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    Hawaii’s Ultimate Donut

    4.0 (83 reviews)

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    Malasadas with sugar
    Danielle R.

    This little food truck that is parked on the side of the road is a must when on the west side of the big island. Being from Oahu we have Leonard's malasadas, but these malasadas are amazingly delicious. The outside of the malasadas are crispy and the inside is pastry soft. If you are a foodie that likes texture, then this is the perfect place. It is a wait for your fresh, hot malasadas, but I will tell you it is worthwhile.

    Taura G.

    Delicious! Make sure that you choose a filling for each malasada you get. We ordered a 6pk for $14, with $3 for 2 filling flavors...but that's only to fill 2 of the 6 up with filling. The other 4 were plain no filling. Lesson learned. We ordered Ube Cheesecake and Peanut butter flavored fillings. Ube cheesecake filling was AWESOME! The peanut butter filling is super thick and makes your mouth dry and thirsty. I recommend another light and creamy flavored filling...or a berry filling. Overall, great experience. The wait was 15min after ordering. This is a side of the road food truck near Hapuna State Beach, and is a great spot to pull over to enjoy. We will come again. Mahalo!

    MAKASADA
    Rose C.

    For sweet lovers! This is a must try and look for when visiting Big Island - the Malasada Truck. It's a made to order to have. They have varieties of flavors. Everything was delicious and you can never go wrong regardless of what flavor you get. Make sure you give yourself enough time since there's a wait. My wait time was between 45 minutes to an hour. However it's truly worth it. BTW cash only!!!

    Malasada half dozen outside their truck
    Emily S.

    Must stop when you are on Mamalahoa Highway near Waikoloa. We always have to order the freshly made Hawaiian donut that is buttery, soft, slight similarly crispy on the outside and inside soft filled with various flavors to choose from. Our favorite is the Nutella and coconut. You can put go wrong with any of the Hawaiian flavors. It takes a long time from ordering to putting this tasty dessert in your mouth, but it is well worth the wait..you are in Hawaii after all and waiting is part of the fun. The smell of the donut too wow wow wow

    Ivory B.

    What are the malasadas? Per wikipedia, a malasada in Portuguese- from "mal-assada" "badly-baked" is also called Portuguese fried dough. It is a Portuguese fried type of doughnut, made of flattened rounds of yeast dough, with lemon zest and coated with granulated sugar and cinnamon. The traditional Portuguese malasadas do not contain holes or any type of filling. However, in Hawaii, malasadas are with holes, with tropical flavorful cream or jelly fillings include chocolate, custard, coconut, passion fruit, guava, pineapple and custard. You must stop to grab a few malasadas here! Must have these malasadas with fillings; otherwise, you will regret not to have them prepared in a Hawaiian style. The service is fast, super fast considering how this food truck provides such a warm, flavorful, and tasty malasadas. Someone was really patience and nice taking our order, as we could not easily decide our filling. The ambiance is fun and friendly. I like it. You must try and you won't regret. It's a bit pricey but it worths every penny for a delicious treat. Make it a point to stop! Must try both with sugar topping and delicious tropical filling. Aloha stop for sure!

    Jacqueline T.

    These are hands down the best Hot Malasadas I've had in Hawaii. Don't listen to the people that tell you Leonard's are the best. These are way better. We loved it so much on our last trip we went twice, so clearly we had to come back twice again on this trip. You'll find the truck parked on the highway near the turnoff for Beach 69/Hapuna Beach. It's cash only. She opens roughly around 12-12:30 and is open until at least 4 when we drive by, but I'm not sure how late. I'd recommend getting there close to when she opens to avoid a long wait. Everything is made to order, so even if there is no line, you'll probably wait about 10 minutes. If there's a line, you may wait close to an hour. We always get them filled and Li-Hing is my favorite sugar. On this trip we tried: Lilikoi, Strawberry, Lemon, Apricot, Peanut Butter, Ube Cheesecake, Caramel, Lilikoi, Lilikoi Cream Cheesecake, Mango, and Guava. The fruit jam ones are my favorites: Lilikoi, Strawberry, Apricot, and Mango. Li-Hing is definitely my favorite sugar. They're served warm too which is the best. We tried the Mango-Lilikoi lemonade, but I didn't really like it. My only small complaint about the Malasadas is that I want more filling. Only about half of the bites have filling. All in all, this place is a must try even if you have to wait. We'll be back on our next trip.

    Anthony T.

    I've had maladadas at other restaurants in Hawaii. Hawaii's Ultimate Donut is my favorite. They stand above the rest. The dough alone could beat many of the others. And when you add a filling to it, none of the other restaurants even come close. I've been here several times. I make sure to order it at least once every time I'm on the big island. My favorite fillings, in order, are strawberry, guava, lilikoi, and caramel. And I think they all go best with li-hing but plain sugar is great too.

    Lemon zest, guava and mango filled donuts!
    Amber P.

    These were a treat I won't soon forget. I've seen this truck through out the years while going to the beach on vacations and finally stopped to see what line was about. What I didn't know is that they make them fresh to order and you can see them making the donuts through the window. This is when I got excited. The wait can take a little while, ours took about 15 minutes but it was worth it. We chose a lemon filled donut, a mango and a guava. The filling was fresh and not too sweet and combined with the fresh hot dough, it was heaven in your mouth.

    Exterior view- looking outward from the truck
    Helene L.

    Confused to why 13 reviews when this location has been in business for 9 years!! Food: straight forward, fresh yummy fried malasada goodness. High quality compared to others I have had. filling options at $1/each. A tad sweet for my taste. *i do not recommend chocolate filling, on the liquid side and melted/leaked all over. Otherwise flavors were good. Service- nice Location- literally off the road, food truck. Value- fair, expensive but high quality. 1/2 dozen with 5 filled, total $17. Recommend- YES!!

    Grace C.

    The lady handling the orders is so lovely. The wait is a bit when it's busy. But the pastries are fluffy puff sweet doughy balls. Too doughy for my taste but still must try. The place is a food truck located in a safari looking environment.

    Exterior
    AJ K.

    Here's what you need to know: it's a fun little dessert truck and the masaladas are huge. We ordered 6 for 4 persons and that was way too much food. It's not cheap if you stuff the donuts, and we ended up spending $24 for 6 stuffed donuts. The stuffings are decent but not amazing. The mango was too sweet, the passionfruit was better, my kids loved the Nutella but that's unoriginal. The service was very friendly hence the 4 stars. I don't think I'll make a trip out here purposefully again but if I'm massing through, I'll pick up one unstuffed masalada or two

    Donut Stand.
    Bree B.

    We had been staying nearby and kept passing this cute stand when off to other island activities. We finally popped over & ordered six jelly filled donuts and two iced coffees. We assumed it would be great, given the line of people. The price point was high, thinking $30+ for coffee and donuts was a tad steep, but we thought for a fun experience, it would be worth it. The coffee was excellent, if you are looking for amazing iced coffee, this is a great roadside stop. The donuts didn't meet our expectations at all. They tasted almost raw inside, so maybe we just got a bad batch. Our donuts did sit a while because there was a miscommunication about the name on the order. It was for Debra, not Delora. So every time the ladies called Delora out the window, we didn't know it was our order. The overall time standing outside (the trees in the lot they were in didn't really provide any shade) to order and get the donuts was about 90 minutes total. Again, the coffee was excellent. But be warned, this seemed like the biggest tourist trap on the island.

    Says they take cashless payments. When I tried to pay, she refused to let me zelle or tap. Disgusting attitude.

    DISGUSTING ATTITUDE. Had to knock on the window, waited 5 minutes, and then the young lady said they only take cash, after we ordered. On the window, it stated that cash is preferred and they take other options. When I asked her if they tap or zelle, her response was "I dont know." It clearly states they take it on the window (picture attached). They don't deserve anyone's business. Everyone on the island is nice. They need to learn how to be pleasant.

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    2 years ago

    Delicious!!!! Cute little Hawaiian donut truck. Ordered the dozen with half filled. Mmmm!

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    Tex Drive In - Loco moco

    Tex Drive In

    3.8(1.3k reviews)
    24.1 mi
    $$

    We came to Honokaa on a whim for some site seeing…read more Decided on a little treat for our drive back home. So we got a dozen original malasadas. They were made fresh, some of the best malasadas I've ever eaten. Their dough was light and fluffy. It wasn't greasy at all. And when we ate it a few hours later, it warmed up well! We will be coming back for these! (For those that are from Oahu, these are much different than Leonards. I'd say from my humble opinion, better)

    The very first malassada I ever had was many years ago at Tex Drive In. I just remembered how…read moredelicious these were, and if I ever came back to the Big Island, I'd have to come back to Tex. So it's been about 20 years, and the place is no longer the "hot spot" (maybe because we came on a weekday). There were a few locals having breakfast outside, but we were able to walk right up and order several different malassadas. We tried strawberry and guava filling, and they were quite good. It does make the malassada a bit overly sweet, though. I still prefer their plain malassadas. They are like sugar donuts without the hole. Now that I've had other malassadas to compare to, I find Tex's to be on a breadier side. I've had others in Oahu that were lighter and fluffier, which I now prefer. But no where have I found any malassadas as big as Tex's. So maybe Tex's has lost it's charm a bit, but they still serve up some pretty yummy malassadas.

    Photos
    Tex Drive In - Inside seating

    Inside seating

    Tex Drive In - Taco Salad

    Taco Salad

    Tex Drive In - Outside

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    Outside

    Foodland Farms - Spam Musubi ($3.49)

    Foodland Farms

    4.2(265 reviews)
    3.3 mi
    $$

    Amazing service, delicious poke. Kind workers and just an…read moreoverall great Hawaii store Go there if you are in the area

    Service was great! People are so friendly and welcoming. The reason for the low stars was the poke…read more We have been here more than a handful of times because we visit this island often. We arrived early after maybe 10am. That means like should be fresh, right? The gentleman serving poke was wonderful! Very kind and easy to talk to. He was very patient waiting for us to make a decision. Once, we were ready to check out, only self check-out was available. This was fine. No big deal. We also purchased fried vinegar chicken wings (which was really good). They've made portions smaller but it's ok. Still worth the money. Now, for the poke itself. It was not good. I couldn't figure out why and husband said it did not seem fresh. That's it. The texture or flavor was not what it usually is. It was ok but they have served better. I have been craving this poke for weeks too. It was so bad that I just didn't feel like stopping by another day. Maybe, next time we visit, the poke will be fresh. Keep in mind, this is one of the only grocery stores around this area so be prepared for some very high prices on water and snacks. Convenient items needed are very pricey as well. Excellent customer service will make up for all those things though. I'm sure I will be back. Oh, and I cannot forget my butter mochi. Another craving I get in Hawaii. I will wait to hit the grocery stores for this and it never disappoints.

    Photos
    Foodland Farms - I became addicted to these canned Lion Cold Brew Coffees @tiffhuangry

    I became addicted to these canned Lion Cold Brew Coffees @tiffhuangry

    Foodland Farms - I became addicted to these canned Lion Cold Brew Coffees @tiffhuangry

    I became addicted to these canned Lion Cold Brew Coffees @tiffhuangry

    Foodland Farms

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    CanoeHouse - Scallops

    CanoeHouse

    4.1(824 reviews)
    3.5 mi
    $$$$

    Amazing food and wonderful experience. We were staying at the Mauna Lani, and had to try its…read moresignature restaurant (especially since a few in our party were big fans of Chef Rhoda in Top Chef). Each dish we tried had an amazing mix of flavors. Everything was fresh, even the pull apart bread. I opted for the Ahi Tuna, and it was cooked to perfection. The oysters were excellent as well. We also LOVED the ambiance. It seems most tables, whether indoors or outside, faced the ocean with an open concept. Therefore, even the indoor tables are technically outdoors. This was the perfect set up to watch an amazing Hawaiian sunset during dinner. As expected the service was very friendly and attentive. This is one of those must visit spots on the big island. Even if we don't stay at the Mauna Lani next visit, we're definitely going to still visit this place.

    My wife and I got last minute reservations to Canoe House on a Sunday evening at 8:00 p.m. Despite…read morehaving missed the sunset, we still had a very lovely dinner. We saw from Yelp photos that Canoe House offered a tasting menu at some point in time, but during our visit, it was more of an impromptu tasting menu of sorts -- created by our server, rather than an official one with a set beverage pairing. In any case, we still had a wonderful experience ordering items a la carte. Before diving into the food, I wanted to call out the outstanding service at Canoe House. My wife and I were celebrating our anniversary and our server started and ended the meal with a round of congratulations. Throughout our meal, our server was super attentive and there was never a moment when our water cups were empty. Empty plates were promptly cleared, cutlery was refreshed when it was needed, and whenever a dish was brought over, he would carefully slide things around on the table so dishes were accessible and not overcrowding. Friendly, professional service of this level is honestly hard to find these days outside of Michelin dining establishments. My wife and I started our meal off with the large loaf of pull-apart milk bread ($18). The milk bread was incredibly fluffy and the outside was finished with some honey and sea salt. The sweet cream butter was rich and had the perfect spreadable consistency. As tempting as it is to want to finish the loaf, you'll definitely want to safe your stomach for the rest of the meal. The next items that we ordered were two chilled oysters ($7/piece), and a hamachi + uni citrus salad ($14). Since we were dining as a couple, our server informed us that we could actually order half-portions of some of the dishes. This was a perfect way to not fill-up before our mains arrived, so we did that for both the salad and the gyozas. The uni in the salad was melt in your mouth tender and had a delicious sweetness to it. I thought the hamachi in the salad was a bit unremarkable: it was certainly fresh and there were two generously sized pieces in the dish, but the fish definitely needed a bit more salt to it. Our next and last appetizer to arrive was the beef and foie gras gyoza ($7/piece). The chili garlic ponzu sauce the gyoza is resting leans towards the sour side, but that's my personal preference when it comes to dumpling sauces so I really enjoyed it. The filling inside the gyoza was on the leaner side compared to your typical pork and cabbage dumpling, but I didn't mind this too much since there was so much sauce in the bowl to accommodate the dumpling. The next four items we ordered all arrived together: the garlic fried rice ($32), the Kona kanpachi ($67), the Iberico char siu pork ($65), and the side of sugar snap peas ($22). Of these items, my favorite bites were the Iberico pork followed closely by the garlic fried rice and the sugar snap peas. If we could've ordered one fewer dish, it definitely would have been the Kona kanpachi. While the fish was flakey tender and the the skin was cooked to be perfectly crunchy, the portion size was far too large for two, and I thought the coconut ginger sauce felt a bit diluted and not as flavorful as advertised. I wish our server warned us that we had ordered way too much food, because we brought 85% of this dish home as leftovers. While I don't necessarily mind having leftovers, having leftovers on vacation -- with less than ideal heating methods available (i.e. hotel microwave), is not great. Overall, I couldn't help but feel this dish was somewhat a waste of money for the two of us. On the other hand, the Iberico char siu is a dish I'd order again and again if I were to come back. The pork was lean and grilled to perfection. The charred end pieces were some of my favorite bites of the night. I didn't miss the fatty bits that are typically present on a piece of char siu pork, and the mustard that accompanied the dish was not over the top spicy like some of the mustards you find at dim sum restaurants. The garlic fried rice was packed with so much garlic flavor. One criticism I had with the dish though is I wish the hot sizzling plate the dish was served on was even hotter. The rice that was in contact with the plate didn't crisp up in the same way that it would with a Korean bibimbap served in a hot stone bowl, or the socarrat at the bottom of a Spanish paella. Nonetheless, the dish was well-seasoned. If you want to save a bit on carbs and not fill up, you might want to skip this dish. Overall, the dining under the stars experience at Canoe House is hard to beat. The service is incredible, the included validated valet parking experience is seamless, the ambience of the hotel where the restaurant is located is breathtaking, and Chef Rhoda has really done an wonderful job with the vast majority of the items we tried. I would not hesitate to recommend Canoe House for celebrating a special occasion if you're visiting Hawaiʻi.

    Photos
    CanoeHouse - Lobby area

    Lobby area

    CanoeHouse - KONA KANPACHI with yuzu kosho, dashi, lime, mitsuba, ali'i mushroom

    KONA KANPACHI with yuzu kosho, dashi, lime, mitsuba, ali'i mushroom

    CanoeHouse - CanoeHouse

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    CanoeHouse

    Hawaii’s Ultimate Donut - donuts - Updated May 2026

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