Formerly: F. Teshima General Merchandise Store (1929–1957)
Honalo, Hawaii · Founded 1929 · Building: 1957
A South Kona family restaurant rooted in a 1929 general store, rebuilt in 1957 and shaped for decades by 106-year-old matriarch Mary “Grandma” Teshima.
Teshima's Restaurant traces its South Kona family-business history to 1929, when Mary Shizuko Teshima and her husband Fumio opened F. Teshima General Merchandise Store in Honalo. Over the following decades, the store added ice cream, saimin, hamburgers, and other meals before the family replaced the original shop with the present restaurant building in 1957. The business became Teshima's Restaurant around 1960 and remains a family-run Hawaiian, Japanese, and American food institution.
Goichi Hanato, Mary Shizuko Teshima's father, immigrated from Japan and opened a store and tofu shop in Kona, forming part of the family commercial background before Teshima's own business began.
Source: Teshima Restaurant, “History”; Big Island Video News, “Aloha, Shizuko ‘Gramma’ Teshima,” Oct. 23, 2013
Mary Shizuko Teshima and Fumio Teshima opened F. Teshima General Merchandise Store in Honalo.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Teshima Restaurant Aims for the Century Mark,” Mar. 21, 2023; Teshima Restaurant, “History”; Aloha State Daily, “Japanese Breakfast — Teshima’s and a Century of Change in South Kona,” Oct. 14, 2025
The existing general store expanded its offerings with a fountain for ice cream sodas and later food service including saimin and hamburgers.
Source: Teshima Restaurant, “History”; Images of Old Hawaiʻi, “Teshima’s,” Nov. 17, 2022
During World War II, American servicemen in South Kona helped drive expansion of the store's prepared-food offerings, including hamburgers.
Source: Aloha State Daily, “Japanese Breakfast — Teshima’s and a Century of Change in South Kona,” Oct. 14, 2025; Images of Old Hawaiʻi, “Teshima’s,” Nov. 17, 2022
The family tore down the old F. Teshima store and built the present restaurant structure on Māmalahoa Highway.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Teshima Restaurant Aims for the Century Mark,” Mar. 21, 2023; Images of Old Hawaiʻi, “Teshima’s,” Nov. 17, 2022
The business became Teshima's Restaurant, completing its transition from general store and food counter to a full sit-down restaurant.
Source: Big Island Video News, “Aloha, Shizuko ‘Gramma’ Teshima,” Oct. 23, 2013; Teshima Restaurant, “History”
Mary Shizuko “Grandma” Teshima, owner of Teshima's Restaurant, died at age 106. Family descendants continued the business.
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser obituary, “Shizuko M. Teshima,” Nov. 22, 2013; Big Island Video News, “Aloha, Shizuko ‘Gramma’ Teshima,” Oct. 23, 2013
Honolulu Magazine described Teshima's as a long-running Kealakekua landmark serving local and Japanese-American favorites and listed its official website and current service information.
Source: Honolulu Magazine, “Old-School Diners We Love: Teshima's Restaurant,” May 16, 2024
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the restaurant's official history, and later local reporting agree that Mary Shizuko Teshima and Fumio Teshima began the business in 1929 as F. Teshima General Merchandise Store in Honalo.
The National Trust and local historical accounts say the family tore down the old store and erected the current restaurant structure in 1957. The 1929 founding date belongs to the business lineage, not to the present building.
Mary Shizuko Teshima owned Kona's Teshima Restaurant and died in 2013 at age 106. Local accounts describe her as a fixture at the business throughout its history, and one historical account says she worked at the Honalo landmark for 83 years. The sources reviewed support her long working association with the restaurant but do not establish the candidate's specific claim that she managed daily operations until shortly before death.
The National Trust identifies founder Mary Teshima's granddaughter Joni Izumi-Nakamoto in its account, while local reporting says descendants continued the business after Mary’s death. The family continuity is well supported, but this review did not establish the current legal owner, operating entity, or precise ownership shares.
No credible source located in this review establishes that John Wayne visited or dined at Teshima's. The claim should not be used in editorial copy, themes, timeline entries, or visitor material unless supported by a contemporaneous report, photograph, production record, correspondence, or reliable oral-history documentation.
Teshima's Restaurant began in 1940 as a coffee store and rooming house.
The family business began in 1929 as F. Teshima General Merchandise Store, opened by Mary Shizuko Teshima and Fumio Teshima. Food service expanded over time, and the current restaurant building was constructed in 1957.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Teshima Restaurant Aims for the Century Mark,” Mar. 21, 2023; Teshima Restaurant, “History”; Images of Old Hawaiʻi, “Teshima’s,” Nov. 17, 2022
The present Teshima's Restaurant building dates to about 1940.
The present restaurant building was constructed in 1957 after the family tore down the earlier general-store building. The 1929 founding date belongs to the business lineage, not the current structure.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Teshima Restaurant Aims for the Century Mark,” Mar. 21, 2023; Images of Old Hawaiʻi, “Teshima’s,” Nov. 17, 2022
John Wayne dined at Teshima's Restaurant while filming in Hawaii.
No credible source located in this review confirms a John Wayne visit. The story should not be presented as part of the restaurant's verified history without a contemporaneous or otherwise reliable record.
Source: No verifiable source located in this review
Mary “Grandma” Teshima personally won a James Beard-style recognition or managed the restaurant every day until just before her death.
Mary Shizuko Teshima was the longtime owner and matriarch of the family business and died at age 106 in 2013. Sources support her decades-long working presence but do not establish an individual national food award or the exact day-to-day management claim.
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser obituary, “Shizuko M. Teshima,” Nov. 22, 2013; Big Island Video News, “Aloha, Shizuko ‘Gramma’ Teshima,” Oct. 23, 2013
Teshima's survived by adapting its food and physical space to the needs of South Kona rather than abandoning its community roots. What began as a small general store expanded through ice cream, saimin, wartime hamburgers, and sit-down meals before becoming a full restaurant in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Mary “Grandma” Teshima’s decades of personal presence made the restaurant part of local family life, while later descendants continued the enterprise after her death.
Teshima's family business began in Honalo in 1929 as F. Teshima General Merchandise Store, opened by Mary Shizuko Teshima and her husband Fumio. The store gradually expanded from merchandise into ice cream, saimin, hamburgers, and other prepared food. The family replaced the original store with the present restaurant building in 1957, and the business became Teshima's Restaurant around 1960.
Teshima's Restaurant is one of Hawaiʻi Island's longest-running family restaurant lineages, tracing to a 1929 Honalo general store. This review did not identify and compare all older restaurants, hotel dining rooms, store counters, or continuous restaurant businesses on the island, so it does not establish Teshima's as the island's oldest restaurant. Its documented distinction is a multigenerational business history, not a proven Big Island oldest title.
The current Teshima's Restaurant building was built in 1957. The family tore down the old F. Teshima General Merchandise Store and constructed the present restaurant structure on Māmalahoa Highway. The restaurant's 1929 date refers to the earlier family business, not to the current building.
“Grandma” Teshima was Mary Shizuko Teshima, the owner and matriarch associated with Teshima's Restaurant in Honalo. She and her husband Fumio began the family business as F. Teshima General Merchandise Store in 1929. She died in 2013 at age 106 after decades as a familiar presence at the South Kona landmark.
79-7251 Mamalahoa Hwy, Kealakekua, HI 96750
(808) 322-9140
The official restaurant FAQ lists breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, with dinner from 5 to 9 p.m.; hours and holiday closures can change, so call ahead before making a special trip.