I saw a lot of wieners giving two stars on here for dumb reasons. Someone's salt and pepper shrimp wasn't how their mommy's made it for them and another person was upsetty spaghetti because they had to wait a little longer for their food. I give both those ppl negative 5 stars for being weak people. Rainbow cafe looks like your typical hole in the wall Chinese to-go joint except it's better. The portions are great, the food tastes amazing, and their hot & sour soup is the best I've had in a long time. Everything was made fresh to order. The staff were very kind and professional, and the wait wasn't bad at all. Rainbow cafe is as local as it gets, not far off from the main path, but nestled in well enough that you could easily pass by this little gem without knowing it. If you've just flown into town and need some good food to fill yer belly that ain't gunna break the bank, then I highly recommend Rainbow Cafe. Hey folks, before you give a place a bad review because of one item on the menu wasn't to your liking or they were slow the one time, maybe think twice because those complaints aren't valid enough to critique the establishment as a whole. Don't be a wiener read more

Frequented this location many to a few times and I must say it requires a balance of what you're looking for. There is breakfast (traditional and all your island favorites) and then the Asian influenced dishes familiar to a Chinese menu. This time around I chose three eggs over easy, rice white and spam (three sliced rectangles). I set aside the Spam and mix the eggs and rice together to get a nice yellow and white mixture. I then segment the Spam to bite squares and place them on top. Now it's time to devour the meal. Enjoy! Three scoops of rice were served I believe. I also ordered the steamed bok Choi plate which can be compared to steam cabbage. Similar nutritional value with a slight variance in taste. Oh so good, enjoyed! ... And two Dr. Peppers in a can. Service is comfortable. If you dine in they bring your food to your table. Place is very casual and can seat up to 16 to 18 groups of four at maximum capacity. Your kind of normal general minimal cafe environment. They also provide catering which I have not had the privilege of experiencing. Give them a try if you're near the Costco and Home Depot area. read more

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I was craving Mochiko chicken. We were near the area so this place was perfect. I ordered the mochiko chicken and kalbi ribs mixed plate. Husband ordered fish and shrimp plate. The chicken was very good. Kalbi ribs were alright and Juan's said the fish was ok. Prices were decent and food was fresh because it took a long time to be served. The chicken was tasty and flavorful. Tender and fried perfectly. I would definitely stop by for the chicken again. read more

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'Ono, friendly & kind service! Ordering is easy in the app, and they whip the food out fast! read more

Rainbow Cafe - Salt & Pepper Fish - Cafes Near Me - Kailua Kona, Hawaii

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Fast service! Comfort food for anyone looking for Hawaiian or Asian comfort food, nice stop after going to Costco and on the way to the airport. read more

Great little place near the airport, serves a huge variety of Asian food. We partook in char siu bao, similar fried rice, walnut shrimp, veggie rice with tofu. Flavors very nice indeed, with the large degree of take away business they had. Staff really nice and accommodating as well. Probably best deal on the island. read more

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Unassuming Chinese place that ended up being our favorite restaurant on the island while we were there. SO many options, and they even made egg drop soup off the menu for my friend who wanted to order that. Prices are affordable, and portions are HUGE. We enjoyed this place so much we came back twice while on the Big Island. I ordered a wonton noodle soup one day and the stir-fried eggplant with pork another. No notes. read more

Food was adequate but not flavorful. Restaurant was clean but cluttered with supply boxes etc. ZERO atmosphere!!! Its a diner in an industrial area. Thats the facts! But it was open and we were hungry. read more

Delicious and reasonable price Chinese food in Kona. Friendly staff and quick service. Lots of options for family meals. Highly recommended.

This was our first time eating here. My husband had crispy pork & said it was the best he had ever had. I had the honey walnut shrimp & it was also the best I had had. The coating in the tender shrimp was crispy & light. We both liked the Mac salad. He said it was delicious. Hubby is Hawaiian & is picky about Mac salad. Cudos to the person who does the cooking. We will definitely come back. read more

Food might be good, but took 1 hour to cook two plates of food. Nothing is worth waiting that long for.

This place is not fancy as it lacks the frills and trivialities, but the food served is tasty and is really affordable. the menu has a good number of choices. You would place your order at the counter, and your order is brought to you. I tried out the BBQ plate and chicken katsu and both servings served are quite large. read more

Inside the mini golf! It's sooo good. I did the King Kong pork and plantains. 10/10!!!! read more

What an incredible find! Delicious and affordable ( so rare on the big island!) generous portions that we couldn't finish. No frills inside.

Good delicious food. Huge portions. Reasonable prices. Friendly service. Clean and spacious eating area. Will definitely be back!!! read more

Rainbow Cafe - Cold ginger chicken. - Cafes Near Me - Kailua Kona, Hawaii

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Such good food - incredible selection. A pretty simple ambiance (not unlike a cafeteria), but the plates are full of goodness!

Good Food and variety man there's a bunch of choices!! I like the face that it's not skimpy either . Good size good flavor and fast. I have to say that it's pricey but I say it's better than L&L!! read more

I loved this place, best masubi I had on this island. Great prices for the amount of good food you get. The service was good and the guy at the front was nice and was patient while we ordered. read more

My wife and I landed just an hr ago and this humble hole-in-the-wall business is well worth it. We split a barbecue plate, which was ready in less than 10 minutes, and the cashier was very friendly. A delicious BBQ plate for $17, quick and friendly service, and we are both stuffed. Will probably be coming back this week! read more

Rainbow Cafe - BBQ Plate - Cafes Near Me - Kailua Kona, Hawaii

Singapore Noodles and Cashew Chicken were the best I've had. Quick and friendly service. Food was hot and they give you a huge portion. Excellent experience. Such an unassuming place but it was fantastic. read more

Very friendly staff. Food is great for takeout. Love it. Especially love their salad and short ribs. It's Mac salad as well as the green salad. Fried rice and egg rolls are delicious. You won't be disappointed by anything on their extensive menu. read more

Locals like to stop here for the convenience of its location with close proximity to Costco. It's a plate lunch style restaurant with a variety of dishes from Chinese to Hawaiian food. You order and pick up from the counter or they'll deliver your order to your table if you're dining in their non-fancy dining room. The salt and pepper fish is my go-to and is consistently delicious with a good size portion. I like their soups as well. read more

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Food was very good! Garlic shrimp and Terri beef! So Ono! Just a small take out or casual sit down! read more

Rainbow Cafe - So Ono garlic shrimp and Terri beef - Cafes Near Me - Kailua Kona, Hawaii

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This is a nice casual Chinese place we went often while visiting kona. As Vegetarians we are thankful they offered options and also willing to substitute meat with Tofu on many dishes. Come support them. Good food and very generous portions! read more

We always order food from them for friends and family gathering. They always do a good job. However this time they dropped the ball! At I first thought they sent me with the wrong item, but turned out it was my mistake. We accepted my goof. When we started to eat the Wonton chips, they were leathery and hard to chew. I reached up to the restaurant and brought to their attention immediately and they had huge arguments amongst them while I was put on hold. I asked for a credit and get something else , because I was long was away and not possible to come back. When he said they would only give me either 10% off or 10.00. The wontons were 30.00 and felt they could do better than that. That when the kid hung up on me. I called back and got a lady who challenged me and state that a 3pm they were fine and no way they were hard as a rock! She told me only way was if I bring back the whole platter of Wonton order for them to do anything for me. Then challenged me that it's no different if you bring back the bad item to the grocery store to get a refund. All I wanted was a future credit because it was not possible to come back with the tray of wontons. Even the Spring rolls were soggy on the second layer ! Moral of this story is don't get patters of their deep fried things, because they tend to be dried out or soggy on the bottoms! read more

This place was just ok. I was craving a burger for lunch so got the double bacon cheeseburger for $9.99. It was just okay, patties were small kine and no lettuce or tomato. Also ordered the crispy ginger chicken with the intent to have for dinner. I wasn't expecting a huge amount of raw ginger and green onions over the chicken and was too overwhelming. It also appeared it wasn't cooked fresh as it wasn't very hot in some places. read more

Rainbow Cafe - Too much ginger and onion, c'mon! - Cafes Near Me - Kailua Kona, Hawaii

This was a good stop on our long drive. Yum comfort food. Service was quick and portion sizes were great to feed our super hungry tummies. The kids specifically loved the Bbq chicken. All the entrees came with rice . They also came with mac salad, which we were not a fan of, we ended up leaving all the mac salads. read more

Ono food and aloha spirit! If you've ever arrived or gotten ready to depart the Kona airport when you're hungry, you've probably figured out there isn't a ton of stuff around there jumping out at you, aside from a gas station, a grocery store and if you're lucky a local coffee and gift shop, but by golly, this Yelp thing has helped us out once again!! Turns out, just like nondescript industrial parks on the mainland, the nondescript industrial parks on the Big Island have wonderful hidden gems tucked away inside them as well. In this case, it is Rainbow Cafe! It's simple, but so ono! This is one of those places I'm reluctant to brag on too much because I want to be able to have the same quick service next time I stop by, but they were so sweet and the food so freshly prepared and yummy, I gotta give 'em props, because I also want them to have success so they'll be there next time I stop by!! They offer both Hawaiian and "western" breakfast favorites like Portugese sausage, spam, bacon, eggs, hash browns and croissant sandwiches, as well as Hawaiian, Pan-Pacific and Asian fusion lunch and dinner options, so it's got solid choices for hungry people all day... I went with the ham and cheese croissant sandwich because it was the most portable option and I was on the go (aka- on a time crunch to get to the airport, but also very hungry - haha!). They toasted a sliced croissant on a grill and tucked between the layers was a fairly thick slice of griddled ham, fluffy freshly scrambled eggs, and American cheese, plus surprising to me, lettuce, fresh tomato and mayo. I wasn't so sure about it having the mayo and veggies, but once I took a bite, I changed my mind. Gary T. asked if I needed him to park so I'd have time to eat before we got to the rental car return, but it was unnecessary -- I devoured that sandwich by the time he'd refueled the car and enjoyed every bite! Oh- it also came with two hash brown patties, which I shared with Gary (French fries were an alternate option). It's it fancy? Most definitely not, but the service was so incredibly friendly and helpful, and the food freshly cooked, tasty, quick and affordably priced, it's definitely staying in my bookmark collection for next time. And -- you don't have to take just my word on it -- the dining area was full of kama'aina, and an online delivery person stopped by to pick up an order while we were there too, so it's not just operating by appeasing hungry tourists (yes, I *am* judging you, PNW coffee-flavored sugar-milk drive-through with the green logo and all the suburbanites with idling cars in their lines on an island renowned worldwide for it's local coffee farms and environmental protection initiatives, but I digress -- lol!)... Until next time, Rainbow Cafe, aloha and mahalo! read more

We ordered orange chicken and beef chow fan to go. When me came home 25 mins later, both dishes were still very hot (temperature). . The orange chicken was still crispy outside which is my favorite dish. The portion was big, we had for 2 meals. read more

Lots of parking. They have their whole menu on the outside of their windows. Like list after list of options!!! When we went in, seems like many locals order here. We got dumplings which my kid didn't list. It was too moist. The sauce was sweet vinegar soy sauce flavored. Mochiko chicken plate was good. Cheeseburger and fries are general flavor. I think we would come back here for a simple variety meal that meets everyone's flavors. read more

Rainbow Cafe - Cheeseburger and fries, and 6 pot stickers - Cafes Near Me - Kailua Kona, Hawaii

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Stopped by after picking up some friends at the airport and oh man, what an awesome surprise!! The roast pork is to die fo!! Tender, food portions and had a little spice to it. The chicken katsu is a little thin but the roast pork made up for it. Will definitely come back read more

Excellent char siu fried rice and great portion. I order with extra pork. Have not eaten much off the large menu but the Chinese food is good and to go service is fast! read more

Very cute place Fast service fresh veggies Friendly Singapore rice noodles good Orange chicken generous Correctly cooked rice nice macaroni salad Good value! Large menu! read more

This review is for their Musubi only, which was the best we have had on the Big Island after trying at least three other places. We tried the regular Spam and Portuguese Sausage Musubi: 1. The meat-to-rice ratio was good - of course, we wished there was a little less rice but it wasn't bad compared to other places we tried. 2. Sauce was tasty and plenty - unlike other places that used non-traditional sauce or had too little sauce. 3. Lots of variety to choose from - the Portuguese Sausage ones were really good too. 4. Very reasonably priced. $11 for 4 Musubi is a bargain! Our only feedback was that the rice was just slightly too hard, but it didn't take away from how delicious they were. Lovely and polite people working behind the counter too. read more

Waited a while for our food.. many came in after us but we still didn't get our food.. after awhile of waiting, the guy comes up to us and tells us that the brown rice is almost ready.. Really!! Shouldn't they have their brown rice ready already?? It's 12:12pm and the lunch rush is in.. Damn we come in here hungry and we had to wait so long.. That's what make this a 3 star review because the food isn't bad at all.. read more

The best local spot for delicious food! Specifically the salt and pepper fish. If you are just visiting Kona, go right away, or else you will be saying, "Why didn't we come here the first day?" The service is warm and friendly, very kind. Takes cash and cards. Ambiance is very low key. Love this read more

Rainbow Cafe - Salt and pepper fish and my 85 year old half sister. - Cafes Near Me - Kailua Kona, Hawaii

My husband and I stopped here before hopping on our flight and we ordered the roasted pork and garlic fried shrimp mixed plate. Everything about our meal was perfect and delicious. The shrimp was battered and different than the garlic shrimp we were used to, but it was still very good and a nice change. The macaroni salad was creamy and flavorful, by far the best we had. We had some really nice meals throughout our trip but our meal here was easily our favorite and helped us end on a good note. There was one other person eating inside but it was quiet and clean and customer service was fine. We'll be back if we get a chance to return to Kona! read more

The salt and pepper shrimp was not "salt and pepper" as described. It was red pepper beer battered shrimp. Not impressed at all. I keep being disappointed at this restaurant. read more

Super good quick pick up food before the beach! If you get there right when they open they make the best airy fluffy pancakes as they use the skillet throughout the morning and the skillet heats up they cannot make them. read more

Fav food is Chinese food. Im always looking for the best duck or beef broccoli. All I can say is that the roast duck is hands down the best than any other duck I have had on the island. I love crispy duck and this is the only place that was legit crispy duck! Plus the lady at the counter was so nice and welcoming. read more