My gf food coma right after. Service was fast and excellent. Ambiance decent. We ate everything…read morebecause it was so good. And she went to sleep not even an hour after

We went with a friend for dinner a month ago and the food was excellent. Started with some gyoza,…read moreand tempura, chicken karaage and then sushi which was fresh and beautiful, and black garlic ramen was superb. We had leftovers that were great the next day for lunch as well. This is a popular place so be prepared. We ate inside not having a reservation but I'd suggest calling for a reservation outside. Also keep in mind that rents are high in Kona, it's a challenge to find people that can afford it and work in our restaurants, so be kind to them. Parking is also a challenge but patience and determination will get you there. Currently if you are a Costco member you can purchase gift cards for $80 that will get you $100 at the restaurant, so effectively a 20% discount. Those discount cards seem to rotate in and out at Costco so that will probably change. We've gotten two takeout dinners since then and it's a definite favorite of ours. Mahalo.

We tried out this legendary Japanese Hawaiian diner near the end of our trip. It is literally like…read morea slice out of history! Not to be missed! They have a TV showing historical clips of the Japanese immigrants who moved to Hawaii. We learned so much just dining there! The servers were very nice and friendly. They even offer free, hot green tea. It wasn't crowded when we went there for lunch. The server said we could order from the dinner menu too. The restaurant is decorated with a bunch of old family photos. It's not a fancy food location, but a place that is in the locals' hearts. Also, it's not standard Japanese American food, so don't come in looking for rolls and such! Instead, they serve fresh, perfectly prepared Japanese food with a Hawaiian twist, favorites like saimin and shrimp tempura. The large saimin ($16.17) was delicious and really hit the spot. Toppings were Spam, eggs, and veggies. Simple, but tasty! Shrimp tempura appetizer ($14.85) was a pretty large sized dish. The pieces have a lot of crunchy batter and the kids loved it. It was a bit greasy, but that's to be expected. DH got a Oyako Donburi with sashimi ($21.93). Wow, the sashimi was truly amazing! So tender, it just melts in your mouth. The eggs were cooked with bamboo pieces which kinda threw DH off. I liked them, but DH would've preferred it without. The flavor is sweet/salty and pretty mild. It came with miso soup and some pickles. Parking is right in the front and backs into the main road. It can be spicy getting out if traffic is heavy. They don't have a lot of bathrooms, so there might be a wait. Those are the downsides. Otherwise, a wonderful local place to eat!

After reading about the extensive history of this long-standing Japanese/Hawaiian family…read morerestaurant, we had to come check it out. I got the No. 3 Teishoko which comes with Miso Soup, Sashimi, Sukiyaki, Shrimp Tempura, Sunomono, Tsukenomo, and Rice. The tuna was so smooth and melts in your mouth. And I loved the flavor of the pairing of pickled vegetables with the sukiyaki (flavorful and tender). I do wish the shrimp tempura had a little more shrimp and less tempura batter though. Also, we didn't realize that our waitress was the great granddaughter of Grandma Teshima herself. She was so nice to us during our visit! I would recommend checking out this restaurant. Looking forward to trying out their breakfast the next time we come back!

I don't usually award 5 stars to anyone, but Sushi Sam's has earned my heart to write this review,…read moreand I'm grateful to have been there to experience it myself. 5 stars for service! What an experience, and the wait was totally worth it. Not that we waited long; we had a reservation and got seated right away. 5 stars for service! Our waiter, Yuki, was super friendly, responsive, and really attentive to what we needed. We even met the owner and toasted to his hard work. 5 stars for food quality and quantity! The quality was super fresh and just the right amount. Each plate was plentiful and looked amazing. We had a bunch of sushi dishes, and the rib-eye steak was to die for. Cooked medium rare and so tender. 5 for the venue! It was clean, organized, and cozy.

I'm not the best at making reservations, so I've actually been turned away at Sushi Sam's a few…read moretimes. The food was delicious, beautifully prepared, and every bite lived up to the hype. Service was personable and quick without feeling rushed. It's just as scrumptious as all my neighbors and friends have been telling me for years. Sushi Sam's has definitely earned its reputation.

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.

Holy cow... the flavors were so unique and I've never had something like this before. You'd think…read moreyou tasted similar things since it's all the same sauce bases but they pair it so perfectly together to make a delicious dish. The red cabbage salad had a yuzu/soy dressing and came with dates. So. Good. I assumed it was overpriced for a salad with so little but honestly it shined. The pull apart bread was good and warm but nothing special. Filling! The garlic fried rice? Idk how they make it so good it sounds so basic but it was the perfect seasonings where you don't feel the icky garlic breath but each bite was so savory and yum! Mahi mahi dish - the roasted carrots were my absolute favorite. How do they carmelize them that well idk, The pork dish was also killer. I loved the yuzu mustard sauce and the pork was super tender and juicy. Again, not usually a pork fan but this one nailed it!! Friendly staff - they were very attentive and helped clean up a spill that we accidentally made within a matter of seconds :-) thanks!

Beautiful experience of carefully prepared food with delicious flavors. You are greeted at seating…read moretime and taken to your table. Limited reservations make this a cozy and intimate setting. The atmosphere of the dining area is like you are in someone's home. The sake included in the meal was so smooth and balanced, great way to start everything off. Each course is well thought out, beautifully presented and explained. Flavors were fresh and layered, uniquely different from things we have tasted before. We ordered a couple extra glasses of sake to have with our meal, one aged and one just finished a few days before. Both were delicious. Definitely a splurge but we enjoyed it very much!

My wife and I came to the 730 pm seating on a Tuesday night. The 530 seating was finishing up. We…read morereally enjoyed our food, but he learning and the hospitality. We did the premium upgrade plus the Sake pairing. We learned a lot about Sake from the owner. Highly recommended. This was the best meal we've had on the Big Island in terms of food and drink. There may be better views but not better food.

Great food. The ramen and sushi were flavorful and presented well. A mixture of local and Japanese…read moreingredients. Friendly service in both English and in Japanese.

best ramen i've ever had in my life, hands down…read more ramen is usually hard for me because i can't eat pork and a lot of spots don't offer non-pork ramen, whether it's the pork belly or the broth being pork-based... so when my friend from waimea told me this was a chicken ramen establishment, i was overjoyed! so not only did it fit into my dietary restrictions, it bested all the other ramen i've ever had (though i have not been to japan yet, so maybe take that into consideration, but still). not only that, but the gyoza and croquettes were phenomenal. i was just getting over a health condition that demolished my appetite, but i just wanted to keep eating and eating. really wonderful service and the inside is cozy. very packed too and it was just a random night in july. next time i find myself on the big island, moa is getting another visit.

We ordered the cha siu ramen and shrimp tempera, both are good! The cha siu is cooked to…read moreperfection! Family owned business with generous portion, give it a try!

Tonkatsu ramen broth is very creamy and tasty. Noodles are…read morechewy and bouncy Pork is a little salty Price is great

This is our second time coming here, I forgot to make a review the fist time. So here it goes…read more This place is AMAZING!! Their food is DELICIOUS and the presentation is AWESOME. Very nice/friendly people. I would highly recommend this place 100%

The food was phenomenal. In fact, we loved it so much that we came back three nights in a row…read more Beyond the food, we were impressed with the quality of the service!

Never thought I'd find a place in Kona that opens till 11 pm. Plus, the wife wanted ramen or udon…read moreand we weren't too familiar with places in Kailua Kona. Thank goodness for Google! I had a Chirashi bowl and my wife had a tempura udon with a side of gyoza. My wife loved the udon and the gyoza was a fried version which was exceptionally tasty. The fish on the Chirashi bowl tasted fresh but the rice I felt needed more sushi seasoning. Otherwise, it was a good meal altogether. Quite affordable too. Staff was very friendly...and very patient! We were waiting for our grandson too all the way from Waikoloa...and it was raining! Loved the tavern like atmosphere of the place. My wife tends to judge places by how many people eat there. Because when we got there at 8 pm, was only us and another couple. BUT as the night went on, more people started trickling in until the place got filled up, along with others coming to pick up take out. And it was a Sunday night! I guess you can't judge a book by its cover. At least we got the place locked in for late night grinds if and when we ever return to visit the Big Island again.

One of the few places open on New Year's Day. Wanted a decent meal before I flew out. I was able to…read moreget seated right away as got there at 5:30pm and was solo. Lot of big groups with families. The server was friendly but limited with his English so wasn't able to make any recommendations. I opted for the chirashi to start the new year with a healthy meal. It came with miso soup which I found salty. The salad was mediocre with a ranch dressing. I think the fish was frozen and not as fresh. Will have to come back for the cooked items or rolls as don't think they're known for sashimi

One of the best meals I've had in Hawaii. The setting at Ulu is stunning, the service is polished…read morewithout feeling stuffy, and the food truly delivers. We ordered the Big Island Ahi Poke, Kona Kampachi Fresh Catch, New York Strip Beef & Broccoli, and the Chocolate Soufflé. Every dish was perfectly prepared, incredibly tender, and full of flavor. An outstanding dining experience from start to finish.

The atmosphere at Ulu is incredible!!! I don't think it gets better than this location. Highly…read morerecommend reservations, especially if you want a table with clear view of the water or sunset. Service was amazing as well. We tried the crispy chicken, crab fried rice, crab noodles, and the chocolate soufflé. The chicken app wasn't anything spectacular, noodles were perfectly chewy and generous with the crab, and fried rice was great. The soufflé was the highlight! We went with chocolate but they have a seasonal rotating fruit flavor as well. This takes 25 minutes to make so recommend ordering it early if you know you want to try it. For $$$$ the food is okay, you're absolutely paying for the scenery and service.