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.

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.

Bought out by Minute Stop. No Aloha, employees have serious…read moreattitude problems. Unusual policies, and personal conflicts with customers over unjust practices. Since being asked to have my Drivers License scanned to verify my age as they say, (I am over 40 years old), I have received Hundreds of Spam emails, advertisements, and other unsolicited responses. I would suggest if you can avoid this place to do so. I personally will not support a business that tries to retaliate against customers that have supported the business for 20+ years, only to see a corporate company take over, and treat customers like the trash! I will not do business with this branch until they change Management, policy, and attitude, as they treat their customers like they are the enemy! Avoid this place if you are able.

Good is made there or there is gas station like snacks as well. You can get a lot of household…read moreitems too if you need. Gas is reasonably priced as well. Friendly staff. East location to get to. Quick stop in and out.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If you're going to Big Island, do yourself a favor and stop by Donna's Cookies. It's a small town…read morebusiness with big time feels and treats! Their cookies are a local favorite and gifting packages of these goodies is a must. Favorites include the almond (of course), cornflake and peanut butter cookies! Before you pack to head back to wherever, make room in your luggage for these treats! You'll regret not getting any for yourself and your family if you don't pick some up.

I was in that state between sleep and wake and I dropped a cookie I had half eaten onto my bed. I…read moreimmediately sat up to look for the cookie. It wasn't there. I even checked the folds of my comforter. No cookie. Had I dreamt this? I remember the feeling of it dropping out of my hand. Had some giant roach spirited it away in the instant before I sat up to look for it? Probably not. But I know one thing for sure: it's better not to eat cookies in bed. Or for that matter anything. But I probably will still, since bad habits do not die easily. I mean, cmon, dreaming of eating a cookie and then waking up to look for a non-existent cookie is pretty warped. But that's me. And that's how good Donna's Cookies are. I have never been to Donna's Cookies storefront on the Big Island. I have only bought their cookies in packages and in approx. 19 to 20 oz. bottles in retail stores here on Oahu, mostly at Don Quijote Kaheka and sometimes at Marukai. I haven't seen the packages with about a dozen cookies being sold for a while, only the bottles. And a small cellophane bag of Donna's Cookies is not enough, anyway. But not having been to the storefront, I still felt compelled to write a review because the cookies are so good. There are three Hawaii cookie manufacturers I like. There is Mrs. Barry's cookies in Kona. There is also Wholesale Unlimited's founder Betty's Cookies. But my favorite is Donna's Cookies. Oh, there is also the Cookie Corner which makes great cookies too but those cookies are sold individually at retail kiosks. I guarantee that any of these four local brands is far better than any national cookie brand you can buy. Donna's Cookies makes several types of cookies and their almond cookies, oatmeal raisin, shortbread, and mac nut cookies are outstanding. They also have a bottle which has an assortment of I think eight different cookies but my problem with that bottle is that you only get one layer of each of the eight different cookies in the bottle. That's not quite enough either. Donna's Cookies = great cookies

Everything about this cafe is amazing! The owners, the history and hospitality are like nothing…read morei've ever experienced truly the Aloha spirit. The food is amazing too, everything is homemade generational recipes and you can taste the love. This was the best meal we had on our trip. Truly authentic local cuisine. If nothing else come for the homemade walnut pie! I wanted to take pictures but we were too busy eating and talking

Stopped in @Andrades Honokaa Café, the visit, service and Walnut pie where delightful.read more

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!