Recent social media posts
09/19/2026
Sharing made easy 🌺 Ohana Package feeds 4–5 adults and comes with 2 proteins, 32 oz of rice, and 32 oz of mac salad—perfect for bringing everyone together over island comfort favorites.
Stop by Kalei's Kitchenette Tuesday through Saturday and pick up Ohana Package for your next group meal.
09/18/2026
Crab Salmon Dynamite Friday Only is bringing bold island comfort to the plate 🌺 Seared salmon topped with an imitation crab mix, made with the warm, welcoming touch Kalei's Kitchenette is known for. Limited availability, so come enjoy this Friday favorite while it lasts. 🔥
09/18/2026
I’m pretty sure chatGPT will not include restaurant business as a recommendation 🫣😝
09/14/2026
Craving comfort on a plate? Loco Moco brings it all together with a seared 1 pound burger patty, rich brown gravy, and two fried eggs, served with rice and mac salad for a satisfying island-style meal 🍳🌺
Stop by Kalei's Kitchenette Tuesday through Saturday and dig into Loco Moco.
09/12/2026
Big flavor, made to share 🌺 Huli Huli Chicken Ohana Tray features grilled Hawaiian marinated smoke flavored BBQ chicken thigh topped with homemade bbq sauce, packed in a reusable container and ready to bring comfort to the table.
Stop by Kalei's Kitchenette Tuesday through Saturday and pick up Huli Huli Chicken Ohana Tray.
09/08/2026
🌺 THIS WEEK’S LUNCH DEAL IS HERE! 🍙🥤
September 8–10 | 11 AM–2 PM ⏰
Get 1 Musubi + 1 Hawaiian Sun for only $5! 😍
Perfect for a quick, delicious lunch break 🌴🤙
✨ Limit 2 per person
📍 In-Store Only
Come through, grab your fave musubi, and enjoy a little taste of Hawaii! 🌺🍙🥤
09/07/2026
Part 3 of 3.
This Monday Sept 7, Kalei’s website gets a new look, a new backend, and a few surprises.
Link in bio when it’s live.
💻 Popmenu
09/06/2026
Part 2 of 3.
Five years. No storefront. No sign. Just a website carrying the entire business.
Here’s how that actually worked.
Part 3 tells you what’s changing this Monday.
Excited for our Popmenu website launch
09/05/2026
Part 1 of 3.
Before you see what’s launching Monday, you need to know why we care this much about a website.
Everything else we do online, we’re renting. This is the one thing we own.
Part 2 drops next.
09/01/2026
⏰ 3PM to 5PM = Mini Meal Time! 🍔✨
Got a little hunger? Grab your favorite Mini Meal for 50% OFF between 3PM and 5PM! 🎉
Perfect for that afternoon pick-me-up, snack break, or early dinner treat. 😋
📍 In-Store Only
🕒 3PM to 5PM
🔥 50% OFF Mini Meals
Drop by and enjoy your Mini Meal for less! 🙌
09/01/2026
🏈 MCHS FOOTBALL, THIS ONE’S FOR YOU! 🏈
Mark your calendars for September 1 and join us at Kalei’s Kitchenette for a special fundraiser supporting the Mt. Carmel High School Football Team!
🔥 20% OF SALES WILL BE DONATED TO MT. CARMEL HIGH SCHOOL! 🔥
Here’s how you can support:
📲 ORDER ONLINE
Use coupon code MCHS09 at checkout.
🏪 WALK IN
Stop by Kalei’s Kitchenette and mention Mt. Carmel High School when placing your order.
📅 September 1
⏰ 11 AM – 7 PM
Bring your family, friends, teammates, and fellow MCHS supporters! Grab your favorite Hawaiian comfort food and make your meal count. Every order helps support our local student-athletes and their football program. 🙌
Eat. Cheer. Support MCHS!
Mahalo for showing your support and helping us give back to our local community! 🌺
08/31/2026
Kalei’s Kitchenette sent spam musubi to Howl House’s End of Summer tech party this week, alongside Athletic Brewing Co , JuneShine, and Above Board | No Sugar Liqueurs
We are a Hawaiian plate lunch restaurant, not a tech company, so on paper this was not our crowd. Up close it was. thesocialcoyote Howl House exists to put builders in a room and let them find each other. Kalei’s started the same way, a folding table at a farmers market in 2018, one industry over from anyone in that room, working from the same instinct: show up, make something real, see who else is doing the same.
Thank you to Jonah Peak and Rylie Outspoken Management Group for building this.
08/28/2026
Happy Aloha Friday! Help us celebrate Chef Andy’s birthday by sending your warm greetings 🤙🏽
08/27/2026
The hardest part of planning an event is not the food. It is the headcount. The RSVPs. The back and forth with vendors. We know, because we have planned our own.
So when we get on a call with a new client, we are not just talking about menu items. We are talking about fruit preferences, how to keep fried items from getting soggy, how many people are realistically coming, and what is going to make the whole thing feel manageable.
By the end of this call, the client exhaled and said it out loud: Kalei’s Kitchenette made the catering side of their party planning completely stress-free.
That is the goal every single time.
Link in bio to start your call.
08/24/2026
Hospitality people know you should not open a restaurant. Khara and Chef Andy knew that. They did it anyway.
In this one, Khara talks about what it actually took to go from surviving a pandemic to signing a lease on a brick-and-mortar space and why running from something you are genuinely built for is harder than the restaurant itself.
She also shares a running joke she had with her late mom that will land differently once you hear the full context.
If you have people in food and beverage in your life, watch this and then go check on them.
08/22/2026
The most stressful part of planning an event is not the food. It is the back and forth!
Contracts you are not sure are final. Venue coordinators requesting a COI you did not know was coming. Updates that get buried in an email thread from three weeks ago.
Every client we work with gets a guest portal where all of it lives in one organized space: event details, contracts, venue documentation, floor plans, and payment. When we make a change, you see it immediately because what you see and what our kitchen sees are always the same. No inconsistency, ever.
We use Tripleseat to make that happen, and it is one of the reasons our clients tell us communication with us feels different from other caterers they have worked with.
Link in bio if you want to see how this works for your event.
08/20/2026
From the Philippines to San Jose to San Diego, the path was never straight. But every stop built something.
He can feed 750 people. She builds the strategy around it.
Eight years in, Kalei’s Kitchenette is still running on that same combination, rooted in hospitality and built for San Diego. One word has guided every season of it: figureoutable.
Mahalo Asian Business Association for having Khara join the MomPreneur Series
08/18/2026
Free Hawaiian Sun with any plate. 🌺
Lunch this week comes with a drink on us. Order any plate between 11AM and 2PM, Tuesday through Thursday (August 18-20), and use code FREEDRINK to add your Hawaiian Sun for Free! Excludes Mini Meal.
Available in-store and online.
📍 9926-F Carmel Mountain Rd, Rancho Peñasquitos
08/15/2026
Most people only see the food hit the table. What happens in the twenty minutes before that is a different conversation.
Chef Andy on a catering run does not look like what you might expect. No barking, no scrambling. Just someone reading the room and adjusting before the room knows it needs adjusting. Checking the appetizer line. Calling the timing. Making sure the next wave is already moving before this one lands.
That calm is not a personality trait. It is what eight years of convention centers and five-star hotels looks like when it shows up to your event.
And a calm kitchen is something you taste.
Kalei’s Kitchenette | Hawaiian catering, Rancho Penasquitos, San Diego
Catering inquiries: [email protected]
Opening Hours
| Tuesday |
11am - 7pm |
| Wednesday |
11am - 7pm |
| Thursday |
11am - 7pm |
| Friday |
11am - 7pm |
| Saturday |
11am - 7pm |
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What people say
Hawaiian restaurants are known for their unique and flavorful dishes that transport you to the beautiful islands of Hawaii. Kalei's Kitchenette in San Diego is no exception, offering a wide range of Pacific Rim cuisine that will leave your taste buds dancing with joy.
One of the standout dishes at Kalei's Kitchenette is their Loco Moco, which features a homemade patty made with love and aloha, topped with not one but two perfectly cooked eggs. This filling delight is sure to leave you feeling satisfied and ready to conquer the day, Hawaiian style!
But it's not just about the food at Kalei's Kitchenette - it's also about the experience. This family-owned catering service has recently extended its store hours from Tuesday to Saturday, making it easier for customers to savor their local favorites. And if you have a sweet tooth, be sure to try their Hawaiian Style Manju with Azuki Beans filling - a delicious addition to their dessert options.
Overall, Kalei's Kitchenette is a must-visit for anyone looking for authentic and delicious Hawaiian cuisine in San Diego. With its warm and welcoming atmosphere and mouth-watering dishes, this restaurant truly embodies the aloha spirit.
