Great places to eat

[birdmove]

We ate at the Pho Cafe in Pahoa last night for my wife's birthday. We have nine people staying at our house for a while. My daughter Annie, our grandaughter Robin, Robin's daddy Dave, Dave's mom, and a great construction crew trying to get Dave, Annie, and Robins house done. Hans, Erick, and KC.
We had to wait for the crew to come home and clean up, and didn't get to the Pho Cafe till maybe 7:15 or so, and they close at 8:00. So, we really dropped a lot of work on the restaurant just before closing. Le (pronounced lay)is a one person work force. She is the greeter, server, cook, and does everything there. Little Robin is 17 months, and Le brought her a cracker to munch on. Soon she brought Robin her favorite (she did this on her own I might add) a bowl of noodles. It took a while to get our food, but it was well worth it. Everyone loved the food too. Robin got antsy as most babies that age do. Le could see that happening and also that Annie was so busy entertaining Robin that she couldn't eat. Le then came over and picked up Robin and carried her around so Annie could eat her food! She took the baby for 10-15 minutes. Then she brought Robin a plate of Papaya!! Folks, you don't see this kind of treatment anywhere else!
I ate my food pretty fast so I could take Robin outside for a walk so everyone could finish eating.

So, everyone raved about the food. We were treated like royalty. Le is a great and friendly person. The pricing is very reasonable.

What more can I say?? I gave Le a hug and thanked her when we left. Dave's mom, Bunny, took her picture. I can tell you Le had to work late last night because of us. I bet she didn't get out of there till well after 10:00 pm. Kathy and I had eaten lunch there before and really liker Le and the food. After last night we'll be eating there more often.

Thanks, Le, for going way beyond the call of duty to make last night a great one.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[DTisme]

We've found that every time we've ever gotten poor service at Ken's, we were in the back (past the counter). Up front tables seem to get better service i guess bc the customer is seen better. Or it just might be a fluke.

I wouldn't expect a great dinner at Ken's - not surprised by the steak story - but for sandwiches and breakfast, it fits the bill. It's a diner, basically, so stick with diner food. Haven't really had a good steak since we moved here. Even Hokulani's Steak House has crappy steaks.

[Chuysmom]

I wanted to meet my co-worker (local lady) at Ken's for lunch. She said, "Carrie...why you wanna go Ken's? That's not local kine food." So we went to Ocean Sushi...yum. I like the atmosphere in Ken's though. It's very family oriented...dishes clanking, etc. It reminds me of being a kid.

Carrie

[Kelena]

We almost ran into each other. I went to Ken's (for the first time) for lunch/breakfast. I think it is a breakfast/lunch place and not a dinner place. I found it exactly as advertised: a cool, campy place that does the basics and beyond very well, with a strong local flare. I had the vegetarian eggs benedict. It was delicious but oddly came with toast. Our waitress was a delightful aunty who time-traveled forward from Hilo, '56. There was a lot to see outside the windows.

Got my car from Harper's (via Pasha) right after that. It retained the many, many scratches that were on it before I shipped it, and also retained my KAPA-FM bumper sticker. It will be a great island car once I figure out how to un-steam a tight German car that has nevah, evah seen this much rain. I thinki I got it. You DON'T turn on the hot defrost -- you blast the air conditioner. Right?

[DanielP]

Only really good steak I have had is at Kiawe Kitchen in Volcano.
You'll be glad you did.
Dan

[dayna]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kelena

We almost ran into each other. I went to Ken's (for the first time) for lunch/breakfast. I think it is a breakfast/lunch place and not a dinner place. I found it exactly as advertised: a cool, campy place that does the basics and beyond very well, with a strong local flare. I had the vegetarian eggs benedict. It was delicious but oddly came with toast. Our waitress was a delightful aunty who time-traveled forward from Hilo, '56. There was a lot to see outside the windows.

Got my car from Harper's (via Pasha) right after that. It retained the many, many scratches that were on it before I shipped it, and also retained my KAPA-FM bumper sticker. It will be a great island car once I figure out how to un-steam a tight German car that has nevah, evah seen this much rain. I thinki I got it. You DON'T turn on the hot defrost -- you blast the air conditioner. Right?

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Yeah do an AC defrost. Usually that just means hit the defrost button while the AC is running.

Are you coming to the Christmas parade on Sunday? We'll be there and we are bringing reindeer sausage and smoked king salmon.

Dayna

www.JasonAndBlue.com
My artwork

[Carey]

The parade is on SATURDAY....
The only problem with turning on the AC is that then there is COLD air on the front window...and it can fog up on the outside, creeping up from outside of the window vents....so you have to adjust the air temps so that there is some AC with some heat

[macuu222]

Anyone know if the Sky Garden restaurant at Imiloa Planetarium is open? It closed when the pandemic hit in March 2020 along with the Planetarium.

[TomK]

I believe it's still closed but haven't gone over there to check recently.