Brand new lunch shop on the corner of Kilauea and Lanikaula next to Subway. Very friendly family run place. Menu looks great with focus on fresh home style local cooking.

Pan seared ahi steaks with spicy sauce ($8.50). Really good and fresh fish and very generous portion. Great with their spicy sauce. Loved their potato mac salad with spaghetti noodles. Next time I would request the ahi cooked on the rarer side. It was cooked all the way through… a bit dry but still good.

Large bento ($7.50). This was one big bento. The highlight was the garlic chicken. So ono! Lots of good sushi too.

Mahi fish sandwich w/ fries and soup ($9.00). Yummy sandwich, just wish there was more fish!

Good beef stew ($7.95). Tender meat and seasoned well. Loved that they gave pickled onions as an option on their plates. Nothing too special about the stew though.

Oxtail soup ($10.95) on Fridays! They have different soups on Mondays and Wednesdays too. I loved this soup. Nicely balanced broth. Not too salty. Would order this again. Could use a little more oxtail.

Garlic chicken ($7.50). This plate was so amazing. It’s the same chicken in the bento but much better since it’s fresh! Four huge crispy pieces of chicken smothered on a sweet garlic sauce. On the side I got sweet potato salad and tossed greens. Could not finish this! Highly recommended.

Cousins Seafood & Bento
1-808-969-9900
Corner of Kilauea & Lanikaula St

Wor Won Ton Mein ($7.95)

Nuff said!

Happy Valley Seafood Restaurant (at Hilo Shopping Center)
1263 Kilauea Ave Ste 320
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 933-1083

Love Island Natural’s ahi bento and poke! These guys make eating healthy taste good. Lightly breaded tender pieces of ahi over brown rice with a tasty teri sauce. The beauty is all of the little sides… juicy shitake mushroom, curry tofu salad, and even little pretty edible flowers!

The poke is from their amazing salad bar, which definitely requires a post on its own. Their produce section is also fantastic. We come here at least twice a week for lunch and their produce.

Island Naturals Hilo Market & Deli
http://www.islandnaturals.com
1221 Kilauea Avenue, Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-5533

L-R: Coconut, lilikoi, and custard cream (there was also a rum chocolate cream, but we ate it before we could get to the camera)

Amazingly light, fresh, and the ganache was soo delicious! Not really missing Beard Papa’s anymore. So happy to have somewhere here with fresh cream puffs… and they are right down the street from our house!

Call for daily specials.

Puff City
1348 Kilauea Ave
Hilo, HI 96720
808-961-6964
www.puffcityhilo.com

Really, I think this is the only “real” italian restaurant in Hilo.  Chef Lando Landi, a native Italian, puts so much love and passion into his food that it creates a wonderfully warm family style atmosphere in his little restaurant.  Cafe Pescatore has nothing on this place. 

The food here is so fresh, homestyle, affordable and unpretentious.  Perfect for a fun romantic date or even a get-together with friends over wine (BYOB!).  There is even a great wine store next door (Grapes) if you need to get a bottle (closes at 6pm).

Fresh Caprese Salad

Super juicy tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and fresh salad. Good stuff.

Penne with Pesto.

Best pesto I’ve ever tasted. Fresh, bright, rich and full of flavor.  Pasta was cooked perfectly al-dente.  I highly recommend trying any of their dishes with the wonderful pesto!

4-cheese Ravioli w/spinach.

This practically melts in your mouth and is soooo delicious.  I could eat 2 (or 4) plates of this!  Nothing beats freshly made ravioli — you gotta try it.

Cappellini w/meatballs

Refreshingly light and bright sauce with freshly made meatballs. I love how they keep their pastas fresh, light and flavorful.

Pasta with clam sauce  (Pasta al vongole)

Very nice  with a kick of spiciness.  I appreciate that the chef was not afraid to make this spicy!  

I can’t forget to mention the bread!  The chef actually brought out fresh loafs and cutted them up for the guests.  The bread was so wonderfully yummy straight out of the oven.  We couldn’t have enough!

Creme Brule

Soooooo so good!  Highly recommended!

Tiramisu

Light, refreshing and swimming in rum — not too rich like many other Tiramisu’s.

The chef also serves a free homemade “digestive”, sorta like a limoncello, but with his own flavors.  He makes different flavors all the time.  Tonight it was fresh ginger.  Don’t turn down the opportunity to try it! It’s a perfect ending to the meal.

If you haven’t yet tried this place, you are missing out.  Definitely one of Hilo’s gems.  A meal for two is well under $40 yet tastes like a $100 meal.

Cafe Concerto
808 Kilauea Ave., Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 934-0312 (call to check their hours/days open)

They don’t serve Ka’u coffee here everyday (they rotate their special coffees), but when they do it sure is worth a try. It’s one of my favorites… dare I say I favor it over Kona?

Posted on location. Free internet with $5 purchase.

Kope Kope Espresso Cafe
1261 Kilauea Avenue
Suite 220
Hilo Hawaii 96720
www.kopekopeespresso.com
(808) 933-1221

Shichimi Seard Scallops with Kawari sprouts and lilikoi butter sauce ($9)

Perfectly cooked sweet seared scallops with a beautiful rich buttery lilikoi sauce. The shichimi provided a nice little kick. Super ono! I just wish the scallops were a little bigger.

Eggplant Crostini with truffle oil and pecorino cheese ($6)

These were good too and the salad was very fresh.

778 Kilauea Prime Rib Sandwich – Slow roasted prime rib with crispy onion rings, Swiss cheese, house made potato and taro chips ($11)

Tender prime rib, rich au jus, great homemade chips. This tasted really fresh and I loved the onion rings too. Yum.

Closeups….

Lunch Menu (click for big version):

Dinner Menu (tapas are same as lunch):

Our waitress recommended the lobster ravioli for dinner.

Great food here. Service was very nice and fast. Ambience was really nice and simple with some cool hip jazzy music in the background. I hope this place stays here in Hilo!

Currently BYOB, no corking fee. There is a nearby wine store (Grapes) just a few stores down.

Jays Island Fresh Cuisine
776 Kilauea Ave
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-8880

It’s a pretty neat concept:  you choose a bowl size (little khan, mighty khan, barbarian khan), or all you can eat, then you fill it up with a nice variety of veggies and meats…

… they had seafood too… shrimp and scallops…

… some noodles too… don’t be shy to pile it up since it shrinks.

Then the fun part, putting on your sauces!  I wasn’t feeling too adventurous so I just followed the recommended recipe on the sign and added a bit more of the “mongolian fire oil” — spicy stuff! (click on the image to make big)….

Then you hand it over to one of the chefs and they cook your food on this HUGE flat wok which gets super hot.  It was a lot of fun watching — they totally put on a show, throwing the bowls and food in the air.

Finished bowl (mighty khan “medium” size).  Pretty huge.  Next time I’ll get the smaller bowl… or get the bigger bowl and take home the leftovers.

Served with a great tasting egg drop soup and bowl of rice.  It’s a lot of food!

They even have a little desert which comes with the meal… some fresh fruits and pudding.

It was all very yummy and fresh.  I would come back another time.  Next time I will change my sauce recipe… it was a bit too sweet and salty for me.  I’ll be more adventurous next time.

Prices are pretty reasonable (click to make big):

Service was very nice and friendly too.  It’s great that we have this new place in Hilo!

The Kilauea Loco here is da grindz! It uses chili instead of the usual gravy and burger. Only 4.75.

Big Island Pizza has a very good pizza pie and some awesome deals.

The sauce is really great and full of flavor with generous toppings. The crust is also good too, but I have to say I still like Pizza Hawaii’s crust better. In any case, this is way better than Pizza Hut.

Here are some coupons found on Big Island Pizza’s web site. The medium is perfect for two people… or one if you’re really hungry.

Related post: New Pizza Place in Hilo?

Big Island Pizza
760 Kilauea Ave.
Phone: (808) 934-8000
Hours: 11-9 Mon-Sun
http://bigislandpizza.com/