What an absolute Gem of a restaurant! In the heart of Honokaa…read more Glad we found this wonderful Italian restaurant! We were walking and decided to try it out. We got a 12" pepperoni pizza and a special pastrami sandwich. The pepperoni pizza was so delicious. It has so much flavor in every bite! The crust tastes garlic, the cheese tasted so good! Definitely try it! Oh my goodness! The pastrami sandwich is one of the best sandwich I've ever eaten! The pastrami was crunchy on the sides and so much flavor. You can tell the sandwiches bread is fresh! The lettuce and tomatoes are so fresh too.

First time back since new owners. What a great surprise to see the same staff! Chef Jeff and Isa…read morewere what made Cafe il Mondo so good before, and no surprise, it is still a delicious experience. Today was a crispy cold Maui Big Swell, can't beat it if you like a good local IPA. We shared a house salad which was generous, fresh, and flavorful. Next up we split an Italian sausage calzone. This is one of my very favorites that Jeff cooks up in the brick oven. Fresh out, it is glistening and wonderful. Such a delicious blend of flavors. Because leftover pizza is always a treat, we ordered up the large Mondo, 1/2 pesto, 1/2 tomato sauce. Fresh and tasty, not much made the to go box. Cudos to the new owners as the food remains fabulous and the service friendly. Will we go back? Of course, and bring friends when we can.

Generous portions of good food. A real working man's lunch spot. Menu varies by the day. I had…read morefish katsu and Korean chicken. Both were delicious.

This place was an awesome lunch stop! We were driving from Kona to Hilo so we went this route and…read moregrabbed some musubi and rolls to go. The spam musubi was probably the best I've ever had. The prices were reasonable too, which was a nice find in an area where everything costs so much.

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)

We finally got a chance to try the malasadas here…read more You know why it's called a drive in? You literally pull your car up to the drive up window. Of course you can pull the car around the corner, park the car, and walk over to the counter service. The malasada is square shaped. So heavy. We got a total of three. We brought them back to our resort. The bellhop recognizes the box, and says it like a loaf of bread. He was right. We had them the next day for breakfast. We didn't think there was enough filling for the size - we got strawberry, pineapple, and guava. We concluded we like the donut shaped malasadas more, like Leonard's on Oahu. These were ok. Our curiosity satisfied. They offer food items too like mix plates but we had already eaten. This place seems off the beaten path, but all the locals frequent it.

Excellent environment, specially with Harry performance. Anthony with his service made our dining…read moreexperience a very special one. Food was great, diferent and very tasty, we'll certainly be coming back

The staff here are absolutely amazing. Above and beyond with beautiful customer service and a…read moredelicious menu to boot! Worth stopping in for lunch or dinner. Food is consistent and yummy.

Sadly missed out on trying this the last time I was visiting Hawaii but glad we made it out this…read moretrip. Excellent food. We did the 3 meat combo: Garlic Chicken, Short Rib, and Panko Fish w/ adobo fried rice + sesame corn on the side. I typically would order a mac salad and garlic shrimp but wanted to switch it up randomly for this occasion. Also grabbed two of the Hawaiian Sun drinks for $3.50 per drink which was expensive, but convenient, as we were driving out to catch the sunset and star gazing immediately after picking up our food. If I were to reorder, I'd do the same 3 piece combo, highlighting that the panko fish was surprisingly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside so this was a great option. I'd probably go with mac salad and give the kimchi fried rice a try. A friend did let us try the purple sweet potato salad side. This was a nice change of pace similar to the traditional mac salad.

If you're looking for a quick bite that hits the spot, Broke Da Mouth is a super convenient option,…read moreespecially for a fast lunch break or grabbing takeout for a beach day. Plus prices are also set at a fair setting. The vibe inside is cozy but definitely on the smaller side with limited seating, so it tends to get pretty crowded, and you might experience a bit of a wait. While the staff was incredibly kind and welcoming, the food itself left a little to be desired. I ordered the Animal Burger expecting something a bit more flavorful, but it ended up tasting pretty ordinary. Some might disagree and absolutely love it, and while it wasn't anything too special for me, it's still a solid, friendly spot. I'd still recommend it if you need a quick, convenient stop for a casual meal!

The service here is ALWAYS great whether a regular or a visitor! Bartenders are fun and friendly…read moreand the food is great! My favorite are the tenders in Nashville heat with mac and cheese (which is AMAZING) or their mash potatoes and gravy! Therefore, I don't understand what Michael L. is complaining and regarding his bartender and her personal beliefs that she's ABSOLUTELY is entitled to; as are you! Unless you believe that freedom of speech is just good for a select few? And while your political views differ, it doesn't give you or anyone else the right to push your own OPINION and BELIEFS on others given actual FACTS and TRUTH about the actual state of things! And I find it ABSOLUTELY ironic that you call her anti-Amercan given that supposedly America is supposed to stand for I higher moral compass and protection of humanity, yet, at the moment let's reassess how things are going right now. Furthermore, learn your history bc I also think it's super F****n ironic that you're in Hawai'i talking about being anti-American. Why yes, of course we are anti-America since they have been illegally occupying our Kingdom for over a 100 years! And of course, like everything else America does it's all for FINANCIAL gain. They don't care about who they hurt! #doyourresearch #hawaiididnotwamttobethe50thState Leave my cool people at Willie's alone! They are professionals and they treat all people the same, UNLESS, you want to push your opinions on them and trash them for their beliefs. #constitutiom #freedomofspeech

I'd like this restaurant because I like the style of chicken in the upbeat snappy feel of the place…read moreas well as the general idea of various levels of hot chicken using chicken tenders having things like macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets on the menu. These are all positives however!! I am a retired restaurant owner and I know something about food, both myself, and my friends have gotten food poisoning and quite sick from that restaurant twice. The first time I called the owner he was extremely nice about the situation offered to leave a tab for me to buy $100 worth of food (which I never did use) and after about two months, I went back and tried the restaurant and nothing went wrong. I continued to eat there with my friends over the next year and a half or two years until a few days ago and both myself and another chef who works at a high-end restaurant here in Kona went there for lunch and within an hour or two both of us were quite sick with what we considered to be food poisoning ---- so although I do like this place I offer a word of advice in warning to people considering going there you can't get sick from the food. They're serving chicken after all which requires intense scrutiny in terms of getting bacteria into the chicken.

Came here for lunch on a Sunday, many places closed, looking for plate lunch but heck, we eat…read moreJapanese too. Tenkatori bills itself as a Japanese style fried chicken, our only other choice in the food court was Mexican (Philippino place wasn't open) so we were open to try. Tenkatori did not disappoint-ordered bento chicken-one was tater tot bento, other was rice and chicken bento, with wasabi and yuzu sauces. Bento came with four softball sized pieces of boneless chicken thighs hot out of the fryer, so fresh and juicy, the juices were literally squirting out between bites. Dipped in the creamy wasabi sauce-great flavor without the head-numbing experience. Yuzu was also creamy, not acidic like lemon, just the real deal. Btw both sauces good with tater tots, but they give you ketchup too. Quite the find, in a quiet marketplace on a stormy Sunday Tenkatori lives up to its ratings. Will be back!

Reaction sequence in the course of a day…read more 1. Yelp search and discovery that the fried chicken pictures looked great and enticing. 2. Hesitation was instilled once I realized it was part of a random food court kind of in the middle of nowhere but did not count it out completely. 3. Disregarded as there seemed to be potentially better options out there for our meal choices. 4. Enjoy our other meal option. 5. Per chance, happen to swing by this food court per request of a family member in hopes of grabbing some Malasadas in the bakery nearby afterwards. 6. Realizing that we stumbled into the food court anyways, it was fated that we were meant to proceed with placing an order for some chicken. 7. After a short wait for food to be prepared, I'd confirm that the fried chicken is solid, tater tots were good as well, and the mac salad was just okay.

My wife and I drove up to Ippy's in Waimea from Waikoloa while on vacation since we were in the…read moremood for real Hawaiian barbecue, and this spot is an absolute gem! The exterior, and interior, of the building is nothing special. As a matter of fact, that's part of what I loved about it; it helps you realize it's an all around fantastic food joint, not just somewhere that charges overpriced amounts for average food because of the "vibe." It's extremely busy inside this place, and staff was extremely friendly and pretty quick with turning out orders. I ordered a two entree plate, which consisted of their teriyaki chicken and pina colada shrimp, per the recommendation of the woman taking my order. The shrimp was incredible and the pins colada sauce that it comes with it's something I now dream about! The chicken was also great. It's dark meat, which is something to keep in mind in case you're a pickier eater, but the char and flavor of it was wonderful. For the sides I ordered rice and their mac salad. I'm not usually a mac salad kind of guy, but this changed my mind and I can now say I'm a true fan. This is perhaps one of the best places I've eaten between the two islands I visited on this trip, and I can't say enough good things about it!

Best mixed plate I've ever had in the Islands…read more I like how they allow you to choose from 20 different items for your plate.