my favorite Orange Creamsicle. They were all nice and moist and fresh according to taste. I would highly recommend trying their Orange Creamsicle first and I will also recommend trying their other locations since this location will not have other flavors as they would have from their bigger locations.
This little shop is located in Waikiki, across from Straub and on the street off of Kalakaua and Kaiulani Ave.

Walked by and was enticed in by the sign that said they had won an episode of Cupcake Wars.
Weird, because I don’t really like watching the show.
Anyway the lady behind the counter had as much personality or enthusiasm for her product as an Aardvark selling frying pans. Which makes no sense. Lets just say she wasn’t going to win Miss Personality.
«So, you guys won Cupcake Wars? That must be exciting!»
«Yeah.»
“So… Which one won?“
Points to a strawberry shortcake looking one. «That.»
I tried it, it was alright. Moist but a bit dense. The frosting had a cream cheese zing but the strawberry was just a jam type of drizzle, would have been cool to have something fresher.

Toasted coconut cupcake… TO DIE FOR!