© All Rights Reserved by Padovani’s Brothers

Star Bulletin 

By Erika Engle

Padovani’s Restaurant giving up on Doubletree Alana location

Philippe Padovani opened his restaurant to rave reviews eight years ago at the Doubletree Alana Hotel in Waikiki, but one problem could never be corrected -- so it will likely close at the end of the year.

"The clientele in the (Doubletree Alana) hotel do not match the clients who would frequent his restaurant," said attorney and restaurant partner Keith Kiuchi. The hotel is operated by Hilton Hotels, which could not be reached for comment.

Padovani and an earlier partner spent $3.5 million building Padovani's Restaurant & Wine Bar, which the partners hate to vacate. But neither Padovani and Kiuchi nor the hotel want to renew the lease, which expires at the end of the year, Kiuchi said. Hilton is cooperating in the transition, Kiuchi said.

The restaurant won accolades as Gourmet Magazine's Best French Restaurant in Hawaii and won the Best Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine.

Padovani's is "the only restaurant on the island that won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence three times, and do we get any PR off of that? ... nothing from the Hilton," Kiuchi said.

Padovani "has made a go of it more than anybody else has. He's tried."

"The other problem is that as a hotel restaurant, he's had to serve breakfast and lunch," Kiuchi said, adding that his partner "is an amazing chef and I'd put him up against anybody." However, "you don't have Rembrandt doing a house painting job," Kiuchi said.

"This town can't support a restaurant like this," Padovani said. "If it could, where are all the local people?" He has mainland and international diners who ebb and flow with visitor numbers. "It's up and down and you can't work up and down," said the chef.

Padovani's San Francisco restaurant was shuttered in November last year.

"It was unprofessional media (in San Francisco) ... that doesn't want to talk about the restaurant," Padovani said. The right restaurant reviewers stayed away in droves, he said, even though "we were putting out incredible food" for a year and a half.

The restaurant company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February and Padovani and his wife filed for personal Chapter 7 liquidation on Friday, beating the start of a more-stringent bankruptcy law.

The Waikiki restaurant employs 35 people, most of whom Kiuchi suspects would be rehired by a new operator. One employee may follow Padovani into the chocolate manufacturing business, for which he is seeking investors.

In the meantime, it will be business as usual at Padovani's until the end of the year. Padovani is preparing to load up the restaurant's cruvinet, or specialized wine dispenser, with featured wines for the holiday season, including Opus One.