Umeke's, Jackie Rey's, Harbor House Sold to Island Restaurant Group

Five of Kailua-Kona's most recognizable dining rooms are now under one entity. The newly formed Island Restaurant Group, led by chef Nakoa Pabre of Umekes Fish Market Bar & Grill, completed the purchase of the Kona Inn Restaurant and Kona Canoe Club after the two properties spent two years on the market and required a 50% price cut to move.

The group was built around three established Kona operators: Umekes, Jackie Rey's, and Harbor House. Together they pursued the Kona Inn and Canoe Club, which were originally listed as a package for $3 million in 2024 but saw that figure slashed to $1.5 million by March 2025. Both restaurants are tucked inside the Kona Village Shopping Center on Ali'i Drive, a stretch that has struggled with declining foot traffic, vacant storefronts, and an aging physical plant whose creaking boardwalk sections signal how long the corridor has gone without meaningful investment.

Pabre, who opened Umekes in 2013 and twice won the overall title at Sam Choy's Poke Contest, serving as executive chairman of the group, said his immediate priority at both acquired locations is straightforward: keep the staff, upgrade the food.

"We have all the same employees in both locations," Pabre said. "We're just there to help the employees we have, but work on making a better menu and better quality food and service."

For the Kona Inn Restaurant, that means menu revisions without touching the soul of the room. The restaurant occupies space inside the former Kona Inn, the Big Island's first luxury hotel, built in 1928 and once reserved for wealthy travelers who arrived by steamship. Its bay views, sweeping from the Kamakahonu Historical Landmark at King Kamehameha Beach Hotel to the Royal Kona Resort, remain its defining asset. Pabre said guests should expect the same feel when they walk through the door.

The Canoe Club, which lines the breaking shoreline of Kailua Bay and once operated as a sports bar under LA Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale's ownership, is headed for a rebrand, though Pabre said the new concept will still pay homage to the canoe. A timeline for the new identity has not been announced.

The two-year sale window and the price reduction together tell a specific story about Kona's downtown economy. The Kona Inn Shopping Village, which fronts 750 feet of ocean along Ali'i Drive, is assessed by the County of Hawai'i Real Property Tax Office at $11.67 million, but commercial conditions in the area have made it difficult to attract buyers at premium valuations, with several retail spaces in the complex still sitting empty.

The Island Restaurant Group's structure keeps each location as its own Hawaii-based legal entity, preserving individual identities while pooling operational and purchasing leverage across five properties. For regulars at the Kona Inn and Canoe Club, both are retaining all current staff and remaining open through the transition. The Kona Inn's menu refresh is underway, and the Canoe Club rebrand is in progress. Neither location will close for the changes.