Was a loyal customer until the over charged me. I called immediately. They apologized for their mistake and stated I could come back and get my difference for over charge. When I got there, they stated they didn't have any idea what I was talking about. They argued with me for 30 minutes telling me I should have brought my food back. Then offered me $1 for MY mistake! ???? Beyond furious! read more

Good food and prices. Club sandwich is great with Mac salad. Great location.

Went here today for lunch at noon, I was the only one in line and ordered a Ono moco, small miso soup, and Kalua pig and cabbage. Five or six people showed up five minutes after I ordered and all got their food before me. My order didn't come out until 12:40... Food was decent, didn't taste hot/fresh. You'd have to pay me $20.00 to come back here again! Just talked to my wife and she said her favorite part of the meal was the miso! read more

Teri-Cheeseburger is one of the best we've had, Corn Chowder is UNBELIEVABLE. Food service is much slower than average, it the quality is worth it and a great value for the cost, we went a few times in the week we were in Hawaii. Tasty eats! read more

If you can get past the horrible customer service, the stink of garbage and the filthy mess of a place, the food is ok. Prices are kind of high for the portions they give as well. I try to avoid this place but went today to give it another try. Nothing has changed except the prices. read more

We had some "burgers" this afternoon... they were basically bread crumb and onion patty sandwiches. I thought we maybe accidentally ordered vegetarian burgers... but nope, that's how they make burgers at Verna's. The patties are about 30% meat. The curly fries were the kind that I like, but they were cold. Service was polite but slow. I'd probably make this a last resort from now on. read more

What I love about the Big Island is its authenticity. Authentic, kind, folks. Authentic non-presumptuous food, Authentic scenery and even... authentic tourists (I mean less plane-loads of mega families marching obediently to their Sandals resort rooms). In a place where fresh black lava overflows a neighborhood street and the locals do their best to keep it a secret - you'd certainly expect to find hidden foodie secrets. So this is what happened: I just had to see the volcano at night. I know... it's a touristy cliche...but no one's perfect. I did however modify my crater visit to avoid the crowds by arriving at Kilauea as late as possible before the lookout closes. The caldera was active that night and the view was breathtaking. By the time I got back to Hilo it was close to midnight and hunger set in. Where does one eat in sleepy Hilo so late at night? I wondered around my hotel near Banyan Drive seeking a solution and spotted a dimly lighted structure surrounded by a few cars and some people about a hundred feet away on Kamehameha Avenue. As I got closer, the building looked more and more like a very old Carvel Ice cream shop, surrounded by a large dimly-lit antique parking lot. At first glance - not a very inviting culinary venue. But remember authenticity is multifaceted. The eatery's facade sports a small ordering/serving window surrounded by an almost endless menagerie of menu pages glued to the wall and a big bright neon sign. The selection of food is overwhelming but I chose, being, by now, very hungry, the Double Gravy Cheeseburger for around 5 bucks. No expectations. No seats. Not even a drive-in. Verna's is a walk up, get your food in take-away containers and walk away. A ten-minute-wait later I got the goods. A Styro tray so heavy, I thought there was a whole steer inside. An opened cover revealed a massive burger generating an unbelievably delicious scent. The taste was even better. Juicy, buttery, beefy delight. Amazing burger. Amazing! Radically better than Pat Lafrieda's best concoctions in New York City. The next morning I stopped by this unbelievably yummy dive for breakfast. In the back was a supply van sporting a brightly colored banner: "Hawaii Big Island Beef - Premium Grass Fed". Facades don't matter - it's the authenticity and quality that counts. read more

NO CAN! Verna's is obviously a place you see & it doesn't shout out GOOD Hygiene. I've eaten there many times without finding hair or critters in my food - until now. As I bit into my club sandwhich a green caterpillar fell out of my sandwhich landing on a french fry. It was a good sized, living crawling fat caterpillar. It's already hard for me to eat because I'm expecting so having this happen to me is so disgusting.... Obviously they don't wash their lettuce and I'm sure that goes for all their vegetable produce. They lost a customer for life; I would definitley think twice before eating there, unless you enjoy live bait.... read more

Our kids... Ages 13, 17, 17, & 19 really enjoyed this place!!!! We also liked it. They are begging to go back before we leave the island. The only downside to this place is it could use a new paint job all over. The public restroom was really dirty, which was disappointing. But, aside from using the restroom, we'd go back. read more

Went to Verna's for the first time. After reading some of the reviews here, I'm surprised I survived. I had the loco moco one day & the Keaukaha another day. Both were pretty good to me. The loco had plenty of gravy & the burger was OK. The Keaukaha had generous portions of shoyu chicken & kalua pork. I would have gone there again if I was staying longer. I'll go back to Verna's when I go to Hilo again because I CAN. read more

Stopped by there tonight at 9:30pm. We were standing in a line of 7 people when the worker came back to the window and said, "We're closing." She then closed the window on all 7 of us. No reason why or sorry, just We're closing. We are never going back to this place again. Just when we thought they were improving, they pull this on their customers. No class at all. read more

Notice that the people giving Verna's bad reviews don't elaborate much. Leads me to believe they are either dumb dumbs or work for the competition. Either way they are wrong! I probably had the best freak'n Loco Moco of my life here at Vernas. I have been on search for the best loco moco for a while now and I have been to many of the famous spots. Their fried rice had pieces of bacon in it for crying out load, who does that? It's ingenious. When I ordered my loco moco combo I had no idea what I had in store. I was kinda pissed b/c they charged $2.50 for fried rice and never informed me of the huge price increase. I'll be honest, that was almost a yelp deal breaker for me. I was about to let them have it with a big 1 star review. Then...I tasted heaven...and all was forgotten. The gravy, the rice, the meat, OMG! I was knocked off my feet. I wasn't that that hungry and I found myself unable to resist my loco smoko...yes smoko b/c it was like I was a crack head and my loco was sweet greasy goodness to my lips. I ate the whole giant plate and didn't feel guilty one bit. It was awesome. So, in sum, Verna's gets two thumbs up from me despite not having tried anything else from their menu. Why would I have to when they have one of the best Loco Moco's ever. read more

The food is decent, but when it comes to service, that place is horrible! One, the cashier has a sassy attitude and two, it took them about 45 minutes for them to make 4 gravy burgers and one drink. There was no other customers before us and we called ahead! C'mon vernas, I know we live in hawaii but we not always on Hawaiian time. Plus! The cashier was snacking on food while she's taking orders. read more

great and fast food. loco moco great. always open. friendly people working.

You have to view / review this place for what it is; a bare bones take out place that serves up solid food at generous portions and at very fair prices. With all the pretentious and out of the world priced places to eat in Hawaii, it is pure joy to eat at a place like Verna's. The crew is friendly and fast. Super great job to these guys and gals. read more

Simple breakfast sandwich with bacon....always so good, and recently two times in a row just perfect... Having the roast pork special for Thanksgiving this year : ) read more

Everything I ate from here so far was really good. Chicken katsu loco is definitely my favorite. I love the breading on the katsu and the gravy isn't the kind you get out of a package. The only reason I didn't give Vernas 5 stars is the wait. If it's busy, be prepared to wait at least 20-30 minutes. read more

ok, that's 3 times i've eaten at Verna's, bacon burger, meat loaf, and roast pork special this last time, could have used more pork on the special, but was good, next time going to try the mixed Moco, hamburger and chicken read more

If this place hasn't been on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, it would definitely be a qualified dive. The place looks like it needs a thorough washing down. Nevertheless, it offers a rounded menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the food is pretty good and reasonably priced. My traveling companion especially likes the traditional Hawaiian dish known as "Lau Lau" and Verna's is the only place in Hilo that makes it in the traditional manner--pork AND fish. Verna's is heavily patronized by the locals, so it must be good. read more

I wanna start first by saying every time i place a phone order the employee who answers and takes my order is always rude and rushes me off the phone. But i always end up coming back cause the food is good and vernas is covenient, a 5 min. drive away. My service tonight with this place though was the worst service by far. Once i get there i walk up to pay my order, i wait 5-10 min to be helped. But in the time of me waiting one of the employees who is the one that took my order on the phone (she was rude then also) was saying to another employee, "these people never come pick up their order? what fuckin assholes." That was my order she was talking about, so she finally comes to help me and i tell her, "thats my order," and i point to it sitting on the counter. I didnt let her know i heard what she said, i just wanted to hurry up and go already. But this employee then tells me, "oh i was just asking about your order wondering if you were coming." i kept my composure and just told her to have a nice night, i guess she thought i said something about her cause she turned around and was all like, " you said something?" Ultimately this place gives me the worst service almost every time i come here and tonight was by far the worst of the worst. read more

I really like Verna's plate lunches, they're simple and delicious and a great representation of chill Hawaiian food. They have great macaroni salad, kalua pork, and korean chicken. I wouldn't recommend their laulau though, it gets pretty dry and isn't the best you can find in Hilo. They're lomi lomi salmon is also way too salty. None of the items are expensive, especially when you account for the portion sizes. They give you HUGE servings of rice and protein, so you can definitely have yourself a great and filling meal for under $10. My only issue is that they do take quite a bit of time to make your food, and when there's a line it's actually excruciating. Of course, the reason they take so long is because everything is made to order, so it's not the worst problem to have. There are a few bench seats, enough for twenty to twenty five people I'd say? But I'd suggest getting your food and eating at any of the beaches in the area. Having a plate lunch while watching the sea is a Hawaiian experience that can't be beat. read more

It's a drive in. You get what you get from drive in's tasty greasy burgers, fries and then there's the hawaiian menu. We stayed at a nearby hotel with it's own restaurant attached and ate there our first night. Should have walked around the corner and saved ourselves $30 and got just as good of food from Verna's. We ate here several times during our 1 week stay since it was walking distance and the food wasn't too bad. There were several other places nearby, but we kept going back. The service depended on who was working. We only had one person who wasn't too happy to be at work serve us and she wasn't friendly to anyone, not even the locals. The place was frequented by locals, so it can't be all bad. I only had one item there I didn't care for and that was the Kameuela. "fried" noodles with spam, egg, teriyaki beef, onions and something pink and white. I wound up eating all the spam and teriyaki and tossing the rest. The bbq pork burgers are ONO! And for a walk up drive in, the breakfasts are surprisingly good. If you're looking for a decent cheap meal, Verna's is a great option. read more