King’s Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant

Robert Taira, who introduced his sweet rolls to the mainland from a Torrance bakery in 1977, opened a full-service restaurant next door in 1988. A giant pineapple statue still greets guests at the door, and servers in Hawaiian shirts work a dining room built around a floor-to-ceiling tropical aquarium. The kitchen serves loco moco and spam musubi alongside French toast made from the bakery's own sweet rolls, plus a paradise cake layered with guava, passion fruit and lime. A faster, counter-service sibling, The Local Place, opened nearby in 2001 for anyone short on time.