A new evening spot has opened a short walk from where we stay, and the first thing we checked was the clock. TERNS, the open-air terrace at Halepuna Waikiki, serves Wednesday to Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. By 5, our first beer of the afternoon is usually already open back in the suite. So the question was never “is it good?” — we have not been — but whether a 5 p.m. terrace has any place in a day that starts drinking earlier than that. The official menu answered more than we expected.
What happened
In a story this week, Hawaii News Now introduced TERNS as chef Vikram Garg’s new open-air space on the Halekulani Bakery terrace at Halepuna Waikiki, the hotel on Helumoa Road. The bakery handles bread and coffee in the daytime; in the evening the terrace becomes TERNS. The name is inspired by the Manu-o-Kū, the white tern. HNN describes a menu of shareable plates, entrees such as loco moco and fish and chips, and what it calls a “bespoke rhum bar.”
TERNS is not brand-new news. Aloha State Daily covered it on Sept. 11 as recently opened, and reported a partnership with Kō Hana Rum. Garg told that outlet, “I didn’t want to make it (this space) formal. The idea is to be outside, enjoy and have fun.”
The details we care about come from the hotel’s side. The official TERNS page on halekulani.com lists dinner Wednesday through Sunday, 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., dress code “Resort Casual,” and a phone number, (808) 744-4244. The Halepuna dining page calls it the hotel’s “new gathering place for evening dining.”
What it changes for a Waikiki stay
The official dinner menu (PDF) has prices, which is more than most openings give you. The parts that matter for a drink-first stop:
| On the TERNS menu | Price |
|---|---|
| Heineken (pale lager, 5.0%) | $9 |
| Roof Top pale ale (5.2%, Hawaii) | $12 |
| Rice Breaker Tokyo-style pilsner (4.2%, Hawaii) | $12 |
| Sommelier’s daily wine, 5-oz carafe / 750 ml bottle | $12 / $49 |
| French fries, herb salt, lemon aioli | $15 |
| Smoked ahi dip with chips | $18 |
| Ahi poke “pani puri,” Hawaiian style | $29 |
| Loco moco / fish and chips / udon Bolognese | $36 each |
The rum drinks HNN and Aloha State Daily mention are not on that PDF, so we have no cocktail prices to give you. We also found no happy hour on the official page or the menu. The menu does carry one line worth reading before you order: “20% gratuity may be added.”
Simple math for the kind of stop we would make: two Roof Top pale ales and a basket of fries come to $12 + $12 + $15 = $39 before tax and tip. That is a sit-down price, not a happy-hour price — fair for a hotel terrace, but not a reason to change your plans.
The more useful detail is on the right side of the menu. A section headed “Masala Maya Curry” lists curries from Masala Maya, Garg’s Indian takeout and delivery kitchen, which shares the 2233 Helumoa Road address. HNN confirms that TERNS guests can order those curries on the terrace. We lined the two official menus up:
| Dish | TERNS terrace | Masala Maya takeout menu |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken curry | $32 | $19.95 |
| Old Delhi butter chicken | $32 | $22.95 |
| Goan shrimp curry | $36 | $24.95 |
| Butter naan | $6 | $3.95 |
Same names, not necessarily the same plate. The terrace menu adds “country style” to its chicken curry, and neither menu tells you portion sizes. What you are clearly paying for on the terrace is the chair, the service and the evening air.
What we would do
We are not moving our first beer to 5 p.m. Our afternoons start in the suite with cold beer from the fridge, and by the time TERNS opens we are usually settled in. That is not a knock on the place. It simply opens after our day has already found its rhythm.
The curry is where TERNS and our routine actually meet. There was a stretch, years ago, when the two of us ate Indian curry almost every week, and we still perk up when a new curry kitchen opens in our part of Waikiki. But we are takeout people. On the night we decide to make curry the whole meal, the version we would pick is the $19.95 chicken curry from Masala Maya’s counter, carried back and eaten on the sofa with the windows open, not the $32 plate on the terrace. We have not ordered from Masala Maya or eaten at TERNS yet, so this is a menu comparison, not a taste test.
If we did want the terrace, we would go at 5 sharp on a weekday, order a Hawaii pale ale and the fries, and be walking home before most people sit down for dinner.
Who should go instead of us: anyone who eats dinner at 6 or 7 and wants to be outdoors without a formal dining room. Resort casual, shared plates, a pint for $9 to $12, loco moco for the person who wants something familiar. If you drive, HNN reports validated self-parking in the Halekulani garage and valet at either Halepuna Waikiki or Halekulani. We don’t rent a car, so we have not tested that.
Before you plan around this
- Hours, dress code and phone number are from the official halekulani.com page, and prices are from the official TERNS and Masala Maya menus, all checked Sept. 24, 2026 (Hawaii time). New restaurants adjust menus and hours in their first months, so check again before you go.
- We saw no mention of reservations or walk-ins on the official page. The hotel’s own instruction is to call (808) 744-4244 for information.
- Cocktail prices were not on the menu we could read. The rum bar comes from news coverage, not from a published drink list.
- The “20% gratuity may be added” line is on the menu, so check your bill before tipping on top of it.
Details
- TERNS: Halekulani Bakery terrace, Halepuna Waikiki, 2233 Helumoa Road, Honolulu. Wednesday to Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m. Resort casual. (808) 744-4244.
- Masala Maya: same address, Wednesday to Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m., pickup or DoorDash and Uber Eats, per its website.
A bakery by day and a terrace by evening is a nice use of the same patio. For a different kind of early drink in the neighborhood, our notes on Yard House Waikiki’s happy hour cover the one we actually walk to.
