The Sheraton Waikiki has a breakfast buffet again, and it is $48 a head. We will be honest from the start: we do not eat breakfast on vacation, so that number did not move us. What did is a smaller line on the same website. The new restaurant, Hinahina on the Beach, serves lunch every day until 5 pm, with Kona Brewing’s Big Wave on tap. That is our drinking hour, on the sand side of Kalakaua.
What happened
Aloha State Daily reported on October 16, 2026 that Hinahina has taken over the former Kai Market space at the Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort and replaces The Edge of Waikiki Bar, joining the two oceanfront spaces into one. According to the report, it brings back the resort’s breakfast buffet after more than six years. The name means “gray” in Hawaiian, a nod to Gray’s Beach out front.
The resort’s general manager, Tetsuji Yamazaki, told the outlet that “bringing back our beloved resort tradition of offering a daily breakfast buffet is also special to us.” The executive chef is Darren Demaya, who, per the same article, grew up on Hawaii Island, started as a dishwasher in Hilo, cooked at Alan Wong’s, and has held leadership roles in the Sheraton Waikiki’s restaurants for more than 18 years.
Here is what the restaurant’s own site and menu page say, checked October 17, 2026:
| Official site, as of October 17, 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Where | Lobby level of the Sheraton Waikiki, 2255 Kalakaua Ave., beach side near the Edge infinity pool |
| Breakfast | Buffet, daily 6:30-10:30 am, no reservations (first come, first served) |
| Breakfast price | $48 per adult, $25 per child |
| Lunch | A la carte, 11 am-5 pm; reservations accepted and encouraged |
| Dinner | ”Dinner service begins in Fall 2026” (no date) |
| Dress | Relaxed resort casual; beachwear welcome through the day |
| Parking | Up to four hours of validated self-parking in the Sheraton garage with a $25 minimum purchase |
What it changes for a Waikiki stay
If you eat breakfast and you are staying anywhere near the Royal Hawaiian end of the beach, you now have a sit-down buffet you can walk to without a reservation. The spread on the official menu is very local: a rotating set of fried rice (local boy with kalua pork, kim chee, lap cheong, garlic shrimp, ginger scallion, longanisa, vegetarian), rotating eggs Benedict that include loco moco and kalua hash versions, an omelet station, a pineapple upside-down pancake with coconut syrup, and malasadas with your choice of cinnamon, li hing mui, matcha or plain sugar. For a family that wants to eat once, properly, and then sit on the beach until mid-afternoon, that is a reasonable trade.
The bigger change for us is the 5 pm close on lunch. By 5 we are usually back in the room with a bottle open, so a full menu that runs until then covers our whole outing. These lunch prices come from the official menu, checked October 17, 2026:
| Lunch, official menu | Price |
|---|---|
| Garlic truffle fries | $15 |
| Boiled peanuts | $16 |
| Chili garlic edamame | $16 |
| Kamaboko dip with wonton chips | $18 |
| Sticky shoyu garlic wings | $24 |
| Wings, coconut shrimp and edamame sampler | $42 |
| Build-your-own poke bowl | $28 |
| Hinahina burger (half-pound American wagyu, brie, prosciutto) | $32 |
| South Shore garlic shrimp plate (seven pieces) | $36 |
And the drafts:
| On tap, official menu | Price |
|---|---|
| Big Wave Golden Ale, Kona Brewing | $11 |
| Longboard Lager, Kona Brewing | $11 |
| Aloha Blonde, Aloha Beer Co. | $11 |
| OMG Hazy IPA, Maui Brewing | $12 |
| Hinahina Lager, Honolulu Beerworks | $13 |
The by-the-glass list also has Infamous Goose New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc at $17. We did not find a happy hour anywhere on the official site or menus as of October 17, 2026, so assume those are the prices you pay.
What we would do
We have not eaten at Hinahina yet, so everything above is menu reading, not tasting. We have been to RumFire, the Sheraton’s other oceanfront bar, and the walk from our base at Hokulani is a few blocks east along Kalakaua. That is about as far as we like to go for a drink.
Our plan would be simple. Walk over around 2 pm on a weekday, after the lunch rush and well before the menu closes at 5. Order two Big Waves and the edamame, maybe the boiled peanuts if we are feeling ambitious. Two Big Waves plus the edamame is $11 + $11 + $16 = $38 for the two of us before tax and tip. Watch the water for an hour, then walk back and start the real evening in the room. The OMG Hazy IPA at $12 is the one we would try second, since IPAs are our default.
We would skip the breakfast buffet, not because of the price but because it is breakfast. Our mornings are coffee in the room and some fruit. If your mornings look different, especially with kids at $25, it is a sit-down breakfast right on the sand that you can walk into. Just show up early, because there are no reservations.
If you drive: the $25 minimum for up to four hours of validated parking is easy to clear at lunch, and that is a real saving at a Waikiki resort garage. We do not rent a car, so we are passing that along rather than using it.
Before you plan around this
Dinner is the soft part. The official site only says dinner begins in fall 2026. Aloha State Daily reports that a la carte dinner is planned for 5 to 8 pm and that a seafood buffet on Fridays and Saturdays is expected in November; the chef told the outlet, “We’re bringing back the seafood buffet on Fridays and Saturdays in November.” Treat both as plans until they appear on the restaurant’s site. A Thanksgiving buffet dinner is listed separately, with booking but no price on that page.
One small mismatch, too: the news report lists the fish tacos at $30, while the restaurant’s own menu shows $27. We went with the menu here. New places adjust prices and hours in their first months, so check the menu page the week you go.
Details
- Hinahina on the Beach, Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort, 2255 Kalakaua Ave., Honolulu
- Breakfast buffet daily 6:30-10:30 am ($48 adults, $25 kids, walk-in only); lunch 11 am-5 pm; dinner “Fall 2026” (all as of October 17, 2026)
- Lunch reservations through the official site
For us it is not the buffet that matters. It is a beachfront table that stays open until 5 pm and pours Big Wave.
