Found Merriman's closed, so followed up on a tip about this place for lunch. Just loved it! Exquisite grouper on a bun with creative tropical fruit salsa. Husband enjoyed short ribs...very large serving and very well prepared with a slightly spicy sauce. He was all smiles. We shared a chocolate mousse-type dessert tart which was superb. Best I have tasted in years. So tough to share it! We'll be back even though it is quite out of the way. read more

great place, well worth the drive up to North Kohala. the satte potstickers were excellent as was the fried noodles. very good food for the money. if you like Thai/ Asian fusion cooking, you should like this place. an interesting store and art gallery are in the same building as the restaurant. read more

The food was Nirvana for my taste buds!!! I dream of food like this! So fresh and so tasty. The atmosphere was casual and laid back, very islandesque. Our waitresses were sweet and friendly. So cool eating in a piece of local history (old grocery store). This will be our first stop next time we're on the island! read more

My husband and I came here on our honeymoon and found this place to be absolutely fantastic! We ordered the homemade potstickers, pork sandwich, pork quesadilla, and lilikoi cheesecake. I kept going back and forth between my quesadilla and my husband's sandwich because I couldn't decide which I liked more! We stuffed ourselves on pork, and we didn't think we would have room for dessert, but then the waitress showed us the menu. The cheesecake was worth every bite! I would definitely recommend and would go back again! read more

Delightful lunch. Fish sandwich with waffle fries. Delicious. Good service and nice place to dine. Food was very tasty with a decent portion. read more

We'd read some of the negative reviews so didn't have high expectations for Bamboo. All I can say is wow! The food was delicious and the service was spot on. The gentleman who waited on us, a long term employee, took great care of us. The coconut crusted fish was delicious. Cheesecake and Kona coffee were the perfect dessert. The coffee served via personal French press was a great touch! Good food, excellent service, and the funkiness of Hawi made for a fun evening. Mahalo! read more

Get the potstickers! They are fabulous! The sauce was wonderfully sweet and apicy! We all enjoyed the laid back atmosphere, great service and really great food. Well worth coming to the north side of the island. read more

Stopped by Bamboo Restaurant today on our way to Kohala Ditch Adventures. The staff was very friendly and informative. We had 3 orders of the chicken sate potstickers, which were downright amazing!!! We loved it so much we thought about going back for dinner. The passion fruit iced tea is also incredibly delicious. Highly recommend the Bamboo Restaurant...I will definitely be back. read more

My wife and I have been coming to this place for the past 6 or more years and always love our dining there, either for lunch or for dinner. The food is simple and fresh with reasonable (actually generous) portions and modestly priced. Happy hour, from 4-6 pm is also a great bargain with discounted drinks and pupu's. In addition to the excellent food, the restaurant itself has a laid back although festive ambience with brightly colored lights and umbrellas strung up beneath the ceiling. And the best part of the whole experience is the wait staff. Everyone is friendly and knowledgeable....relaxed but at the same time attentive and responsive. Bamboo is a bit of a drive from where we typically stay but the food and service always make the drive worthwhile...usually several times during each of our annual 1 week visits to the island. read more

We could hardly wait to eat at Bamboo this visit, even hung around till they opened at 6 for our dinner reservation. Bamboo is in an historic bldg. decorated very nicely, old Hi, lovely music, ambiance was very nice. As new customers I was hoping for recomendations from our male waiter. He was rushed, left before we could finish our sentence, and almost rude. He was so unhelpful, we saw others getting pampered, as I guess they had been there before. I asked about the ribs & kalua pork, he said "our fish is our specialty", so I ordered the Mahi Mahi in the Hawaii Thai dish, the fish was fresh the vegetables were boiled tasteless , little flavor, very over priced, with a big helping of mashed potatoes, my friends had the seafood risotto dish was ok, but for my fish dish, 1 beer ,coffee, which was not good, my bill was $56, w/o tip. I certainly don't mind paying for a good meal but this was a real disappointment as compared to some of the other wonderful places we ate while visiting the Big Island. read more

Found this place by accident and am I ever glad I did! Kohola Chicken and Kalua is so good! I'll be back to this place time and again!

What a truly great place. First impression was superb - best food on the Big Island - and we ate at some really pricy places that couldn't compare to the overall experience at Bamboo. The food was imaginative - nothing run of the mill or attempts at "island cuisine". The food is simply delicious. Atmosphere is simply comfortable. Service is wonderful (Glyn was awesome!) and the owner stopped by and chatted a bit. Witty lady, really fun discussion with her. Lunch was so good we drove many miles out of our way a few days later to return, and our second impression was just as good as the first, if not maybe even a bit better. The Lilikoi based drinks are remarkable. Bottom line: GO THERE! read more

I love this restaurant! Has a great welcoming feeling, like coming home. The owner, Joan has a hands on approach in greeting, serving and entertaining everyone. Her staff is outstanding, from the front desk to the waiters and servers. Rick, Glyn, Kepau and the rest of the staff can't be more helpful. If you want a "local Hawaiian" experience, this is the place to go. For a "mainland" experience stay at the resorts. Good valve, great food and staff. I'll be back. read more

The welcome was so warm and friendly. The service was incredible...my iced tea glass never even got low the entire meal. The only difficulty with the food was that every entree looked delicious and it was difficult to make a choice. We each picked different entrees, the ribs were tender and tasty, the fish with artichoke in sauce was excellent, and the CordonBleu chicken was incredible. The portions were very generous..even the shrimp meal was nearly too much to eat. We were too full for dessert, but I got some lilikoi cheesecake to take home. We plan to return once more before heading home to the Mainland read more

Really great place for a local meal if you find yourself in Kohala. The service was excellent with really friendly staff. Our fish was very fresh and well prepared. And, they have a very nice little gift shop and gallery. Overall, it was my favorite meal while on our trip to the Big Island. read more

We ate there twice in one week. Love the coconut crusted fresh fish!! So yummy!!

This is one of our favorite places to eat. We've been here quite a few times and have never been disappointed. The Bamboo salad (get the papaya seed dressing!!) and the Kalua pork sandwich are our favorites. The waffle fries that came with the sandwich are to die for. We ordered another bowl of them! And the lilikoi iced tea is so delicious I could drink gallons of it! read more

We read the reviews and decided this would be a good place to try. Our first attempt was in the middle of the afternoon-be aware of the hours. Lunch is 1130-230 and dinner is 6-8ish. We decided to come back another day because the shops could not hold our interest for hours. I am so glad we drove back for lunch another day. Charming dining room and excellent service. The lilli mojito and Mai tai are excellent!! We had the sampler and it was great too. My favorite by far was the rice stir fry with Thai coconut sauce. Just a great taste. Reasonable prices and good sized portions. You will not be disappointed. read more

Outstanding food. Have been a half dozen times or so and never had a dish that wasn't delicious! Lilikoi martini is a must!

We had lunch here yesterday and both the food and the service were excellent. My wife had the appetizer bamboozler, which she enjoyed. I had the fresh fish sandwich. The Ono was grilled perfectly, the ciabatta roll was fresh, and the Asian slaw was delicious. We will come back. read more

What a surprise, a wonderful restaurant out of nowhere, with some delicious food. We were driving up north and by the time we reached Hawi, we were starving. So we decided to have a quick meal, but we were really surprised by the delicious food. read more

BEST restaraunt on the Big Island. Worth the drive, no matter where you are staying. Amazing owner- she ended up being our server and was just helpful and awesome, food was incredible, drinks, beyond reproach. Fresh catch was Ahi, and I had the ribs and they were simply delicious. We did the appetizer sampler and it was amazing. Save up your appetite and energy for this. It is 100% worth it. read more

First visit to the Big Island, 5th of 6th trip overall to the Hawaiian Islands. We had heard from several acquaintances that Bamboo was a "must stop". As we had just driven through Hawi a few days before, and the drive from Kohala Ranch was an easy one, we figured why not. Best decision we've made on this vacation. Hawi is a quaint town with numerous shops. Get there before 6:00pm as they (the shops) close early. So we arrived at Bamboo 30 minutes before our reservation and were delighted to find a gift shop. I know, this is a food review, so I won't opine about the shopping, but make sure you check out the local crafts. Everyone - including the lady running the shop - was so friendly. I'm not sure if this is a family restaurant, but it has that kind of vibe. Once we were seated, our waitress took our drink order and was back with beverages in a few minutes. As far as I could tell, there were only a couple of local brews on tap, but no worries...the Big Wave IPA is one of my favorites. My wife had a Lilikoi margarita....she loved it! We ordered the Thai coconut prawns as an appetizer and shared a caeser salad. The prawns (4 of them) were covered in a coconut milk sauce...I'm sometimes hit and miss on shrimp, but these were very good. The salad was pretty typical, but I've rarely been blown away by a caeser salad. I ordered a 1/2 rack of babyback ribs and wife ordered the ono (fish of the day), prepared Artichoke lemon cream-style. I've lived in Kansas City for almost 15 years and eaten some good (and bad) BBQ. My plate came with 5 small ribs covered in sweet sauce. The meat was very flavorful and tender. The sweet, smokey sauce was quite a bit different than the tangy sauce you normally get in KC, but in my mind, probably typical of a Hawaiian BBQ dish. I really enjoyed it and cleaned the bones within just a few minutes. The dish comes with a steamed veggie medley...nothing spectacular, but considering that I had just inhaled multiple pork ribs, some healthy veggies were probably in order. Also comes with a portion of whipped potatoes....again, very delicious. My wife loves ono and this was the best she's had in recent memory. The fish is grilled and served in a lemon cream sauce and comes with artichokes and asparagus. She's not a big fan of polenta, but as polenta goes, it was very tasty. The fish was very tender and flavorful and the creme sauce was just right. Finally, we ordered the mocha cheesecake and coffee. Wow, delish! Overall, a near-perfect dinner experience. I've read some of the negative reviews, and while I respect an individual's opinion, I just can't imagine having a bad experience at Bamboo. We'll definitely be back on our next trip and can't wait to tell our friends and family about the wonderful folks (and food) at Bamboo. Highly recommended. read more

Had an excellent lunch with my two young kids. Food was delicious, and came pretty quickly. However, had a very negative experience with the manager. We had been seated for probably 2 minutes, and my baby was holding the napkin holder and had hit it a few times against the table. It is a very loud restaurant, and I did not think she was being loud. The manager came over and handed us a towel, and asked us to use this so the noise would not bother the other customers. She was extremely rude, and made us feel very uncomfortable. The rest of our lunch was eaten very quickly, and we felt anxious about "disturbing the customers!". My kids are extremely well behaved and and very used to eating out in restaurants. We have been coming to Bamboo for 10 years, but this was a very off putting experience for us, and will likely not return. read more

Oh what an experience, I'm sure that can't have bad service all the time however, we never got the chance to order. Other's were being waited on in a timely manner even the table right next to us, who arrived several minutes after we arrived. After watching the staff walk around waiting on others and trying hard to avoid us, I decided that was it. As we stood up to leave a waitress said " Oh you could not find anything on the menu" my reply was yes but no one wanted to take our order. Her reply was O.K. and walked away. I'd like to think my race had nothing to do with it. Very disappointed, I'm not a tourist on island over 15 year. read more

Brought my mom here from out of town to have a lilikoi margarita. We finally received our drinks but we were waiting to order food since we were waiting on my dad. The owner rudely told my mom she had to generously tip our waitress since we were taking up a table. We then were approached again to give up our table. The experience was quite embarrassing!! read more

We drove up to Hawi from Kailua Kona just to eat lunch at Bamboo! We weren't disappointed. Three of us got the Hawaiian BBQ Pork Sandwich melted in your mouth. It was so big we had to use a fork and knife! The other of our party got the Hawaiian Stir Fry. The service was friendly and easy to talk to. We might have waited just a bit but...it's Hawaii...no need to rush! Coming from Atlanta, we found the prices to be about what we're used to. We enjoyed shopping in the gallery afterward and got some fun things to take home. Take time to look around the nearby shops and be sure to visit the Post Office! read more

As a resident of Kohala, my family and I have been to Bamboo frequently. The service staff has always been excellent and the food fairly good. Tonight for Christmas eve, we wanted to go have dessert and coffee and enjoy a little music to celebrate the holiday. We called and made a reservation in advance for that since we had 7 people in the party including some out of town guests. When we arrived, the owner became upset that we weren't ordering dinner and told us she was going to move us into the bar. We had 2 children in our party! Then she changed her mind and said we could stay for only 45 minutes but would have to leave after that. She rushed our service and then brought our check without bothering to ask if we would like another coffee or anything! Our evening was ruined by her lack of courtesy and complete disrespect. We will not be going back as it's very clear that unless you are going to spend a lot of money there, then you won't be very welcome. read more

In response to Jen B.' post and the reponse from the Owner, Joan..... First off, the only one lying is you. The 2 children were mine and I should know as I gave birth to them. You might have realized they were there had you not been to busy rushing to get us out of your restaurant. We did not come and sit for free. WE did order coffee and dessert and might have actually ordered more had we not be rushed out. To everyone reading this review please note that the Closed sign was already up upon on arrival so there was no one else to take the table we were occupying. I guess our hundred dollar evening was not enough for you. YOU prefer the people who will spend hundreds. It's just a shame since the Musicians you hired that night were close personal friends of ours and couldn't understand why we were being rushed out. I urge you to take a look at yourself and your nasty remarks that you say on here to anyone who might have anything negative to say. It's always their fault and never yours. Perhaps it's time to look in the mirror and see you are the one to blame for what really happens. Lay off the wine and you might actually be aware of your surroundings. read more

Our overall Sunday lunch experience was somewhat dissapointing given some of the high ratings on Yelp and relatively high prices. 13 year old had a plain burger "straight up" with waffle fries. Said it was "good" (rated 4 out of 5). 15 year old had the fresh fish sandwich with a wasabi mayo. Portion was pretty good but he said it was bland and "OK" (rated 3 out of 5). At $15.95 or so it may have been "market price" but seemed overpriced. I had the chicken sate pot stickers with white rice and marinated veggies. The dish is described as a specialty, but the term "pot stickers" caused me to be confused when the plate was put down. I expected to see something that looked like a Chinese dumpling, but got a thin sheet of wonton "skin" wrapped around a oval of filling. The filling definitely had the sate taste, but had the consistency of sausage rather than pieces of chicken. Then sweet spicy sauce was a nice complement, as were the tangy veggies. The rice had some hard pieces in it that made it unpleasant to eat. I guess I had higher expectations. I did read the owner's explanation for this dish as a comment on another review, but as someone very familiar with Thai food and appreciative of "fusion" efforts, I still thought the description in the menu needs to be tweaked to prevent other diners from being confused. I gave my dish a 3 out of 5. The decor is a "retro" Asian meets Polynesian and was very casual and comfortable. Service was efficient and functional. read more

If you think that great food, fine service, and reasonable prices is a thing of the past, you're in for a pleasant surprise at the Bamboo Restaurant. This establishment honours the past with a fifties roadhouse/general store atmosphere and is a great destination in the present. While we initially went there due to reports of excellent Mai Tais (absolutely true), the menu was a pleasant surprise. They emphasize stunningly just caught fresh fish in a variety of presentations. My wife and I both agreed that their coconut crusted ahi (tuna) was among the finest dishes we have ever had, anywhere. The restaurant specializes in lilikoi (passion fruit) in many different dishes and drinks. The service was efficient, amusing and friendly (three courses in less than one hour). The staff are all interested in providing an exceptional dining experience. There is often live entertainment on the weekends. I've been going to this island for over twenty years, and I'm still kicking myself for not going to and enjoying the Bamboo sooner. read more

My husband and I drove from Kailua where we were staying, to Hawi just to go to the Bamboo Restaurant for dinner. We have been there several times in the past years. Our dinners were always great and special. Well, here we are again, this time to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We made our reservations as soon as we got to the island. Last night was such a terrific night. We were seated close to where John Keawe was to perform (he's a long time favorite of ours too). The service was terrific, our drinks (a mai tai and a mojito) were so good. We shared a delicious caesar and macadamia nut salad. We both had fresh Ono and it couldn't have been cooked any better. Mine was served over Polenta and my husband's was Hawaiian Thai style. Oh, so good! We shared a Coconut Creme Brulee for dessert that was smooth but not too sweet - it was just right! The cost is a little pricey but worth every penny. You really should go to visit this quaint jewel in Hawi. We loved everything about it. Hugs to all of the staff for making us feel so welcome. We will be back... read more