The Story of Kauaʻi’s Tip Top Motel, Café, & Bakery

In a quiet Kaua‘i neighborhood, where plantation-era homes sit beside a modest mix of local shops and businesses, Tip Top Motel, Café, & Bakery endures as a beloved institution.

The food is straightforward and comforting, the service warm and unpretentious, and each visit feels like home. As it approaches its 110th anniversary, Tip Top stands out in a world of speed, reinvention and social media polish, a survivor through changing times, generational shifts and destructive storms. Today it reflects Kaua‘i’s enduring spirit.

Tip Top’s story began with a simple question. In November 1916, a Līhu‘e shop manager asked Denjiro Ota to open a coffee shop. Ota, an immigrant from Hiroshima, Japan, had worked as a cook in the home of plantation manager Albert Spencer Wilcox. Relying on his culinary talent, he opened a bakery and café beside Līhu‘e Store, where Harbor Mall now stands. Ota’s menu featured Japanese and American dishes, along with a bakery case filled with pies, cakes, cookies, doughnuts and sweet bread. Named after the building it called home, Tip Top was dubbed the first restaurant on the island of Kaua‘i and, despite locals’ initial hesitance to eat out, Ota was able to establish a loyal following of folks who craved his simple, soulful cooking.

In 1925, Ota’s 20-year-old son, Mitchell, took the helm. He introduced the made-from-scratch pancakes and savory oxtail soup that would become Tip Top signatures. He guided the restaurant through the Great Depression and World War II, and shaped the café’s unfussy, family-first atmosphere that still defines it today. Mitchell Ota also created Tip Top’s famed macadamia nut cookies, among the first cookies to feature Hawai‘i’s iconic crop. Medium-sized, satisfyingly crunchy, and able to stay fresh without refrigeration, the cookies quickly became a favorite takeaway for both locals and visitors.

By 1965, 40 years into Ota’s stewardship, the Tip Top building was slated for demolition. Seizing the moment, he moved the restaurant just a half-mile away to its current location on ‘Akahi Street. And recognizing the island’s growing appeal to visitors, he expanded the enterprise beyond the café, adding a 34-room motel and a bar. Under his guidance, Tip Top evolved from a local favorite into a hub where travelers and residents alike could gather, savor homestyle meals, and soak in Kaua‘i’s hospitality.

Today, Tip Top is still proudly owned and operated by the Ota family. In 1989, Jonathan Ota, great-grandson of founder Denjiro Ota, returned to Kaua‘i from O‘ahu to carry on the family legacy. Now in its fourth generation, Tip Top has cemented its place as one of the island’s most beloved dining spots; it was inducted into the Hawai‘i Small Business Hall of Fame in 2023.

Nearing its 110th anniversary, Tip Top gives guests more than a meal—it gives them a taste of the past, too. Here, guests can still savor the Scratch Pancakes, made fresh daily from Mitchell Ota’s original recipe, and the legendary Tip Top Oxtail Soup, slowly cooked to perfection and served for breakfast and lunch.

Tip Top’s milestone anniversary highlights what the place represents: a quiet dignity, a sense of belonging, and a home away from home. Though much has changed around it, the restaurant’s well-worn booths, diverse plates, and time-tested griddle remain, reflecting the enduring values that define Tip Top and capture the heart of an island better than any postcard image.

Tip Top Motel, Café, & Bakery, 3173 ‘Akahi St., Līhu‘e, (808) 245-2333, tiptop-motel.com. 

This story was originally published in our SPRING/SUMMER 2026 issue, which you can buy here. Better yet, subscribe and get HAWAIʻI Magazine delivered right to your mailbox.