Kahunaville

[BillyGr]

A restaurant with a Polynesian theme.  There is also an area with a car/diner theme and a video games area (kind of like Chuck E Cheese).  Later at night, it becomes a night club (I think after 10pm, no one under 21 is allowed).

It appears to have originated in Wilmington, DE and also has locations in Wisconsin Dells, Sandusky Ohio, Las Vegas and Seoul Korea.

This is the Wilmington location - the building is fairly large, but it also houses the "home office".

[amesman]

There used to be a location in Carousel Center in Syracuse, but it has closed. There is still one in Buffalo I believe.

[store215]

They used to have a location inside the Oxford Valley Mall in Langhorne, PA. I think it opened in the early 90's, but it didn't last too long and closed down---probably because it was more of an adult themed place and not a typical teen hangout. I forget what is in the space now

[powersbt]

The last I was there, it was still vacant. Always wanted to go there.

Originally posted by amesman
There used to be a location in Carousel Center in Syracuse, but it has closed. There is still one in Buffalo I believe.

[Pikapower]

There used to be a location in Carousel Center in Syracuse, but it has closed. There is still one in Buffalo I believe.

The Buffalo location closed down a few years ago and I don't know about the rest of the chain, but I think the Kahuanville chain is defunct!  :(

[MikeRa]

They used to have a location inside the Oxford Valley Mall in Langhorne, PA. I think it opened in the early 90's, but it didn't last too long and closed down---probably because it was more of an adult themed place and not a typical teen hangout. I forget what is in the space now

It looks like the Kahunaville location is now a Forever XXI womens store

[david121]

I went there once years and years ago to eat with my family at the one in Syracuse. It was HUGE and I don't think it was good. Always was packed though...

[BillyGr]

A couple more thing I found about this chain:

From http://www.specialtyretail.net/issues/May99/kahunaville.htm
Adventure Dining  (the parent company) is looking to take malls in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions by storm.  The company says it is refining its concept.  The first Kahunaville opened in 1993 in Wilmington, Delaware at the Wilmington Riverfront, along  the Christiana River.  It was followed by the 350-seat Oxford Valley Mall site in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.   The 350-seat Kahunaville at the Eastwood Mall  in Youngstown, Ohio and a site in the Carousel Center Mall in Syracuse, New York soon followed.  A new site at the Holyoke Mall, Holyoke, Massachusetts was due to open April 26, as we went to press.  Sites at the Walden Galleria Mall in Buffalo and at the Crossgates Mall in Albany, New York are scheduled to open shortly

Apparently from a post above there was one in Buffalo, but i know that there never was one in Crossgates here (several other restaurants, but not that one).
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http://www.kahunaville.com/index.html
AND
http://www.facebook.com/kahunavillelv

Looks to be a still operating one in Las Vegas (Treasure Island Hotel)
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http://www.kalahariresorts.com/wi/dining/kahunaville/

The Wisconsin Dells location
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Those are the only two that came up on a search - anything else that was listed referred to closed locations (like in Delaware).

[MikeRa]

They used to have a location inside the Oxford Valley Mall in Langhorne, PA. I think it opened in the early 90's, but it didn't last too long and closed down---probably because it was more of an adult themed place and not a typical teen hangout. I forget what is in the space now

The Oxford Valley Mall location (located in Langhore/Middletown Township, PA) closed back in the mid 2000's.  i used to go there a lot for NTN buzztime Trivia

[Chuck E. Cheese]

My friend posted about this in another forum so I asked him and now i'm reposting the same stuff here.
There was a themed restaurant chain that started in 1993 that had Arcade games and a couple animatronic turtles outside the entrance. His location was at the Holyoke Mal in MAl, this isn't his photo but this is the entrance:

and a small GIF showing the animatronic turtles' necks moving.


He also linked this article:
http://articles.philly.com/2000-09-05/business/25584648_1_christina-river-big-kahuna-theme-restaurant-chain
talking about the founding.

It seems a lot like Rainforest Cafe, which I've been to personally. Kahunaville predates it by a year in 1993, Rainforest opened it's first store in 1994.

Any more information, especially interior photos would be greatly appreciated.

[BillyGr]

We went to one one time, it was located in Wilmington Delaware on their waterfront. 

They had tried to develop the area with an outlet center, a ballpark and several eating places, but the outlets didn't do well (even at that time there were only a handful of stores open). 

I know the Kahunaville closed, but that was (I think) more to do with the company overall rather than just that spot - as far as I know there are still a few restaurants in the area (as those can draw people visiting as well as locals in the city, plus people attending games may stop at one before or after a game).

I seem to remember it had a fairly elaborate design, including what looked like a volcano on one corner, but unlike the one above this was a freestanding building so they could probably do more with it.

[Pikapower]

I think we already have a thread for Kahunaville on the restaurants board.

[BillyGr]

Very possible.  Just doing a quick search on the name, everything that pops up seems to lead to a single location in Las Vegas as being the last one. 

But then if you go to their Facebook page it looks like that one closed at the end of January, so they probably do belong on this page now (maybe merge of the two postings?).

[Pikapower]

Found it, the Kahunaville thread in the restaurants board! Frankly I think we need to have a child board in the closed chains board for closed restaurants.

http://amesfanclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=1096.msg51918#new

[Chuck E. Cheese]

Thanks, I'll look thru that.

[Ameskid]

Sounds like this was pretty similar to the Rainforest Cafe chain - anyone know what the similarities/differences between the respective restaurants were?

[Chuck E. Cheese]

I believe KV opened in 1993 while Rainforest was 1994..RC had lots of Animatronic figures while to my knowledge KV only had the turtles in the entrance.

[Pikapower]

^But the food at both places was pretty much the same kind of food that you can get at Friday's or Applebee's, but more expensive!

[Pikapower]

Man, I wished that I've gotten some pictures of the Kahunaville in the Walden Galleria Mall before it closed!  :(