Food and service was fantastic and the owner Joan was great! Order the margaritas! Look forward to making it back here. read more

Great spot - food, service and especially the space were great. Worth the drive to check out.

Great place, nice drive out. Service, for of and drinks were great. We did several appetizers and shared them!

Fantastic service! Incredible food! So glad our friends took us here. Our party ordered the Thai coconut stir fry, Teriyaki stir fry, and Kohala salad -- all served with a choice of fish, shrimp or chicken. We all had fish. I normally would have selected shrimp, but Ahi was the fish of the day, and it was delicious. All of us were delighted with our choices for lunch. Can't wait to visit again on our next trip to the Big Island! read more

Bamboo is a great place to dine out on a Saturday night because they have a live band and The North Shore nailed it tonight. Way to go and excellent job, the North Shore ! Let's try the special for tonight. It's fresh Ahi served with steam rice , pan seared shrimp and streamed string beans. Wow! Excellent! read more

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I have been here two times for lunch. A good variety of food. The Ono was very fresh and well-prepared. Beer and wine also available. The food is tasty and it comes out fast. But it's people that make this place. Family-owned and very friendly and responsive. We wanted to take home some leftover salad but we were staying in Kailua-Kona and it was a very hot day. So when we were ready to leave she brought out a box and there was a baggie of ice at the bottom. A smaller bag that contained our salad sat on top of the ice. We were able to enjoy the leftover salad later with our dinner. read more

Service is fantastic! Mai Tai's are delicious!! Really cute restaurant. Definitely coming back! read more

Bamboo Restaurant - Mai tai - Hawaiian Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

Great place to stop by. Good atmosphere and very pleasant staff. Food cooked to order and tasted great. Definitely recommend it if you're in the Hawi area. read more

We had some outstanding meals while visiting Hawaii, and our stop at the Bamboo Restaurant was no exception. It's a very casual, very tasty stop in what I think is the most northerly location on the Big Island. We tried everything from sliders to pulled pork and no one was disappointed. Prices were reasonable and there is a very nice gift shop attached. Beware: they are closed from 2-4pm. Also, there is no cell service or I'm sure there would be lots more fabulous entrée photos. read more

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Loved this place! So much character, food was great and Nancy was amazing. If you eat here ask for Nancy. Oh and by the way the Mai Tai is the best on the planet! read more

I REMOVED MY ORIGINAL HONEST REVIEW BECAUSE THE OWNER WAS RUDE AND DEMEANING...AND I'VE SINCE BLOCKED HER OUTRAGEOUS BEHAVIOR. Yeah, some drinks were weak and others were very strong (which I didn't complain about, it was an observation). I noticed that she also harassed all other reviewers who had less than 4 stars. This is Yelp and it's meant for honest reviews. If the owner thinks paying $300/month to Yelp will magically guarantee 5 stars for every review, then she is throwing her money away. It's owners like this lady that give an establishment a bad taste, not so much the food. She insulted me saying that I can't read a menu and that she can't figure me out. Way to be professional and have a cow anytime someone isn't tickled with their order. People come to your restaurant, PAYING you to stay in business, PAYING you to pay Yelp $300. You should be a little bit smarter yourself, unless you think we are all tourists that you'll never see again. You may never see me again, but I'll be sure this review stays. Be professional and take the critiques as they come....or get off Yelp. Here is my response to Joan's comment to me: Wow, you really need to get off Yelp. The way you handle every 3 star or fewer review is absolutely horrific. Yelp is for honest reviews, whether you pay $300/month or not. Thanks for treating me and everyone else like an idiot. You've been flagged for review by Yelp on multiple comments to other reviews. You should probably consider not going on Yelp if you can't handle what people have to say. By your unflattering comments, you aren't fixing anything and just making yourself look like a tyrant. Yeah, we ordered "fru fru" drinks but usually those drinks have the taste of alcohol (Bartending 101). If I wanted a smoothie, I would have ordered a smoothie. Anyway, I will ensure that I will keep a 1 star post alive, sharing your behavior with anyone else that takes a peek at Bamboo's Yelp. Enjoy being wound up so tight that you have fun showing the world and future travelers why NOT to go to Bamboo. Sincerely, Ashley Hayden read more

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Yumm. Staff are so nice and food so delicious. We really enjoyed our experience and the cocktails too.

Food was TERRIBLE!!! Seriously terrible We were 12 people in total. The owner of the restaurant came out to greet us ( a woman in her early 70's with short silver hair). She was extremely rude and called my cousin a "Dickhead" and made other very rude and inappropriate comments. She proceeded to tell my kids that "they don't serve kids here" amongst other rude comments. I assumed she was trying to be playful in a joking way so I did not make a big deal of it at the time. The next day we all spoke about how uncomfortable it made us all. I don't honestly know why this woman would behave this way in her own restaurant. We truly believe she does not care to serve tourists. I think someone needs to tell her she is ion the wrong business. read more

Great Aloha atmosphere! Good food and drinks. Loved my "The Lili Mojito". I would recommend no one passes this place up. read more

Bamboo Restaurant - Thai Chicken sautéed potstickers - Hawaiian Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

Excellent food and great service. We started with cocktails and apps. The mai tais and margaritas (with a twist) are must have cocktails. Try any dish with the fish of the day and you won't be disappointed. However, if you are looking for the must have dish on the menu you can't go wrong with the meatloaf. Also, save room for dessert. They have lots of great options. One last thing we went on a Friday night and the live music was great. read more

When choosing a place to eat I can't lie but the bright building caught my attention. I thought that it would be a great place to relax and have a meal. It used to be a hotel and might have housed ladies of the night back in the day. The building has a lot of character. The bathroom is cute too....it has a toilet seat that looks like it has sand and shells in it. There is a sign on it that says something like, "Please put the seat down so others can enjoy it." I didn't know what to order because I wanted a little of everything so I ordered The Big Bamboozler. It came with 2 potstickers, 2 Thai Coconut Prawns, and 2 slices of Kalua pork quesadillas. The shrimp was my favorite! They were pretty big! I also couldn't get enough of the Lilikoi iced tea. I'm glad they were generous with the refills. We ended the meal with the White Chocolate Passion Fruit Cheesecake. It was delicious! read more

Bamboo Restaurant - The big bamboozer - Hawaiian Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

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Saw the place driving through Hawi and decided to give it a try. Turned out to be our favorite place on the Big Island. The food was excellent. Coconut shrimp an Egg Roll and the catch of the day. Passion Fruit ice tea was excellent. Anyone traveling through this part of the Big Island should stop. You will not regret it! read more

As soon as you walk in the door you're greeted with a happy person. Servers are attentive and food was excellent.

We liked the place but it's just too expensive. I got the Vietnamese noodle salad ($16.25) that was good but nothing special, and certainly not worth that price. My husband got the Noodle stir fry (similarly priced, he liked it well enough) and our friend got the appetizer Kalua Pork Quesadillas. She said it was good but too salty. The service was VERY friendly. We would give it more stars but it is hard to do so when the prices do not fit the product. read more

Bamboo Restaurant - My apologies to Bamboo Restaurant. In a previous iteration of my review, I reported the Vietnamese Salad was $16.95. It was actually $16.25 - Hawaiian Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

I'm not really sure what the hype is, but is it worth the long drive to just eat here? NO. However, if you are visiting the area and want to stop by anyways, I recommend the kalua pork BBQ burger and the lilikoi mojito. I looked around and it seemed most people were dining on this. I think it's the owners that helped us and were super friendly, but not so much the others. It looked as though they were being forced to be nice and provide good customer service. It didn't seem very genuine to me. I'm really conflicted about this place...so I'm just rating it 3 stars. read more

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This place was not as great as we anticipated from all of the other reviews. We knew it was a historic building, but the old nature of the establishment did lead to some issues. The entire interior of the building had a strong mildewy, musty odor, which made my sinuses immediately swell shut. The odor was strong enough that I almost considered leaving, but there aren't many other dining options in the area. The historic building also doesn't have air conditioning. While I know many spots in Hawaii do not, this place was not benefiting from any sort of cross breeze. It was hot and thick inside. If I was to describe the ambiance, I'd describe it as much more like a dive bar than a restaurant. There was a live band in the back playing music, and they were pushing their lilikoi drinks. My husband got a drink, and was disappointed by the degree to which it was watered down. We ordered a salad, which contained some wilted greens. However, a waitress came around shortly after with complimentary shots of soup, which helped to even things out. Unfortunately, though, neither of us enjoyed our meals. I ordered a teriyaki tofu dish that came with a sauce that didn't really taste like teriyaki. My husband ordered ribs which were quite fatty. He complained later in the evening that his stomach felt a bit unsettled. If you're in Hawi (either hiking or doing Flumin' Kohala), this is probably your one place to eat. But if you're driving out here for an authentic and high quality meal, I'd caution you to not bother. read more

One word SYSCO. Food not fresh, over cooked and very expensive on top of that. As a Hawi resident I wish someone would take over this space and put in a restaurant for locals and tourists to gather with reasonable prices. If you want good food try Mini's cafe. read more

Hello Heaven! You come in a coconut cup with tequila and passion fruit?! So I went to Hawaii knowing full well I am a margarita fan and I would stick out like a sore thumb ordering them instead of some sweet volcano crazy drink. But we stopped here for lunch (thanks yelp!) and it was awesome. The topper was their famous passion fruit margaritas (we recommend blended, no salt). The original drink was created here and it was so delicious that we came back here again after our exhausting hike up Waipio Valley (yes we walked up around 1pm in the heat) and needed a refreshing bev. Now dont get me wrong the food was good too but i will forever remember them for their drinks. We ordered teh Big Bamboozer. The shrimp with the coconut sauce was out of this world. Give me a big bowl of rice and laddle that over it and I am completely set! We also shared the thai style papaya salad with fresh fish of the day.Hello deliciousness! Hawaiians sure know how to cook fish right! The next time we came my friend and i got the fresh fish sandwich. BOMB! So good! Our other friend got the kalua pork & cabbage. It was ok, think she liked ours way better. Now service snob that i am i do have to say they are great! Our waiter even remembered us from a couple of days earlier and knew exactly what we wanted to drink. Is that good or bad? Good in my book! Def check this place out! read more

Bamboo Restaurant - Delicious Passion Fruit Margaritas! - Hawaiian Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

The grilled mahi was cooked and flavored to perfection! The calamari appetizer was very good. The hostess and wait staff were friendly while providing excellent service. It will be impossible to find another meal on the island that will stand up to what we just experienced here today. read more

Best food ever! Violet is wonderful! Go meet her and dine on gourmet food at a decent price!!!

The best. We wandered in here on a whim after doing some shopping and sight seeing up in Hawi. I wasn't expecting anything special but I walked in and was pleasantly greeted by some genuinely friendly staff. The decor is rustic but super cute and the inside is way more spacious and airy than you'd guess from the facade. We sat at a big round table, big enough to fit the 7 of us with plenty of elbow room, there was an amazing breeze through the louver windows and it just felt great. It was a comfortable, friendly, happy place to be. Might as well have been at someones grandma's kitchen table. The food was amazing. It was hawaiian style food, plate lunch, teriyaki, with some traditional american things thrown in too. The portions were perfect and everything was just really well prepared and flavored. They had creme brulee'. I could have died happy at that moment. Parking was street parking. There is also essentially in the restaurant a little gift shop with really expensive gifts, cute stuff, but really expensive. read more

Bamboo Restaurant - Hawaiian Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

If I could give bamboo more than 5 stars I would. This is the 4th time my family has been to bamboo (we've been for lunch and for dinner) and I cannot say enough good things about it! To start, the service is amazing. Regardless of how crowded it is when we come in, we always have fantastic waiters. Water is always filled and we've never gotten an order placed incorrectly (which is remarkable considering we're a family of 7). Then, the food. Rarely do we have a meal where every single person finishes their plate, including my 9 year old and 5 year old brother (the tough customers). The kids plates are appropriately sized and are always devoured quickly. I always order the grilled fish when we go because you can literally taste how fresh it is. Everything on our plates has tons of color and texture, so you know it's both delicious and good for you. My dad is a big fan of the baby back ribs, and my mom can never get enough of the Thai style shrimp. We are also big fans of the slushies they have, as many of us are lactose intolerant and they have dairy free options! I highly recommend Bamboo to anyone, including and especially families. read more

Bamboo Restaurant - Grilled fish with extra veggies! The mango salsa is soooo good I honestly eat it by itself sometimes - Hawaiian Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

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Very good food and great service at a time when service is especially difficult. Worth the drive. Very friendly staff.

Food was OK. Unexpected 4% credit card fee on top of a mandatory 20% tip for unremarkable service left us questioning our decision to come here. read more

Yummy! Can't believe I waited so long to try it. Finally my favorite green bean dish available on the Cape

There is an upstairs art gallery that is very interesting and makes the place rather unique. The food, however, was rather mediocre, not bad, just not interesting. I would definitely not drive all the way to Hawi just to eat at Bamboo Restaurant. read more

Cute yummy place -- 'd definitely go back! I would support this joint regularly if I'm on this island :) There's always rice and veggies on a platter, which makes me feel at home. I tasted the Kalua pork w/ cabbage and my own was a fresh fish of some sort, which was flavored (not too heavily and hence) perfectly. Mmmm... this was just what I needed. and the kona coffee w/ macnut cheesecake was light for a cheesecake. The portions are not mainland US size, but I was fine with that. It's real casual, and they don't hide the food behind some fancy shfancy decor which I like. (wow, feed me some descriptive vocab while we're at it.) The town of Hawi is very cute; I was worried about finding it but you drive here and you'll see Bamboo Restaurant like right there. hehe. The drive is nice 'cause you see a totally diff landscape. Just be ware of the hideously uneven car tan! read more

Restaurant is in a 100 year old building were plumbing is a factor. There a sign outside and inside for guests only, don't flush.. There's a store inside with a $45 kids side Hawaiian shirt. There's special crafted bamboo products all throughout. Food: thanks to other yelpers the fish of the day was available, Ono. I was waiting for the fish to melt in my mouth, but didn't. I think it was overlooked. The pulled pork platter was delicious. It was recommended by others. Tasted pretty good. A side of spicy vinegar would have tasted it 10000% better. Great place for a wedding. read more

Bamboo Restaurant - Catch or the day - Hawaiian Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

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We came at 12:15 pm. It was about a 5 min wait. After we were seated it seemed to slow down a bit. The waiters was great! Friendly and had a great smile. I ordered the chicken pot stickers. The passion fruit ice tea was delicious. The have a small gift shop and a nice art gallery upstairs to browse while you wait for a table. Overall, fun time with good food! read more

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Update Review 3/23/18 The staff were great but the owner doesn't seem to know how to accept criticism and continues to badger less than positive yelp reviews with passive aggression or direct aggression. Sad. ********** Went here walking around Hawi after spending some time in Kohala. We haven't had anything to eat for lunch yet and this restaurant had "was voted best restaurant in Hawaii" on he entrance so we figured out if was a safe bet. It's getting 2 stars because the servers were friendly but in terms of good quality and how long it took us to get our meals? There was so many empty tables as well. Unfortunately, Bamboo was a huge letdown. I had a burger that felt like it was well done and not medium well. It came with 5 small pieces of waffle fries and a salad and we all agreed wasn't good. We felt like it was a huge tourist trap and cautiously referred to restaurant that we haven't tried yet as possible "bamboos". read more

A Hawi favorite we return to every time we visit the island. The fish is fresh & flavorful.

A must see-Go for the ambiance and staff! The restaurant is located in Hawi, an adorable town with a few shops, and is full of history. The restaurant also has a small shop and feels 'kitschy-aloha'! FYI- My 'ghost radar' app went crazy here. Great Covid protocol and delightful staff and owner. We came for lunch and ordered cocktails, potstickers, fish of the day sandwiches (ahi), calamari and dessert to share. We did not love our food. The potstickers tasted like pure peanut butter and our sandwich was not memorable...same of the calamari. I'm not a dessert-person, but the table seemed to like...it may have been a coconut cheesecake?!? Despite the food review, this place IS A GEM and the cocktails were delicious! The staff is full of charm and the owner is EXTRA. She shoved my husband because he was 'in the way' (he was) and when one of our fellow diners mispronounced King Kamehaha , and said something like 'I've heard it both ways' when corrected, the owner replied deadpanning, 'well you sound like an idiot.' (I wholeheartedly agreed!) It sounds awful, but I assure you, it was all in great light-hearted fun! read more

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Reservations for Bamboo was made by a friend. I had no idea what to expect but, was very suprised. Had cesar salad with shrimp. Shrimp simply grilled and delicious. Kalua pork and cabbage-delicious. They have their own Lilikoi mix use for mohito and magaritas. Well, I decided to use Grey Goose (nene) and a dash of the Liliko'i mix. Mmmm Delicious. Staff was very friendly, attentive and efficient. We all had a great time. Everyone enjoyed their meals. I enjoyed everyones meals. haha. When in Kohala. Go Bamboo. read more

The first time I went to Hawaii, I managed to stumble upon this place. Many locals (e.g. the hotel staff at the place I was staying) recommended this place to me. The Kalua Pork is a signature dish of Hawaii, and this place delivers. The HAWAIIAN BARBECUED PORK SANDWICH is the best! It's as messy as a sloppy joe, but 100x more delicious. You would think that the seafood here is great since Hawaii is surrounded by ocean, but I think it was just alright as far as fresh fish goes. I am a big fan of coconut shrimp, and it was pretty good. The calamari strips are really unique here. They are in the shape of mozzarella sticks, and not that crunchy. read more

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Good MaiTai. Service was very good. Vegetable roll was excellent. Fried rice was kinda flat not much flavor. Don't know what else to say but yelp wants more words. Atmosphere was nice. LA te da LA te da. read more

Bamboo Restaurant - Hawaiian Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii