If you live inside the gates at Mauna Lani, you already know the rhythm of a normal summer here. Kids at the Beach Club, a slow walk past the fishponds, a table at CanoeHouse when someone flies in from the mainland. That rhythm has quietly rearranged itself between May and July of this year.
Three separate things happened in close succession. A Top Chef winner turned the most casual restaurant on property into the reservation everyone is chasing. A new members-only club opened along the oceanfront. And after roughly a decade of half-empty storefronts, The Shops at Mauna Lani changed hands.
For years, the hierarchy on property read CanoeHouse first, everything else second. This summer, that order stopped being useful.
Here is what actually shifted, and what a resident should probably do about each piece before September.
The Surf Shack Is Where The Interesting Food Is Right Now
CanoeHouse's executive chef, Rhoda Magbitang, won Bravo's Top Chef Season 23. The announcement went out on June 9, 2026, from Auberge itself, and it matters for a very local reason: the celebration menu is not landing at CanoeHouse. It is landing at Surf Shack, the beach clubhouse most residents treat as a casual lunch stop.
Magbitang is running a collaborative residency at Surf Shack with fellow Top Chef contestants Sieger Bayer, Oscar Diaz, and Brittany Cochran, spotlighting each chef's perspective through September 7, 2026. The menu is available nightly from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., and walk-ins are welcome. That last detail is the one to remember. A four-chef, Top Chef-branded tasting menu that takes walk-ins at a beachside restaurant is unusual anywhere. It will not be unusual at Mauna Lani for much longer.
A few of the plates worth ordering while the residency is still on:
- Kona Kampachi
- Foie Gras Loco Moco
- Summer Asada
The practical takeaway for anyone who lives on property: if you have been saving Surf Shack for a post-swim burger, flip your week. Put Surf Shack on the dinner rotation between now and Labor Day, and let CanoeHouse be the daytime visit. The kitchen you would normally drive to is now cooking a few hundred feet from the sand.
A New Members Club Opened In May, And You Probably Walked Past It
The second change is easier to miss. The Francis Brown Club, a private members-only space, officially opened in May, offering exclusive oceanfront areas, chef-led meals, a self-service bar, all-day gourmet offerings, and a dedicated concierge team.
This is a different kind of amenity than Mauna Lani has offered before. The Beach Club is communal. The Sports Club is functional. The Auberge Spa is transactional. The Francis Brown Club is a hospitality tier layered on top of the resort you already know, and it is designed to keep a certain kind of guest from ever needing to leave a small radius.
For a homeowner or condo owner, the practical question is what this does to traffic patterns and access. Expect a quieter feel in the shoulder hours near the club's footprint and a busier concierge desk overall. If you have out-of-town guests who ask you what is new since their last visit, this is the answer that requires the least explaining.
What Comes After The Summer Menu
The Surf Shack residency ends September 7, but Magbitang has more dates on the calendar at home. Two of them are worth putting on a resident's calendar now, because they will book:
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 11 to 12, 2026 | From Carolina to Kohala: a two-night, six-course dinner series with Chef Duyen Ha | Mauna Lani |
| Jan. 7, 2027 | An Evening of Kamayan, a family-style Filipino-heritage dinner | Mauna Lani |
The September dates pair Magbitang with fellow Top Chef Season 23 chef Duyen Ha for a six-course series inspired by Southern and Hawaiian flavors. The January event is rooted in the communal traditions of Chef Rhoda's Filipino heritage, a family-style experience with bold flavors, open-fire cooking, and dishes designed to be shared. The Kamayan format especially is not something the Kohala Coast sees often. If it interests you at all, book it the day reservations open.
The Shops At Mauna Lani Finally Has A Plan
The third change is the one with the longest tail. The Shops at Mauna Lani had struggled to attract patrons and businesses for about a decade, sat mired in a receivership after the federal arrest of its former owner for stock manipulation, and reached nearly a 50 percent vacancy rate according to Tommy Bahama CEO Doug Wood, the anchor restaurant since the center opened in 2005.
In March 2026, California-based BH Properties acquired the center with plans to aggressively fill 11 current vacancies, an open-air luxury property at the entrance of Mauna Lani that has the potential for 34 stores. Their short-term plans include improving common areas with better seating, landscaping, and lighting, anchored by Foodland and Tommy Bahama.
What that means on the ground, if you have been avoiding the center for the past few years: the tenant mix you know is still there. Current businesses include Juice 101, Mauna Lani Coffee Co., Hawaiian Island Creations, and Knead & Bake. The new owners have plans to bring in lifestyle boutique retailers, and the leasing team would also like to attract more restaurants.
Two things to watch. First, CBRE, which is operating the center, is hoping to find local businesses to occupy some of the vacant spaces and wants to connect with local operators. That is a meaningful signal. A revitalization that leans local reads differently than one that ships in national chains, and it affects the character of the walk from the parking lot to Tommy Bahama's lanai. Second, BH Properties is working with architects and contractors on bids to see how they can transform the larger common areas to make them more engaging and experiential for families and events. If you have kids or grandkids on property in the summer, expect the center to become a more usable third space over the next 18 months, not just a place to buy sunscreen and coffee.
HāLani Is Still The Sunset Reservation
None of this displaces HāLani, which remains the easiest recommendation for anyone visiting. Opened in January 2025 at Mauna Lani, HāLani serves a Mediterranean menu inspired by Italy, Greece, and Spain, with a focus on locally sourced ingredients, and an open-air dining space that encourages sharing. Indoor and outdoor lanai seating open to resort lawns and sunset views, and outdoor tables are the ones to request for sunset and live-music nights.
If you have friends who want one dinner that captures the property in a single sitting, this is still that dinner. What has changed is that it is no longer the only dinner worth planning around.
The Bigger Picture For People Who Live Here
Put the three pieces together and a pattern shows up. The resort is layering in exclusivity at the top with the Francis Brown Club, activating the most casual venue with celebrity culinary programming at Surf Shack, and giving the shopping center at the front door a real second act. Those are three different plays for three different resident profiles, and they are happening at once.
For someone who owns here, the summer of 2026 is the moment to reset your assumptions about which reservations are worth chasing and which corners of property are worth revisiting. For someone weighing an eventual purchase in the resort, it is a useful data point about how actively the property is being invested in right now.
If you want to talk through how any of these changes affect a home you already own at Mauna Lani, or a purchase you are considering here, MK Letterman is happy to sit down over coffee at Mauna Lani Coffee Co. and walk through it. Send a message with what you are thinking about, and we will find a time.
