Choice Healthy Kitchen and Juice Bar Wailea - Deep Research Report

Overview

Choice Healthy Kitchen and Juice Bar Wailea is a quick-serve, plant-based café in Wailea that focuses on healthy breakfast and lunch fare rather than full-service dining. Based on the available evidence, it is part of the Maui-born Choice Health Bar brand and appears to be a newly opened South Maui location in Wailea Village/Wailea area. The Google Places record shows it as operational at 116 Wailea Ike Dr, Kihei, with daily hours listed from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM. (mauinow.com)

For a traveler, this is the kind of stop that fits a beach day, a lighter lunch, or a breakfast/snack run when you want something fresh, fast, and health-forward. It is not trying to be a long, sit-down destination restaurant; it is more useful as a reliable option for bowls, smoothies, juices, and plant-based plates in an area where those choices can be limited. (choicehealthbar.com)

Cuisine & Specialties

Choice’s menu sits squarely in the plant-based, vegan/vegetarian, gluten-free-friendly lane, with a strong emphasis on açai bowls, smoothies, cold-pressed juices, and savory “healthy kitchen” plates. The official menu and blog posts show a mix of fruit-forward bowls, protein-boosted smoothies, juices, salads, wraps, and burrito-style bowls, using organic and local ingredients where possible. (choicehealthbar.com)

Overall menu style: plant-based, health-focused café food; fast-casual; heavy on bowls, smoothies, juices, and lighter savory meals. (choicehealthbar.com)
Notable items with support:
- The O.G. Açai Bowl — a classic açai bowl with Maui apple bananas, apple juice, granola, and honey. (choicehealthbar.com)
- POWabunga Bowl — a more filling protein-oriented açai bowl with berries, plant protein, macadamia nut milk, almond butter, and fruit toppings. (choicehealthbar.com)
- Om*Lilikoi and Dessert Sunrise — more tropical or dessert-leaning açai bowls. (choicehealthbar.com)
- ChocAloha and Holy Cacao Protein Shake — richer smoothie/shake options built around cacao, banana, nut butter, and plant protein. (choicehealthbar.com)
- Sunny Dayz Juice and newer juices like Star*Berry and Eye Opener — cold-pressed, fruit-and-veg juices positioned as refreshers or wellness drinks. (choicehealthbar.com)
- Burrito Bowl / savory plant-based bowls, plus salads and wraps; the brand specifically calls out black beans, golden rice, walnut-pumpkin seed crumble, greens, and pickled jalapeños. (choicehealthbar.com)
Price range / spend expectations: the menu suggests a moderate casual spend for Maui, with açai bowls around the low-to-mid teens and smoothies around $12, so most visitors should expect a light meal plus drink to land roughly in the teens to low $20s per person before tax/tip. (choicehealthbar.com)
Dietary usefulness / limitations: very strong for vegan, vegetarian, and many gluten-free diners. The brand says many items can be made gluten-free and honey-free, but it is not certified gluten-free and does not have a separate toaster, so celiac diners should treat cross-contact risk as real. (choicehealthbar.com)

Notable Features & Ambiance

This is a casual, order-at-the-counter place built for convenience rather than ceremony. The brand describes indoor and outdoor dining in at least some locations, and the Wailea opening material suggests a straightforward café setup in Wailea Village rather than a full-service dining room. (choicehealthbar.com)

Service model and seating style: quick-serve / counter order; seating appears casual, with a café-style experience rather than table service. (choicehealthbar.com)
Atmosphere and decor: the official brand voice emphasizes relaxed, upbeat, health-conscious vibes; the Wailea opening post and broader brand copy point to a bright, contemporary “healthy café” feel rather than a polished resort restaurant. This is an inference based on the brand’s positioning and location type. (choicehealthbar.com)
Amenities or practical features: a Wailea Village location is useful for visitors staying or shopping in South Maui; the site also frames the brand as fast and convenient, with no reservation need implied for its quick-serve model. (waileavillage.com)
Best fit: breakfast, an early lunch, post-beach refreshment, or a healthier grab-and-go stop. (choicehealthbar.com)
Weaker fit: people seeking a long dinner, cocktails, a scenic sit-down meal, or a wide all-day menu will likely want a different Wailea restaurant. That is an inference from the service model and menu mix. (choicehealthbar.com)

History & Background

Choice Health Bar is a Maui-founded, locally owned brand that says it started in Lahaina in 2011 and is still run by its two original founders. The company says its Lahaina flagship was lost in the 2023 wildfires, and the Wailea opening represents part of the brand’s continued island expansion to Paia, Kaanapali, and now South Maui. (choicehealthbar.com)

The Wailea location itself appears to be a recent addition rather than a long-established standalone restaurant, and the business’s own posts show it was still describing Wailea as a coming-soon project earlier in the buildout. That makes it especially important to rely on current operational sources rather than older summaries. (choicehealthbar.com)

Review Sentiment Snapshot

What People Love

The strongest recurring praise is for fresh, healthy, satisfying food that feels easy to eat without feeling heavy. Across the available review snippets and secondary listings, people repeatedly mention that the restaurant is a good fit for fresh plant-based food, quick healthy meals, and smoothie/acai-bowl stops. (wanderlog.com)

Travelers also seem to value the brand for being a reliable vegan/vegetarian option in Maui, especially in areas where healthy choices can be limited. The Wailea location is described by the brand and third-party summaries as convenient for South Maui visitors looking for a lighter lunch or post-beach refuel. (mauinow.com)

Common Gripes

There is not much strong negative sentiment available yet for this specific Wailea location. The biggest caution is not a complaint pattern but a practical one: this style of food can be expensive for what is essentially a fast-casual breakfast/lunch stop, and the menu is intentionally narrow if you want a full hot-meal or dinner experience. That is a moderate inference from the menu and service model, not a heavily documented grievance. (choicehealthbar.com)

Another real limitation is dietary rather than experiential: the brand says it is not certified gluten-free and does not have a separate toaster, so gluten-sensitive travelers should not treat it as a risk-free kitchen. That concern is well-supported by the official FAQ. (choicehealthbar.com)

Practical Visitor Tips

Current Google Places hours show 7:00 AM–3:00 PM daily, which makes this more of a breakfast-and-lunch stop than an all-day restaurant. (choicehealthbar.com)
The brand’s quick-serve format suggests walk-in ordering, not reservations. (choicehealthbar.com)
If you want the broadest menu choice, go earlier in the day; that is the most practical inference for a café that closes in mid-afternoon. (choicehealthbar.com)
This is a strong fit for beach-day fuel, a light lunch, or a smoothie/acai break rather than a lingering dinner. (choicehealthbar.com)
For gluten-sensitive diners, ask carefully about cross-contact; the official site says the kitchen is not certified gluten-free. (choicehealthbar.com)
The listing is in Wailea/Kihei South Maui, so it should be convenient for resort-area visitors, but the exact center-shop setting suggests it is more practical than scenic. This is an inference from the address and venue type. (waileavillage.com)

Verification Notes

Official business name is currently shown as Choice Healthy Kitchen and Juice Bar Wailea on Google Places, while the brand’s own site often uses Choice Health Bar and recent Maui news coverage uses Choice Healthy Kitchen + Juice Bar for the Wailea opening. (choicehealthbar.com)
Google Places lists the address as 116 Wailea Ike Dr, Kihei, HI 96753, USA and the business as operational; Wailea Village also lists the shop at 100 Wailea Ike Dr, suggesting suite or site-address drift inside the same center. (choicehealthbar.com)
Phone and website match across Google and the official site: (808) 661-7711 and https://www.choicehealthbar.com/. (choicehealthbar.com)
No major verification issues found beyond the naming/address drift noted above. (choicehealthbar.com)

Sources

Google Places record for Choice Healthy Kitchen and Juice Bar Wailea — https://maps.google.com/?cid=7500149143413679269 — retrieved 2026-03-31. Most useful for official-style identity confirmation, current status, hours, phone, and the baseline address used for disambiguation.
Choice Health Bar menu page — https://www.choicehealthbar.com/menu — retrieved 2026-03-31. Most useful for menu structure, signature items, and price expectations.
Choice Health Bar about page — https://www.choicehealthbar.com/about — retrieved 2026-03-31. Most useful for ownership/background, gluten-free caveats, and the brand’s own location history.
Choice Health Bar home page — https://www.choicehealthbar.com/home — retrieved 2026-03-31. Most useful for service style, general atmosphere, and brand positioning around indoor/outdoor seating and quick-serve format.
Choice Health Bar “South Side, Here We Come! Choice Is Coming to Wailea Village!” blog post — https://www.choicehealthbar.com/mauiblog/south-side-here-we-come-choice-is-coming-to-wailea-village — retrieved 2026-03-31. Most useful for the Wailea opening context, expected offerings, and buildout timing.
Maui Now coverage of the Wailea grand opening — https://mauinow.com/2025/11/18/choice-health-bar-in-wailea-grand-opening-this-saturday/ — retrieved 2026-03-31. Most useful for confirming that the Wailea location opened and for date-stamping the opening news.
Wailea Village directory listing — https://waileavillage.com/wailea_store/choice-healthy-kitchen-juice-bar/ — retrieved 2026-03-31. Most useful for the shopping-center context and the address drift note.
Wanderlog listing for the Wailea location — https://wanderlog.com/place/details/16226576/choice-healthy-kitchen-and-juice-bar-wailea — retrieved 2026-03-31. Most useful for third-party review sentiment that the place is valued as a fresh, healthy food option.