Tali's Bagels Reopens on Waimanu Street With a Full Jewish Deli Menu

Tali's Bagels & Schmear is coming back to life Friday, Aug. 21, with a soft opening at a new Honolulu address on Waimanu Street, two months after the shuttering of its original Ward Centre storefront forced the popular bagel shop out of business at that location. The new spot brings takeout and customer seating, plus something the old menu never had: a full Jewish delicatessen lineup with fresh-sliced pastrami, turkey and ham sandwiches piled onto the customer's bagel of choice.

The shop's return was first detailed by Aloha State Daily, which reported that Tali's is now located at 1052 Waimanu St., inside OurSpace, an artist co-working and gallery venue. Owner Talia Bongolan-Schwartz said OurSpace's founders approached the business about relocating while it was still operating at Ward Centre, and the new site was chosen in part so former customers could still walk over from the old neighborhood. OurSpace was founded in part by people who came from BoxJelly, Hawaii's original co-working brand, according to Luma, which lists the venue as offering artist co-working space and events alongside the new bagel counter.

Two Months Dark After a Three-Year Run

Tali's had served loyal customers at Ward Centre for three years before the shopping center's closure. That closure was part of a much bigger story: Ward Centre shut its doors permanently on June 30, ending four decades in Kakaʻako and forcing more than 20 retail tenants to relocate or close ahead of demolition, according to Aloha State Daily. The site is being cleared to make way for two luxury residential towers, part of developer Howard Hughes Corp.'s roughly 60-acre Ward Village master plan, which is projected to add about 5,839 residential units across 14 towers through 2030, per the outlet New Construction Hawaii. Bongolan-Schwartz said the business was closed for two months after the Ward Centre location shut down before landing on the Waimanu Street space.

Tali's began as a pandemic hobby for Bongolan-Schwartz and Kelly Bongolan-Schwartz, who built a following through Instagram orders and weekend farmers markets at KCC and Pearlridge starting in January 2022, according to the shop's own account of its history. The Ward Centre storefront followed in July 2023. Through the closure and reopening, the brand's Windward Oahu outpost has kept running: Tali's has remained open at its Kailua store, a 1,120-square-foot space at 26 Hoolai Street that commercial real estate broker CBRE arranged in 2024.

Pastrami Joins the Bagel Case

The relocation comes with a menu overhaul. Tali's is expanding into a full delicatessen, with fresh-sliced meat now anchoring several new sandwiches. The Hot Pastrami stacks fresh-sliced pastrami with Russian dressing, Swiss, sauerkraut and house pickles, and Bongolan-Schwartz expects it to become a customer favorite. The Deli option piles on mesquite-smoked turkey, Black Forest ham, lemon-caper remoulade, cheddar, Swiss, lettuce, tomato and sprouts, while the B.E.C. brings crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, cheddar and Muenster for $13.99. The shop uses Boar's Head meats for its new deli lineup, and Bongolan-Schwartz said the business cut some traditional items, including white fish salad, from the old menu to make room.

The deli push draws on Bongolan-Schwartz's own family history. Her personal connection to Jewish culinary tradition comes from her maternal grandparents, who worked as kosher caterers, and her paternal grandfather, who was a kosher butcher in Queens, New York, according to The Nosher. Because commercial Jewish deli suppliers are scarce in Hawaii, the same outlet reports that Tali's cures and smokes its own whitefish in-house to keep its recipes authentic — a workaround that also shapes the shop's approach to its signature lox, which is flown in directly from Brooklyn-based Acme Smoked Fish and marketed as an island exclusive.

The Bagels Still Come First

Despite the deli expansion, bagels remain the anchor of the menu, with a full assortment on offer alongside the OG NYC Bagel, which layers premium lox, classic schmear, local dill, capers, tomato and red onion for $17.99. According to Bongolan-Schwartz, everything remains the most popular flavor. The shop's bagel credentials got a national boost in November 2025, when Tali's took first place for best bagel at the New York BagelFest international competition, a global tasting event that pits commercial and artisanal bagel makers against each other.

All of that dough still gets prepped off-site: Tali's maintains a centralized production kitchen in Honolulu's Chinatown that handles baking for both the retail shops and the farmers market teams. Rounding out the drink case are the Israeli Iced Coffee, a $7.99 cold brew slushie made with oat milk, local mac nut syrup and a honey-tahini drizzle, and the Shaloha Slush, a $6.50 blend of local liliko'i and pomegranate-tahini drizzle. The shop also makes its own horseradish Russian dressing, lemon caper remoulade and spicy brown mustard in-house.

New Hours, Limited Ordering for Now

During the Friday soft opening, Tali's will offer in-person ordering only, with a grand opening to follow at a later date. Once fully up and running, the shop plans to operate 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Monday, extending its hours compared with the old Ward Centre location, and closing only on Tuesdays. Whether the foot traffic that once passed through Ward Centre will find its way to the new Waimanu Street address, and whether the Chinatown kitchen can keep pace with deli-scale demand, remain open questions as the shop settles into its new home.