We came to Honokaa on a whim for some site seeing…read more Decided on a little treat for our drive back home. So we got a dozen original malasadas. They were made fresh, some of the best malasadas I've ever eaten. Their dough was light and fluffy. It wasn't greasy at all. And when we ate it a few hours later, it warmed up well! We will be coming back for these! (For those that are from Oahu, these are much different than Leonards. I'd say from my humble opinion, better)

The very first malassada I ever had was many years ago at Tex Drive In. I just remembered how…read moredelicious these were, and if I ever came back to the Big Island, I'd have to come back to Tex. So it's been about 20 years, and the place is no longer the "hot spot" (maybe because we came on a weekday). There were a few locals having breakfast outside, but we were able to walk right up and order several different malassadas. We tried strawberry and guava filling, and they were quite good. It does make the malassada a bit overly sweet, though. I still prefer their plain malassadas. They are like sugar donuts without the hole. Now that I've had other malassadas to compare to, I find Tex's to be on a breadier side. I've had others in Oahu that were lighter and fluffier, which I now prefer. But no where have I found any malassadas as big as Tex's. So maybe Tex's has lost it's charm a bit, but they still serve up some pretty yummy malassadas.

The people that own this joint are amazing. Beautiful hearts and delicious food made from scratch…read more In a small town on the north shore of The big island. A change of pace and a true feeling of Aloha! Mahalo for everything. You will be treated like family

Delicious coffee and amazing business owners. It was a pleasure enjoying coffee and a great…read moreconversation here

Came in because of the reviews and for a quick dessert. Firstly, the woman was a little rude and…read morealmost acted as if we were interrupting her even though there were no customers at the time. We ordered three hot fudge sundaes when she told us she couldn't give us hot fudge because she didn't have enough and would just give us regular chocolate syrup. We obliged and got the sundaes with the chocolate syrup. Nothing special about the sundaes. Cute little shop.

On our way to the Waipio Valley Lookout, we decided to stop in Honokaa for a quick snack. We tried…read morethe key lime fudge, and it was pretty good. I don't think I've had key lime fudge before, so I didn't really know what to expect. I really liked the texture of the fudge.

I stopped by here earlier today with my father for a morning treat. We found Paradise Bakery Hawaii…read moreon Yelp while I was looking for a bakery near Kailua-Kona. This spot is located in a food court area and was actually the only place open when we arrived. Since it is a stall, there is not too much to say other than there were two people working and a large display case filled with donuts, with malasadas in the back. After looking things over I asked if they had a lilikoi circle donut. They did not, but they recommended a strawberry glazed donut with lilikoi filling and I went with that. It came out nicely decorated with a pink glaze and a small dab of cream on top with a butterfly. When I bit into it I was happy with the flavor. The donut itself was light and fluffy and the strawberry glaze was solid. The real standout though was the lilikoi filling, which had that great balance of sharpness and sweetness and paired really well with the donut. My dad ordered a coconut malasada and said it was really good as well. The bottom line for me is that I would head back here again in the future. They had a big selection of donuts, I enjoyed mine, and I would like to try their malasadas next time.

Wow! We went on a Saturday morning ie 8 am and some of the flavored donuts were already sold out…read more The service was awesome. It is behind the 76 gas station food court area. There is parking and there are plenty of tables to sit & enjoy. There are signs indicating where the food court area is located. It is nice and ample to eat your Malasada or donut. Prices are from $5 to $6 each. We had the Ube 10/10 and Creme Brulee 10/10. I will definitely return.

Excellent experience. The food is freshly made while you…read moreenjoy great conversations by the husband and wife that give Aloha. We have been there more than once and send guests to meet them.

My family came here and ate a wonderful meal family style. The owners are so sweet and easy to talk…read moreto, you feel like your mom is cooking for you in her own kitchen. All the food felt very clean. I would highly recommend this place to anyone.

5 Stars on Yelp and it makes sense! The Japanese bakery is…read moredelicious and they do have a few items that are gluten free like the macaroons. Highly recommend their patries! Lady Bug dessert was not overly sweet at all and in the center there is a surprise! Blueberry :) !

Wow, the pastries are amazing and so beautiful and painstakingly put together. We had a curry bun,…read moreCaramel custard, the peanut butter chocolate bar, and macadamia carrot cake. All were amazing. As an example of how carefully these are crafted, the peanut butter bar had a crunchy crust lightly topped with a thin, creamy peanut butter layer, topped by a lighter, almost mousse like peanut butter layer and then a chocolate ganache. We got there at 9:30 am on a Friday and they were fully stocked. We tried again on Saturday at 1:00 and they were already closed because they sold out, so go early.

Big Island Bakehouse is a can't miss when visiting Big Island! We made it over to this place on our…read moresecond to last day and we were greeted with so much cheer and the friendly staff gave recommendations and helped guide our choices. We tried the Bomboloni and Nutella Coconut croissant during our initial visit. The Bomboloni reminds me of a malasada but I enjoyed the creamy filling of this so much more. We ended up going back on our last day and tried some of the savory options - the goat cheese pesto croissant and then sausage roll were standouts for us. Enjoyed this place so much we hardly took pictures, but everyone should add this as a stop especially if visiting Volcano National Park!

Open only 3 days a week, this has become one of my favorite stops on the way to Volcano (from…read moreHilo). In fact, except Madam Pele does NOT necessarily keep to the same schedule as the bakery, would try to time my Volcano drives to coincide with Friday, Saturday, or Sunday! Hahah. Today got a sampling of Mediterranean scones (savory with olives and delicious seasonings), croissants, danish, and my favorite... the ube cruffin. Holy Moly Batman... that one item was worth the drive alone! Since there really wasn't any real estate in our tummies, we split everything 3 ways... over the course of the next few hours. Two weeks later, still thinking about that ube cruffin! Would definitely do a repeat on that as well as the Medeterranean scones while trying other items. And as the nice couple infront of us in line mentioned, will have to return for the sister deli across the parking lot. Heard it was featured in Guy Hagi's food vlog. And if its good enough for Guy Hagi its where I want to be my next mealtime!

I'll come back soon! Friendly, Quick, Cute, Clean, Plenty of Food…read more Very pleasant! The service was fast and friendly. Several nice ladies on duty. I like the bakery items on display as you first come in, very easy to spot enticing goodies. The coffee was GREAT! I loved the local art, especially the big paintings of jellyfish. I wish I had taken a picture to share here! I had a Nutty Chicken Salad, and I had more food than I could finish. I bought a slice of pumpkin bread to bring home to my hubby. I live in Kailua-Kona, and I will be very happy to take the nice drive up and have lunch here again.

First of all, although Yelp has separate listings, this is the same business as Hamakua Fudge Shop…read more I stopped in based on the generally enthusiastic reviews about the fudge, both here and on other sites. Though it hadn't been my original plan, I ended up getting lunch here, since most other nearby restaurants were closed. This involved a bit of a wait, as when I first arrived the high school kid at the counter said he couldn't make sandwiches, but the owner would likely be in soon -- though he also said she was inconsistent and he couldn't say for sure when. Happily, she was there when I stopped back half an hour later, having confirmed that the only other available lunch options were a food truck whose fare didn't much fit my mood or takeout from the local market. I ordered a turkey sandwich on whole wheat and iced coffee. The coffee was good. The sandwich was barely okay. It was billed as coming with cranberry mayonnaise, and while the mayo had a bit of sweetness, cranberry flavor was not readily apparent. The turkey was weirdly dry and crumbly and the bread was beginning to get stale. All it all it was edible, but that's about it. It came with a small banana, which was a nicer and healthier touch than the chips or pickles you so often get with sandwiches. As I sat there eating, I noticed a sign on the bulletin board, apparently left over from the days when Hawaii had a COVID-19 mask mandate for indoor establishments. The sign used fake language from HIPAA (misspelled as HIPPA -- a dead giveaway) to say, essentially, that they'd just pretend anyone not wearing a mask had a medical reason to not wear one and ignore the public health rule. Why they felt compelled to announce they don't give a bleep about public health a year after any such mandates ended I can't say, but I'm suffering debilitating "Long COVID" symptoms because of the recklessness of idiots like this. So I didn't buy any fudge, tempting as it looked, and instead satisfied my sweet tooth at another business.

The absolute best bakery on the Kona side of the island. Daily, fresh, yummy goodies that taste…read moreincredible. If you have specific items you love, make sure to preorder for pickup as most everything sells out quickly. Lele's has the island Aloha spirit with the real home town bakery feel, and the staff is super friendly and welcoming. Go in and try something yummy, you'll definitely be back for more...

I almost want to gatekeep this place but it was so busy I'm sure people know about it already!…read more Dropped by on a late Saturday morning, small line inside but by the time we moved up the line was out the door. Everything we tried was delicious! Staff were also so friendly and welcoming. There are a handful of tables and seats inside if you'd like to enjoy food there. Definitely recommend the cinnamon rolls, you won't regret it.

Marie's allergy free baked goods are amazing. We've been buying from her for years, and have never…read morebeen disappointed. She's done our daughter's birthday cake for the last two years. So good. She takes orders on line and is willing to arrange delivery or pick Up with her customers.

I can't recommend Sweet Marie's enough for weddings. I have celiac disease and so my husband and I…read moredecided we wanted to go with a completely gluten-free bakery. We were actually planning to use another bakery, but they fell through, and Marie took our order with less than 2 weeks to go until our wedding! We decided on guava cake with coconut filling and vanilla buttercream. She also made us some vegan cupcakes for our dairy allergy and vegan guests. I feel like you can never really trust the flavor of a gluten-free cake (haha), but her cake & cupcakes were truly delicious!! Even my husband loved them, and he's a hard sell on gluten-free baked goods. Marie was so easy to talk to, and was quickly available via call or text if I had questions. Our cake was so beautiful!! She even drove out to our venue (Turtle Bay) to assemble the cake and affix our cake flowers and cake topper. She was just as lovely in person. 5+ stars for Marie and her GF bakery!