Cool Cat Cafe

The Cool Cat Café is a fifties-themed restaurant complete with checkerboard floor, jukebox, and pin ball machines on the top floor of the Wharf Cinema Center. There is typically a long wait to sit, but once you have a table, we find the service speedy. There is a lot of seating both inside (stuffy) and outside (breezy, if a little crowded in places). The menu has pretty good burgers, pretty good sandwiches, not so good fries or onion rings, and nice thick milkshakes. We like the Porky Pig, a kalua pig sandwich that looks undistinguished on its roll, but is surprisingly tasty (sweet and a little hint of sour), with good coleslaw on the side. A full view of Lahaina’s historic banyan tree blocks most of the harbor and the ocean, but you definitely feel like you’re getting a view of the action on Front Street.

Live music and a full soda fountain and bar help to round out the relax-you’re-on-vacation vibe. They heavily promote themselves via other merchants (you’ll be offered a coupon for a free root beer float at Cool Cat at least once as you walk down Front Street), but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth stopping in, if you’re in the mood for a slightly overpriced, but comforting meal — or if you just want to people-watch from the lanai while sipping a $3 tropical cocktail. (The daily drink specials are downright cheap.) If you can’t get out to Teddy’s, this is a good option for burgers in West Maui.

Address: 658 Front St., Lahaina, West Maui
Location: Upper floor of the Wharf Cinema Center
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
Hours: Daily 10:30am-10:30pm
Parking: Street, Lot
Phone: 808-667-0908
Website: www.coolcatcafe.com