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The closing of Hale Ohuna was announced on the restaurant’s social media accounts Tuesday.
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Life was short for Hale Ohuna, the bar and food venue headed up by chef Lee Anne Wong. On Monday owner Kevin Hanney announced that it had closed its doors.
“It was too ambitious a project,” he said of the Kaimuki establishment, which opened Sept. 4 and billed itself as a “modern noodle house.”
Hale Ohuna offered a range of food and drink, from ramen, dumplings and a lamb burger to sake and cocktails. “We wanted it to be a bar with good food,” he said.
Hanney said the space, once home to his SALT Kitchen and Tasting Bar, is a challenging one. The long, narrow, split-level layout required that the business be focused on the bar.
“But we were not getting the bodies or the bar business we needed.”
He said that with the wave of bars on the scene, competition is stiff.
“It’s one thing when you’ve been open 30 years and you’re deciding what to do next month. It’s different when you’re trying to go day to day,” he said.
Wong and Hanney were partners in Hale Ohuna; their partnership continues at Koko Head Cafe, a breakfast and lunch restaurant headed by Wong. Hanney also owns 12th Ave Grill, which he opened in 2004.
