Coffee notes is a play on words, where notes not so subtly means live music…read more On our way to the 49th Kilauea eruption, we stopped to get lunch and get caffeinated for the long drive to Volcano national Park. We got the mocha iced coffee which seemed to be more chocolate than coffee, but I'm down for that. Hilo was unseasonably warm and sunny (what is this, Kona?) and ice chocolate coffee hit the spot. The drink came fast which was the opposite of our food. We ordered the half size order for both Farm fig goat cheese and Caprese sandwiches. And then waited. The live music went through seemingly their entire music line up before our food was made. That said, the sandwiches were very tasty. The fig jam, goat cheese, and arugula was perfectly balanced, creamy, and not too sweet. The Caprese had a solid amount of cheese, fresh tomatoes, and tasty bread. Parking is whatever you can find on the street and the music did get fairly loud but they have a few tables outside of the coffee house. Bathroom is clean too.

Overall a nice cafe. There's street parking available. Inside there were lots of seating. They have…read moreself serve water. We enjoyed our coffee drinks and food. Service was pleasant. The space was bright and clean.

The gals working were so sweet and professional! I asked if they could custom-make me an Ube Ice…read moreCoffee and they made it happen-- ONO!!!

We have found our go to coffee joint and we've been going every day while we were on vacation. The…read moreVietnamese coffee got me through out the day but really liked the honey girl and mostly the white Mac nut

This was an awesome find. The person at the bakery was really helpful in many ways. She had free…read moresamples of all the breads they make as well as the salts. We ended up purchasing two breads to take and three salts. The place itself is in a nice setting and it's clean and quiet. Afterwards she gave us some advice and places to go check out in Hilo. I would highly recommend to anyone in the area.

Hilo's best kept secret tho I can't keep it a secret any longer!…read more FIrst stumbled upon Baumkuchen Farms 16 months ago when I visited the Big Island from Oahu... scouting where I would like to bring my college reunion group. They were gathering from places like Taiwan , Canada, the continental USA so betcha I wanted to show them only the best! Finding anything outside of downtown Hilo can be a challenge as WIFI gets a little sketch. Baumkuchen Farms is easy to find as they are marked on most Hilo (paper) maps. From the phone calls I made to the first welcome from Danielle who was on site to greet us on our scouting trip we felt welcomed. Danielle met us in the parking lot and guided us to the meeting place of the tour. She gave us a brief overview and showed us the bakery, the bathroom, the gift shop, before escorting us to "the hale" the meeting place under shade. Marcus, proprietor of the Farm with wife Maria, further told us about the rich history of the Baumkuchen estate as well as the products they baked and sold. Loved the tour of the farm where we saw vanilla beans growing in greenhouse, jurassic looking fruit trees and beautiful royal palms. A year later returned with my college friends who were absolutely impressed with the operation. We purchased baumkuchen cake, flavored cooking rock salts, other treats and of course ICE COLD drinks (in fact grabbed a few of these before the tour and after). And we enjoyed the tasty samples. In fact, have since seen these delectable morsels of Baumkuchen at Neiman Marcus in Honolulu at much higher price..! Still, nice to know where I can get more when I run out. Or, will have to take another trip to Hilo and Baumkuchen Farms! Thank you Maria, Marcus, Danielle for your hospitality. Visiting Baumkuchen at the Farm or Hilo Farmers Market is always a highlight on my Hilo trips!

Parking around the building or in front of Kai store. Cute little food truck. We ordered 2 mini…read moremalasadas for $4 cash. The couple running it was kind.

I love malasadas and this place has the most unique ones I've ever had…read more My husband and I shared: - Mini Malasadas: Lilikoi Butter, Cream Cheese - Everything & Chive, Parmesan Truffle, Strawberry Shortcake, Ube Glaze, Haupia Glaze + Toasted Coconut - Ube Cream Soda Everything was fantastic. The Lilikoi Butter and the Parmesan Truffle were my favorites. I'd highly recommend checking this place out!

I just love Ānuenue on the Bay so much! It's easily my favorite place to grab a drink on the Big…read moreIsland. There are SO many incredible options, from the ube matcha and salted honey matcha to the PB white coffee and strawberries & cream smoothie and honestly, the list could keep going! The staff is incredibly personable and always makes me feel right at home. It's also such a beautiful, cozy space that's perfect whether you want to get some work done or sit and chat with friends. The whole place has such a homey feel, and the views out over the bay are so beautiful. 10/10! I can't recommend this place enough!

I Stopped by Anuenue for a bagel and coffee and had a really nice experience. The atmosphere was…read morecalm and comfortable, making it a great spot to slow down for a bit. My coffee was fresh and tasted great, and the bagel hit the spot. I had the "Country Club" bagel. The staff were friendly and welcoming without being overbearing, which added to the laid-back vibe. It's the kind of place where you can enjoy a quiet morning, catch up on some work, or just relax for a few minutes before getting on with your day. Definitely a nice local café to stop into when you're looking for a good cup of coffee and a peaceful place to unwind

The Kula Rainbow (12) was great because it is topped like a Neopolitan. But with blueberry,…read morestrawberry, and mango over a small amount of vanilla ice cream. The blueberry was my favorite. I usually like mango flavors, but this was not for me. The strawberry was a close second favorite. I wiuld be tempted to her Th Lava Flow next time which is topped with haupia cream.

It was just alright. Line was extremely long on Saturday afternoon. The line at the window may look…read moreshort. It's the line to pick up food that had a crazy wait time. Ice particle size was a bit bigger and not as fine as OBISIC on the other side of the island.

When a store is the only game in town for goods near a tourist entry point, one would expect/accept…read morehigh prices. Instead, Keaukaha General Store (within easy walking distance of the Port of Hilo) provided a great selection of sundries, some souvenirs of Hilo, and a small menu of Hawaiian favorite dishes at prices that were the lowest I've seen in Hawaii. My wife and I came here twice: first while walking into town, when we picked up souvenirs and an unexpected loco moco plate. It was a lot less crowded then, with us being the only ones there...allowing us to have a completely different experience. When we came back as we headed back towards the ship, other cruisers from the ship had discovered this place, and were stocking up on various things. It's a large modern space inside, with things organized displayed very neatly. There was no sense I needed to check for expiration dates. There was a portable ATM machine right by the door. A decent selection of alcohol at good prices were displayed (e.g. $8.81 for a bottle of Barefoot Cab or $18.99 for a 12 pack of Budweiser). I took the opportunity to get something I've not seen elsewhere: a bag of dried clams (aka Asari) for $4.19. Ended up finishing it that night...was really good. It has an all day menu, and was able to order a Loco Moco for breakfast. The all beef patty was very thick and dense, definitely from a frozen patty...good for Salisbury steak or Loco Moco, but wouldn't be great for a burger. The brown gravy was served hot and hadn't congealed, and the 1 egg had been cooked over easy, just as requested. It was obviously freshly made. It was packed to-go, with condiments and utensils available near the registers. There wasn't much space to eat inside, but because it wasn't too busy, found a space to sit in the back. I scarfed it down (probably too fast) while my wife finished her shopping. Also in the back, there are gourmet coffee machines and a chest freeze full of hand scoopable ice cream. There is a Pepsi self serve soda machine, along with various sizes of chips. My wife initially bought a couple of t-shirts as requested souvenirs for our travel mates ($25 a piece), and bought another one as we were heading back. On the 1st trip, she also liked a perfume body mist...the tester was the last one so the attendant sold it for half price ($14). For us, she bought a Hilo waterproof sticker for $2.75. And her favorite part of the store was the small portable Pokémon card machine, that dispensed random Japanese Pokémon cards for a quarter. She kept changing out dollars for quarters and ended up getting $5.75 of them...and a couple of them were hollos that we like. They do charge a 3.25% credit card fee, so cash is preferred when possible.

On this trip to Hawaii, one thing we wanted to make sure we had again, was Musubi. Turned out to be…read morea little harder to find than we thought, and a quick search of Yelp sent us to Keaukaha General Store. Sure enough, they had it, so that was our lunch for the day, along with some broccoli pasta salad they had. The Musubi was okay, but honestly the pasta salad was very good, and ended up being the highlight of lunch.

Stopped into Kava Republic on a whim and it was the perfect way to ease into the day after a hectic…read moremorning of travel. The environment inside was soothing and the employee helping us out was very accommodating. She offered us samples of the different kava available and ultimately I went with a combination of their fresh kava and kombucha. Their other kava option was too strong for me personally, tasting almost of tree bark? It caused my mouth to numb out more than I desired. I loved getting to chat with locals who came and went throughout the hour spent there.

Came here for the first time today, was pleasantly surprised by the warmness of the kava tender…read moreSierrah , she does tarrot readings also! Was very impressed by the accuracy of the reading! Highly recomended if your in hilo with some time to kill

I'm really glad I checked, the day I had planned to visit the shop downtown, what time they closed,…read moreand I'm glad I checked at 2:45, since the answer is: 3. I'm also glad I happened to be a couple blocks away at that time, cause it would've stunk if I'd missed out! They have a whole range of great chocolates, from 55-90 percent that were all great, a fantastic matcha chocolate, great dried fruit chocolates, and one very good, *very* spicy dark chocolate (I loved it enough to buy a bar, but much more so than most pepper chocolates I've had, it does *not* play around.) Definitely also loved that they had samples of basically everything they sell. Also loved, we learned, it was actually the chocolatier himself running the shop when we were there, so all our questions were being answered directly from the source. It also worked out in that they didn't actually *have* any bars of the spicy chocolate out, as he'd just made a new batch and hadn't packaged them yet, so when he learned we were leaving the next day, he pressed one for me right then and there! How's that for great service?

So glad we stumbled upon this little gem during our travels! The owners were so friendly and all…read morethe samples were delicious. Since it was hot and we were traveling by car, we opted for the cacao nibs and THEY ARE INCREDIBLE. We had them on ice cream paired with molten lava cake and I'm still thinking (drooling) about it. Lots of options for gifts and the staff will make great recommendations.

Get your reservation asap! Each entrée was amazing! Pasta De…read moreMarco was amazing! We also had the eggs Benedict, which had a great twist added to them!

If you're visiting Hilo, do yourself a huge favor and don't miss brunch at Paul's Place. This tiny…read morespot only has a few small tables (total seating for about 6 folks at a time). Reservations are mandatory, but a visit is well worth it! Paul is a sweetheart and an amazing cook. His secret ingredient is love. He really loves what he does and that passion for his craft really shines through to the entire experience dining at this small hole-in-the-wall. Don't expect to find air conditioning here, but definitely expect a delicious meal. My family sampled several favorites on the menu, including Paul's take on a smoked salmon benedict, his outrageous Belgian waffles, and the breakfast caprese, a really creative dish you'll only find here. Paul, thank you so much for a memorable meal! I hope to see you again if I'm ever back in Hilo :)