Seafood in Hilo?

[JerryCarr]

The Bear and I want to treat a dear friend to dinner for his birthday, and his preference is for seafood in Hilo town. Anyone have any recommendations for a moderately priced place in town that has good seafood? Thanks.

[DanielP]

Hands down Seaside restaurant

[Carey]

The Seaside has nice tables with pond views on the porch (main dining room is dark & ho hum decor..) mac mahi is nice, but their prices are on the higher end for Hilo (reasonable for most areas)

The little fish picnic table place on the back side of Suisan has the best prices for yummy mahi fish & chips, if you get early lunch on the days they have.... but not really a birthday dinner place.

Have not yet been to the Ponds on ice pond (the old Harringtons), run by Kens Pancakes people, have heard good, but higher price, for Hilo. They have some pond side tables.

Coconut Grill has some good chefs, but no view.

If you are looking for ethnic & fish:
Miyos has nice view of the Wailoa Ponds & for nice tasting Japanese menu items & there are more restaurants that have opened around the Wailoa.... Wish I had more info on them...
The Garden Snack club has some very creative Thai fusion dishes, Ocean Sushi Deli has no decor, but good reasonably priced sushi.... and the list goes on...

[csgray]

Cafe Pesto has good fish specials but the prices run high for what you get IMHO, and service is erratic. Kaleo's in Pahoa comes highly recommended for fresh fish and I really like their salads too. Seaside ALWAYS had a full parking lot for dinner when we lived by there, local rigs, not rent-a-cars.

Carol

[missydog1]

I took my husband to Seaside for his birthday once. Good fish but an expensive dinner considering the lack of ambience (which locals don't seem to care about, but I do). I think "seafood" is very overpriced in Hawai'i when marketed as such. $35 for a filet of fish, and that's the low end for seafood entrees.

Fresh fish is expensive unless you or your friends fish. There's a lot of frozen fish around, and if the price is moderate it could well be frozen and from Thailand, so maybe call and ask what they serve.

ETA that Seaside is good fish ... if you want to pay that much. The preparation is not exactly cutting edge. Not like going to Brown's or Roy's or Canoe House.

[DanielP]

I never saw a $35 entree at Seaside. More like $24 tops.

[missydog1]

Maybe so, Daniel. We only ate there once. We were neither unhappy nor impressed. It cost enough that it went into the category of special occasion dining. The ambience was more like casual dining. The windows were dirty and plastic. Maybe if sitting outside had been an option we would have been happier.

It was about par with Don's Grill as far as the service and atmosphere went, to us. But twice the price.

My husband fishes and people give him big hunks of fresh caught island fish, so we don't feel like paying bucks for a filet of fish. The preparation there is nothing we can't do ourselves.

I'm not saying don't go there. I just don't see it as special. We heard it was THE special place for local families, but didn't think it lived up to the recommendation, that's all.

The only restaurant in Hilo that had the potential to present a WOW meal was IMHO Kaikodo, and it's gone -- and even that was hit and miss.

[Guest]

i

[DanielP]

Well Kathy, I was trying to answer the question. Food is excellent at Seaside and portions generous. Ambiance secondary for me. Prices perhaps a bit above moderate, but not the highest prices either. Kathy, I am not sure that I heard your suggestion.?

Dan

[missydog1]

My comment is that fresh fish is overpriced here, even though most people would think that an island is the place to get good fish.

For the money, a steak or chicken is a better value. Jerry did mention price, so I'm just saying that being set on fish is equivalent to deciding to let yourself get somewhat ripped off. If that's what you really want, then go for it, but know it going in.

I think that Cafe Pesto is the nicest overall place in Hilo, but they do charge a lot for Catch of the Day, and fish is not where they return the most value.

It's all subjective. I agree that Seaside's portions were generous. OTOH, for the life of me I can't remember what I ordered. It wasn't memorable. I've had dinners at Pesto that were memorable. You find ambience secondary. For me it is primary. I love the period building that Pesto inhabits, the art on the walls, the 20 foot ceilings, the lighting that is low key without being too dark. I thought Seaside was not much above a diner in terms of ambience. But ... one could say it has unpretentious appeal, I suppose.

Mostly I remember looking out at the ponds through dirty plastic and being irritated by it.

My other favorite moderate place is Bamboo Restaurant in Hawi, but it's way too far away unless the party was hanging at the Kohala Inn for the night (which is cheap, btw).

I'm sorry to be the no suggestion person. Like I said, used to go to Kaikodo for special occasions. At this point, I don't bother to go out to eat unless I'm on the west side. (But if I were in Pahoa, I'd be interested in Kaleo's and Paulo's.)