Description: When vacationing in Hawaii, it is always a challenge to find a leisurely activity on the day of check out since you have to be out of your resort in the morning and typically do not have a flight off the island until that evening. For us, we decided to take a northerly road trip up the Kohala Coast and to Hawi Town for lunch. The Bamboo Restaurant lived up to its much ballyhooed reputation from locals and visitors alike.
We arrived at around 1:30pm on a Friday afternoon. They still had a pretty good flow of dining guests in the restaurant. We were immediately seated and greeted by a server with a pitcher of ice water. After our three hours on the road, the water was very quenching.
Given that most of their dishes have Thai influence, I had to carefully evaluate my options since I had once had a rather unpleasant dining experience with food that was too spicy for me. While I noted that they did have burgers and fries (which looked fabulous going by our table), I felt it would be a crime to not indulge one last meal of island flavor . . . which meant seafood or fish.
Pam was apparently of the same mind as she opted for the catch of the day sandwich, which was mahi mahi on foccacia. With island slaw and rice, she had a complete meal. My lunch selection was the grilled shrimp (four of them) served with a ginger Thai sauce (on the side) along with steamed veggies (carrots, maui onions, broccoli and cucumbers) and rice.
Our meals were outstanding! While I was a bit concerned with the Thai sauce, there was just enough of a blended sweet and spicy that I thoroughly enjoyed it on my shrimp which were plump and tender.
I had read several reviews of the Bamboo citing them as "ridiculously expensive". I found their prices to be very fair and reasonable, and not particularly more than most places of similar choices and quality. My lunch was $15 and Pam's was about the same. With soft drinks and tip, our dining experience was $40. I guess I am accustomed to paying $20 per person for a wonderful lunch!
We would both very happy with our meals and the experience and would recommend them to anyone doing the north shore Kohola road trip to or through Hawi.
A word about desserts . . . they do offer the $1.95 sample sizes of many of their offerings. We had been advised back in Kona, however, to enjoy lunch at the Bamboo Restaurant and then go across the street for the sweets which include locally made Hawaiian ice cream and homemade fudge. We were both full from lunch however, so we took a pass on desserts altogether.
For more information including hours (they are closed on Mondays) and menus check them out at: http://www.bamboorestaurant.info/restaurant.html .
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