Wahine Kai Shave Ice and Boba Tea

Hawaii born and raised so I kinda know my shave ice. This place is alright, doesn’t hold a torch to Aokis Matsumotos but its passable. The flavor of the shave ice starts strong, but they lose a lot of flavor midway through. If im going to pay $ 5+ for shave ice, drench that syrup all the way through!

Let’s just start with something good– I got the halo halo and it was delicious icy perfection in an 18 oz cup.
I was not crazy about the spoon they gave me that had something embedded in the side of it as if the spoon had been sitting in a grimy unkept place before they handed it to me. The store is kinda dim and the service was also pretty slow by my standards considering I was the only customer there. In their defense though, there’s a lot of different components that go into a halo halo so I guess I understand why it took so long. The product makes up for almost all of that though. I’d wait again for as long as I did for some legit halo halo again :)
Halo halo includes ice cream of your choice (I got green tea), shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk, boba, jellies, coconut, flan, sweet beans, corn, jackfruit, and I think that’s it but I might be missing one or two things that they included. Bottom line it’s yummy and you should try it.

Went here last night as a family of 6 and each of us were quite impressed. Awesome sno cones and even their viet. coffee was great! Will definitely be returning soon!

Very yummy!!!
came here with my friend to try it out after work and it was very good. The flavoring on the shaved ice isn’t too sweet which I like because most of the shaved ices I have tried are always too sweet.
You get a large amount for a small but you’d be surprised at how much you end up eating! I got vanilla ice cream with my shaved ice and it was perfect.
It’s a small place with limited seating so on a busy day it could be hard to find a place to sit. The decos are very Hawaiian themed and cute.
This place is def a good place to get your shaved ice craving fix! I will probably come back often during the summer time (:
The customer service here is good as well. The owner is very friendly.

After coming back from Maui, I searched SD county for something comparable to the deliciousness that was Ululani’s. If Ulu was a 10, this place is a 7, but there is literally no place in SD that can get closer. The syrups are good, but definitely taste overly sweet like corn syrup rather than sugar. The snow is perfectly fine. They also serve Halo-​Halo from April to October (or something like that) and my mom and aunties swear its better here than at Filipino places. They also have boba! If they had froyo I’d have no reason to go anywhere else for dessert.
Pros
— jack of all trades, boba/​crepes/​halo halo and shave ice
— wide syrup selection
— huge portions, can refill with condensed milk as needed
Cons
— the ice cream is most def thrifty – wish they had more tropical-​y flavors considering it’s a Hawaiian-​ish place.

I like mom and pop style boba shops. It’s more than just an ‘order’ it’s an experience. This place has that! Not the BEST Thai Tea’s around… but pretty good Boba! Will be back!

The shaved ice is phenomenal! They have concoctions that have ice cream with the shaved ice or you can opt for just shaved ice, can’t go wrong either way.
Service is always super friendly and the difference in price between the regular and large is only like 50 cents so might as well go big :)

This place is slow… Or I’m just used to the shaved ice places in Hawaii that aren’t nearly as slow as this place.
The seating is super uncomfortable. I banged my knee seating down in one of the fixed chairs.
I will say it’s nice to have a place you know shaved ice will be instead of braving an event with lots of people hoping a shaved ice truck shows up. When that happens, it makes me never want to leave the house…
The shaved ice was decent, but not spectacular. (Especially waiting 15 minutes after you order.) It’s the smoother type of ice, not the more coarse type. I had grape/​watermelon and my wife had sour apple. The watermelon really had an extremely mild flavor, I had to concentrate hard on watermelons to make it taste good. The grape was good. My wife thought her sour apple was ok.

Great place for shaved ice. We don’t like the extra stuff — so If you just like straight up shaved ice– Hawaiian style — this place is perfect. They have many different flavors. Reminds us of our honeymoon in Hawaii. We go here all the time. We are fortunate that we have a really good shaved ice place to go to near by.

I’m not too big on shaved ice, just because of my previous experiences, but this place definitely changed my views on that.
I love getting the Tigers blood here. I believe that’s the most popular one… But the ice is so soft! It’s not crunchy, like a snow cone. Nor is it like a slushy. It’s almost like fresh snow with flavoring!
I’ve never tired the boba here, but I’m sure it’s great!
This is a great place to go to over summer!

I’ve only had the Tapioca Milk Tea there. It’s a true representation of Milk Tea from Taiwan (the real deal!). It has the right amount of tea, milk and sugar with a generous amount of boba :-)
The Shave Ice looks really good! I’ll have to order on a hot day
My only gripe is the time it takes to get your order. They are lightly staffed, which seems to be the right balance for the store/​location. Just make sure that you’re not in a hurry when you order. It IS worth the wait

This is the best shave ice place on the mainland! I absolutely love their variety and quality.
But the rest of this review is about their boba.
Milk tea = ²⁄₅
Boba = ⁴⁄₅
Service = ⁵⁄₅
Parking = ⁵⁄₅
Most of the other places I have reviewed for boba have been in convoy, so it is nice to go somewhere in North county. When this place opened they only had shaved ice, but they have expanded to drinks and crepes since then. The milk tea is nothing to call home for, but the boba was pretty good. I wouldn’t get boba here again, but it is good for a fix if you live in the area and don’t want to drive too far. But they absolutely rock when it comes to hawaiian shave ice.

Stopped in for the Boba Tea. We used to have several Boba Tea joints in Nashville but they all seem to have shut down or are in parts of the town we don’t get it. It was nice to see a highly reviews place so close to our hotel so we stopped in.
The selection was very good, including an unusual (But delicious) «Cookies and Cream» Boba Tea.
If we’d had time to return I’d love to have checked out the Shaved Ice, we saw someone with one on the way out and it looked HUGE.
One additional item is they have a bunch of Post-​It notes on the walls with messages from various patrons. We asked and were happily provided with a box with Post-​Its and a bunch of colored pens and crayons to post our own message on the wall. It’s silly but a fun addition.
Absolutely recommended.

This place is always my go to for shaved ice and boba! I always get the peach milk tea with boba and it is amazing every time. The atmosphere is excellent and the store is so fun inside. The customer service is always nice and fast, I highly recommend wahine Kai!

Came here with my sister and ordered the Shaved Ice with Pineapple coconut ice cream which was amazing! we chose the Tiger Blood and Pineapple syrup for our shaved ice and topped with li hing mui. The guy who was making our order was very nice and generous. He definitely provided great service. The ice cream was so good i actually ordered a scoop on the side to go. I highly recommend coming here. Not only is it delicious and perfect for Sunny San Diego but the staff is friendly!

This place had a lot of good reviews so we tried it out, pretty large portions and decently priced. They have a good selection of flavors and preset drinks to choose from. There is not much space to sit so plan on taking your cup to go. And bring plenty of napkins if it’s hot out, they pile this stuff into the cups which is awesome!
I got a «tigers blood» with condensed milk, it has a sour sort of taste to it, almost watermelon and lemon like but not that strong. The condensed milk neutralized it a bit. The wife got a lava flow, had ice cream at the bottom. I think they accidentally gave her coffee ice cream when it was supposed to be cookie dough.
Friendly staff, decent parking outside, I can imagine this place getting packed during the summer months (which is 10 months out of the year for this area)

The bf had a craving for hawaiian shaved ice and so we decided to look for one nearby. Found this cute place and we loved it. It’s surf themed and has a few small tables inside.
Looking at the menu, they got a lot of unique flavors like honeydew, cherimoya, tiger blood, and kiwi. And they serve boba drinks too! To top it all off they use Rite Aid Thrifty’s ice cream which is one of my personal favorite ice cream brands.
Their shaved ice comes in two sizes: kahuna (8 oz) and big kahuna (16 oz). The bf and I decided to share a big kahuna and it was perfect for the two of us. We got the Sandbar which is honey dew and guava with vanilla ice cream. I really enjoyed it. I felt like they were a bit lighter handed with the syrup which made it not too overwhelmingly sweet (the guy behind the counter also offered to add more syrup if we needed it, but we didn’t). Ice was nice and soft, just the way hawaiian shaved ice should be. I’m already thinking about what flavors I will get next!
Also I hear they have crepes… I will have to try their crepes sometime.

Looking for a little taste of the islands? This place has some of the best shaved ice around. Fine powder ice on top of your favorite ice cream. The bird of paradise is by far my favorite. Ask for a little condensed milk on top and you have perfection!

Wow, talk about cooling sweet sugar! Although it is shaved iced on top of ice cream and is basically just pure sugar, it is very refreshing on a hot day and actually very delicious!
They have many premade options which I suggest you choose since they know which flavors work well together. We got the Pipeline, which was absolutely delicious. It has fruity shaved ice on top, and cookie dough ice cream on the bottom which I was skeptical at first but it worked well together. The small size is big enough to share, and the big size is massive! Finished it anyway.

Love that this little gem is in Scripps. Remind me of Tano’s that was in Mission Beach when I was a kid. Wahine Kai has a huge array of flavors, condensed milk options, ice creams, a wall full of funny post its and a great island vibe.
I usually go for the tiger’s blood when I’m feeling like something on the sweeter side, and pink lemonade or lemon lime when I want something a bit sassier.
The wait can sometimes take a while (island time applies here too) so come in and chill for a bit.

I found out about this place my senior year and high school and it’s just simply amazing ! It’s near home too so it’s not too far of a distance of when I want a shave ice fix.
You are automatically welcomed in by one of their team members and into a store with a hawaiian feel right when you walk in. The menu is easy to read but they have a variety of flavors to choose from ! My first visit in i was so shocked by all the flavors that I did not know what to order. I’ve tried majority of the popular flavors like tigers blood and stuff on their pre-​set menu that already have ingredients put together. But not until a couple years ago I’ve been getting the same combo each time.
I always order now a kahuna sized dreamsicle and wedding cake mix and with vanilla ice cream on the bottom. You won’t be disappointed! It’s such a good mix that now my friends keep getting the same mix everytime we go in. I love how the shave ice isn’t rough like some shave ice is. Like the ice is nicely diced and cut in a way that it makes the ice fine and a more melt in your mouth flavor. There hasn’t been a place quite like this one that can evenly match this place here in San Diego. This place seems like a hole in the wall and once you discovered it, you keep coming back.
I totally recommend this anytime of day ! Especially during the summer when this cool treat is perfect to eat during this peak season of when the weather starts to warm up.