If you live in Waikoloa Village, you already know this without being told: you can get ramen, scratch-made Italian, and a hand-smashed burger without driving down to the coast or over to Kona. The planned grocery store has not yet opened.
The restaurant openings followed their own timeline. The planned grocery-store project was involved in a lawsuit and settlement; a later bankruptcy filing involved developer entities tied to the planned hotels.
Restaurants and Services at Waikoloa Plaza
Waikoloa Plaza sits on 45 acres off Waikoloa Road, about five miles inland from the coast, on land developer Gary Pinkston and his company Meridian Pacific bought in 2018 for $24 million. The plan, laid out for years in local business coverage, called for just over 135,000 square feet of retail anchored by Foodland and Ace Hardware, with restaurants, services, and eventually two hotels filling in around them.
The restaurants kept their end of the timeline. Pueo's Osteria has been open long enough to become a standing reservation for a lot of Village households, with chef James Babian building a scratch Italian menu sourced from Big Island farmers markets. The name comes from the pueo, the native Hawaiian owl, and the pricing has stayed approachable, with free parking that still counts as a selling point out here. SmashDaddy's 808 opened in early 2025 serving hand-smashed burgers and quickly became the answer to "where do we take the kids on a Tuesday." Ikkyu Ramen, which was still on the "coming soon" list as of February 2025, has since opened and built a steady run of four-star-plus reviews through this year.
None of that made headlines outside the Village, and neither did the businesses that filled in around them: Ace Hardware, Fitness Forever, Body Pro Physical Therapy, Manta Dental, MH Nail Salon, Eyecare Waikoloa, Island Holistic Healing, and a branch of Hawaii First Federal Credit Union. That list is not exciting to write about, but it is the difference between driving to Kona for a filling and getting one done five minutes from home.
The Rest Of The Village Never Stopped Cooking
The Plaza is not the whole story. Emma's Kitchen has been a Village fixture since the Waikoloa Highlands food court expanded back in 2019, and it is still on Yelp's current list of top Waikoloa Village restaurants. What has changed is what sits alongside it. Morningwood, HāLani, and Mauka Bar and Grill now show up consistently on Yelp's updated rankings for the area, and Manuela Malasada has built enough of a following that reviewers describe it in terms usually reserved for a hometown favorite, not a tourist stop. They offer another dining option alongside resort restaurants. They are the kind of places that get busy on a random Wednesday because the people eating there live three minutes away.
This is a different kind of growth signal from a national chain filling a lease. A named chef building a menu around local sourcing is another form of local business activity.
Foodland's Planned Store
The grocery-store plans have followed a different timeline. By the summer of 2020, the developer's own newsletter was already describing the Plaza as 90 percent leased, with the first businesses expected to open in the second half of 2021. Foodland has been part of the plan that entire time, and as of February 2025, Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported plainly that no opening date had been announced for it, even as the developer moved forward with plans for a Holiday Inn Express and Candlewood Suites on the same site.
A legal dispute emerged later. In November 2024, Waikoloa Plaza LLC sued Foodland in Kona Circuit Court, alleging the chain had backed out of its anchor-store commitment. Court minutes from April 2026 point to a settlement, with language that tells you everything about how open-ended this still is:
Foodland agreed to "build, open and operate a store," with construction to begin "at a commercially reasonable time."
The settlement did not set a groundbreaking date. In May 2026, Pinkston's Meridian Pacific filed for bankruptcy in the Northern District of Georgia, covering entities tied to the Waikoloa Village Lofts and both planned hotels. The Holiday Inn Express entity alone carries more than $236,000 in unsecured debt, with construction firm Goodfellow Bros. listed as the largest creditor.
Here is the timeline in one place:
| When | What Happened |
|---|---|
| 2018 | Meridian Pacific buys the 45-acre Waikoloa Road site for $24 million |
| June 2020 | Developer newsletter reports the Plaza is 90 percent leased, with first openings expected in late 2021 |
| November 2024 | Waikoloa Plaza LLC sues Foodland over the anchor commitment |
| Early 2025 | SmashDaddy's 808 opens; Foodland has no announced opening date |
| April 2026 | Settlement reached; Foodland to build "at a commercially reasonable time" |
| May 2026 | Meridian Pacific entities file for bankruptcy in Georgia, including both hotel projects |
The restaurants listed above opened on a separate timeline from the planned grocery store and hotels.
Farmers Markets and Food Trucks
The Village's own farmers market has its own schedule. The first Saturday of every month, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Waikoloa Village Stables on Waikoloa Road host a market that has nothing to do with any developer's construction pipeline: fresh produce, fish, eggs, plants, artisan food, and a community tent that rotates through chef demonstrations, small classes, and keiki activities.
Down at the coast, Kings' Shops runs its own farmers market every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., a different rhythm for a different crowd closer to the hotels. And on Monday nights, Hilton Waikoloa Village's food truck gathering, Village Street Eats, returned to the resort's lower parking lot on December 22, 2025, running 5 to 8 p.m. with a rotating lineup of local trucks. The three gatherings have their own schedules and settings.
What This Actually Changes If You Live Here
None of this is a prediction about property values, and it should not be read as one. What it does show is a neighborhood building the kind of day-to-day density that does not depend on a single anchor tenant to function. A dentist, a hardware store, a physical therapist, and five or six restaurants with real followings mean fewer necessary trips down the hill for things that used to require one. Even before the planned store opens, the Village has already answered the more important question on its own: what residents can access in the meantime.
If you're weighing what any of this means for a home you already own in the Village, or one you're thinking about buying here, Hawaii Development Group can walk through it with the same due-diligence approach used on every listing. Schedule a Private Consultation and we'll talk through what's actually changing on the ground, not just what's been promised.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
