What's New on Monsarrat Avenue This Fall, From the Zoo Fence to Diamond Head Theatre

If you walk Monsarrat Avenue from the Zoo Fence up toward Kapiʻolani Community College this October, where are the new things? A market that opened in 2002 now has a shave ice window, a weekend breakfast menu and a former Nami Kaze kitchen team. A coffee brand you already know from Ward Centre has moved into a storefront that sold something else before. The street itself is the one thing that hasn't changed. A city water main project that was supposed to finish last quarter sits paused.

On Monsarrat, change shows up in rooms that already exist, run by people already invested in the block. The evidence starts at 3158.

The Market That Keeps Adding Rooms

Diamond Head Market & Grill has been a bakery, market and plate-lunch counter at 3158 Monsarrat Ave. since Kelvin Ro started it in 2002. In 2026 it has added more than it has in years, and every addition fits inside the existing footprint or right next to it.

The first change was people. Chef Jason Peel closed Nami Kaze last fall. As HONOLULU Magazine reported in April, within days he turned up at Ro's market, bringing Scott and Shaun Motoda from his core Nami Kaze team. His first job was bringing back breakfast. For now it runs on weekends only: fluffy omelets, roast pork hash, ʻahi and eggs. Two new dishes arrived on April 4: a waffle topped with Mrs Cheng's Tofu and eggplant in a buttery sweet-sour sauce, and a Mountain View pork kim chee meatloaf loco moco.

Next came a limited run upstairs. Peel served an 11-course omakase built around rice on the market's rooftop. Aloha State Daily reported it at $175 per person, with 14 seats, on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Tickets were sold under the name Hale Pikake, and the listing shows the run lasting from April 11 to May 31, 2026, so that seat has closed. Peel also told HONOLULU Magazine that catering was in the works. He said he would help develop the 5-acre East Oʻahu farm Ro has leased for about four years, including farm tours and programs for students.

The newest addition is the one you can walk up to on any afternoon. In September the market opened a shave ice stand beside the store. It serves daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Ro told HONOLULU Magazine why he started it:

"We have a new resurgence of interest in shave ice now. As a chef, I wanted to do it with my own niche."

Each specialty flavor comes from something already in the bakery case. The $12 Lemon Crunch Shave Ice takes its cue from Ro's lemon crunch cake, with honey syrup, lemon curd sauce, vanilla ice cream and toffee crunch. Blueberry Cream Cheese Crush, also $12, uses the same compote and cream cheese as the market's blueberry scone. Hawaiian Da Kine, $12 as well, borrows haupia and pineapple from the coconut breakfast pancakes. The $15 pikake shave ice uses blossoms from Ro's farm at the base of Koko Head. They are picked at sunrise and cold-steeped into syrup. The rainbow version swaps artificial colors for lilikoʻi, lychee and guava coulis.

The price gap tells you who the stand is for. Next to the $12 to $15 specialty bowls, the classic lineup costs $7 for a keiki size and $9 for a regular, with 12 syrups including blue vanilla, strawberry and pineapple. HONOLULU Magazine framed that tier as being for kids and families looking for an after-school snack. So the stand serves the neighborhood's daily routine and its occasional splurge from the same window.

A Familiar Name Takes a Bigger Room at 3045

The block's other new arrival also comes from an established operator. On September 1, Aliʻi Coffee Co. opened at 3045 Monsarrat Ave. in the space Gecko Girlz used to occupy. The brand had moved its Ward Centre store to Ala Moana Center earlier in the summer. In Aloha State Daily's opening coverage, owner James Webb pointed to the size of the room: "This is a lot more seating than any of our other shops, even (the one at) Ward Centre."

The menu brings back dishes from the company's past. The roast beef sandwich and the prosciutto pear flatbread, both $17 and served at lunch, return from the now-closed downtown store. A $14 brie and balsamic toast sits alongside the regulars: the $16 breakfast burrito, Aliʻi Maffles, which are mochi waffles, and avocado toast. Signature drinks include the taro ube latte and royal honey latte at $7.25 to $7.75, plus cold brew on tap at $6 to $6.75. Webb also recommends the affogatos, including pistachio and a chocolate haupia version.

At opening, the hours were short. The café is open daily from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. during its soft opening, and Webb said the plan is to stretch eventually to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. That puts it in the same morning window as its neighbor at the same address. Bogart's Café lists 3045 Monsarrat Ave. on its own site, with daily hours of 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Webb expects the Diamond Head store to bring "a bunch of customers that we hadn't had before, from this side of the island."

The Part of the Street That Hasn't Moved

While storefronts kept adding things, the street's public infrastructure stayed where it was. The Board of Water Supply's Monsarrat Avenue water main project covers Monsarrat from Paki Avenue to Campbell Avenue, plus sections of Campbell and Kakaina avenues. When the board announced it in May 2025, it set work to start on or after June 2, 2025. Crews would close lanes on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the board projected completion in the third quarter of 2026.

That quarter ended September 30. At the Diamond Head/Kapahulu/St. Louis Heights Neighborhood Board meeting on July 9, 2026, the BWS representative said the project "remains unchanged, with work paused pending answers on new service connections," according to the draft summary republished by Kaimuki Hawaii. At the August 13 meeting, the BWS slot recorded "No report." The research turned up no newer public schedule. The Q3 date was a 2025 projection, and the latest official word is that the work is paused.

Smaller street fixes are in a similar holding pattern. A resident told the July meeting that in February 2026 about 30 feet of curb beside a Monsarrat driveway had been painted red, taking out two to three parking spaces. Part of it was later repainted white, but about 15 feet of red remains. The city's representative said DTS only authorizes red curbs for bus stops and that the contractor had made a mistake. He said the rest would be corrected and promised to report back. Up the hill, Council Chair Tommy Waters told the same meeting that speed humps at Coconut Avenue are planned for Diamond Head Road once the road is repaved. No repaving date was given.

A private operator can open a shave ice window between one HONOLULU Magazine story and the next. A water main through the same block has gone well over a year from its announced start and is still waiting on answers about service connections.

The Weekly Frame Around It All

The new businesses fit into a schedule the neighborhood already keeps, most of it anchored at either end of the avenue.

The Hawaii Farm Bureau's KCC market page lists Saturday hours and says to park in Lots C and E. Its vendor list includes Growing Roots Hawaii and King's Farm. At the other end of the avenue, the Zoo Fence show is listed with more than 35 local artists selling original work, prints and photographs.

Diamond Head Theatre sits across from the college and a block mauka of where Diamond Head Road meets Monsarrat. Its new building opened in January 2023. Fiddler on the Roof is in its final weekend or so: one page on the theatre's site gives an October 11 closing, while a newer post says the run goes through Sunday, October 18, with an added Saturday, October 17 matinee at 3 p.m. Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical follows, running November 20 to December 6, 2026.

Every new item on this list opened inside a frame that was already set: a Saturday market in a college parking lot, a weekend art show on a zoo fence, and a theatre season across Makapuu Avenue.

At Fortune Hawaii Realty, we keep track of what opens, what's on hold and what's coming next along streets like Monsarrat. If you own near the avenue and want to talk through how projects like the paused water main or a new café fit into your plans, book an appointment and we'll go over it with you in English or Mandarin.