Cafe Julia was a dream venue for our wedding reception in Honolulu. Since this was a destination wedding, our entire planning process was done remotely and we did not see Cafe Julia until we arrived on Oahu the week of our wedding. While this probably sounds stressful, our experience working with Elijah made the planning process incredibly smooth, and the venue is as beautiful, if not more beautiful, than it appears in photos.
While working with Elijah, he was responsive to all of our questions and provided us with a list of vendors who often work at Cafe Julia. We selected most of our vendors from that list and had great experiences working with them as well.
On the actual day of the wedding, the team at Cafe Julia was wonderful. We highly recommend Cafe Julia; it was the perfect place for our wedding reception.
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Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
E M
Great food great service, striking building designed by the architect of Hearst Castle. Don't miss this one.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
K Z
Elijah and the Cafe Julia team made the whole wedding process so easy. Elijah is responsive, detailed, and organized. The cost is affordable and more than fair for what Elijah and staff will do for you. They go out of their way to make sure you're taken care of. They do the entire setup and breakdown, and also help you set up anything custom like a photo booth. On the day of, they look out for you during the ceremony/reception and pack up everything for easy pickup the next day. The food and drinks are delicious. All the staff are so friendly and attentive, especially the bartenders who worked non stop for us. I cannot recommend Elijah and the Cafe Julia team enough for your Hawaii wedding.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
WYC
The salad was so fresh! A bit busy and crowded but I liked the atmosphere here.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Nidia G Simental
This is a historic venue that is so beautiful and perfect for wedding it is amazing.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Jennifer Ecklund
This is a cute little restaurant and the food was good. I just had the simple chicken ceasar salad which was good, nothing super special but was good. The atmosphere is really cute and beautiful. I went there with a friend during my work lunch break. Service was quick which is great when you're on a tight schedule but we did make reservations which I do recommend. They were popular. I would like to go back to try their other menu items.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Tanya
We're so happy we picked Cafe Julia for our ceremony and reception venue! Elijah, the event manager, was so helpful from the moment we inquired about hosting our wedding here. We were looking for something different than a beach wedding or hotel banquet hall. Cafe Julia was exactly what we were looking for; a gem in downtown. Our budget didn't really allow for a wedding planner/coordinator so what drew us in to Cafe Julia was that 1) a coordinator wasn't required, and 2) Elijah assured us the staff are very helpful so one wouldn't be necessary. With a year to plan, along the way he made sure to check on our progress and sent reminders for due dates. On the day of, our banquet captain was so gracious to work with. He and the staff helped set up our reception tables with decorations we had brought ourselves. Our wedding party took cues from him when it came to navigating the venue and sticking to our timeline. The staff made sure that we ate dinner, packed leftover plates and our cake to take home, and provided guests umbrellas when it started to drizzle. We had a totally stress free experience getting married here! We came out feeling so lucky and will never stop singing praises for Cafe Julia.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
B
We couldn't have asked for a better venue to have our destination wedding! Café Julia was perfect for our ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. The courtyard was gorgeous, shaded and spacious. Elijah was an absolute gem.
The food was fantastic; we opted for the three entree buffet with cocktail hour appetizers and desserts. Our guests raved about the grilled meat, Korean short ribs and furikake market fresh fish. For the bar, we chose the $15.00 USD/guest corkage option. They also allowed us to bring a shaved ice vendor and cake in.
Staff were great, saving us appetizers, serving dinner and packing leftovers. They gave us a gift (engraved wooden clock) to commemorate our special day; incredibly thoughtful and sweet. Highly recommend Elijah and his team!
rene meyer
A nice surprise in all aspects.
Jonah Oh
Café Julia combines a chic stylish elegance with the friendly & casual local ambiance for patrons to experience a refined dining experience in a very relaxed atmosphere. Located across the street from the Iolani Palace, Café Julia is embedded in an historic building which has retained it’s old Hawaii architectural charm.
The dishes we tried were the Salmon Ochazuke, Julia’s Chicken Caeser Salad, Seafood Risotto, Steak Sandwich with Garlic Fries, and the Chicken Katsu w/Thai Curry. The Salmon Ochazuke and Katsu Curry were the highlights of the meal. Good sized portions, authentic flavors and you can see and taste the careful attention the chefs have applied in preparing these dishes.
While the food was mostly delicious, one honest feedback I’d provide to Café Julia is that you can always make a dish saltier but not the other way around. Perhaps it was just for this visit, but all of the dishes that we ordered tasted a bit too salty; such that all of us at the table ended up frequently emptying our water glasses.
The table service was attentive, friendly and prompt. However, the reception staff/host may require further training because when we called with a simple request to see if it was possible to push our reservation by 15-20 minutes, we receive an unexpected haughty response of “What?? Fine. But you should know that the restaurant is filling up fast!” We quickly rushed over to find that 85% of the tables were empty and they remained empty for the entirety of our meal. It may not matter to some, but for this diner honesty and courtesy matters. Do better.
My little sister used this venue for her wedding reception, and my wallet was stolen by the staff off of the table we dined. The staff abruptly kick us out early from the purchased time slot.
Initially, I reported the wallet lost because I couldn’t imagine it was actually stolen. Now, I have no credit cards, cash, or identification for my travels home. There was $600 cash and several thousands in credit in that wallet.
The “help” says there’s no way that their staff took it, but the wedding was extremely intimate and not another soul would take it of the table where we dined.
Massively dissatisfied and disappointed with Cafe Julia and the people they choose to employ.
David
Great place for a wedding!
Mark Mejia
We chose Cafe Julia for our wedding venue and were thoroughly impressed. The atmosphere was elegant, romantic, and picture-perfect. The food was flavorful and well presented to all our guests. The service was outstanding, with attentive and friendly staff who made everything run smoothly especially Elijah who was our liaison every step of the way. Could not have asked for a better point-of-contactThank you Cafe Julia for making our special day truly unforgettable!
John Strandberg
Just something about this restaurant that I love. The food is great the service is great, and even the atmosphere is great. It's not loud. It's also not pretentious great spot for business lunch. I wish I had taken a picture, but get the pork chop. Just trust me on that.
Brenda Mosqueda
We had our wedding at Cafe Julia and it was an absolute dream! The venue is gorgeous and everyone said they felt like they were in an Italian botanical garden. They have beautiful greenery and the arches were a dream for my floral placement. The pool is so nice for pictures too! The venue was a 10/10! As for the staff… they were phenomenal. I didn’t need a wedding planner, Elijah was super helpful and attentive and detail oriented! I just provided my wedding binder with my inspiration and my day of timeline and him and his team made it work and I was so happy. They served our plate before the guest and made sure we had our drinks in hand. The food was so good, all the guests went in for seconds. I could not recommend cafe julia enough!! Thank you for making our wedding day super special & thank you for our wedding gift :)
Cafe Julia was a dream venue for our wedding reception in Honolulu. Since this was a destination wedding, our entire planning process was done remotely and we did not see Cafe Julia until we arrived on Oahu the week of our wedding. While this probably sounds stressful, our experience working with Elijah made the planning process incredibly smooth, and the venue is as beautiful, if not more beautiful, than it appears in photos.
While working with Elijah, he was responsive to all of our questions and provided us with a list of vendors who often work at Cafe Julia. We selected most of our vendors from that list and had great experiences working with them as well.
On the actual day of the wedding, the team at Cafe Julia was wonderful. We highly recommend Cafe Julia; it was the perfect place for our wedding reception.
1 deleted message in this conversation. View message or delete forever.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great food great service, striking building designed by the architect of Hearst Castle. Don't miss this one.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Elijah and the Cafe Julia team made the whole wedding process so easy. Elijah is responsive, detailed, and organized. The cost is affordable and more than fair for what Elijah and staff will do for you. They go out of their way to make sure you're taken care of. They do the entire setup and breakdown, and also help you set up anything custom like a photo booth. On the day of, they look out for you during the ceremony/reception and pack up everything for easy pickup the next day. The food and drinks are delicious. All the staff are so friendly and attentive, especially the bartenders who worked non stop for us. I cannot recommend Elijah and the Cafe Julia team enough for your Hawaii wedding.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The salad was so fresh! A bit busy and crowded but I liked the atmosphere here.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
This is a historic venue that is so beautiful and perfect for wedding it is amazing.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
This is a cute little restaurant and the food was good. I just had the simple chicken ceasar salad which was good, nothing super special but was good. The atmosphere is really cute and beautiful. I went there with a friend during my work lunch break. Service was quick which is great when you're on a tight schedule but we did make reservations which I do recommend. They were popular. I would like to go back to try their other menu items.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
We're so happy we picked Cafe Julia for our ceremony and reception venue! Elijah, the event manager, was so helpful from the moment we inquired about hosting our wedding here. We were looking for something different than a beach wedding or hotel banquet hall. Cafe Julia was exactly what we were looking for; a gem in downtown. Our budget didn't really allow for a wedding planner/coordinator so what drew us in to Cafe Julia was that 1) a coordinator wasn't required, and 2) Elijah assured us the staff are very helpful so one wouldn't be necessary. With a year to plan, along the way he made sure to check on our progress and sent reminders for due dates. On the day of, our banquet captain was so gracious to work with. He and the staff helped set up our reception tables with decorations we had brought ourselves. Our wedding party took cues from him when it came to navigating the venue and sticking to our timeline. The staff made sure that we ate dinner, packed leftover plates and our cake to take home, and provided guests umbrellas when it started to drizzle. We had a totally stress free experience getting married here! We came out feeling so lucky and will never stop singing praises for Cafe Julia.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We couldn't have asked for a better venue to have our destination wedding! Café Julia was perfect for our ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. The courtyard was gorgeous, shaded and spacious. Elijah was an absolute gem.
The food was fantastic; we opted for the three entree buffet with cocktail hour appetizers and desserts. Our guests raved about the grilled meat, Korean short ribs and furikake market fresh fish. For the bar, we chose the $15.00 USD/guest corkage option. They also allowed us to bring a shaved ice vendor and cake in.
Staff were great, saving us appetizers, serving dinner and packing leftovers. They gave us a gift (engraved wooden clock) to commemorate our special day; incredibly thoughtful and sweet. Highly recommend Elijah and his team!
A nice surprise in all aspects.
Café Julia combines a chic stylish elegance with the friendly & casual local ambiance for patrons to experience a refined dining experience in a very relaxed atmosphere. Located across the street from the Iolani Palace, Café Julia is embedded in an historic building which has retained it’s old Hawaii architectural charm.
The dishes we tried were the Salmon Ochazuke, Julia’s Chicken Caeser Salad, Seafood Risotto, Steak Sandwich with Garlic Fries, and the Chicken Katsu w/Thai Curry. The Salmon Ochazuke and Katsu Curry were the highlights of the meal. Good sized portions, authentic flavors and you can see and taste the careful attention the chefs have applied in preparing these dishes.
While the food was mostly delicious, one honest feedback I’d provide to Café Julia is that you can always make a dish saltier but not the other way around. Perhaps it was just for this visit, but all of the dishes that we ordered tasted a bit too salty; such that all of us at the table ended up frequently emptying our water glasses.
The table service was attentive, friendly and prompt. However, the reception staff/host may require further training because when we called with a simple request to see if it was possible to push our reservation by 15-20 minutes, we receive an unexpected haughty response of “What?? Fine. But you should know that the restaurant is filling up fast!” We quickly rushed over to find that 85% of the tables were empty and they remained empty for the entirety of our meal. It may not matter to some, but for this diner honesty and courtesy matters. Do better.
Restaurantji Recommends
If I could write a zero star, I would.
My little sister used this venue for her wedding reception, and my wallet was stolen by the staff off of the table we dined. The staff abruptly kick us out early from the purchased time slot.
Initially, I reported the wallet lost because I couldn’t imagine it was actually stolen. Now, I have no credit cards, cash, or identification for my travels home. There was $600 cash and several thousands in credit in that wallet.
The “help” says there’s no way that their staff took it, but the wedding was extremely intimate and not another soul would take it of the table where we dined.
Massively dissatisfied and disappointed with Cafe Julia and the people they choose to employ.
Great place for a wedding!
We chose Cafe Julia for our wedding venue and were thoroughly impressed. The atmosphere was elegant, romantic, and picture-perfect. The food was flavorful and well presented to all our guests. The service was outstanding, with attentive and friendly staff who made everything run smoothly especially Elijah who was our liaison every step of the way. Could not have asked for a better point-of-contactThank you Cafe Julia for making our special day truly unforgettable!
Just something about this restaurant that I love. The food is great the service is great, and even the atmosphere is great. It's not loud. It's also not pretentious great spot for business lunch. I wish I had taken a picture, but get the pork chop. Just trust me on that.
We had our wedding at Cafe Julia and it was an absolute dream! The venue is gorgeous and everyone said they felt like they were in an Italian botanical garden. They have beautiful greenery and the arches were a dream for my floral placement. The pool is so nice for pictures too! The venue was a 10/10! As for the staff… they were phenomenal. I didn’t need a wedding planner, Elijah was super helpful and attentive and detail oriented! I just provided my wedding binder with my inspiration and my day of timeline and him and his team made it work and I was so happy. They served our plate before the guest and made sure we had our drinks in hand. The food was so good, all the guests went in for seconds. I could not recommend cafe julia enough!! Thank you for making our wedding day super special & thank you for our wedding gift :)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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