Hawaii Dining
 

Family of 4 raveling to Kauai, Oahu, and Hawaii in May. I understand that feeding the family will probably be one of our biggest expenses. I am looking for a few recommendations of "local" favorites. Specifically, we will be in Lihue, Waikiki, and Kona. (5,4,5 days respectively)

I posted another thread on Luaus, so will keep my eye on that one to help us make our decision.

We are looking for great food at reasonable prices. Ha! I suppose everyone is! We prefer restaurants that have local character over the mainland chain options.

Any help is much appreciated. 70 days and counting.

Waikiki will be your easiest for getting great food at reasonable prices.

Blue Water Shrimp & Seafood has a truck on Kuhio (like you see at the north shore beaches) and a location in the International Marketplace with excellent fresh seafood around $12/plate.

ME Korean BBQ at the Royal Grove hotel is a funky little local place where you get food to-go or eat on their outdoor patio. Breakfast ~$4.25, dinners ~$8.95. Fresh food, nice people.

Don't overlook the "food courts". There's one at Royal Hawaiian shopping center, the one at IMP, and one out at Ala Moana mall in the basement level. These offer ALL kinds of great options for trying local food. Reasonably priced, no tipping, and you can see what you're getting before you order.

Ono Hawaiian is one some people like for trying the luau-styled foods in an inexpensive restaurant setting. I've only peaked in have not eaten there myself yet.

Rainbow Drive-In for 'plate lunch'.

Make a picnic from any ABC Store of the Food Pantry grocery store on Kuhio and take it to a park or the beach.

St. Germaine's bakery (across the street and down a bit from Food Pantry) has very good breakfast pastries (both sweet and savory).

The Big Island Grill in Kona is very popular with local folks. The food is good, not terrific, but inexpensive. We like Huggo's on the Rocks for its informal atmosphere on the water. It has some more imaginative food and is what I call moderately priced. The Fish Hopper on Ali'i Drive is popular, too. avoid Boston Basil's like the plague!!!!! Dreadful, overcooked pasta with ghastly sauces. The kona Brewing Co. Pub is good and not too expensive.

Down in the industrial park at the north end of town is Killer Tacos, a takeout place. A new place called Ultimate Burgers has opened, and gets good reviews, although we have not tried it yet. It's in the new shopping center at the north end of town. A place we like for a splurge is Kenichi Pacific Japanese restaurant in Keauhou Shopping Center at the south end of Alii'i Drive, up on the hill. Try their dynamite shrimp! There's also a pizza place there that is fair for pizza, called Bianelli's although they also overcooked their pasta badly.

Up at the far northern tip of West Hawaii, in Hawi, is Bamboo, one of our favorites. Moderate prices, interesting food, especially their coconut sauce! They also have good fish and burgers. Also a sushi place there, and a deli.

Charnees' selections are good. I second Kona Brewing for pizza and Bamboo in Hawi. I like Hawaiian Style Cafe in Waimea for breakfast. I also like the Big Island GRill for breakfast, I have not had other meals there. Cafe Pesto in Hilo is good but it's not inexpensive. Merriman's Cafe in Waikoloa was good. Don the Beachcomber in Kona is good but I am not sure about the young ones.

In Lihue, Hamura's Saimin.

Bubba Burgers on Kauai, Merrimans downstairs-both at Poipu-of course it depends on where you are staying on that island-lots of cheap place around

Bubba Burgers on Kauai, Merrimans downstairs-both at Poipu-of course it depends on where you are staying on that island-lots of cheap place around

We will be on Kauai for the next two weeks and I will report on our eating habits while we are there. One of our first stops will be at Hamura's Saimen fo Saimen, chicken sticks, and lilikoi pie! We will also eat the the BBQ Inn(just down the street from Hamura's). Our picnic lunch fixins will come from Pono Market. Stay tuned for the icee's as they eat their way thru Kauai!((r))

Waikiki area - we found several amazing restaurants, especially if you like Japanese! I highly recommend the following:

Tokkuri-Tei on Kapahulu Ave - fantastic izakaya (tapas-style) and greak sake, great service & prices

Ramen Nakamura on the main drag - best spicy pork noodle soup (pho style) I've ever had, cheap prices, fast service but a warning, no english on the menu but the server was helpful, cash-only and no alcohol served

Arancino on Beach Walk near the Outrigger - delicious Italian cuisine, my only complaint here was the bartender had never heard of a negroni, and I was hankering for one!

I love the food & atmosphere at Arancino's! Good suggestion (warning it's a tad on the expensive side for casual italian, prices had gone up last time I peaked in).

In Waikiki there are so many moderate options. For our nice dinner on the water, we really liked the Hau Tree.

On the Big Island, we went to a fabulous Thai restaurant in Volcano. LOVED it and can't wait to go back to Thai Thai one day.

On Kauai, our favorite moderate restaurant was the Waimea Brewing Company. The food was good and the beer was great. We stayed next door at the Waimea Plantation Cottages so the location was gret for us. If you are staying elsewhere on the island, you may want to stop when you drive down to see the canyon.

Back to Oahu - if you drive around the island, be sure to stop at Matsumoto for shaved ice. (We also stopped on the eastern side of the island for a great lunch but I can't remember the name :-( )

Hamura Saimin on Kress Street in Lihue, Kauai for steaming bowls of goodness. Leave space for a slice of lilikoi pie.

Kalapaki Beach Hut by the Kalapaki Beach for pretty darn good fish and chips and hamburgers. Upper terrace will have water views. They also serve decent breakfast.

Think long and hard about taking your fam to a luau. It is costly, food is poor and drinks watered down. If you absolutely must see fire eaters, go for Smith's Luau on Kauai but the who portion only. Not worth blowing your precious vacation $$ on the food, IMO, of course.

That was supposed to be "show portion only."

If you are in Lihue - don't miss Hamura Saimin.
2956 Kress St
Lihue, HI 96766-1323
(808) 245-3271

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...ai_Hawaii.html

This is a classic Hawaiian place. People go there from all over the world for their saimin. Yum

WOW! Thank you all SO much! So many leads. I suppose I should add that the "family" is actually 4 adults. The kiddos are 20 and 24, so they have adult appetites! That's the major reason why I was hoping for good but reasonable dining! I am much persuaded to avoid the luau. I noticed there is a Polynesian Cultural event on Kauai on one of the dates we are there. Maybe there will be Luau type entertainment. Anyone know about:

http://www.kauaipolynesianfestival.org/

Keep those recommendation coming! 66 days and counting!

If you like Korean food, Sorabol in Honolulu is excellent. It would be fun for something different and not really on the tourist map.

Kani Ka Pila at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach in Waikiki is a good place for dinner. You can eat for around $15 a person and they have live music every night so that really adds to the value. http://www.outriggerreef-onthebeach....ertainment.cfm We saw Cyril Pahanui there and really enjoyed it.

Also in the Outrigger is the Shore Bird, which I like for the $12.95 breakfast buffet. http://www.shorebirdwaikiki.com/breakfast1.htm If you pick up a "Best of Oahu" coupon book, you can get a coupon for 40-50% off on a 2nd meal (sorry I can't remember if it was 40 or 50, even though I just used the coupon a couple weeks ago!).

Everyone's reminding me of other favorites!! I went to Shorebird's breakfast buffet at the Reef hotel just last trip and thought is was very nice and good value The dining room is a real nice atmosphere, large terraced open air setting right on the beach.

We have a ton of food trucks on Oahu, which are reasonably priced and will give you local flavor. The one big drawback is, you are best going early as they may run out of food. Many of them were featured at the big "Eat the Street" festival last month:
http://www.nonstophonolulu.com/category/eatthestreet/

Here are my picks for shave ice on Oahu. (Note, it's SHAVE ice, not shaved.)
http://www.gayot.com/restaurants/bes...-ice_16hi.html
My favorites are Ailana, Shimazu, and Jung's. If you're on the North Shore, Matsumoto's has an outrageously long line. Better to go next door (across the parking lot, actually) to Aoki's, which has a shorter line and is better.

Here are some other things we've eaten (yeah, I know, I eat a lot):
http://www.nonstophonolulu.com/eating

I'll go check out your luau post.

One of the best deal in Waikiki is Moose McGillicuddy's. Look for the two-for-1 coupon in the visitor magazines. They also have great deals on early bird dinners. Good honest food, affordable prices. They make great eggs benedict, potato skins, nachos.