Best deal in town for a locoMoco and coffee: $7.19. Big pancakes too. The key to good service is to get your waitresses name and specifically state: "every time you refill my mug you get a dollar"; which may or may not work, as we all have good days and bad. Lunch sandwiches are good; but it's hit or miss with the fries and onion rings, depending on if the fryer grease has been changed lately. Sometimes they're almost blackened and sometimes they're fresh, and it really comes down to the freshness of the grease. Roomy diner-style booths which the staff keep clean, but don't stare at the rat racetrack in the ceiling too long or you might see something you wish you didn't. I literally saw a mahogany bird(giant flying cockroach) get attacked and eaten by a rat once while waiting for my meal; no bullsh@t! Bathroom is in dire need of renovations. The urinal hasn't worked since I've been coming there and would be extremely helpful since the 'daily drinking at 7a.m. local drunks' from the bar side use it too. Most servers are great, but a couple are in need of some serious awakening to customer service skills, like basic pleasantries, eye contact, and attention to the person who is actually leaving you a tip and supporting your ungrateful @ss. Hint: we're customers, not burdens: pay attention to the basics and check in on us once in a while; and keep your personal profane gossip out of the workplace where we customers can here. No wonder your customer service skills lack if you're all worked up in dramaland over something nobody else wants to hear or gives a sh@t about, leave that at home. All in all, decent food at a decent price. And the waitresses who are on it, you know you are; and the rest could give a sh@t and I hope you read this and take heed (including management). ¢.02 read more

We went here with a party of four and none of us enjoyed our food very much. The garlic mashed potatoes were barely edible. Korean wings were not very good. I did like the salad and key lime pie. Service was ok. read more

This place is RAT CITY!! in the dining room above where you sit there is a ledge that goes around and you can literally see the Rats walking around and popping their heads up.. From time to time you can hear them squeaking loudly!! Can you imagine when it's closed?? Food was also pretty horrible but waitress was nice and friendly ...stomach ache for days! read more

Went here for breakfast after a horrible experience at Luquin's. Ordered the same things we tried to order at Luquin's, a loco moco and some eggs. Overall, everything was pretty good. The loco moco was typical, spam with eggs, rice and gravy. The eggs and steak fries were really good too. The ambience wasn't as good as Luquin's, but the service was much better. We were seated rather quickly and the food came out pretty quick. The waitress came by just enough, but could have come by some more. read more

Black Rock Cafe - Good loco moco - Cafes Near Me - Pahoa, Hawaii

We ordered clam chowder it was horrible. I thought appetizers was supposed to be before our meal, nope not here. Their nachos (our appetizer) tasted liked canned chili with cheese. We ordered Meat Loaf and Hamburger Steak both were equally gross. I will never eat here again. read more

Really good prices, my favourite is the Eggs Benedict for breakfast (turncloak'd). You guys rock, and deserve a better rating.

Well, this review is for the bar portion of the establishment. I was working in Pahoa for about 3 weeks, and this quickly became my regular hangout. The staff is incredibly friendly, the drinks are stiff, and there is regularly live music (which is good stuff). The locals in there are friendly as well...I seriously felt like I was at home whenever I visited. If you're a fan of dive bars with friendly/laid back people, check this place out for sure. read more

Tasty breakfast with Island additions if you want it, like spam and rice. Friendly wait staff. Good value, good grindz!

An ok joint overall. I had their burger and fries. The burger was nothing special, just a run of the mill patty surround by some veges and buns. The fries on the other hand were very interesting. They were super crispy, like someone had battered them first before frying them. I guess you can call them fried fries. Good for people who like crispy fries read more

I love this place..... Booze w breakfast and without breaking the bank...... hollandaise sauce on everything. Sweet staff

Seriously the best hamburgers in town. Breakfast is awesome, prices are reasonable. However, if you are one of those persnickety city people we tend to get a lot of passing thru, just save all our time and go to Kaleo's, pay the extra money, and hopefully you'll be happy. read more

Where do I start..... Staff friendly. Brought out our water right away. Wife's Caesar salad was fresh and the dressing was good. My breaded chicken burger was not so good. Frozen chicken patty and really poor quality. Chicken was chewy and full of fat. Beer battered pot stickers were tasty but not really beer battered more of a tossed in flour and chucked in the fryer type of sticker. Typical low end diner food. Wish owners would take pride in the food they turn out. Waitress did bring out a cookie for our daughter so that was real nice. Would I eat here again? Likely not. read more

A-OK! My husband, a friend and I stopped to eat an early lunch here after Pahoa road was closed down due to a fire and we couldn't get to Kaleo Bar n Grill. I had Korean BBQ chicken which was tender, with a mild, delicious sauce. There was enough chicken to fill me up and share with my mates! I love their options for plate lunch, and opted for 1 scoop of rice and greens instead of 2 rice w/ mac salad. K had a cheese burger, which was grilled to order, and had a side of greens too. B had a Reuben sandwich with greens. Ambience was a little "greasy-spoon" and the staff seemed overwhelmed (maybe because they were getting some of the overflow from the restaurants that were unavailable because of the fire). The waitress seemed nice at times, but confused at others, like when B asked for more soda in her glass. Over all, a good, honest meal at a good price. read more

These guys are my jam. Why? Because they have the best prices in town, awesome staff, and super cold beer. Pahoa doesn't have much so if you're a tourist looking for a four star experience, this isn't your place, but if you're a guy like me, looking for good and cheap eats, and looking to kick back a few and talk story with good people, go here. read more

We ate here on the way to view the active lava flow. Our waiter was great and shared stories and helpful advice. The place wasn't fancy, and the food was good but not great. I would recommend the stew (yum) but not the burgers. The attached bar seemed to be the local watering hole if you're looking for a drink. Plan an early dinner if you are going to try to see the sunset on the lava flow. read more

Great place for breakfast, while not earth-shaking, their food is always good, well prepared and service is friendly and attentive. We come for the biscuits and gravy! read more

Gotta love your standard greasy spoon. What you see is what you get. Nothing hiding from you here. Cold beer, good burger, and nice smiles. Classic reminder of if it ain't broke don't fix it. Cheers! read more

We come here regularly. Great home style local grinds. Consistently good food & friendly service.

We stumbled upon this place on our way back from the tidepools. They have a great selection of burgers, sandwiches, fish, sides, soft drinks, and beer. Even better, they are open on Sunday! Fast and friendly service with reasonable prices and free refills on soft drinks (a novelty here). I had a cheese burger with curly fries and it was tasty. We ordered the appetizer sampler for our group and devoured it! They've got something for everyone. read more

We stopped into this cafe on our way to the beach to grab a quick, local, sit down breakfast. It looked inviting enough (on the outside) and we were seated quickly. Inside, not so inviting. It has very basic, outdated decor, with the booth seat taped up with electrical tape and walls unpainted. The server was pleasant and our breakfast arrived quickly. We split a "breakfast sandwich" which was 2 pancakes, an egg, a meat of choice. Of course, we thought it would come in the form of a sandwich, of sorts, cut down the center. When the meal came we each got a plate with a giant pancake, 1/2 of a scrambled egg the size of 1/2 of a playing card, and a canadian bacon the size of a 50c piece. Not as described (...unless we were given the wrong order) but filling nonetheless. The server was nice enough to give us free ice for our mini cooler before we left. read more

I'm going to go ahead and give a 4-star based on the fact that we were craving burgers and we did get our burger fix here. Options are far and few between and wasnt going to give in to McDonalds on vacation. The 3-star feelings I had were based on waiter not very helpful, cocktails had little booze and hubbys fry portion was really skimpy. I had mushroom/swiss burger and asked for teriyaki sauce although looked small in size the flavor and juiciness was amazing and fulfilled. I liked that you could get different options with the burgers without paying an up charge so I had onion rings and they were great, hubby was jealous but I shared of course. He got crinkle fries and looked as though half fell off the plate before arrival. He got the double cheeseburger w/grilled onions and was a happy camper as well. They had good tarter sauce as well. The menu had a large variety of choices which was nice to know for future visits. Everything from pasta, burgers/sandwiches, Loco Moco's, pizzas, and specialty entrees. read more

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Great service but the food isn't worth it. The pizza tastes like frozen microwaveable pizza.

Meh ... Staff was perfunctory, but not very friendly. The food was edible and not expensive by Hawaii standards, though not exciting in any sense. I'd eat there again only if everything else in town was closed. read more

Well, the lady who took my order for my to go turkey club wasn't brimming with friendliness, but the sandwich made up for it! The fries that came with it were HOT! This doesn't seem like something to be excited about, but so often I tend to get what seems like yesterday's fries.   I would definitely recommend it for take out ! read more

We were driving around this area looking for a restaurant to eat at. We eventually found this one and decided to go in and check it out. The interior is ugly and looks more like a cabin than a restaurant. I ordered the fish and chips with a macaroni salad on the side. The macaroni salad was okay, but bland. The fries (chips) were so hard, they were hurt my teeth. Honestly, Mc' Donald's fries are much better. The fish was pretty bad. One of the pieces had 2 bones in it, and another was too tough and chewy to eat. I left hungry, and went next door to subway to have a decent dinner. read more

I've been here twice, had breakfast both times. I had pork chop & eggs w/homestyle potatoes. Pork chop was a little over-cooked, but everything else was great. Great value, friendly staff. I will be back read more

We really enjoy the treat of going out to eat to celebrate and so far this has been our go to place in Pahoa. The food is great and well priced and the staff has always been friendly and speedy. The burgers are fabulous! read more

Service was marginal, food was too. We had a large group, and had several orders of the seafood combination platters (Admiral's platter, Captain's platter). These were, well, meh. Several other items our group ordered were pretty good. I wouldn't go out of my way to come here again. read more

Pancakes were fluffy and huge! Don't sleep on the eggs Benedict with Portuguese sausage. The fresh coffee was a perfect way to start the day! read more

Very basic place. Staff was friendly, but food was aweful. Fettuccini alfredo was served with Hollandaise sauce instead, pasta was grossly undercooked! Shrimp was nicely cooked very overpriced for what we got read more

We headed to the Black Rock today for lunch, and it went badly. First, the waitress didn't want to stop sweeping to come wait on us even though we'd closed our menus and were obviously waiting. She never even took our drink order. We were right by a window, and it was too bright, so we asked for a different place. And we were told no because she was sweeping. She finally offered one table but refused to let us have the one literally right beside it, which was dimmer, because she was sweeping that part of the restaurant--not that exact place, mind you, but in that general area. We asked again if we couldn't have the table that we wanted in a nearly empty restaurant, and this is when she got snippy and told us we could just wait until she was done sweeping. We said that in that case, we'd just leave, and instead of apologizing, she said that was fine with her and we could just go. Told that we would complain to management, she said that she's been there 9 years and that she's not going anywhere. As we complained to the cook about her rudeness, she finally stopped sweeping long enough to round the corner and tell us that we were the ones who were rude for insisting on a different table. It boggles the mind that paying customers are considered rude by this woman for having preferences. We won't go back. read more

Black Rock Cafe just became one of my favorite places to dine in while at Pahoa! The waiter was very friendly and always checked if everything was okay. Their hamburger is homemade, not a frozen patty. I'm impressed with their service, compared to other restaurants out there. read more

The food was so excellent here that the entire table was quiet while eating other than, "Mmmm! That's good." Our hostess was really good at keeping drinks filled and did almost anything we needed her to do. The only con, which really wasn't that bad, but is the reason for for 4 stars instead of 5, is that the seats were a little tight and tattered and the menus were kinda falling apart. Like I said, not a big deal. Things easily fixed. The great food and service definitely out way that "con". read more

Wow! First time we ate there the food was so delicious that we had to go back. Everyone was nice and friendly :) But it went down thereafter...Second time we ate there we saw a huge "flying" cockroach that flew right on our table...my goodness that was not good. But hey...we live Hawaii! Third and Last time we ate there we saw not one but TWO rats that ran towards the kitchen! Who knows where they came from! Believe me there will not be a another time!!! We told the waitress about the rat and all she said was "oh sorry, is there anything else I could get you folks?" Ummm...yeah... The BOH!!!! I mean really!!!! Sorry but the truth gotta be told :( read more

Good food, good service, and local aloha, all at a reasonable price. Our place for lunch and dinner.

Oh man I wanted to like this place but no. It wasn't good! I got the steak that you see in all the pictures here on Yelp and it was awful. Salty, meat tasted old... Ate about 6 bites. The baked potato was fine--microwaved but edible. The two stars is for the fried ice cream dessert. read more

This is the worst food and the worst service on the island, the girls are rude and the fresh fried ono is vandicamp or Gordon's fish sticks, I wouldn't send my worst enemy here if my life depended on it. read more

Went for breakfast this morning hoping to get good homemade pancakes. Was told by the waitress that they had banana pancakes, which came out tasting like a banana puree had been added with nary a banana in sight. Bland with terrible artificial syrup. Disappointing with unfriendly service. No different than Denny's. Wish I'd gone next door to Sirius coffee for a coffee and bagel instead. read more

In the past, old owner, I wouldn't eat here.... New owner, now clean, good service, very nice food, and they are open to special requests. Now I eat here frequently. read more

I have breakfast here with my girlfriend at least once a month if not once a week. The food is delicious and the service is great. I always have the Black Rock omelet. One of the best omelets ever. Prices are okay. I would recommend. read more