Kawamoto Store

Saw a review of this place on YouTube and thought it would be worth checking out and I was blown away with the quality of the food. The fish was some of the best mahi I have ever had and the spam masubi tasted fresh as if it were just pressed. The chicken was crispy and had an excellent flavor. The staff here were filled with aloha and I felt very welcomed despite it clearly being my first time visiting.

Stopped by first thing in the morning to grab lunch for our National Park hike. The food looked and smelled amazing. Very fast service for our group of 6, and very friendly as well. You have options to choose prelisted bentos or choose a la carte for whatever is on display. You know it's a hit when it's the locals lining up. HIGHLY recommend if you're ever in Hilo.

This is one of a kind and original downtown Hilo. Great local food by the piece. Tempura shrimp, Ono two different ways, Korean chicken etc And get there early before it's gone. You can't go wrong with anything on that counter and the staff is super friendly. There is a reason they have been in business so long.

Stop here for breakfast and try the different foods. The food was amazing and the staff were very helpful when helping to pick out what we wanted. A full box and 2 juices was only about $17 so worth the price! The photo here shows how excited we were to dig in and not capture all the food! There isn't places to sit and eat but we found a nice park to enjoy it at.

One minor feedback, shrimp tempura curled up in to a ball inside the batter instead of the usual length of the tempura today, batter is still amazingly crispy. Besides that still the best and tastiest okazuya I’ve ever had. The flavor of the food has been consistent for the 60 years I’ve been eating here. The workers and the customers maintain that unique Hilo friendliness and charm.

Great local place for an impromptu custom bento. Line was a few feet out the door so had to wait about 20 minutes for order to be taken. When you get up to the case a patient employee will take down your order then go fill your order and meet you at the register to pay. Don’t worry you’ll have plenty of time once you get inside to ogle at all the food options they have in the case. Everything tasted great and satisfied the craving. Don’t forget to order at least a serving or two of long rice, nishime (stewed root veggies), mac salad. They had a Portuguese pickle on the white board for $6. Great rice vinegar based pickle option that helped cut through the fried options.

Quick Summary Nice little gem in Hilo, when you want to get your fried food fix. Can call ahead to skip on the line, but the line moves pretty quickly. The staff are very friendly and patient. My favorites are their tempura, particularly their fish. Food- 5 stars Really solid batter on their tempura. Would highly recommend their tempura'd fish. Definitely balance it out with some pickles and musubi, but the highlight was the tempura fish Service- 5 stars The staff are very friendly and patient. They were awesome Bottom Line Good and fast tempura with excellent service. It's street parking only, but people come and go quickly.

When in Hilo… Okazuya is a must! Japanese plantation days finger/picnic foods ordered one piece at a time! Take-out only! Kawamoto’s resonates 80-years of history and it has a special place in my heart. $10 per person buys you a lot!

Never again I going only order one shoyu pork for my bento or plate. Gotta have 2 or more. Da bugga ono !!!

For broke da moufth GRINDZ, Kawamoto Store is da place for da local kine GRINDZ!!! I used to commute to the Big Island for 16 years (for work), but how come nobody evah told a Bruddah about of this place??? Thanks to all my Yelp buddies for posting their AWESOME food pics, & reviews of Kawamoto's, now Bruddah man can proudly join the club of folks who have come to Kawamoto's for da local kine GRINDZ! So da last two weeks I've been working on da Big Island to help cover some work for my coworker, as he's been out recently, due to illness. . Da FAMOUS Kawamoto Store has been around since 1947. Being around for the last 77 years tells you that da Kawamoto's sure knows their okazuya! I guess my Yelp buddies weren't kidding when they said to go early, otherwise da GRINDZ is gonna run out. Like a dummy, I show up @ 11:00 am, thinking it was fairly early enough. Guess what? Bruddah Fran was left wid' da scraps! Buwahahahahahahaha! But even wid' da scraps, I must say what I did scrounge up, da scraps was ONO!!! Lol! I wen' score some Cone Sushi, Korean Chicken, & Shrimp Tempura. What can I say about da grubbage? Da Korean Chicken was spectacular! When I come back here in da near future, garans I'm gonna order more of this! The Shirmp Tempura was very light, and they did it in a way that the dish was not oily. A well made Shrimp Tempura. As for da Cone Sushi, we'll, ya gotta have some starch when eating Frrrrrrried food! Lol! If you like old skool local GRINDZ, when in Hilo, this place is a "MUST"! Thanks to all my Yelp buddies! If I didn't see your check-in's & pics, I would have missed out on a good thing. :D

Cafeteria style food joint, cheap eats and no frills food. I would avoid any fried food, the fried fish was fine though. I like the rice related items, can't go wrong with it, just some musabi and you have a meal.

Yes, line is long! Though there are multiple people serving and getting your order ready, it's still slow. Even during non peak hours, expect to wait about 30-45 minutes, unless you call in. If you call in your order, it is based on what they have in the moment and NOT what they will have by the time you pick up. Food, there was good variety to pick from and they were tasty. Was everything equally tasty? Nope. Things like seaweed chicken were too dry. While the pocket sushi could be too sweet depending on your taste buds. Best thing to do is just get one of everything or two of everything and share. It was enough for our brunch by getting about 75% of what they have available in twos. If you want to make it easy, just select from their menu of bento boxes. Get a couple and you'll get a good sampling.

Kawamoto's is a Hilo staple. We ordered from here for work and called in bentos ahead of time. There's not much parking, so picking up the bentos is a two man job. One person waits on the side while the other goes down to grab the bentos. They have two lines - one for phone call orders and the other for those who are ordering there. Even the phone call line was REALLY slow. We were second or third in the phone call line and still had to wait about 15-20 minutes. I thought it would be quick to get our food, but that was not the case. This was on a Thursday at around 10am, so I wasn't expecting it to be busy. Our bentos had spam musubi, chicken, maki roll, fried sweet potato, and Teri beef. My favorite was definitely the fried sweet potato. The spam musubi was also really good. The food is good, but just be prepared to wait in line, even if you called in an order.

Kawamoto Store should be your first stop when you land in Hilo. They open at 6am and there is a line out the door with hungry people waiting to order. It's an okazuya (Japanese-style delicatessen) so all the items are made and placed in the case. You pick whatever you want to create your own custom bento. I recommend the Korean fried chicken, shrimp tempura, maki sushi, and cone sushi. My favorite was the shrimp tempura because it was extra crispy and the batter tasted like shrimp chips. I regret not getting 2 pieces of that shrimp tempura. The staff here are efficient. They have a tiny space and most of it is blocked off for storage or office space. This place is takeout only and no seating available. The prices are very reasonable. The cheapest item is a piece of fishcake at $0.60 and the highest is a piece of fried chicken at $2.75. They also sell noodles, long rice, nishime, tofu, mac salad, and namasu for $5.90 per pound. There were a lot of locals picking up trays of food from the phone order line so that's a sign you know this place is good. I did a phone order before I boarded my flight in Honolulu. I did that hoping to save time and bypass the line but the sad part was that the nori chicken and cone sushi wasn't available yet. When I arrived for pick up, I saw the cone sushi in the back case and the nori chicken in the front case so I stood in line for 30 minutes to get those 2 items. I spent about $11 total on my bento and I was stuffed. They accept cash and card for payment. For parking, you parallel park on the street. If you come with a group, drop some people off in front of the store so they can stand in line first while the driver finds parking.

We spent 6 days on Oahu and only half a day on the Big Island. Of every place we went and everything we did, which was quite excessive...our time in Hilo, and especially at Kawamoto Store was at the top or our list of favorite things we experienced while on vacation. We caught the 4 am flight to Hilo and were pulling up here earlier than I expected them to be open, but that meant there was parking available. We stumbled in and discovered a bustling deli with a case filled with the most amazing treats...piled high! With prices starting at a quarter, it's a treasure trove of give me this, a little of that, a mountain of those...we were a bit overwhelmed upon our discovery, but they were quick to help us sort out what's what. Within a few moments, we had two massive boxes filled with all sorts of treats and headed to Rainbow Falls for an early morning picnic. The only tragedy, we could only eat so much and they close so early. We would have loved to circle back later in the day, but alas, it was late and we had a flight to catch. To be a local in this little town would be divine!

Overall Experience: 9.0/10 The location was more hidden at first, but once you get in line you understand why there is a wait here and it's totally worth it. The service was nice and patient as you order your food for takeout, as it has no seating. There are some bento options, or you can choose to buy a la carte. Food: The food was amazing and extremely affordable. Spam musubis for 90 cents, the most costly bento was under 10 dollars it will keep you full for the whole day. The shoyu chicken was flavorful, juicy and was still warm. The was an amazing balance of sweet, salty and umami. The korean chicken and shrimp tempura was still so crispy and delicious. I dont think you can go wrong with any options. I would highly recommend those stop by and try anything that looks good to them. Just be warned they will sell out of certain items before they close.

We went specifically to try their maki sushi and cone sushi as our pseudo breakfast cuz our flight was very early. Had read some Yelp reviews and needed to try them. We doubled back since there was no close street parking and the line was quite long. Both sushi were moist. The maki sushi had lots of ingredients rolled in the rice and nori. Told hubs it was like the kind his Koloa grandma used to make. For some reason one of the pieces had some tuna that reminded me of cat tuna. Hubs stopped eating all of a sudden and not sure if it was only a coincident but got sick then and there. I only ate 3 pieces and I was fine. If there's a next time and we're not under a time crunch I'd like to see what other options we can try.

Kawamoto Store is the spot for locals to pick up their favorite items for lunch or lots of their favorites for a party. It is not unusual to see lines out the door so getting here early like we did was definitely a plus. Spam musubi, chicken long rice, fried chicken, shrimp tempura, tempura sweet potato and nori chicken are just a sampling of their offerings and have already become my faves, that I had to return the next day for more to take along that evening to the volcanos. They are delicious hot especially that nori chicken that is worth the wait, while you talk story with the locals, but they are also made for eating at room temperature making it the perfect travel food. If I was flying out of Hilo, I would definitely stop by here to for lunch or dinner for the plane but since I wasn't, it did travel with me on the drive over to Kona.

If you want a big assortment of fried food to go, this is the spot! We came here pretty early and the line wasn't out the door yet, but our wait time was around 20 min. The line moves pretty quickly because it's so organized. As soon as you get to the front, someone takes your order (all the food is out and labelled for your choosing) and then they give you a register number to go to to pay and wait while they pack up your food. We wanted food to go so that we can indulge after our hike at the Volcanoes National Park. The food was packaged really well and even though the food was cold by the time we got to it, it was sooooo good! Our favorites were the shoyu pork and korean fried chicken. I would skip the regular fried chicken as it lacked a bit of flavor. And go get some noodles with your order! Our box was less than $30 and both our bellies were oh-so-satisfied. Other things to note: 1) Street parking on a busy street. 2) When we went, there was something wrong with their system so they could only take cash. Not sure how regular that is, but have some cash just in case.

Wonderful local Japanese deli. Got everything you need to fill your belly without busting your wallet. Maki sushi and Nori chicken were super ono. Love the texture and flavor of the long rice also. Everything carefully packaged it's OK if you see a line, the staff is pretty efficient about moving it along. No dine in. Authentic feel of old town Hilo.

We had to try food from the Kawamoto Store. We got to the store at 7:20 am on a Saturday and waited for 25 minutes in line to place our orders and waited ten minutes to pack our order. We got lots of goodies for breakfast [Spam musubi, breaded Ono, nishema (braised vegetables), noodles, soyu pork, tempera shrimp, and nori chicken] which cost less than $16. Everything is charged by piece or serving. The menu on their website has example bentos to give you an idea what you can get by price point. Everything is very reasonably priced, freshly made, and delicious. The process for walk-up is to line up until it's your turn to place your order. While in line, you can see what's available in the case. When you finish placing your order, the staff will tell you a number (1, 2, or 3). Then you wait for the staff to pack your order and call the number given to you. Then you go to the counter that correspond with the number given to you to pay and pick up your order. While in line, we learned that you can place a phone order, if you know what you want. But call between 5 and 6 am. Once they open the doors, they are too busy to take phone orders. Everything we was delicious. Clearly this place is a favorite with locals as they line up for both walk-up and phone orders.

Quick Summary Nice little gem in Hilo, when you want to get your fried food fix. Can call ahead to skip on the line, but the line moves pretty quickly. The staff are very friendly and patient. My favorites are their tempura, particularly their fish. Food- 5 stars Really solid batter on their tempura. Would highly recommend their tempura'd fish. Definitely balance it out with some pickles and musubi, but the highlight was the tempura fish Service- 5 stars The staff are very friendly and patient. They were awesome Bottom Line Good and fast tempura with excellent service. It's street parking only, but people come and go quickly.

I grew up on Oahu with no shortage of okazuya back in the day. As I grew older a few of the places I grew up with closed unfortunately. Okazuya always held a special place in my heart, in my life because of the memories that were associated with my experiences. I moved to Hawaii island in 2015 and it took me way too long to visit Kawamoto Store. Needless to say, I found a happy place. Greeted with ALOHA, food that hit the spot and well worth the price. Best part, I got to share my first Kawamoto Store experience with my mom! Mahalo Kawamoto Store ohana!

Hole in the wall okazuya place. Great options and customer service. It does get crowded and limited parking so go early or phone your order in.

They are very busy and the street parking was full as well when we got there at 8am. I love the concept of how you can choose what you want in your own bento box. Prices were reasonable and the staff were super nice! Our favorites were the korean chicken, cone sushi, maki sushi, and fish cake. I love how many choices we had to choose from. And pretty much everything we got was pretty good. I was so glad we got to try this, before we flew out today.

This store is good for quick and fast food to go. We brought food here and take the food to the park and eat it to enjoy nature. Food is cheaper than the other place we went to, filling. I like the fried sweet potato and fried fish. The Korean chicken taste good. Service here is quick. Parking is street parking.

This right here is old school Hawaiian local comfort food. If you are born and raised in Hawaii this is the exact type of food you are raised on. It doesn't really get better than this! Some of the major staples including spam Musubi, cone sushi(inari), tempura, Korean and Nori chicken. Corned beef hash Patties, everything here makes me happy and reminds me of childhood. Get there early as a lot of the items tend to run out closer to lunch time. Staff is amazing friendly. Don't get discouraged in line as it may be a bit of a wait, but we are on Hawaiian time here, we ain't in a rush to be anywhere!

Kawamoto store used to be one of the places that we loved to come back to again and again on our trips to the Big Island. This is my sixth time in Hilo and have been to Kawamoto on every visit, but sadly this trip is the last time our family includes Kawamoto in our plans. We came here 2x on this trip and left with zero food both times. The first time, we came an hour before close and sadly there was just a pile of rice and little else left. Fine. I should have expected as much given that it's a popular spot and we knew from past experiences that you need to go early to get any food. The next day we came back in the morning and there were 4-5 parties in line. We waited in line for half an hour and in that time they had only taken 4 of the orders ahead of us and had not even fulfilled or had the orders paid out yet. It probably would have taken at least an hour total in order to actually get food - what kind of logistics is that for a take out place where all of the food is already prepared? We left because we did not have the time to find out, as we were trying to pick up a quick meal for a flight. What a disappointment all around.

Absolutely delicious! Best place to eat on the island. The staff greets everybody like Ohana.

Always good, but you have to come early because the good stuff sells out by 9AM and they stop making stuff around 10AM.

This was one of the best places I've ever tried during my trip to Hilo. The lines can get crazy long, but I don't mind waiting either. It's totally worth it! The food is 10/10. The staff are so kind and helpful. You have got to try this place if you haven't already.

Best place we visited on the big island! Bento was like $5 - such an amazing deal. You get to pick what you want a La carte. My favorite was the fried mahi and the Korean fried chicken. Everything was delicious! So cool this place has been around so long. One of the most unique restaurants I've been to ever. Note: it is not for sit-down it's for take

"The perfect cherry blossom is rare. You could spend your entire life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life." - Katsumoto She's perfection in my eyes... Is what Kawamoto, Kawamoto Store is to me. I've been here before, maybe a dozen times before, solo, with family, and this time with someone special that made this Kawamoto Store visit the most memorable! A rainy early morning and on the Eastside of Hawai'i Island is where we planned our visit to the Kawamoto Store. Opened since 1947, this iconic Okazuya, serves Japanese style bites made popular during Hawaii's plantation days. The word Okazu - the Japanese word for side dish. Ya - the Japanese word for shop/store. The legend of Kawamoto Store is born. Located in the heart of historic Hilo Town we scored parking up front. Our luck could be attributed to the grab-and-go of Okazuya style, however I like to think that faith and Hilo magic was the reason. We needed to be here! We enter to a Japanese deli, calling it old school would be an understatement, as many of the decor and walls easily dates to the founding of this Hilo eatery. My favorites are the Kokeshi dolls! Yes, I do know my Japanese dolls! :D One could easily visualize plantations workers seventy-years ago doing the exact same thing... ordering one piece at a time! We order the following: Nishime, Maki Sushi, Fishcake, x2 Cone Sushi, Korean Chicken, Corned Beef Hash, Mahi Tempura. Everything packed carefully for transport. And we're off to enjoy our bites elsewhere! We both enjoyed everything! For me, the Mahi Tempura was the star, for bestie her favorite was the Fishcake! Our only regret was not getting more! I can't wait until my next visit to Kawamoto Store. In fact, it's already on our list! One of the first Okazuya's I experienced in my life, I'm not talking yesterday, I'm talking Keiki times with my parents. Years later, I would never have expected to be accompanied by someone so special in my life... Maybe it's simply that Kawamoto magic...

My favorite place to grab something quick and flavorful! Also, stopping here was probably our cheapest meal. Everything is ala cart.. we ordered two boxes of various foods and our meal was under $30. This included noodles too. We got the shoyu pork and requested extra fat... no regrets. Kawamoto hours are very short, so make sure you plan ahead. This place is a must visit!

We tried this place because Hilo Lunch Shop was closed today. This seemed like the next best okazu spot to get our fix. Parking is street parking along the store or wherever you can find. We got there around 9:30. The line was out the door and we were standing by the place next door. It took us about ~45 min to get to the front to place our order. The ambiance of the store is small so expect to be a little squished inside because there's a phone order line next to the in store orders. We got to try their cone sushi, maki sushi, spam musubi, whole fishcake, shrimp tempura, shoyu chicken, corn beef hash, nishime, and eggplant tempura. The worker told us there was only sweet potato, and my boyfriend likes sweet potato so he ordered one but I was kind of bummed out because I don't. I even said it looked like eggplant but she corrected me. I would be nice if the workers were aware of what's being sent out. Cone sushi was good and juicy. Maki sushi was mostly rice but the actual filling part we did get to taste was good too. Spam musubi was lacking in flavor and one piece is a quarter of the size of an entire musubi. Shrimp tempura is 90% batter 10% shrimp so that was a let down as well. Shoyu chicken was nice and fresh and fish cake. Corn beef hash was super small and dry. Nishime wasn't anything special though. The eggplant was nice sized and super yummy. Wish we got to order more because that, the fish cake and cone sushi were probably the best things we ordered. Overall we give this place a 6/10.

Freshly made food. So many different items to choose from all at an affordable price. And if you don't know what to get just ask the person next to you. They probably will say get anything because it all tastes good! Get there early, because when it's gone it's gone! The only negative I see is that it's hard to find parking!

Ono and cheap! Went here because we were on a budget on our last day on Hilo. You have to come early because it sells out quickly!

We went during lunch time and there was a line of local customers that were waiting to buy food. The price is very reasonable. They put the food out in the front and you get to choose whatever you want in your bento box. If you do not not know what to get, there's a set menu bento box that you can pick when you order. They packed the food nicely. It is to-go place and not a sit-down restaurant. It is a great place to pick up food if you're like a tourist like me and heading to the Volcano National Park. I ate the food when it was cold, so I thought the food was okay. I'm thinking the food might be better when it's still warm. Only street parking were available.

Found this location on yelp and was so excited to find a place that sells a la carte style bento boxes! I came near closing time so a lot of the items were sold out. I felt bad because I didn't know how to order if I was supposed to get a set box vs picking items I wanted. The guy working at the store was so nice and told me how to order and which items he recommended. I ended up getting the glass noodles, masubi, beef and fish cakes. The masubi was good and so fairly priced! The glass noodles wasn't what I was expecting but still good! I was expecting something more like Korean Japchae but this was more sweet. The fish cakes were probably my favorite item and was fresh and flavored perfectly! The beef was also awesome and my second favorite item. The entire box was less than $10 and so cheap for such an amazing variety! Definitely recommend coming here! Service was so amazing and so many options. Come early because items often run out.

Looks like a place where locals come to pick up lunch. To order, you basically choose from whatever is displayed behind the display glass or in the back. The menu on the wall gives you an idea of what the prices are and what they have, but it's easier to look at what they have and choose. The prices are very reasonable and a great place to stop to pick up food to picnic at the beach or volcano or eat in the car. Most things are fried and they also have fried rice, noodles, long rice noodles, rice balls, spam musubi, fried fish, fried fish cake, tempura, fried korean chicken, beef ball, maki rolls. They tasted good for the price but of course not the most nutritious. Workers were friendly and patient with my tourist family. There was a line a little out the door on mid morning on a weekday, most were locals. If you know what to order, they take phone orders too.

We came early afternoon and there was a line that went fairly quickly. They had so many options and kept bringing out fresh food. We came here to get boxes to take on our trip to Volcano National Park. The workers were friendly. I enjoyed the spam musubi and shrimp tempura the most! The maki and fried Korean chicken were yummy as well. I liked being able to mix and match your box although they do have some pre set options if you prefer that.

Our first time here impressions:: *Friendly, Organized and efficient customer service *Food display case made us want to buy two of everything and I feel like we kinda did. *Cannot beat the prices - we left there feeling like we ripped them off... +All the food tasted as good as it looked Loved it !!! If u guys wanna open a shoppe on Oahu lmk and I'll be your first investor!

Always make a point to go and eat here. The consistency of their food is the reason why I will always coming back when I'm on Hawai'i Island. Placed a my order from O'ahu a week before our trip for (2 orders for a total of 15 people). We ordered 2 different bentos for each person. The kane I placed my order with was helpful and patient. Keep up the excellent work!

quick and easy spot for affordable musubi and other japanese food! we were visiting hilo and this was one of the top spots on our list. prices for each vary from about 60 cents to $1+. we ordered spam musubi, fish cake, corned beef hash, nori chicken, and the cone sushi to try a bit of everything. i would recommend all of them and love the way they package it as well. service is very quick and everyone was so friendly, we left with great food and a couple of their t shirts (which resemble the story exactly)!!!

A great find! Went to Hilo for a day trip and was searching on yelp for food ideas. Luckily we found this shop and we knew we had to try it out! Okazuya food is a great grab and go meal. Enjoy Japanese/local favorites that are cooked daily and often sell out! We arrived around 10:30 am and there was a short line. By the time we got there a few things were sold out like their fried chicken and spam musubi. If you want the best pick, you'll have to go early. Or they do accept phone orders and make it as you call it in. So if you're lucky, you can call it in and pick it up whenever you're ready. Although they were missing a few dishes, they still had a majority of the options available. It's easy to go a little overboard to try everything and everything is priced per item. What I chose: Plain Musubi 1 pc Nori Chicken (the last one!) 3 Corned Beef Hash 1 panko fried ono 1 fishcake 1 glass noodles 1 shrimp tempura 1 eggplant tempura 1 sweet potato tempura 1 eggplant tempura 1 chicken tofu All for $14! This was a steal. I got so much food and it came out to be really affordable. I'm glad I could try a little of everything. My favorites were the nori chicken, tempura, and corned beef hash. If you do walk in, the workers will assist you to take your order and prepare it right in front of you. They work really hard to pack up each box the way you order it. A must stop if you're ever in hilo!

I've visited Hilo many, many times and finally got a chance to stop here. We took the first flight out from Oahu, and this was our first stop. We ordered nori chicken, musubis, cone sushi, Korean chicken, hash to name a few. They were all superb! My favorite was their shrimp tempura, airy and crunchy, just perfect. I normally expect the same soggy okazuya shrimp tempura. But here it wasn't! Tasty food, great service, and unbelievable prices. Our box was stuffed with food and it was under $25! Mind blown! I did a rough calculation and it seems like everything is $1 a piece! An okazuya box like this on Oahu would be double maybe triple that price. If you're in Hilo, this place is a must try!

Service was very friendly and helpful. Enjoyed the sushi and shoyu chicken. Went three times but was not able to get the mochiko or Korean chicken since it got sold out! Crispy cornflake cookies were delicious . Will definitely go back earlier .

When in Hilo, okazuya is a must (according to my bestie, Eric R. haha). Out of all the okazuya spots, we had to go here simply for the name which to me is iconic and gave me a good chuckle! Kawamoto Store opens bright and early at 6:00 a.m. and closes at noon. Just like any okazuya, get here early for the best selections! My bestie and I arrived around 8:00 a.m. despite the heavy rain and flooding, there were several customers in line! Rain or shine, Kawamoto Store has your back! Upon walking into the lowkey yet respectable okazuya shop we were met with warm aloha spirit, the smell of fresh and fried savory goodies, and trays full of food! Kawamoto Store serves up Japanese, Hawaiian, Chinese, and Filipino food--perfect to satisfy all tastebuds like mine! I opted to order ala carte and got the Cone Sushi, Maki Roll (one piece), Fish Cake (one piece), and Nishime. Generous portions and flavors that tickled my taste buds all for $5? What a steal! Out of my choices, my favorite was the fish cake. It was a large piece that was dense and had a nice chew. The rice for the maki and cone was both seasoned with vinegar and was massive! The nishime was well-marinated, the vegetables were firm but had a soft give, and it came with thick and chunky pieces. My bestie got Korean Chicken, Corned Beef Hash, Fish Tempura (Mahi Mahi), and a Cone Sushi. Out of all, he said his favorite was the tempura. My bestie ate his after purchasing but I chose to save and eat mine for lunch (about four hours later). My food still held up nicely--but if you plan to wait I'd skip the fried items as they may get soggy. For four items this was a hearty meal that left me full and content. From the moment I stepped into the shop, I felt like I was at my Grandma's house. Old school Japanese decor, wooden displays and furniture, and warm smiles, with friendly service. When we arrived there were plenty of options available (they were also cooking and preparing more in the back)--so if you don't see what you want just ask! You're able to order Ala carte, in small batches, or bulk for a reasonable price! Ordering is simple. Pick and choose what you want, the ladies will pack it up, then you pay and take it to go on your merry way. Be patient as lines to order and pay can be long and each item is packed individually but it's so worth it! No matter what you're craving--if you're up bright and early then Kawamoto Store just might be the perfect stop! It's a great place to sample individual items at a reasonable price (but go early). Popular among locals and tourists, take it to go and enjoy it at home or on the road! I can understand why this is one of the go-to okazuya's in Hilo from their kind service, high-quality varied items and bentos, and aloha spirit. Parking is street only and not hard to find in front of their shop. Mahalo for filling my belly and being a memorable stop for many reasons Kawamoto Store!

Coming from California, I'd never heard of Okazuya (Japanese-style deli) before. After hearing about Kawamoto Store and how it was one of the oldest establishments in Hilo, I had to go. We went around noon and a number of offerings were already sold out (fried butterfish, mochiko chicken, longrice, etc.) but the sweet guy working the counter gave us some recommendations for our BYO bento boxes and threw in some extra perks for us, like an extra piece of shoyu pork and fried noodles. I also got a very cute piece of Kawamoto Store merch there and now proudly rep it in LA. The food is comforting and reminds me of the deli at Nijiya and Mitsuwa Markets, but with a local twist. It's hard to find fried ono, longrice, butterfish, corned beef hash, etc. over here, so I was happy to get a taste. Our bentos were 'brown dinner' at its finest--so much fried stuff and not much variety in color (lol) but it was tasty and perfect for a picnic at Liluokalani Gardens. Highlights were the shoyu pork (basically a thicker, heartier piece of chashu you get at ramen), the fried purple sweet potato, and shrimp.

We had to head out from Hilo to Waimea at 6:30 am, and needed to get breakfast for the long drive, so we headed to Kawamoto Store on a Saturday morning and picked up some grinds for the road. We lucked out with parking right in front of the store, and no line! They have all the okazuya items that you would expect. All trays were full and nicely displayed - it was so hard to choose what to get. But the nice thing about okazuya is that you order by the serving, so you can get a small amount of a variety of items. We tried the hot dog, noodles, spam musubis, and shrimp tempura. All were onolicious!

Wish more of these places were in Oahu. Nostalgic down to the architecture. I love that they don't try to renovate to current interior design but instead just simply restore what is already there. The service so friendly. The hilo vibe with the locals here is truly Aloha. The options for okazuya food is abundant the quality epic. Tempura options are crunchy and tasty, cute corn beef hash. Spam musubi's and maki sushi with the perfect texture rice. Not mushy. The mochiko Moro chicken is "winnah's". Definitely going to be back when I visit hilo.

The best in every way! It is our family's daily stop when we are in the Big Island. Nothing else to say , but the Aloha is everywhere in every bite and in every welcoming (and hardworking) staff member in Kawamoto Store. It feels like home and it tastes all homemade. Every item is my favorite! You can't go wrong. And it is reasonably priced. Truly a great find and a mainstay for our family for years. P.s. you can "organize" your order so they become bento boxes ... and thus, perfect for beach picnics in and around the Big Island.

Bento is a Japanese boxed lunch that Hawai'ian Japanese made into their own thing. Food here is great, local taste, but so popular you have to get here early before they sell out. This is local culinary culture at its best, grab a bento lunch for a picnic somewhere on this beautiful island. You might be the only one in line who is not a loyal regular, what's that tell you?

It was a cool experience to get to choose the items in your bento box. The best thing there was their shrimp tempura. The ahi and ono tempura were quite soggy. The cha siu were big pieces. The korean fried chicken was good as well although not very korean flavored. The maki roll is 90% rice. Prices are more expensive than expected. Very nice staff though. Looks very popular with locals. Parking is on the street but fills up quickly.

Kawamoto Store is a little take-out spot in Hilo that's opened from 6am-12pm. All of the food is pre-made. There are many different items to choose from and a lot of it is sold by the piece. When it's your turn, they write down everything you want and pack it in a box. I went with some spam musubi, cooked fish roll, fish and veggie tempura, macaroni salad, and stir fried noodles. Because the food is pre-made and has been sitting out, it's not hot. The macaroni salad and sushi were good. The tempuras were no longer crispy. The musubi had a lot of rice. The prices here are pretty cheap, which makes it easy to try a whole variety of items. The store is small so there was a line leading outside, but it went by pretty quickly.

Come here before they open! We got here 10 minutes before opening and there were two people in line. We managed to secure a stall which was great as well. By the time the doors opened, there was already a line behind us! My best tip is to check out the menu beforehand so you know what you want to order. It makes the ordering process go by fast and smooth. Coming from Honolulu, this Okazuya is huge and has a wide variety of food! My favorite was their hash and their chicken wrapped with nori. My mom loved their maki sushi. Definitely a must go-to when you're in Hilo!

Wow glad I got to stop by this okazuya. We got there around 8:30am on a Saturday morning and the line was just about at the door. They had all the go to for okazuya from spam musubi, all different types of chicken including shoyu, fried, and nori, long rice, the fish came in tempura or battered, nishimae, the list goes on! I can't say how much each individual thing was but I got a box with 2 plain rice ball, 2 nori chicken, 2 hash(very tiny), long rice, sweet potato tempura, fried mahi, and a shrimp tempura and it was only about $12. I feel like something back on Oahu woulda been close to $20. Everything was so good! Make sure to ask for tartar sauce for your Moro chicken. Sounds weird but so good! My only regret is that I didn't get more!