Technically a restaurant. In practice, the best bar in Ko Olina, and it’s not particularly close. Chef Peter Merriman opened this Ko Olina outpost as the second location of his Monkeypod brand (the original is in Wailea, Maui), and the formula translates beautifully to the west side of Oahu. The room has a proper tiki bar soul, surfboards along the walls, shipping rope strung across the ceiling, an open-air design that catches every trade wind coming off the water. The 36-tap craft beer setup, each line chilled to a precise 29 degrees, is the kind of thing that makes you wonder why every bar doesn’t do this. The culinary cocktails lean hard into local ingredients: acai spirit, Kula lavender, coconut water, fresh lilikoi. Happy hour runs daily from 3:30 to 5pm and is legitimately great, half-priced appetizers and discounted drinks. Live music every day. The roasted pineapple cream pie is not optional.
Filed under our Hawaii rundown, where the rest of them live.
