Author: jlmatie22

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Green Flash

Tried out this place for a caffeine pickup.

This place is pretty comparable to Kona Coffee and Tea (ie it is a bit watery). But what turned me off about this place is the service. The cash register person seemed like she really wanted to rush me out (ie I said I would be ordering several drinks, and she wanted to check me out when I just ordered one drink). For this reason I wouldn’t come back to this place (although the mocha I ordered was acceptable. Also, the green flash smoothie that someone else ordered was pretty good).

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Kona Wave Cafe

Came here for a second lunch, since a friend recommended that this place had the best Açaí bowl in Kona.

I ended up getting the Kona Wave Bowl, which was really good (I don’t usually have açaí bowls, so it’s difficult to make any comparison. However, I would get another here again).

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Ponds Hilo

We had a late lunch for our trip to Hilo, and fortunately this place was still open.

For drinks, had a Big Island Coffee (Kalua, macadamia nut liquor, creme de cocoa, baileys, and coffee). Also has a lychee rum martini. Both drink were great, and what I wanted 🙂

For the appetizer and starter, I had the clam chowder and see fried calamari. I thought the chowder was a bit too salty, and the calamari was too fried. Didn’t hate either of them though.

For the main course, I got the mandarin bbq pork ribs, with a side of pesto pasta. I enjoyed the ribs. The pasta tastes good, but I think the crushed nuts texture was a little weird (but like I said, tastes was good).

Lastly, thought the view in this restaurant was great.

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KTA

So this is actually a grocery store (a chain in exclusive to Hawaii), but decided to grab a poke lunch from it (we went here to shop for Thanksgiving).

I got the seaweed salad and the California roll poke. Gotta say, neither were that good (now I know).

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Royal Kona Hotel Bar (Don the Beachcomber)

I was told this was an excellent place to watch a sunset while drinking a pina colada. I would have to say this is very true (although our sunset had some clouds covering it).

I ordered a banana lava flow and a mango lava flow (a lava flow is basically a flavored pina colada). Both were good, but the mango one was less sweet, so I thought it tasted the best.

The food at this place is meh. The coconut breaded shrimp was not that good. The poke chips were ok.

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Da Poke Shack

Decided to have a poke bowl for lunch, and went to this place (tried it once before, and it was phenomenal).

I got the poke bowl with the shack special, spicy garlic sesame, with a side order of spicy crab. I have to say the shack special poke is definitely really good, and the spicy garlic sesame is meh. Should’ve got both poke scoops with the shack special.

I also tried the seaweed salad from a friend, and it is also good.

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Kanaka Kava

Went here and tried Kava for the first time.

Gotta say, the taste is pretty bad, but it is also a bit relaxing. Definitely 1 coconut cup makes you feel the effects.

We also got a pulled pork dish, which I actually thought tasted great (which came with a side of purple sweet potatoes, which were also great).

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HiCo

Needed to grab coffee, and this place was recommended by a friend.

I definitely liked the ambience of the place (could go there to work). I ordered an iced mocha, and thought it was great. They also have musubi. I ended up getting the crab musubi, which I thought tasted pretty good. Overall, liked this coffee place.

Update 11/29/2020: I tried the soak musubi this time, and because of the hot sauce they added on top, the crab musubi was way better.

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On the Rocks

Went to this outside bar for the food primarily, and then for the food.

For food, got the spicy poke on nachos. The nachos was a wonton based chip, and I thought it was a really good combo. However, the chips are a bit greasy, so didn’t finish the whole things. For drinks, got a mai tai, which I thought was good too.

Update: on 11/27/2020, went to this place again for lunch (as most places are closed for the Thanksgiving). Ordered the mai tai and lava flow. Both great drinks that got me really buzzed after drinking both. I also ordered the pulled pork nachos, which I would say are ok, but not the best.