Local Grinds - the chat thread

[river_sand_bar]

Thanks Kris and everyone for all the suggestions for the places to eat.... ok, so what about the best local burgers?? Someplace to eat after the dives??

Also, gonna do the drive around the top of the island... any suggestions of places not to miss, besides the pools and the blow hole??

For some reason, I have some memory of coming back down the hill from (an ex-wife want) sunrise at Haleakala to Makawao, there was some special bakery in the town that served hot breakfast "doughnut" type rolls...anyone know of this??

 

[KrisB]

Thanks Kris and everyone for all the suggestions for the places to eat.... ok, so what about the best local burgers?? Someplace to eat after the dives??

You're welcome.

I'm not sure about the West Side... I know that Cheeseburgers Island Style in Wailea is good (and reasonably priced) -- perhaps Cheeseburgers in Paradise (part of the same chain) in Lahaina is also?

If you're on the south side... check out Da Kitchen for a broke da mouth Teriyaki Burger. Because of the juices, you have to flip it over -- the bottom part of the bun is usually saturated with the teri sauce dripping out of the patty.

 

[river_sand_bar]

Yum..... now thats what I am talking about... might be in the south side if we take the boat out of Kihei to dive Molokini. Hit Da Kitchen after the da dive.

 

[justleesa]

trying out restaurants out this way and we have a new favorite

Bravo near Circuit City in Pearl City

You get these great little garlic balls/buns/rolls with your meal (free refills) and the food is fantastic. Fresh, original and colorful. We really, really enjoyed our meals there. They even have an Illima award for their service and cuisine

 

[MeiLing]

trying out restaurants out this way and we have a new favorite

Bravo near Circuit City in Pearl City

You get these great little garlic balls/buns/rolls with your meal (free refills) and the food is fantastic. Fresh, original and colorful. We really, really enjoyed our meals there. They even have an Illima award for their service and cuisine

Bravo is good for Italian, but for even better, I'd recommend Ricado's in the Pearl Kai Shopping Center. Their food is really good and their corkage fee is really cheap so you can BYOB and have an even more affordable meal.

 

[SecondCoussens]

trying out restaurants out this way and we have a new favorite

Bravo near Circuit City in Pearl City

You get these great little garlic balls/buns/rolls with your meal (free refills) and the food is fantastic. Fresh, original and colorful. We really, really enjoyed our meals there. They even have an Illima award for their service and cuisine

I second Bravo's as a good Italian place. I've actually never eaten there, only had take out and the food was really good, and big portions, and yeah those garlic roll thingy's are really tasty!

 

[SecondCoussens]

Has anyone tried Tio's Garage yet? We are curious about it since we like Dixie Grill's food, but HATE the service there. We had such a bad experience with the wait staff that we swore the place off for good. The waiter over charged us for 6 drinks... $45 worth and claimed we were too drunk to know whether we had consumed them or not when we disputed the fact that we had not had 9 drinks a piece! Then we we asked him to produce evidence with bar tickets as he claimed he could, they mysteriously disappeared.

Anyway we want to try Tio's, but don't like the fact it's owned by the same people. We frequently had poor waiters at Dixie Grill (either rude, unattentive, forgetful, etc.), so we're a little reluctant to give them a try.

Also someone asked about good burgers... considering cheeseburgers are a vice of mine I'll weigh in on this.

I thought Kua'aina was way overrated, as did the other 2 people I was with. Maybe it was just a bad day for them, but I didn't have the desire to ever go back. This was the location on the North Shore, anyone know if it's better at Ward?

Big City Diner has good burgers, there are a few different sizes, and I like that I can get the kids meal burger (which is plenty big enough) and not overeat too much!

On the Big Island in Hilo I had a terrific burger at Ken's. It was the Yoko Burger with cheese. It had their 'special sauce' and an egg on it which I had cooked over medium. I added cheese and bacon, and it was one of the best, yet, messiest burgers I have ever had.

 

[Cacia]

Kua'aina was way overrated, as did the other 2 people I was with.

ahi sandwich with avocado?

well, they don't have beer, so that is a big -10 pts for me.

We love Blue Water Grill, I had the burger with a grilled pineapple yesterday. They hand pat the burger with ground sirloin or something lean, only ten bucks too. The Okinawa mashed are stellar, as are the fresh squeezed lime margaritas. JB says it is his all time favorite place.

My son and his friends paddle to Cha Cha Cha, pull the boats up on the dock and enjoys a nice meal of "free chips and water", he told us yesterday, like he had finally found his favorite digs.

God bless Angie the owner., who tells them "go right ahead and relax boys..." that is what I love about Hawaii Kai. Oh, and when we go, the waiter brings Marley our dog a bowl of water. Now that is SERVICE.

Assagio's in Hawaii Kai is excellent, on the water, does lunch too. Probably no free hot bread and water for riff raff though, lol.

 

[Tom Winters]

Kua'aina overrated??? After I got off work at Navmag Lualualei in Nanakuli, went home to Salt Lake, we'd head up to the Pipeline at Ehukai and surf through the dark. Then blast down to Haleiwa and eat there. It was always great.
That's sad to hear about the 'Aina. When they opened the Ward location, it was ok, but not as waycool as North Shore. I guess change is inevitable, and not always for the best.

 

[scottitheduck]

I agree on Kua'Aina being overrated..... Although for veggies, they have a smokin good Eggplant snadwich....

Town is quickly becoming a favorite. Good local meat and veggies and a great drink menu. I laughed when Catherine mentioned the metal chairs (they are kinda a pain).

Has anyone made it into Sabrina's yet..... It's on Waialae down across from the City Mill. DO it, Do it!

Happy Grindin...

G