Art Cafe Nostalgia

My friends and I waited nearly 30 minutes for lunch take out. The lasagna ($ 7.95) tasted like Costco lasagna, but hey, I like Costco lasagna. The beef bourguignon ($ 10.95) was good, but it was served on rice and reminded us of airplane food. The lox and bagel ($ 7.95) was pretty simple and straightforward, but it would have been nice if the bagel were toasted. The Gilikoi iced tea ($ 4.50 for the large) was on the sweeter side and enjoyed by all. Portion sizes were Japanese-​style cute, so I wouldn’t recommend this place if you have a hearty appetite at lunch or if you’re limited on time. Overall, we agreed that the food was fine and not bad, but nothing we ordered was worth the price or the wait. We probably would have had a better experience if we dined in, but during our visit all of the tables were already taken.
Extremely sweet and friendly service, and I really like the concept of a cute, cozy, over-​furnished café sitting room as an idyllic chill out spot in downtown Honolulu.

This is a pretty cute place and the décor reminds me of a hole-​in-​the-​wall you might find in France with a few antiquated trinkets. The owner of this place is also an artist. Some of her paintings (and other artwork) are displayed throughout the area.
The food selection is pretty minimal, you can get sandwiches and a few other main dishes with a pretty decent selection of teas or coffee. My mom and I split the chili dish with iced tea. It was good, but I was still hungry.

I serendipitously ran into this French inspired café one day during one of my usual mad dashes through a work day. It’s so easy to take for granted the many offerings Honolulu has lent to the downtown experience of eateries. Art Café Nostalgia is one to treasure and a pleasant escape I look forward to as daily as possible so that my creativity at work can better flow. For around $ 10 I can enjoy a world-​class meal of beef bourguignon and a side salad. It’s tough to create a culinary delight for around $ 10-​$ 11? Additionally, another unique pairing is the lovely, refreshing flavors of lilikoi and ginseng! Mahalo to Gina and staff for a fun, relaxing ‘Midnight in Paris’ escape in downtown Honolulu. Great place to decompress and meet friends!

Since the café is located on the first floor of my mom’s office building, it’s really convenient for her and for anyone else in the building to grab some coffee, breakfast, and lunch.
I had lunch here today with my mom and we loved the food very much. She had the lasagna special while I had the smoked salmon in a bagel. the decorations are really nice and makes the whole café very homey. The people working there were very nice and would ask us if we were doing alright once in a while.
Two thumbs up!

I absolutely LOVE this place. A friend who was visiting from out of town found this little café while she was waiting on me to finish up work. The food is great! I highly recommend the chili. I have it at least a couple of times a week. The Gilikoi drink (sp?) is sooooo yummy. I’m absolutely addicted. I am not a coffee drinker, but my friend had the coffee and raved about it.
Gina is the owner and she also created most of the art that you see around the café. She is one of the sweetest and talented people I have every met. You definitely should check this place out. :)

While most places to eat downtown are all doing their own variation of the same thing, Art Café Nostalgia is feeding not only stomachs, but minds and souls. Stepping into this beautiful little shop has the ability to cancel out the day’s stress. As a busy downtown worker who strives to enjoy the little things and tries not to let the hassles of life get me down, I absolutely am grateful to Gina for coming up with such a lovely concept. This is not a place for the rushy rush type of people-​the art and décor of this place almost makes it impossible to be that way. It makes you stop and appreciate what you are looking at. Today I ordered the Chili with rice and salad and it was all absolutely delicious, I’ve never tasted chili quite like this before. From speaking with Gina, she said they also had an Italian sausage lasagna and a decadent lox bagel (which no one else downtown offers). I also noticed that she serves dinner-​either way I will definitely make it a point to buy my occasional cup of coffee here from now on, the occasional buy out lunch, and i know where ill be going when i want to de-​stress. Thank you so much Gina for stepping outside of the box and creating an amazing and cozy atmosphere where our busy mind, bodies, and souls can be fed.

Art Café Nostalgia is a welcome change from the noisy, pre-​packaged, ‘crank em out’ chains. Instead, it is a wonderful little oasis in the heart of the city where you can enjoy some delicious food and beverages of your choice, all while pausing to enjoy the gorgeous art and wonderful music all around you. These days, we can all use a few moments of quiet and calm in the midst of our busy days, and Art Café Nostalgia is the perfect spot for that.
They use French Presses for their coffee, rather than the noisy espresso machines you often have to shout to be heard above. The lunch we had there was very tasty, and the special tea recommended by the owner was amazing.
Do yourself a favor and stop into Art Café Nostalgia. It’s a quiet little haven and will soon be your ‘insider’s tip’ for others who work and play in Honolulu.

First a sad dry papaya fruit bowl and 4 mini quiche that were microwaved and soggy on Tuesday and today a dry bagel that had barely enough cream cheese to make it edible. Too bad cause the location is good but the quality of the food is costco at best and the service while friendly is way to slow for the pace of downtown. Perhaps the few of you that can take 20 minutes to wait for a bagle will love the music and art.

Café Art Nostalgia is a great little café in the heart of downtown. It’s located at the bottom floor of the Pacific Guardian Center.
The décor of the café is amazing. The owner, Gina created most of the artwork in there, giving the café a sense of homeliness. They have a few tables in the café that add a great place to sit and read the morning newspaper, have breakfast, and even having meetings.
The workers there are amazingly friendly. They always have smiles on their faces. The gevalia French press coffee is great! They also have a wide variety of pastries that’s great for on the go.
Overall, art café nostalgia is a great place to grab a coffee and a bite to eat!

Located in the heart of downtown Honolulu is a small cozy Café that offers a very unique setting and atmosphere. Art Café Nostalgia is the new hot spot in the ground floor of the Guardian Center Building in downtown Honolulu. Café owner Gina Son, former Financial Adviser had a vision to offer a nice cozy café to display some of her artwork and imported specialty coffee and exotic tea’s I like this idea and was quite impressed when I visited her café last week. I plan to go back there this Friday to relax. They have convenient booths to accommodate groups of party size, or lounge on the white leather sectional. Gina’s artwork is displayed throughout the café to add the ambiance of comfort. Free wi-​fi allows those on the run to relax, have a delicious coffee while sending off emails or other correspondence via laptop or tablet. I really enjoy the mellow atmosphere, music and art décor that lets me wind down from a stress filled day.