Good and not-so-good food places on our Hawaii trip

We had a blast visiting Oahu and the Big Island on our recent Hawaii trip.  I wanted to give a quick run down of the places we LOVED for food and those that were not so loved.  On Oahu - we LOVED Lulu's in Waikiki for breakfast. We went there on our last day after having a VERY disappointing breakfast buffet at Jimmy Buffett's @ the Beachcomber the day before.  Lulu's was right next door to our hotel so it was a much more pleasant walk in the humid morning sun than the somewhat lengthy walk to Jimmy Buffett's.  If you have a BIG appetite then you might be better off going to the buffet - just be ready for very generic food and the WORST pineapple we had on the islands.  I expect to get GREAT pineapple while in Hawaii and always have before.  The pineapple at Jimmy Buffett's was somewhat sour and not too tasty.  The servers at Lulu's are much more friendly as well - but you don't get a lot of service at a buffet.  I have to say the fellow making omelets at Jimmy Buffett's was talkative and interesting - but I just wasn't wanting a hot omelette after working up a sweat walking to the restaurant - LOL!

We had great luck finding excellent places to eat in Hilo.  We were pretty tired when we finally got to the B&B and they had a restaurant delivery service available so we gave it a try.  We ordered from New Star Restaurant and were pretty disappointed with what we got.  I assume they have a brick and mortar restaurant as well and we'll pass it on by if we ever see it at some point in the future.  On the other hand we went driving around one night just looking for some place to eat and decided to give Osaka's a try.  It is right on 11 as you head towards the bay.  It doesn't look like much on the outside (or the inside for that matter) - but it is family owned and run, the servers are incredibly polite and we thoroughly enjoyed the food!  I finally got some excellent teriyaki chicken!  I absolutely LOVED the teriyaki steak kabobs that Duke's used to have on their menu.  They no longer serve them and so I've been looking for good teriyaki in the islands ever since - LOL!  The miso soup was hot and quite tasty, I loved the vinegar cabbage salad (I cannot remember what it is called) and my teriyaki chicken serving was huge (2x what I expected for the chicken) so Tony had yummy teriyaki chicken for breakfast the next day - LOL! 

We also went looking for a farmer's market (other than the one in downtown Hilo).  The gal who prepared breakfast at the B&B told us about one but we didn't quite understand the directions she gave us.  Since they didn't get their coffee delivered over the weekend and I needed a coffee fix we stopped at the Starbuck's in Hilo.

And we had a GREAT view of Mauna Kea and the observatories from the parking lot!

And when I asked one of the Baristas about another farmer's market in the area she said her "Auntie" was just walking in and she would know.  Sure enough - she did!  She gave us directions to the Maku'u Farmer's Market so we headed down the road to find it.  We did indeed find it (you can't miss it on 130) and had another wonderful food find.  Mister D's BBQ!  I had the teriyaki meatballs, Tony had the chicken and both were delicious!  Here's Mister D and his sign in case you're in the vicinity...

During "Flossie" (which was just a bit of rain and wind and nothing worth writing about) we were eating lunch at a wonderful restaurant right along the highway and bay called Cafe Pesto.  I had the Oriental al Pesto
pizza and it was absolutely TDF!  The garlic was so sweet (and from the island!). Tony had the Linguine al Pesto which was also quite good.

Those are the standouts in my memory right now - and it's time to hit the sack so I can be awake for my cousin Adelyn's Surf Cup soccer game tomorrow morning!

But wait!  I can't forget Ken's Pancake House!  After our very tiring hike out to see the lava flowing we asked our guides where we could eat at 9:30PM at night.  They said if we wanted to try some local food go to Ken's or Verna's.  Ken's was first on the road so we dragged sore bodies in and plopped down.  Our server was fun - his recommendation of the spaghetti was spot on (no it would not compare to Tony's Italian mom's spaghetti, but it was pretty good for restaurant spaghetti).  I wanted pasta badly and this hit the spot - even Tony would have ordered it if we went to Ken's again.  The little dinner salad had some nice lettuces other than iceberg, they had REAL Italian dressing (none of that lo-cal garbage that tastes awful) and the garlic bread was decent (but it did need more garlic - LOL!).  I honestly can't recall what Tony had - I was too tired for it to register - but we both left the restaurant with satisfied mouths and stomachs!

Aloha!