There's something deliciously perverse about paying $9.16 for a matcha latte while sitting 50 yards from where some of the world's finest coffee grows. At the Starbucks nestled in the Outrigger Reef Beach Resort, this cognitive dissonance isn't a bug—it's the entire point.
The drink in question—a venti matcha latte turbocharged with six scoops of matcha powder—arrives like a fluorescent green accusation. At $2 extra for caffeinated lawn clippings, it's less beverage than performance art, a liquid manifestation of tourist excess that would make a Japanese tea master weep.
The setting could hardly be more apropos. The café's curved ceiling undulates overhead like architectural seasickness, its LED strips attempting to evoke ocean waves but achieving dental office futurism. Below, terrazzo floors stretch toward windows framing Waikiki's vertical colonization.
Outside, palm trees stand between concrete towers like botanical prisoners. Tourists clutch teal bags and tap laptops, having traveled 2,500 miles to recreate their suburban coffee shop experience, only with better weather and worse WiFi.
The genius isn't in the coffee—which tastes exactly like every other Starbucks, a feat of supply chain consistency bordering on miraculous. The genius lies in its perfect encapsulation of modern tourism's greatest paradox: the desperate desire to travel somewhere exotic enough to Instagram, yet familiar enough to never feel truly foreign.
Consider the economics: that matcha monstrosity costs more than many local workers earn per hour, consumed by visitors who could walk five minutes to taste coffee grown in Hawaiian volcanic soil but choose Seattle-style predictability. It's gentrification in a cup, colonization with oat milk alternatives.
The customer base treats the space like a tropical WeWork, ordering drinks with legal document complexity while actual paradise unfolds outside with embarrassing obviousness.
What's most fascinating isn't the price gouging but the psychological comfort this place provides. In an age where authentic travel experiences have become luxury commodities, there's something almost touching about tourists who simply want their morning coffee to taste like home, even if home is a mass-market chain.
The baristas execute their corporate choreography with remarkable grace, transforming base materials—overpriced milk, caffeinated powder, tourist desperation—into liquid comfort.
As I sip my own contribution ($4.50 cold brew, still highway robbery), a shirtless man in board shorts strolls past, salt-crusted from an actual Hawaiian experience. He glances at our climate-controlled bubble with what might be pity or envy—hard to tell which would be worse.
This Starbucks succeeds precisely because it fails so spectacularly at being Hawaiian. It's a monument to the modern traveler's deepest fear: that paradise might be too paradise-y, too real. Better to pay premium prices for familiar mediocrity than risk the discomfort of actual discovery.
The curved ceiling pulses with its LED heartbeat, and somewhere in the distance, Kona coffee farmers tend plants that grow Earth's finest beans. But here, in this air-conditioned temple to cognitive dissonance, the only thing growing is the profit margin on green powder.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Mimi MJ
11:01am July 14, 2025. The meanest server I ever in encounter. I did not ask her name. I asked if i can have a carrier to carry my 4 cups of drink. She said straight to my face with angry and hate voice “WE DON’T HAVE”! And she turned around, her coworker who saw what she did offer me a bag. I did not accept. Another thing, i ordered “ iced strawberry matcha latte decaf with vanilla cold foam” NO strawberry! I’m always pleased with Starbucks customer service! But not this one. If you hate your job! Look for something else. You will leave a bad taste to the whole company.
Food: 1
Service: 1
Frank Bogdan
Typical starbucks and like a lot of other restaurants in Waikiki no bathrooms.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kathy DaSilva
Always great!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Simon Karsyente
The coffee is always the same no surprise!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Paula Renata
Ordered two exactly the same drink. Both tasted different.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 3
中村栄太郎
Typical starbucks. Special time.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
シャーロットストア
All the staff treated every customer like a fool. I bought a sandwich, but will it be heated? I listened to it so fast that I couldn't catch it and was stunned, but the staff and everyone around me laughed and said it was ridiculous. It's my first time at a Starbucks like this. The store was large and clean. I don't want to go there again. Foolish customer service. rare.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Road Runner
Coffee and atmosphere are what you would expect from a Starbucks. But the electrical outlets along the wall don’t work. When I asked the staff if they could reset the circuit breaker (they worked a couple days ago), they told me they could not. If you manage this location, your employees *should* know where the emergency shut off valves and circuit breakers are - those are basic public safety expectations. If they don’t know that, what else are they missing? 🤔
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
최승은
Not even 1 star. The hot Americano tastes almost like plain water and the staff is rude and unfriendly. Never go. This was my first unpleasant experience since coming to Hawaii. Please don't go.
Even one star feels generous. The hot Americano tasted almost like water, and the staff was extremely rude. It was the first unpleasant experience I've had in Hawaii. Please avoid this place.
If you work here too long, coincidentally the power in the outlets stops, even for customers. We asked about it and they said the circuits are unpredictable… really…
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 2
Kurtis J. Samchee
This Starbucks is located at the bottom floor of the hotel. The service was quick and the staff was very friendly and helpful.
Service: 5
Kobina Nyarku
I like the food atmospheric vibes
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Madhu Kalepu
This is one of the best and unique Starbucks I have been to! Opens early at 5am, best for a morning walk and strong taste of Starbucks coffee. Interior and ambience is uniquely crafted with Hawaii theme! ???
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
zakk “noknifechef” groh
One of the few Starbucks in Waikiki. It's open early in the morning, so if you're going for a morning walk, it's a good idea to buy a latte here and drink while walking.
This shop has a wide variety of souvenirs such as mugs.
You can buy it at Daiel K. Inouye Airport, but it would be bulky if you put it in your hand luggage, so this was helpful.
There's something deliciously perverse about paying $9.16 for a matcha latte while sitting 50 yards from where some of the world's finest coffee grows. At the Starbucks nestled in the Outrigger Reef Beach Resort, this cognitive dissonance isn't a bug—it's the entire point.
The drink in question—a venti matcha latte turbocharged with six scoops of matcha powder—arrives like a fluorescent green accusation. At $2 extra for caffeinated lawn clippings, it's less beverage than performance art, a liquid manifestation of tourist excess that would make a Japanese tea master weep.
The setting could hardly be more apropos. The café's curved ceiling undulates overhead like architectural seasickness, its LED strips attempting to evoke ocean waves but achieving dental office futurism. Below, terrazzo floors stretch toward windows framing Waikiki's vertical colonization.
Outside, palm trees stand between concrete towers like botanical prisoners. Tourists clutch teal bags and tap laptops, having traveled 2,500 miles to recreate their suburban coffee shop experience, only with better weather and worse WiFi.
The genius isn't in the coffee—which tastes exactly like every other Starbucks, a feat of supply chain consistency bordering on miraculous. The genius lies in its perfect encapsulation of modern tourism's greatest paradox: the desperate desire to travel somewhere exotic enough to Instagram, yet familiar enough to never feel truly foreign.
Consider the economics: that matcha monstrosity costs more than many local workers earn per hour, consumed by visitors who could walk five minutes to taste coffee grown in Hawaiian volcanic soil but choose Seattle-style predictability. It's gentrification in a cup, colonization with oat milk alternatives.
The customer base treats the space like a tropical WeWork, ordering drinks with legal document complexity while actual paradise unfolds outside with embarrassing obviousness.
What's most fascinating isn't the price gouging but the psychological comfort this place provides. In an age where authentic travel experiences have become luxury commodities, there's something almost touching about tourists who simply want their morning coffee to taste like home, even if home is a mass-market chain.
The baristas execute their corporate choreography with remarkable grace, transforming base materials—overpriced milk, caffeinated powder, tourist desperation—into liquid comfort.
As I sip my own contribution ($4.50 cold brew, still highway robbery), a shirtless man in board shorts strolls past, salt-crusted from an actual Hawaiian experience. He glances at our climate-controlled bubble with what might be pity or envy—hard to tell which would be worse.
This Starbucks succeeds precisely because it fails so spectacularly at being Hawaiian. It's a monument to the modern traveler's deepest fear: that paradise might be too paradise-y, too real. Better to pay premium prices for familiar mediocrity than risk the discomfort of actual discovery.
The curved ceiling pulses with its LED heartbeat, and somewhere in the distance, Kona coffee farmers tend plants that grow Earth's finest beans. But here, in this air-conditioned temple to cognitive dissonance, the only thing growing is the profit margin on green powder.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
11:01am July 14, 2025. The meanest server I ever in encounter. I did not ask her name. I asked if i can have a carrier to carry my 4 cups of drink. She said straight to my face with angry and hate voice “WE DON’T HAVE”! And she turned around, her coworker who saw what she did offer me a bag. I did not accept. Another thing, i ordered “ iced strawberry matcha latte decaf with vanilla cold foam” NO strawberry! I’m always pleased with Starbucks customer service! But not this one. If you hate your job! Look for something else. You will leave a bad taste to the whole company.
Food: 1
Service: 1
Typical starbucks and like a lot of other restaurants in Waikiki no bathrooms.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Always great!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The coffee is always the same no surprise!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ordered two exactly the same drink. Both tasted different.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 3
Typical starbucks. Special time.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
All the staff treated every customer like a fool. I bought a sandwich, but will it be heated? I listened to it so fast that I couldn't catch it and was stunned, but the staff and everyone around me laughed and said it was ridiculous. It's my first time at a Starbucks like this. The store was large and clean. I don't want to go there again. Foolish customer service. rare.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Coffee and atmosphere are what you would expect from a Starbucks. But the electrical outlets along the wall don’t work. When I asked the staff if they could reset the circuit breaker (they worked a couple days ago), they told me they could not. If you manage this location, your employees *should* know where the emergency shut off valves and circuit breakers are - those are basic public safety expectations. If they don’t know that, what else are they missing? 🤔
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
Not even 1 star. The hot Americano tastes almost like plain water and the staff is rude and unfriendly. Never go. This was my first unpleasant experience since coming to Hawaii. Please don't go.
Even one star feels generous. The hot Americano tasted almost like water, and the staff was extremely rude. It was the first unpleasant experience I've had in Hawaii. Please avoid this place.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Restaurantji Recommends
If you work here too long, coincidentally the power in the outlets stops, even for customers. We asked about it and they said the circuits are unpredictable… really…
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 2
This Starbucks is located at the bottom floor of the hotel. The service was quick and the staff was very friendly and helpful.
Service: 5
I like the food atmospheric vibes
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This is one of the best and unique Starbucks I have been to! Opens early at 5am, best for a morning walk and strong taste of Starbucks coffee. Interior and ambience is uniquely crafted with Hawaii theme! ???
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
One of the few Starbucks in Waikiki.
It's open early in the morning, so if you're going for a morning walk, it's a good idea to buy a latte here and drink while walking.
This shop has a wide variety of souvenirs such as mugs.
You can buy it at Daiel K. Inouye Airport, but it would be bulky if you put it in your hand luggage, so this was helpful.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
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