Ka is an easy, pleasant gem of a place to get a drink or pau hana bite after doing some shopping at Borders, Rainbowtique, Noa Noa or you name it.

This staff is super-friendly and helpful and will seriously work to make you happy, but frankly, that shouldn’t be hard because the grinds are cheap and good.

On Wednesdays, when Ka has the $5 pizza special that drew me in, you can easily feed four people for $15-$20. Who doesn’t like that? And the pizza is a charmer.

For me, the crust was classic — chewy-crunchy and not over-oiled, with big bubbles along the edges as it came out of the oven.

Chef Travis Inouye and owner/manager Brian Yoshida are young and hungry to please, but also open to innovation. So when Inouye made a pizza for staff that made everybody happy, Yoshida said they decided, why not?

After my party of three — a man, woman and teenager of varying tastes — had tried the pizza and unanimously approved of it, I asked Inouye for more details about it. He said that early on he was making pizzas for fun behind the scenes and created a "challenge" pizza that was superspicy (now available by request on Wednesdays, if you’re tough enough).

Eventually the operators decided they should add it to the menu.

I said, "I know we’re Asian, but let’s just make pizza," Inouye said, laughing.

THE PIZZA retains an Asian orientation, in many cases, under Inouye’s direction. You can get pizza topped with a Thai-inspired peanut sauce, or Korean barbecue-inspired sweet-tangy sauce with hoisin, sweet chili sauce and such. But you can also get a classic pizza with garlic, bacon and pepperoni, allowing you to relish the crust’s great textures, melting cheese and slight tang of the topping, straight up.

Inouye also recommended his bao — and they are truly satisfying. They come in a set of four on a long plate. We tried the buttermilk fried chicken bao — sounds so wrong, but tastes so right — and it did the trick, with the crunch of the lightly tangy batter complementing the soft chewiness of the bao, and the chicken itself cooked to exactly the right tenderness.

You can also get cocktails, of course. I tried a new recipe the bar was just trying out: a vodka martini with Choya, a Japanese plum liqueur, rimmed with shiso-flavored salt (pricing to be determined, approximately $8). It was strong in flavor and effect, and tended to overemphasize the plum and saltlike flavors of the Asian-style pizzas, but on its own was a kick.

THE RESTAURANT is spacious and comfortable, if a little bewildering in its layout, thanks to a central bar/serving area that you have to navigate around before reaching the seating — a blend of high tables and low couches that is meant to help Ka segue into its alter ego as a nightclub on Saturday nights, and for special events.

The ceiling is black and the walls are red, with brick accents. It’s not as elaborate as the former establishment, E&O, which installed some of the architecture — but the sight lines are better.

During happy hour, though, you can see out the wall-length windows across Ala Moana Park as the sun sets, and that helps warm the room. So does the exceedingly cheerful and helpful service. And so does the bargain pricing.

I plan to visit again to try other pizza varieties, and other items off the menu. I need to try other bao made with pork belly and shortribs, too.

Ka — you’re cool.