Culture

Obamas' Honolulu Faves Include Indigo, Rainbow Drive-In
By wchung | 03 Jun, 2026

Left: Sanford Lee, bottom, Peter Peters, left, Jana Lynn Fu, center, Shari Dang, right center, and Kelly Deese enjoy some appetizers in the main dinning area of the INDIGO restaurant located in the Chinatown district of downtown Honolulu. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner); Above: Tommy Furtado of Kaimuki enjoys a meal of pork cutlet with gravy, white rice and macaroni salad at Rainbow Drive-In. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)

Rainbow Drive-In in Kapahulu is known for its delicious local food served up in a box. It’s located about a mile west of Waikiki on Kapahulu Ave, a street lined with restaurants and shops. President Barack Obama, who was raised on Oahu, has been known to visit the drive-in to pick up a meal with his family while vacationing on Oahu.

Other Obama family favorites include the chic fusion restaurant Indigo in the revitalized Hotel Street district in the northern pat of downtown Honolulu. During a recent visit the then Senator Obama and his party dined in Indigo’s Opium Lounge, a private dinning room located in the restaurant.

For a bite on the run the Obamas have also been spotted picking up lunches at the many lunch wagons that roam Honolulu streets.