Near Maui Scalar Room: Where to Eat and Shop in Haiku

Everything within a few minutes of the Scalar Room, mapped out plainly.

People book a session at Maui Scalar Room and then, understandably, ask right after: what’s actually around here? Haiku isn’t a resort strip with everything built for visitors and most of what matters sits inside a two minute radius of the room itself.

The Aloha Aina Center

The Scalar Room sits at 810 Kokomo Rd, Suite 102, inside a building called Aloha Aina Center. Multiple other businesses share that same building. Directly across the street is the old Haiku cannery, a former pineapple processing building that’s since filled in with food vendors and small shops, including a hardware store. Nuka, a sushi bar locals already know about, is across the parking lot from The Scalar Room, and next to the Haiku Post Office.

Once you’ve parked, most of this is within a couple minutes of walking.

The Scalar Room Itself

Before or after any of the stops below, there’s the Scalar Room where for an hour or two, nothing is asked of you except to close your eyes. One regular guest put it simply.

“It’s definitely one of my favorite places on Maui to reset.”

— Maui Scalar Room guest

The room’s own teaching about why eyes closed rest matters here borrows the Hawaiian idea of aloha itself, not just a greeting but a breath practice: breathe in fully, and let the exhale be a total letting go.

“It’s the most powerful word in the universe to a kahuna, because it means oneness with that sacred breath of eternal life.”

— Dr. Sandra Rose Michael, inventor of the EESystem

The room is open six days a week (closed Fridays). You can book a time to visit, here. Everything else on this list is nearby in one direction or another.

In the Same Building as the Scalar Room

FuzionFit (810 Kokomo Rd #140) is a full gym one door down: cardio equipment, a machine room, group fitness classes included with membership, personal training, and what they call a Longevity Lounge for upgraded members. It’s open long hours, 5am to 9pm on weekdays and 7am to 7pm on weekends. If a session leaves you wanting to move rather than sit still, this is as close as it gets, literally the same building.

King’s BBQ and Chinese Restaurant, also at 810 Kokomo Rd, is takeout only and open every day, 9am to 9pm. The menu blends Chinese American plate lunch standards, orange chicken, beef and broccoli, garlic prawns, house fried rice, with local Hawaii plate lunch staples like katsu, mahi mahi, lau lau, and saimin. Online ordering is available, so it’s a realistic option even if you’re short on time between a session and the next thing on your day.

Veg Out, also at 810 Kokomo Rd, is a plant based restaurant open seven days a week, 10:30am to 7:30pm on weekdays and 11:30am to 7:30pm on weekends. The menu runs from salads, sandwiches, and wraps to Mexican dishes, curries, pasta, and pizza, all vegetarian and vegan. It’s a sit down option in the same building, not just a takeout counter.

Across the Street at the Cannery

The building directly across from Aloha Aina Center is known locally as the Haiku cannery, or Haiku Marketplace, a former pineapple cannery filled in with small vendors and a covered patio of umbrella tables. Four stops worth knowing about.

Colleen’s at the Cannery is a full service restaurant with real hours: breakfast from 7 to 11am (7 to 11:30am on weekends), lunch from 11am to 3:30pm, a daily happy hour from 3:30 to 5:30pm, and dinner from 5:30 to 9:30pm every night. Pizza is the specialty, built around local, organic ingredients where possible, but the breakfast through dinner hours make it the one place in this whole radius that covers any time of day.

The food trucks are the more casual option, a rotating lineup of vendors parked at the covered patio. A recent local write up named Island Tacos, North and South Indian Cuisine, Mediterranean Grill, and Bailey’s Cafe as regulars.

Treat that list as a starting point, not a guarantee. Food truck lineups change, and that write up doesn’t carry a visible publish date, so it’s worth a quick look at what’s actually parked there on the day. Either way, it’s a no reservation lunch that costs you zero extra driving.

Haiku Grocery Store is the practical stop, smaller than a full supermarket, more like a well stocked convenience store, but enough for sunscreen, water, snacks, or whatever got left off the packing list. Don’t expect a big box selection. Expect the basics, on the same block as everything else.

Haiku Ace Hardware, also in the cannery building, is a small, well stocked hardware store, not a big box location, but enough for the odds and ends that come up on a trip: sunscreen, batteries, a phone charger, a tool you forgot to pack. It’s genuinely walkable, a couple of minutes from the Scalar Room’s own building, not a separate errand across town.

Nuka’s across the way

Nuka is the reason a lot of locals already know this stretch of road, a 50 seat izakaya and sushi bar doing contemporary Japanese food, and genuinely a thirty second walk from the Scalar Room, right next to the Haiku post office. It’s first come, first served with no reservations: open 11:30am to 10pm on weekdays, 4:30 to 10pm on weekends, and it fills up, so arriving right at opening is the move if you don’t want to wait.

Their menu leans into handrolled sushi and a full bar, and takeout ordering is available online if a wait doesn’t fit your schedule.

Worth a Short Drive

Temple of Peace is an interfaith wellness sanctuary on Haiku Road that’s been running since 2000. It’s close by, but plan on driving over separately rather than combining it with the other stops on this list. People sometimes ask about the spa there specifically. That’s not a separate business, it’s what the sanctuary itself offers: the Aqualani Water Lounge (hot tubs, pools, a steam room, infrared saunas), colon hydrotherapy, multi day cleansing retreats, and weekly events like reiki sessions, tai chi, kirtan chanting, and Sunday services.

What to Know Before You Go

• Bring some cash. Food trucks at the cannery often prefer it, even though most other stops here take cards.
• Nuka and the food trucks don’t take reservations. Arrive early if you want to avoid a wait, especially at Nuka around dinner.
• The Scalar Room’s building, the cannery, and Nuka are all close together. A few minutes apart, no car needed once you’ve parked in one of two large parking areas.
• Temple of Peace is a separate stop. Plan on driving there rather than combining it with the rest of this list.

A Few Common Questions

What’s Actually Within Walking Distance of the Maui Scalar Room?

FuzionFit, King’s BBQ, and Veg Out share the Scalar Room’s own building. Across the street, the old cannery building has food trucks, Colleen’s, Haiku Grocery Store, and Haiku Ace Hardware. Nuka is a ten second walk down Haiku Road. All of it is walkable.

Is There Anywhere to Eat Right in the Same Building as the Scalar Room?

Yes. King’s BBQ, a Chinese American takeout spot open 9am to 9pm daily, and Veg Out, a plant based restaurant with vegetarian and vegan sit down options, both share the building at 810 Kokomo Rd.

What’s the Food Truck Situation at the Cannery Across the Street?

A rotating lineup, with Island Tacos, North and South Indian Cuisine, Mediterranean Grill, and Bailey’s Cafe named as regulars in a recent local write up. The exact trucks parked on a given day can vary, so it’s worth a quick look when you get there.

Does Nuka Take Reservations?

No, first come, first served. Arrive right at opening, 11:30am on weekdays or 4:30pm on weekends, if you want to avoid a wait.

How Do I Get to Temple of Peace From the Scalar Room?

It’s a short drive down Haiku Road, close by but best treated as its own separate stop rather than combined with the rest of this list.

Is There a Grocery Store Nearby if I Forgot Something?

Haiku Grocery Store, across the street in the cannery building.

Is There a Hardware Store Nearby?

Yes. Haiku Ace Hardware, in the same cannery building as the food trucks and Colleen’s. It’s genuinely walkable, not a separate trip.