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Kiawe Island Bistro

4.4 (283 reviews)
Open 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
Updated 2 weeks ago

Kiawe Island Bistro Photos

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KIAWE ISLAND BISTRO ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Quiet
Casual
Good for kids
Good for groups

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Recommended Reviews - Kiawe Island Bistro

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Huli Chicken Special

Came in today for the Huli Chicken special. So ono! They also had huge slices of ube cake that were very tempting, but I had no room to try it!

Menu 12/17/25
Karen T.

The girl and the counter was nice, the guy that brought the food out was very friendly. We ordered Kalbi, Chicken Katsu and Meat Jun. We moved to Vancouver last year and are looking for good, local to Hawaii type food. Kalbi was ok, katsu was the best and meat Jun was pretty good. My daughter in law really liked the Mac salad I will say this was the closest to home(Hawaii) that we've found so far.

Shauna F.

I ordered the teriyaki bowl and spam musubi.... Which was huge. Was $19 for the order. Good flavors and friendly service

Chicken katsu
Eve B.

What a fun small hole in the wall. Staff is friendly and knowledgeable of the menu. Food was good. The rice is a little hard but good. Portuguese sausage was good. Over all a great please. Service was fast also.

Jolly Boi Fried Chicken
Sibyl C.

Today we tried two items from the chef special menu. Loco Coco baker (pan fried baked potato instead of rice) and their Jolly Boi fried chicken strips. The portions were large and we could only finish half of our meals. Son really liked the breading and moist chicken and was dunking it my Loco moco gravy for extra flavor. I could taste the baked potato was cooked with some extra butter before being tipped with loco moco. So good and very filling. Got some squid Adobo, also a special for dinner later. The staff that took our order was very sweet and attentive, checking on us after dropping off our meal.

Mixed plate with loco moco, garlic chicken and mac salad
Suz A.

Stopped by for lunch for some Gau gee , the hubby had the Kalbi and lechon plate. Had to order the guava cake too. The Gau gee was a bit dry, the filling was different from the regular Gau gee that you get in Hawaii and the skin was a bit crispy. It didn't need the dipping sauce that come with it, it can stand on its own. The oil that it was fried needs to be changed. Had to try the lechon and Kalbi . The lechon was crispy, it does need the sauce that comes with it. The Kalbi was too salty and tough. Too much shoyu, needs to be diluted. Great counter service! Clean restroom, one was out of service. Gave this place a second chance. Still searching for some good Hawaiian style grinds in the Couve.

Furikake Garlic fried chicken on the top, Japolo grilled chicken on the bottom
RN R.

The Furikake garlic chicken was bomb, awesome fry and beautiful sauce, not too salty or sweet, subtle but not boring. The cook on the grilled Japolo chicken was great, perfectly juicy with a nice char. However, I was bummed that the sauce was not spicier. heat level I would say a 2.5 out of 5. Mac Salad and rice were solid as expected. My only other wish was that they had some sort of acidic side to cut through the richness of sweet sauces and all that is rice and mac salad. Kimchi or pickled veg would seal the deal. We would totally go back, i'd just ask for more spice next time or try the Admiral Lee dish (and maybe go earlier to snag some baked goods...!)

Spam Musubi

Ordered dinner to go while staying in a local hotel. Got the Loco Moco and a spam musubi. The Loco Moco was good - if you're looking for a gigantic portion that you can split into two or three, this would be it. Huge hamburger patty covering a bed of rice and side of mac salad. That's topped with two fried eggs and gravy. Pretty tasty, although the hamburger by itself was fairly bland, so you definitely want to keep that covered in gravy. Mac salad was good. The spam musubi was great - I've never had one that had grilled spam on both the top and bottom. Good spot if you're looking for a little Hawaiian on the mainland.

Ahi poke ($20.35) and Garlic Fried Chicken w/garlic sauce on side ($17.45). Don't recommend either.
Aliza C.

I did not enjoy the food as hoped. I ordered the garlic fried chicken (with garlic sauce on the side), ahi poke and ube haupia. The garlic chicken was served hot but it wasn't crispy, and the garlic sauce I requested to be served on the side was watery and sweet. I totally can't imagine them normally tossing fried chicken in this watery sauce. The ahi poke was the machine cubed version, mixed with what tasted like straight up soy sauce. The cubes were not soft and the poke was so salty! At $20.35 I expected a better poke product and sadly I left 1/2 of it uneaten. The highlight of the meal was the ube haupia which thankfully was really good.

Classic Kalua Pig cabbage rice and side mmmmmmmm Mac side. Made with aloha.
Ronald G.

Great food, Fresh poke, great local spot. Can't wait to come back to try the other meals.

Jolly boi with chili water
Bob Z.

I can rave about this place enough!! It has become an every Friday night dinner spot!! I have have a few items on the menu and have absolutely no complaints the portions the flavors are amazing!! This week I tried to the Jolly Boi with chili water and again, never am I disappointed!! If you haven't given them a try you are missing out

Da mix, japolo chicken and kalbi.
John R.

Got da mix combo to go with Japolo chicken(very flavorful not too spicy), and kalbi(marinated Korean style beef short ribs). Both were excellent and come with rice and mac salad. The beef in particular was so tender you could cut it with a plastic fork. Will be back, excellent food, great portions and timely service.

Kaula pork, stir fried veggies, Mac salad and jopolo chicken.

The chicken was so good, I was nervous it'd be too spicy but it wasn't at all, I'd prob skip the stir fried veggies next time up charge of $4.

loco moco

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16 days ago

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8 months ago

This is of our favorite Hawaiian spot to eat! Good food good customer service! Enjoy all their delicious options.

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10 months ago

Ube cinnamon rolls and that lechon kawali bomb. Guy that works at the front too so helpful and kind.

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Ask the Community - Kiawe Island Bistro

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I loveeee this place and so happy this family opened in our small town. I go here almost every…read moreFriday and generally get one of 2 dishes. I love the TonKatsu Ramen with chicken and the PHO. The broths are so delicous. My husband usually gets the teriyaki chicken or steak bowl. Also very tasty. He isnt too adventerous lol We always grab some BBQ pork BAO. There is also a yummy yellow curied soup dish i get now and then. The place is has inside seating and is comfortable enough. The people are so nice. The time from ordering to eating is a bit long but not horrible. Its very clean.

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Clean dining room with booths and tables.
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I nearly skipped this place thinking "I'm not much of a taco fan." However, my husband loves tacos…read moreand wanted to try it, fortunately for me. We ended up coming back the next day without hesitation for 2 days of tacos in a row and I'd return in a heartbeat if ever back in Hood River. These tacos are addictive! With their mix-and-match fusion menu, your taco of choice can really taste any way you like. The Hawaiian taco with grilled shrimp was my favorite, but I also enjoyed their Thai taco with chicken. I wish I could have tried all of them as everything featured good, fresh ingredients. Don't skip the drinks here either. I usually avoid cocktails but they offered to make their frozen margarita spicy for me and I couldn't resist -- fantastic! The service was over-the-top amazing. This is a casual restaurant where you order at the counter, seat yourself with a number, and wait for your food to be delivered. Service at such establishments is usually pretty perfunctory, but not at Love & Hominy. The servers are all super friendly and seem genuinely enthusiastic to be working in their restaurant. That in itself says a lot. As mentioned, this place is casual but still fun and eclectic. While eating your tacos in-house, check out the wall on the entrance side. It's pretty entertaining to look at.

Love & Hominy is a rather small restaurant in downtown Hood River, seating only perhaps 25 people…read morein a mixture of tables and countertop seating. It's a brisk business, so while ordering is counter service style, the tables turnover quickly. When we visited at 12:30 on a Sunday afternoon, there was a small line ahead of us to order, but only around 5 minutes or so after we ordered, several tables cleared out and we were able to sit down. The food took about 15 minutes to arrive. Combo, Vietnamese w/ Pork, Mediterranean w/ Chicken, Salsa ($15.50) - The chips, half moon shaped, seem to be fried in house, being really thick, great for dipping with no breakage, and perfectly crunchy. They have somewhat of an oily sheen on the surface, but aren't overly greasy at all. They aren't salted too heavily and instead seem to be slightly sweetened. The salsa included in this meal is refreshingly tangy and creamy. It's completely mild, though, with no hint of heat whatsoever. The chips easily dip in without getting soggy. The tacos all seem to use the same base - a fried corn tortilla heavily seasoned with a doritos locos-esque spice mixture, then filled with tender basmati rice. I believe they store a bunch of tortillas filled with rice sitting in trays, which can then be grabbed off the shelf to customize to order. That would explain why the shells get completely soggy and why the sauces are all applied on top of the rice rather than below. They are also wrapped in aluminum foil, which allows the rice to basically steam inside the taco shell, creating more sogginess. Overall a disappointing base. The Vietnamese combines fish sauce and banh mi pickles, combined with sweet creamy kewpie mayo drizzled over the rice and thinly sliced cucumbers as a second wall complementing the taco shell. The pickles and cucumber are crunchier than the shell. There are jalapenos but there's no heat at all. The pork is shredded and tender with a somewhat smoky quality, but there's not much included at all, perhaps only a tablespoon or two of meat. It's mostly vestigial against the massive amount of pickles on the top. I'd say the flavors are somewhat similar to a vegetarian banh mi. It's definitely missing in the meat department. There are so many veggies piled onto this taco that things fall out left and right while eating. The Mediterranean includes acidic pickled onions, a slaw lightly dressed in vinaigrette, thinly sliced cucumbers, a bunch of salty feta, and shredded mint leaves. There's some tzatziki drizzle, but not enough to make a huge impact. The chicken is shredded very finely and again not given in enough of a quantity to really do much for the taco. I feel like the chicken is precooked white meat, similar to the chicken in those packaged salads. Combo, Thai w/ Chicken, Tex Mex w/ Shrimp, Queso ($15.50) - The queso is served warm. It's thick and cheesy, tasting like pretty standard queso with again no heat whatsoever despite tiny flecks of red. The Thai includes a red bell pepper, cabbage, and edamame (why edamame?) slaw, lightly dressed in a peanutty and sweet vinegar. On top of the rice is a thicker peanut and ginger drizzle, enough to give some freshness and boost the umami. The overall flavor profile does remind me of an Americanized Pad Thai with mostly sweetness and nuttiness and no tamarind fruity tang. The Tex Mex is interesting. They actually char the corn quite well, so it's sweet and smoky in flavor. They add the same queso as the dip for the chips, then cilantro and then soy bacon crumbles, which I found to be disturbing in texture, almost like crunchy egg shells. They do include three or four pieces of sweet shrimp which aren't overcooked. The seasoning on the taco shells doesn't work for me. The flavors clash with the unique ingredients used in the creative tacos. In addition, I'm so confused why they use the same rice base. I guess it's a cost cutting measure? They add a ton to every taco and it spills out all over the place. They could easily amp up the unique qualities of each taco. For example, cilantro rice for the Tex Mex, Jasmine rice for the Thai, vermicelli for the Vietnamese. It's okay to use rice, but it's just such a boring and uninspired base when they are trying to be so creative with the flavors. It feels like filler used to cheapen up the tacos. I have similar feelings towards the meat. It's the same for every taco, no uniqueness in flavor or texture. The only thing different are the toppings and the slight bit of sauce on top. Just think - for the Vietnamese, sweet lemongrass grilled pork, for the Tex-Mex, lime chile grilled shrimp, etc. Then again there's so little meat included in the first place. Overall I left a little disappointed. It seems to be targeted towards people who want fusion food without straying too far away from Americanized roots. It's just not for me. Bathrooms - Single unisex room. Note: Love & Hominy charges a 3% credit card fee

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Three delicious tacos sitting in their holder just waiting for me to make a mess
Three delicious tacos sitting in their holder just waiting for me to make a mess
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Kiawe Island Bistro - hawaiian - Updated July 2026

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