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Big City Diner After Windward Mall: How a Kaimukī Comfort-Food Diner Grew Up, and How to Bid on a Piece of It

By Oahu Local Published 4 min read

Big City Diner flyer reading "Bids a Fond Aloha to the Windward Community," with photos of booths, chairs, kitchen equipment and framed vintage photos up for auction through CTBids.
Big City Diner’s flyer bidding aloha to the Windward community and promoting the online auction. Image: Big City Diner (via Aloha State Daily)

For a lot of Windward families, Big City Diner was the default spot for a family meal. The Kāneʻohe chapter of that story ended on Saturday, Oct. 31, when the diner closed its Windward Mall location after 11 years. Through Thursday, the community can take a piece of it home.

The auction: what’s up for bid

After the closure, Big City Diner launched an online auction through Caring Transitions of Honolulu (CTBids), Aloha State Daily reported. Here’s how it works:

  • Bidding ends: Thursday, Nov. 5. Items close at staggered times through the evening, starting at 7 p.m.
  • Where to bid: ctbids.com/estate-sale/49474
  • Pickup: Local pickup is preferred, from 6 to 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, and by appointment Sunday, Nov. 8, according to CTBids president Steve Tokita. Some items can be shipped at the buyer’s expense.

Nearly 130 items were listed when the paper reported, and Tokita said he expected to add more. The practical stuff includes big-screen TVs, chef bases, stainless steel shelving, a commercial conveyor dishwasher, booths, pedestal tables, bar stools and chairs.

The fun stuff is the décor. Look for framed vintage photos of Hawaiʻi from the Bishop Museum Archives, signed local sports photos and newspaper clippings, collectible breweriana mirrors and Coca-Cola Tiffany-style lights. Tokita told the paper some photos show “Old Hawaiʻi” and honor past Big City Diner locations from Waikīkī to Ward, including one looking out over old Pearl Harbor from the ʻAiea and Pearlridge area. While his team worked on site at Windward Mall, he said, lots of people stopped by to share memories of the restaurant.

Why Windward Mall closed

Big City Diner president Lane Muraoka told KHON2 in October that the pressures were stacking up at once. He pointed to lower tourism spending plus higher health and liability insurance, minimum-wage increases and utility hikes. Aloha State Daily summed up the reason as the cost to operate. Pacific Business News reported the closure alongside that of Maruki Tei, another longtime Windward Mall tenant, which is closing for good.

Muraoka didn’t rule out a return. He told KHON2 that if the opportunity comes up, the diner could be back in Kāneʻohe someday. He described a loyal crowd of regulars who came several times a week, and said it was common to see three generations sharing one table. Windward Mall employees who wanted to stay with the company were able to move to other locations, according to KITV, as cited by Aloha State Daily.

From dishwasher to diner owner

Big City Diner’s founder learned the business from the dish pit up. Muraoka is a Kailua boy who attended ʻIolani School, according to the company’s history page and a 2019 Star-Advertiser feature. His first restaurant job, at 16, was washing dishes at Flamingo Chuck Wagon, a job his coach helped him get, the Star-Advertiser’s Restaurant Insider column reported.

He opened the first Big City Diner on Waiʻalae Avenue in Kaimukī in August 1998. In that 2019 column, he said the idea was local American comfort food “that Grandma used to make but even better,” served at a family-friendly neighborhood gathering spot. It would be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, and you could have a beer or a glass of wine without it being a bar.

Growing across the island

The concept traveled. Kailua Town Center came next. Corporate chef Dennis Franks, who joined in 2001, opened that location in 2002, according to the 2019 column. By the diner’s 20th anniversary in 2018, the Star-Advertiser counted six locations: Kaimukī, Ward Entertainment Center, Waipiʻo Shopping Center, Pearlridge East, Kailua and Windward Mall. The company’s site credits nearly 400 employees with that growth.

Along the way, the menu picked up its signatures. The company’s website lists its baby back ribs with guava-barbecue sauce, boneless Korean kalbi steak and Mama’s bread pudding as local favorites. The Star-Advertiser also highlighted kimchee fried rice. The Kailua restaurant was the first eatery to earn Blue Zones Project Approved status, which meant adding healthier menu options, according to the company.

A tougher decade

The closures started before Windward Mall. In May 2024, the original Kaimukī restaurant served its last meals after nearly 26 years. Muraoka told the Star-Advertiser that the cost of doing business, from minimum wage and insurance to electricity, gas and food, had made things extremely challenging since the pandemic, along with the difficulty of hiring for that location. The Ward location no longer appears on the company’s list either.

Where to eat Big City Diner now

Three Oʻahu locations remain open, according to Aloha State Daily: Kailua Town Center (108 Hekili St., Suite 101, Kailua, per the company’s website), Pearlridge East and Waipiʻo Shopping Center. For hours and menus, check bigcitydinerhawaii.com.

If you’ve been meaning to go back for those guava-barbecue ribs, consider this your reminder. Local diners like this one stay open because people keep showing up.

Sources

Filed under Central OahuHonoluluWindward Oahu

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