Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort has launched Hinahina on the Beach, a full-day oceanfront restaurant that puts Hawaiian seafood at the center of its menu — from breakfast through a dinner program featuring giant tiger shrimp and locally sourced ahi. The property, operated under Marriott International's Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort brand, replaced its longtime Kai Market and The Edge of Waikiki Bar concepts with the single unified venue, which opened October 20, 2026.
The Seafood Program
The lunch card anchors its protein story on a Build-Your-Own Poke Bowl offering two key proteins: local-caught ahi tuna and wild-caught Atlantic salmon — a split sourcing model that signals both regional identity and supply-chain flexibility for a high-volume resort kitchen. Gray's Beach fish tacos round out the midday seafood offer. On the dinner side, Executive Chef Darren Demaya — a Hawaii Island native with more than 18 years at the property — debuts Giant Tiger Shrimp with Red Thai Lobster Curry Sauce as a table-share centerpiece, pairing a farm-raised warm-water crustacean with a lobster-infused sauce that extends shellfish flavor throughput without committing to whole-lobster plate economics.
The ahi poke bowl is a deliberate nod to Hawaiian foodservice culture, where locally sourced yellowfin has long served as the flagship protein. Specifying "local-caught" on the menu positions Hinahina within the state's growing emphasis on traceability and support for Hawaii's inshore and nearshore commercial fleet — a selling point that resonates with the resort's dual audience of island residents and mainland visitors.
Operator Context
The resort's pivot to a consolidated, seafood-accented concept reflects broader trends in Hawaii foodservice, where coastal and Pacific-Rim menus continue to command premium positioning. Demaya's pedigree — which includes time at Alan Wong's Restaurant, a defining institution of Hawaii Regional Cuisine — signals an intent to ground the seafood sourcing story in the same farm-to-table, island-first philosophy that Wong helped popularize. For trade buyers and distributors supplying Waikiki's hotel corridor, the menu's dual ahi/salmon poke framework is a practical hedge: local ahi availability can be seasonal and price-volatile, while Atlantic salmon provides a more consistent IQF backup without abandoning a premium wild-caught claim.
The breakfast and dinner buffet revival — the first in more than six years at the property — also has supply-chain implications. Buffet formats at a 1,636-room resort demand high-volume, reliable sourcing commitments, and the return of that service tier will put fresh pressure on the property's seafood procurement relationships heading into the busy winter travel season. The private dining Shapers Room, which seats up to 40 guests, and buyout options for groups of 25 to 250 suggest hotel private-dining seafood programs as an additional revenue layer worth watching as event business returns to Waikiki.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
