Café Central

Honolulu, United States

3.9

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards
Free Wi-Fi

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 808-306-9284
Website:
www.cafecentralhonolulu.com
Address:
999 Bishop St, Honolulu, HI, 96813
Downtown
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
630 ftS Hotel St + Bishop St
630 ftS Hotel St + Alakea St
780 ftBishop St + S Hotel St‎
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Bussiness info

Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Parking
Garage
Outdoor Seating
No
Wi-Fi
Free

Today

Today –
Local time (Honolulu) 8:17 AM Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Café Central is absolutely committed to excellent brewing of old world espresso coffee. Master roaster Raymond Suiter personally seeks out the finest green coffee from all over the world and roasts the beans on Sand Island just for the Café. Choose between French Press, Pour Over, or regular brewed coffee for your own personal coffee experience. Breakfast sandwiches, light lunch offerings, fresh fruit cups, and yogurt parfaits are all made fresh daily in our little kitchen, and master pastry chef Neil Knop bakes our European Pastries fresh daily in Manoa. We invite you to come have a seat and enjoy our fresh coffee and food!

History

Established in 2011.

In 1991 the Suiter family started Honolulu Coffee Company. Years later, after selling the retail end of HCC, brothers Max and Ray Suiter decided to focus on what they really loved about coffee. Ray started Kona Coffee Purveyors (the coffee roasting plant that creates Café Central’s unique blends of beans) and Max and his wife Mary built Café Central. The café serves specialty gourmet espresso from a strada and boasts the only Bonmac halogen three-​unit siphon bar on the island.

«We pride ourselves in being knowledgeable in the art of coffee making»

Meet the Business Owner

Max S.

Business Owner

Café Central is a little sliver of a café in the First Hawaiian Bank building. It used to be a broom closet; now it offers pour-​over coffees and coffee brewed via siphon. Max and Mary Suiter transformed the former broom closet into its current Frank Lloyd Wright-​inspired space. Max, a general contractor, treated this tiny café as his own pet project: He commissioned stained glass from a North Shore artist and installed all the wood panelling with wood from a fallen red eucalyptus tree that he had been saving for 12 years.

«We weren’t looking to getting back in [the coffee business],» Mary says – the couple had sold their share in Honolulu Coffee Co. long ago. «But when this opportunity came up, one little place, we thought it’d be great.»

–excerpt from «Café Central: A tiny café started by former Honolulu Coffee Co. partners» by Martha Cheng in Honolulu Magazine

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Vicinity

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20 reviews of Café Central

No registration required
Place rating: 1
Kapolei, HI
Café Central is out of business. I wish I had a heads up from the staff there because I had a lot of freebee’s that I could’ve used up. The sign says «temporarily closed». I asked the security guard and he said «they’re done «. I was shocked and asked if they went out of business and he said yes. Wonder what will move into the space, maybe nothing. So sad, they had the best Acai bowl there.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
CLOSING TODAY!!! LAST DAY FOR GIFT CARDS AND BELLY POINTS!!! So sad, they will soon be taken over by the Bank. How depressing, the girls were so nice, even the one i wrote my last post about she became a lot nicer. It’s so sad, the girls are all leaving, so it’ll be quite a change when the bank takes over. I hope the coffee and the food will still be the same. I love their sandwiches and their chocolate donuts. But unfortunately no Belly Card points and No gift cards will be accepted. FOOD WILL NOT BE THE SAME! =(the Bank is going to start taking over the food.
Place rating: 5
Kapolei, HI
Affogato! Affo-​mazing! Okay… that was really lame… but the Affogato at Café Central is definitely amazing and worth a try!
After reading Honolulu Magazine’s article on the Top 8 Cold Coffee Drinks in Honolulu, I made it my mission to try all 8. I may not always drink coffee, but when I do, I want only the best (said in Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man accent)! Café Central, located inside the First Hawaiian Center, is featured for its infamous affogato. An affogato is a delicious coffee treat with a shot of espresso poured over a scoop of gelato. Espresso AND Gelato? You know it’s going to be a sweet kick to the rear when you need an afternoon pick-​me-​up! And boy, does it do the trick! I was still riding a sugar and caffeine high hours later!
Aside from affogatos, Café Central serves coffee and tea as well as acai bowls and smoothies. I overheard rumors that Café Central may be closing soon, so hurry down before it’s too late!
Place rating: 5
Honolulu, HI
I’ve been trying to cut down on my caffeine intake to twice a week (once during the week and once on the weekend), so Café Central is often my Friday morning workday treat! I’ve always gotten warm, friendly service from the baristas, who are quick and efficient to boot. When I was a downtown Starbucks fiend several years ago, even though there were so many locations, grabbing a cup of coffee in the morning was an ordeal. In contrast, Café Central is never harried. And the coffee is awesome. I’ve also tried their tea lattes, which are a nice alternative to the usual cuppa joe.
Bonus: I am addicted to rewards programs, so the Belly app is cool as well as convenient. There are monthly specials too, such as (for May) 20% Mocha Mondays and Blended Drinks Fridays (check out their FB page for more). Needless to say, I will be visiting here again for my next caffeine fix — adding the happy to my Aloha Friday!
Place rating: 2
Honolulu, HI
Best use of Cafè Central: you work in First Hawaii Bank and need a quick caffeine hit before going back to the office.
Worst use of Cafè Central: you work anywhere else in downtown Honolulu. The coffee and pastries aren’t good enough to warrant a trip here.
Place rating: 4
Honolulu, HI
This is one of my favorite places to grab coffee downtown. It’s so hard to be a coffee shop in the downtown financial district because you have to compete with starbucks on almost every block.
How they compete with starbucks:
1) They have a rewards program similar to SB. It’s called Belly. You get one point per purchase and when you reach 10, you can redeem for a free drink. The more you save, the bigger/​better the reward you can redeem for.
2) If you love starbucks because it’s convenient and you can use your gold card; well at café central, you can just buy a gift card and continue to reload. It’ll reduce the cash you’ll need to have on hand.
Random info:
+This place is located in the first floor of the first hawaiian bank tower. They have tables for you to enjoy your pastry, breakfast, and coffee.
+They sell breakfast food, acai bowls, and other occasional treats.
+Follow their instagram or facebook to find out about their new specials.
+Some of their baristas can do cool latte art!
+Thursday is double points!
Place rating: 1
Honolulu, HI
Very unpleasant experience. .
Drinks made me run to the bathroom
The female staff are alot MORE friendlier to the male patrons…
Its a hard pass 4 me!
Place rating: 5
Honolulu, HI
Great place to have a wonderful cup of coffee! The loyalty program is above and beyond! Check out their happy hour special from 2 – 4.
Place rating: 4
Honolulu, HI
The classic chicken club is currently my new favorite sandwich. And the Italian soda was a perfect match to go with it. It’s a small little spot tucked away in a hallway in the lobby of first Hawaiian bank but it was perfect. My best friend is studying architecture so she enjoyed the location as well as her acai bowl and coffee. Definitely a place I’ll be coming back to when im in the area.
Place rating: 4
Eugene, OR
Best Vanilla Latte that I have found in downtown Honolulu. Not the best on island, but the best downtown for sure. I sometimes do not know how they have 3 plus people working in the drink making area sometimes because its such a small area, but they make it work every time and are super fast. If you are sensitive to sweet stuff like me, you’ll want to make sure to tell them to go light on the sweet syrup or whatever they put in it.
Skip Starbucks all together and come to Café Central for a tastier cup of coffee, or grab an affogato for an afternoon/​summer pick me up.
Place rating: 5
Honolulu, HI
Dear Café Central,
You’ve stolen my coffee heart.
1. Your coffee is delicious and consistent day in and day out.
2. Your fruit cups are so good and fresh that I cry a little inside when you’re out.
3. You personally retweet and reply to my check-​ins and posts. (what?! impressed.)
4. Where did you get all those friendly (and good looking I might add) employees?! They rock.
5. Your online «iPad» frequent chronic drinker card is brilliant and easy.
6. Your coffee is delicious.
7. Your coffee is delicious. (right I said that already.)
8. Crushed ice? Whaat?! Love!
9. Held several meetings and small (10 ppl or less) networking meet ups here and they are happy to put tables together and take your order at the table. Wow!
I’m glad I found out about your location tucked away in the First Hawaiian Bank lobby from a friend. It is quite a pleasant surprise and I appreciate the focus on sourcing great coffee! Quite simply put… keep doing what you’re doing.
Thanks from one coffee lover to another.
Sincerly, Beth I.
Place rating: 5
Wahiawa, HI
Café Central is amazing! It’s nice to see a variety of coffee shops in the downtown area instead of seeing the same big corporate ones all over. This place has 20% Mocha Mondays on your Mocha drinks (this includes white mocha, my favorite!) They also serve acai bowls which are affordable (in comparision to other places who charge almost $ 10) and they are delcious! The service is spetacular… very friendly baristas. They have a stamp card… and on certain days (unsure which days) are double stamp days! They will definately see me on a regular basis!
Place rating: 5
Honolulu, HI
French press coffee or pour over? Decisions, decisions!
Fresh, hot strong coffee. .. . does it get any better???
This place also has gelato and other tasty treats.
Sign up for their loyalty program. After 10 purchases, you get one free!
Place rating: 4
Honolulu, HI
Café Central is a coffee shop tucked away in the lobby of the First Hawaiian Bank building in downtown Honolulu.
This is a great little place to have a nice cup of coffee or to eat something light, whether for breakfast or for lunch. Besides their gourmet coffees and espressos, they also offer European pastries, yogurt parfait, fresh fruit cup, acai bowl (and smoothie) and light lunch offerings of salads and sandwiches.
Since it was lunch time I decided to try one of their salads. For $ 5.95 I chose their Asian Chicken Salad along with a small iced caramel latte with soy milk for $ 3.05.
Served with a sesame dressing, this salad includes mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, crispy won tons, sliced chicken and Romaine lettuce.
I was quite surprised that the caramel latte was creamy and the taste is actually quite nice. There was a perfect balance of sweetness and espresso. As for the salad, I really liked the taste and the freshness of the ingredients. The only problem I found is that the portion size was a bit small. My recommendation is to order their salads with a sandwich.
Place rating: 5
Honolulu, HI
So the only thing you need to know is… Espresso Affogato! Dark chocolate mac nut gelato or Sweet Cream gelato with a shot of hot yummy espresso poured all over it. Sounds delicious?.. IT IS. Especially when you are crashing in the middle of the work day and not only want something sweet, but need a pick me up as well.
This place is really awesome and its in my bank which makes it even more awesome. Small boutique-​y coffee shop tucked in a hallway of the First Hawaiian Bank tower on Bishop street. The workers were really nice. I ordered a cookie to go with my espresso affogato (i was in dire need of a sugar fix that day), and they offered to warm it up for me!
All the desserts looked really good, and from the taste of the espresso. I can only assume the coffee is excellent. I WILL RETURN! :)
Place rating: 4
Honolulu, HI
First of all, I’d like to commend the DESIGNERS and contractors that designed and built this space out. What a fabulous job they did. The rich woods (from a tree that fell in Manoa nonetheless) and steel La Marzocco espresso machine make this a double modern oasis seeing that it is already in a modern building. Love it!
What I’ve had:
B-​Fast Sandwich (pictured)
— An interesting take on the normal bacon, egg, and cheese on starch. Nicole makes it right by using sliced hard boiled eggs, a little mayo and a few strips of bacon on a toasted torta/​ciabatta roll. Very delish and filling! Great way to start your day: D
Vanilla Latte
— Bahhh-​damn this is good. Rich. Slightly sweet. And Kick! Let’s get the posh partay started!
Strawberry Tea
— Yum Yum Yum Yum Yum!!! Great way to cool down on a hot day fo sho!
Affogato (Gelato w/​espresso)
— YES YES YES YES YES! This is something I will get again and again! The perfect shots of espresso melt the gelato so slightly and you mix it until it becomes this fabulous little milkshake. wow! I have dreams about this.
Ice Coffee
— My go-​to favorite. No matter where it’s from, it’s usually what I always get.
The baristas here are FABULOUS and so NICE. You can’t get a better experience in downtown!
Place rating: 3
Aiea, HI
The Chai Tea Latte is amazing. Better than Starbucks (too much spice) and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (too little spice), Café Central gets it just right.
The service was great, and the smiling girl who took my order was friendly. When I ordered a small chai tea latte, she held up the cup and said, «This is the small. Is it okay?» I couldn’t really tell how big it was and said it was fine.
When another smiling employee rang me up, she asked if I worked in the building. I said no and she said, «Aww, that’s okay.» Apparently they give you a discount if you work in the building. Hm. Anyway, without the special-​building-​discount my small drink came out to $ 3.51.
When I got my drink, I couldn’t believe how small it was. It was just a smidgen bigger than the cup sleeve. I looked under the cup to see that it was 8oz. Though I savored the delicious chai, it took me like four sips to finish the entire thing.
A small (well, technically «tall») drink at Starbucks is 12oz. (Yes, the smallest size is the «short,» which is 8oz, but when you order a small drink you get the «tall.») Have I been brainwashed by corporate America’s coffee retailers to expect bigger sizes? Or had I just been ripped off by a local business?
Overall, if you’re tired of retail coffee shops, Café Central is a nice change of pace. It’s clean, the drinks are good and the service is fast. But because of the high price (and because I don’t get the special-​building-​discount), I probably won’t ever become a regular.
Place rating: 5
Honolulu, HI
Ok folks… if you’re ever in the First Hawaiian Center don’t pass up the delightful treats and magnificent coffee from this amazing coffee shop.
I’d also like to say that the guys who wrote the two reviews with 3 stars wrote decent to really good reviews for this coffee shop but it doesn’t make sense why they gave these wonderful people 3 stars… don’t know… just makes no sense.
Not sure how these ladies could make it better. Their coffee is made from a special italian expresso machine that is the ONLY one of it’s kind here in hawaii. Like… woe!
The interior design alone is worth you dropping by to just admire. Mary, the owner, had her husband design and build the layout for this shop. Top notch quality from the special grain wood to the tiles, signage, showcase containers… etc.
This place deserves a bonus star for sure. It really is too bad they don’t have shops elsewhere… they’d be killin it with latte and espresso beans man!
Place rating: 3
Waipahu, HI
If you work or have been to the First Hawaiian Center in Downtown Honolulu, then you know that this place was under construction for a while. «Coming Soon» was listed. For a while there, I don’t know if this place or Jesus was coming first… just kidding.
You know, this place used to be a shoe-​shine shop. So knowing that, they renovated the heck out of this place. It’s really upscale and super nice.
Been there a few times — employees are really friendly. Prices are a little high, but 1) you’re in Downtown and 2) you’re in Downtown.
Oh and they have pastries that are pretty good — try those out.
Oh and if you work at FHB (or if you are a tenant, I think) you get a discount.
Oh and they have gift cards.
Ok, that’s it.
Place rating: 3
Honolulu, HI
When you work long hours in downtown and arrive at the office at a awfully early hour, the need for caffeine certainly will arise. Where does one go? Oh, where-​ever is the most convenient right? Well, on the first floor of First Hawaiian Center, carefully tucked between the main branch and the elevators is Café Central. Such an appropriate name in my book since it is in the central part of the building (bad attempt at a joke…).
Well in either case, their menu of coffees and teas is pretty standard with a few fresh squeezed juices. It’s accompanied by a decent, but not wow-​ing acai bowl and other decent but again, nothing special pastry case.
Prices are rather reasonable and in-​line with other coffee shops. However its service is where it shines. While they are still working out the kinks, the staff are incredibly friendly and personable while brewing up your caffeine concoction. Give them a few more weeks and all of them will be up to speed.
Good place to go for a coffee and a simple bite, however it doesn’t have anything special that makes it shine.