It was our 5th day in Hilo and my husband and I wanted something different from poke, loco mocos, or plate lunches and decided to go for Thai food. Tina's is not your typical Thai food place. It's a place for a fusion of Thai flavors and fresh local ingredients. YOU WON'T FIND ANY PAD THAI HERE. Upon being seated, we were warned that everything is made fresh by one chef (Tina) so it may take a while for our food to come out...no problem. We got the Golden princess smoothie (ginger, lime, & honey), combo roll, Tina's Thai burrito with chicken, & the wild garden salad with opakapaka. (Total = $61.) Everything we ordered tasted great. It was very refreshing and light. All the dishes were huge portions; all our food could've fed 4 people. We had leftovers. Overall, expect great fresh food, be patient (not a fast food joint), and a bit on the pricey side. read more

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What apparently used to be known as Tina's Garden Snack Club has now moved to the Bayfront and is known as Tina's Garden Gourmet Cafe. I'm glad my boyfriend and I stumbled upon it while walking down the street, because the former incarnation had been on our list of places to dine while in town. We were there on a Friday night, which is when they serve a Thai version of shabu shabu (hot pot, where you cook raw veggies and seafood in boiling broth in a brazier at your table; in this case, Tom Yum soup was the broth. It is only served on Fridays and Saturdays). We were first served wontons (slippery little purses, which were hard to pick up with chopsticks, but delicious, and great with the various dipping sauces -- chile-garlic [my favorite], garlic-ginger, curry, and just plain garlic). We then ordered prawns (which came fully realized; my darling boyfriend did the dirty deed of beheading them), scallops, and large mushroom caps. The proprietress for the evening (an older lady who was apparently not Tina) was ruling the roost; the place was empty so she was mothering us a lot. They have a more extensive lunch menu of sushi, wraps, sandwiches and some interesting-looking smoothies like pineapple & Thai basil and cantaloupe, banana & asparagus? Overall, if you're looking for an unusual meal with Thai flair, Tina's will be your Garden of Eatin'! read more

Four stars for the food but one star for the service. I wound recommend this place to a friend but only if you have two hours to kill All the review about the slow service are true. Tina really is the only one cooking and making deinks. It took them 40 minutes to get us our food and then a staggering 1.5 hours to get us our passion fruit smoothie!!! But the Noni leaf salad was amazing. Beef was tender and the sauce was delightful. The Thai pizza was interesting but way to heavy with all that cheese and sauce. This was the only place in the island that we didn't bring back leftovers (took two bites of the pizza and called it quits) read more

Tina's Garden Cafe - Thai salad and Thai pizza. I would pass on the pizza - Thai Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

After hearing some time ago about "Garden Snack Club", and doing my research...I was pleased that someone had updated the new info, pointing us in the right "Tina's Garden Gourmet Cafe" ..WOW! My wife and I were suuuuuper stoked we found the place. The experience was GREAT! The menu is just plain out FUN! Tina does a really interesting job of mixing cultures, flavors and culinary ideas.I had heard this eatery described as a "Thai Place" previously, but this was not the case....I would describe it as more of an Eastern Fusion restaurant maybe, ....maybe. Although there are def elements of Thai ..hahah, ok, onto the food! I started off with their "Mint Iced Tea" which....believe it or not, is made & possibly juiced real mint! Our really sweet, very attentive waitress brought out this amazing green concoction. Wow. It super refreshing, and tasted really healthy...in a good way! I asked for it unsweetened, and it was amazing. A real delight to drink. For our meal, my wife and I started off with the ultra tasty tofu summer rolls, which were ABSOLUTELY not your somewhat, run of the mill boring summer rolls! Ha! These had tofu, carrots, mint, cukes, and fresh avocado! Yikes...they were sooooo good! It was a HUGE portion, for just a starter, and we ended up saving a few for home, so we'd have room for the rest of our lunch! There was a tasty, light peanut sauce served on the side, and this was perfect as it didn't feel like you were drowning any of the health away in peanut butter. My wife had the tofu wrap, which again...was sensational! Tons of super fresh veggies, in a garlic herb wrap (I'm pretty sure) with a delicious (not to sweet!) peanut sauce already in the wrap. Served on the side, and in my wife's opinion, unnecessary, was a tomato chutney. I liked it personally...but the wrap can get abit sweet if you added too much. Blast it again...if my wife didn't out order me! I had the tofu sandwich, which had lettuce, avo, cheese, peanut sauce, etc..served on a delicious french baguette. It was quite nice, however....the tofu, was cut in a pretty thick brick/slab, and it was really difficult to eat. I ended up taking the bottom part of the bread off, so I could actually try to eat the rest of the sandwich! ...Great flavors, and a really tasty sandwich, just too big, and a little messy to eat. It was so nice to get some really fresh, tasty food at a very affordable price. We LOVED it, and absolutely hope to go back the next time we make it over to Hilo! If you are a fan of fresh, healthy, tasty food, this is the place for you! Great job Tina! read more

Tina's Garden Cafe - Delicious Mint Iced Tea! - Thai Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

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This is definitley not your typical Thai restaurant. Not a noodle or stir fry dish to be seen, but I didnt even miss them. Everything tasted incredibly fresh. We ordered Tina's Thai Pizza with jumbo shrimp, and it was fantastic. The presentation on the fish shaped plate was pretty snazzy and the cheesy curry fusion combo was some kind of wonderful. It makes me want to add crispy cheese to my curry all the time. The other dish we ordered was the wild garden salad with opakapaka. The fish was fresh, juicy, and flavorful and I loved the big chunks of crinkle cut avocado. The only thing I would skip next time is the turmeric chicken rolls. The chicken seemed a little dry and I was wishing there was more to the sauce than just sweet chili sauce. Overall though it was a wonderful dining experience and plenty of food. Three of us consumed just over half of what we ordered, so be ready for leftovers. read more

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Tina's Garden Café is a small restaurant located in the heart of downtown Hilo. The restaurant serves a curry that contains an entire avocado the size of a bombucha, as well as other locally sourced ingredients. These ingredients may include heart of palm cut like crinkle fries, kabocha, and fresh coconut pieces in a bright and herbal green curry shot through with turmeric, ginger, and lemongrass. The curry is more like a broth than a thick coconut milk gravy. Tina's Restaurant always serves extremely generous portions. I started with the Thai pizza and then moved on to the papaya salad. Even though the Thai pizza is enormous, I didn't find that it had enough flavor. On the other hand, the papaya salad is incredibly delicious. I've sampled both foods with a low and a medium level of heat. My personal preference is for a medium level of heat, but either one is an excellent choice if you're looking for something less fiery. read more

Tina's is a great place for fresh well made Thai food. Tina usually does the cooking herself, so there can be a solid wait when the place is full. Tina's offers the traditional mix of curries and much more. One warning: Be sure to check the market price on the seafood items if "mp" is indicated. The seafood can double or even triple your cost on some occasions. read more

Best in town with Thai and Hawaiian cuisine. Most of others are likely American food, found only this restaurant gave tourists some feeling of vacation on a tropical island read more

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Love this little gem in Hilo! The food is so fresh & delicious! Our favorite is the Opakapaka Thai Pizza! The owner, Tina, is a sweetheart!

I adore this place. The portions are so generous (sometimes almost twice the size of the portions at other establishments), and the vegetables are always so fresh. Tina's Thai pizza is rightly popular, but what I really live for is the papaya salad; I could eat that every day and never get tired of it. Also, do yourself a favor and order the mango sticky rice. It's a proper dessert for (at least) four. read more

Tina's Garden Cafe - Thai Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

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Excellent, crisp, fresh ingredients. Delicious dishes. Generous portions and charming service. This restaurant is great! Very nice service. read more

Heart of palm salad and ocean of the jungle taste soooooooooo good. Service is also very good!

Fantastic food. Tom kha soup highly recommended as its both flavorful and creamy. Panang curry is also delicious

Oh Thai Fusion heaven!!! Delicious unqiue flavors. Love the Shrimp Thai Pizza! An amazing burst of flavors with spinach, shrimp, pumpkin, melted cheese and some Thai spice for that extra kick! Portions are HUGE and well priced. read more

Tina's Garden Cafe - Thai Pizza - Thai Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

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Server knew the menu well. Food was flavorful, large portions, fresh, and reasonable price. Definitely would go again.

Tina's is Thai Fusion at its finest. Especially since it's made using all local and organic ingredients. The vibe is quirky and mellow and the portions are HUGE. My wife and I split a Summer Roll (so fresh and so clean - like Outkast) and followed it up with the Yellow Curry. Every bite was amazing and it actually made us sad once we realized how robbed we are of flavor, spice and freshness at our normal go-to Thai joint back home. Even though we were stuffed after our meal, we found ourselves lusting after the other dishes coming out of the kitchen and going to other tables. This is a must-eat place in Hilo, yo! read more

In my humble opinion this is the best restaurant on the island. Recipes are super duper fresh and very original, good sized portions, broke da mouth delicious. read more

We are visiting Big Island today and a friend recommended this place. Super cute environment, simple and warm. The waitress was very sweet. The food was amazing, perfectly done with a home made taste and a hint of sophistication! read more

Tina's Garden Cafe - Thai Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

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The bomb! Cold beer great food! Easy to find on Bay Front in Hilo- Business hours are a little odd but worth figuring out!! Have the Thai pizza!! read more

Wow if only I could leave a one star First time there was amazing but was obviously a complete fluke as they were completely empty and not had the opportunity to screw up an order- well today took the cake people We ordered two Thai pizzas add mushroom (like we have the last three visits) anD that have NEVER come with cheese and a yellow curry add tofu, peanuts and cinnamon(again like we have the last three visits, a VERY specific order, and one the hostess/server has even recognized us) Well we got it to go and once we left found there to be cheese on they pizzas, even though we had asked for our order to be VEGAN and doubled checked that the curry we ordered was vegan TOO We called back and the woman had the audacity to ARGUE and say we didn't ask for it vegan- really? Then why did you tell me the masaman curry wasn't vegan if I didn't ask for my order to be vegan!!! $57.81 for 2 Thai pizzas and a yellow curry- what a damn rip off, $60 and all we can eat is their mediocre curry Hilo beware, VEGANS do NOT dine here! If they screw up your order you still have to pay for THEIR mistake- not to mention I've found hair in my food EVERY visit but have written it off as there could be worse things but now I know it's just the kind of business they run. read more

I wish I could have rated this 3.5. My experience here was average. I was seated right away but since there was only one girl handling the front of the restaurant, it took her a while to take my order. If I would have been pressed for time, I may have felt compelled to leave but I wasn't so i waited patiently. I had the limeade as a drink, it was great. I also had the yellow curry which was supposed to be mild. It definitely had a kick to it but I was able to tolerate it okay. The serving size was pretty decent. I ate half for lunch and saved half for dinner. This curry was pretty good but not outstanding or particularly memorable. read more

Tina's Garden Cafe - Thai Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

Unfriendly! Understaffed. Tables with 4 or 6 chairs allocated to 2 people each. One group of 2 was just seated at a table for 4 while our party of 4 was asked to wait. A smaller table with 3 chairs was open. We asked to squeeze in and be seated at it. Rudely denied! We were told once food was ordered it would arrive after one hour!! Obviously we left and had lunch at a great Thai place (Chiang Mai) around the corner. Tina's Garden Cafe not worth the wait and the rude behavior! read more

This is the best thai food I have ever had! It is sooooo good If you are looking for a good Thai restaurant in Hilo this Quant little place will not disappoint! ENJOY read more

Do not order any fish dishes. Disgusting and expensive. Tom ka Kai - absolutely delicious. Loved it. Penang curry and yellow curry both very very good. Som tum - absolutely loved this dish. Mango sticky rice- mangos we're not ripe enough. But still delicious. Watched the one waiter dude turn away multiple customers even though all -ALL - tables empty. Even though all the tables were empty not one of them had been bussed. The kid acting as a waiter shouldn't be allowed in there. He is ruining their business. They probably lost at least $1000 while we were sitting there by turning people away. When I went to pay, all dishes from previously cleared tables (before we got there) all sitting in buckets on the floor. Gross. Weird. Entire area behind the counter filthy. At that point decided I would have never eaten in this place if I had seen that. I hope we don't get sick tonight. This place just needs thoroughly cleaned. And a decent waiter. Food mostly great. So sad. read more

We had an excellent meal tonight. Tom Kah coconut soup with shrimp was delicious and the shrimp were large and fresh tasting. Garden salad with salmon was excellent with a nice sweet spicy dressing. Mango sticky rice, always a favorite, was excellent too. Service was great. Our waitress was personable, responsive and did a great job. read more

Tina's Garden Cafe - Mango sticky rice - beautiful and enough for several as a dessert. - Thai Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

Great service and amazing delicious food!!! Very special place . Wonderful variety and large servings. Great value. Highly recommend

stopping into this restaurant in the downtown shopping district here in Hilo was a mistake. It was about 5pm and I had just visited the Wednesday night market. I was walking back to my car and decided to give Tina's Garden Cafe a try. I decided to get takeout as it was early. there was one patron at a table and the rest of the restaurant was empty. it was early so that's no big deal. The hostess/waitress greeted me and I mentioned that I was going to order takeout. I told her that I would to order the green curry with shrimp. She asks which rice I's wanted and I ordered the sticky rice that was $2 extra. She said something but I didnt catch it. As I was sitting down...in a basically empty restaurant...she said thatI pay outside. I didnt understand that and I thought she meant that I pay at the register. It was confusing. I follow her to the back as she rings up my order. I pay and add a 20% tip. She than asks for my phone number so she can text me when its ready. I said I was going to just sit at table. She was a little short and said that I should wait outside for my order. I finally realized what she was saying. I thought it incredibly rude to make a customer wait outside for their order. There wasnt any seating outside and as I stepped out, my first thought was to just cancel my order. I wish I had. The green curry wasnt good at all. It was very sweet with giant chunks of the local pumpkin which is ok but there was just to much. The broth was very watery with very little hint of green curry. I actually thought it was red curry. The "sticky rice" that I paid $2 extra really seemed like a brown rice that was crunchy and again...very sweet. Overall, the dish dish didnt have much flavor but there was more shrimp than I expected. I try to support local businesses and definitely in the downtown Hilo area but I will not return to Tina's. read more

Very good service- very clean & the food we ordered was Excellent in taste and presentation... we will go back.. for sure...

What's not to love about Tina's ??? Omg a true hidden gem in Hilo that's for sure from the First interaction with the sweet woman on the phone to the amazing food ugh I cannot get enough!! I placed a large order on the phone and when I went to go get it the sweet lady who greeted me told me all about my food all the way through the containers it came in I could have stayed in there and chatted with her all day ! So glad that I'm in Hilo for months and will have the pleasure of all the yummy delicious food Tina's has to offer ! read more

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For a Thai restaurant in Hilo, the food was just like anywhere else. My only advice is if you order food to go in person, expect to stand outside or come back at a later time. The inside dining area is only for customers who dine in. At this time only two tables wore taken. read more

Possibly the best meal of my life. I was a solo traveler and ordered the Thai pizza and asparagus salad on Thanksgiving! Ate it it on the beach and yelled out loud "oh my God". Tina is a magician. read more

This place is way overrated, though the food was very good, the service was non-existent. Online said they opened at 11:00, so we drove around a bit and then showed up at 11:00. The server said, "come back in an hour." We did, and were the first ones there, there was a few other couples right behind us, and the one server waited on the larger groups first. So after showing up at noon and ordering, my food was finally delivered an HOUR AND A HALF LATER! My wife ordered the Tom Ka which was some of the best , but large enough for a family of four or more. When the waiter finally brought my food, I asked, "are you short handed?" b/c it took an hour and a half for me to get my order. She said, "sorry and walked off." Bottom line, the worst service, extremely large portions, waaay overpriced. I will not darken the doors of this establishment ever again! read more

the kitchen was busy, which we understand but we were waiting for more than 30 minutes before we even got our drinks / silverware / plates and that was after we had reminded our server already. the food quality was mediocre at best, the salad and dessert was good but the main courses were very un-seasoned and we could barely eat even half. there's only one chef so we expected the wait of about 20 min which is what our server told us. all in all, we were there for 2 hours and probably waited for almost an hour before we got any food. read more

Excellent lunch! The smoothies are tasty and the wraps are made fresh. The seating an issue since the tables are limited but I liked the overall vibe and decorations inside. read more

Tina's Garden Cafe - Thai Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

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Party of 7 for lunch and picked Tina's because of Yelp. Went family style and ordered: Tom Yum Soup, Salmon Asparagus, Panang Chicken Curry and Shrimp Yellow Curry. All of it was very good, portions were family, and I am a Tom Yum fan from now on. Our Thai member (former Thai chef) in the party gave it a 5 stars and a thumps up. read more

Amazing food, customer service, my favorite place to come when i visit my in-laws in Hilo!!!

Absolutely wonderful Thai cooking. Just be sure to arrive before posted closing time or you'll be turned away. The combo roll is huge and tasty. Curry is smooth and delicious. Service is friendly and prices are fair. Highly recommended. read more

What you see here is salmon with asparagus from Tina's Garden Cafe in Hilo, Hi. It's a solid 4.5/5 stars. If you're around Hilo, Hi do yourself (and family) a favor and stop in like I did. You'll be greeted by friendly folks serving scrumptious Thai fusion. #thai #foodsnob #foodcritic read more

Tina's Garden Cafe - Thai Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

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We had lunch at Tina's on February 20, 2018. BEST THAI FOOD EVER. SERIOUSLY. Parking was easy, lots of spaces around that were free. We found the restaurant via Yelp and almost walked right by because there was no sign out. So glad we didn't miss it! The server was friendly and knowledgeable. She let us know that everything was cooked to order, so it takes time. We were in no hurry, so it was fine for us. We started with the Turmeric Chicken fresh rolls. There were 8 slices and we fought over them because they were so good. I won an extra one from my teenage son (I bribed him). Then came the Tom Kha soup. SHUT UP. This was the best soup we've ever eaten. Oh my goodness, I'm going to dream about it until I can get back to Hilo again someday. Fresh, spicy, savory, sweet. Loaded with vegetables and tofu. The pumpkin was to die for. Fresh lemongrass, a lime floating in it, coconut, kafir lime leaves. I can't even. Next we had green curry with Hamakua mushrooms and a million other fresh veggies like asparagus, onion, pumpkin, broccoli, and others all in a spicy, creamy sauce. If it weren't rude, we would've licked the bowl. Finally, we had Tina's Thai pizza. Pizza? What? No, you need to try it! Especially if you like pumpkin and red curry. We've never had anything like it. We're going to have to fly all the way back to Hilo from Seattle just to go back to Tina's. I don't want any other Thai food. Nothing will ever be this good. This was - hand's down - the best meal we had on the Big Island in the 7 days we were there. I'm just so sad that it's too far away to go there every week! read more

First up...the Yelp map has the location incorrect. Address is right but the map will take you a block in the wrong direction. Use the address! Once you arrive you will find a menu that makes you decide between amazing looking and sounding dishes. They all look so good. Soups. Curry. Rolls. Peri and I split a wrap with garlic fish. It was Perfect. The chili sauce was delicious as a topper. Felt healthy. We are leaving full but feeling really good. Time for a drive and hike to see some evening volcano lava! Highly recommend Tina's! read more