Eva L.
Yelp
I made reservations a day in advance for Saturday evening dine-in. The restaurant shares a parking lot with a few other businesses so spots are limited. We got lucky as someone was leaving as we pulled into the lot but this is something to keep in mind if you decide to eat here during peak hours. We got there 10 minutes before the reservation and upon checking in, staff informed us that she was still waiting for a few tables to check out and our table should be ready shortly. We waited outside with a few other groups and at about 5 minutes past our reservation time, the hostess called my name and led us to our table. However, the service just stopped there and went downhill after that. We sat there for a good 15 minutes with no one to give us water or check in on us to take our order or answer any questions. We saw other parties coming in after us, got seated, immediately was offered water and their server was on top of it. We looked around and servers just walked right past our table multiple times and just ignored us. My husband, finally, flagged someone down and asked who our server was. He pointed to a waitress that was talking to another table and left. That waitress after finished talking, walked right past us again. After another 5 minutes, a waiter walked up to us and introduced himself, apologized for the wait and about the mix-up of which wait staff was suppose to serve our table. We told him we were ready to order at that point since we've been ignored for a while and he quickly took our order.
We ordered the Kalua pork spring rolls, the Kona side mai thai, lilikoi fauxjito, mochiko crusted kanpachi, blackened kanpachi and the lilikoi cheesecake. Our spring rolls arrived very fast, but no one gave us small plates to share the food. We had to use our hands as plates. Our drinks came next and the staff who delivered our drinks said he will bring us water. Another 5 minutes passed, we still had no water. We had to flagged our server to remind him that we needed water. At this point, this level of service is really unacceptable. I believe cost of food has some correlation with service. Poor service is understandable if the cost of food is cheap. But with the costs of food at this restaurant, service should be average to above average. I don't know if this is an off incident, but I'm pretty disappointed with the overall service for our last dinner on the big island before we depart tomorrow.
The redemption was the delicious food and that our server attempted to provide service during the second half of our meal. The drinks were ok but the food was very good. The Kalua pork spring rolls were crispy and filled with pork. It went well with the sauce. My husband cleaned his entire plate for the blackened kanpachi so that probably means he liked his food. My mochiko crusted kanpachi was fresh and the purple yam mashed potatoes were very unique (it tastes way better than regular mashed potatoes). Plating looked really nice for all our dishes. The lilikoi cheesecake was a great way to end our dinner, it wasn't too heavy and the tartness of the lilikoi syrup lessened the denseness of the cheesecake. I'm not a usual fan of cheesecake other than Japanese cheesecake but the one we had tonight was pretty tasty.
This spot is a good place to dine with a date or with family. The dining area has an open concept style which offers a number of tables that overlooks the ocean partially. If you happen to get a seat at one of those tables, make sure you come at sunset so you can enjoy the view.