Volcano House Dining Room

We ate here for dinner last night after touring the park for most of the day. We were guests at the hotel and realized our meal options would likely be limited, so we took an 8:30 reservation. They actually were able to fit us in at 7:15. We were a party of six which meant we were seated away from the window which made the view of the glowing crater hard to see, but it was ok. The bread was served warm and fresh and the meals were tasty (albeit a bit pricey). My daughter was definitely disappointed with the child’s pizza though– it looked like a tiny piece of cardboard. My pasta was very good and filling with the Mac nut pesto and my other daughter had the child’s Luau which was plenty of food that she enjoyed (and shared with her sister who made the mistake of ordering the pizza which quickly solved that issue for us). The room was very dark (which was great for viewing, but tricky for eating). The service was pleasant and efficient. Overall a nice meal in a nice setting… and great places to walk around to check out the view outside afterwards.

The food was awful. They even messed up fish and chips. The fish was terrible and there is no excise for that on an island where fresh fish is available everywhere.
The view of the crater was really neat and made the dinner special. Good thing too because it was expensive and I couldn’t even choke down my dinner.
Don’t bother eating here. Eat elsewhere and drive up to the Jagger Museum for a much better view of the crater.

Scott the bartender knows what you need, just ask. He’s a great source of local information.

The view from the bar dining room of the crater is amazing. Limited menu but something for everyone. The service is great, Shy was our server, and catered to our needs. Second time eating at this fun and exciting stop on the way to the crater.

I gave 2 stars for the service. Lunch service opens at 1100.
First, the food is great. The portions, IMHO, is just right. My children and I left satisfied… once we got our stomachs filled.
Second, the service… if you are not with a tour group, you’ll wait at least 30 minutes for your food. Those who are with the tour group (s) are served FIRST. I feel that all patrons should be served in a timely manner. Seriously, we were literally ignored. When I asked how long it will be since we have waited 30 minutes thus far, I got attitude! ATTITUDE. «You know, we have to serve the people with tour group reservations FIRST.» Oh, okay. That was totally rude. My kids were hungry and you show attitude. Our food came literally a minute later. Yes, it was hot. And yes, I checked it over BEFORE we ate.
Third, menu is limited. Entrée prices are $ 19 per dish. Some may say that the food portions are small, but like I mention prior, we left satisfied. They serve poi. We ate all except the poi. I think poi should be optional. Such a waste.
Finally, the VIEW is great.

The Volcano House is the only restaurant in the park and has an exquisite view of Halemaumau Crater. I encourage you to come in the evening so you will get to enjoy the glow of the lava lake during your meal. The restaurant is a fine dining establishment with tablecloths, cloth napkins and the price tag the comes with it. The service is much better here than you will find in other restaurants and I feel like it is worth the price for the experience of dining here.
And that is what this is, an experience.
The food is not the very best on island, but it is very good. The service is not the very best on the island, but it is also very good. The memory of the meal here is something you can never replace and I would encourage you to not miss it.
Make reservations as they do book up, even in advance.
The restaurant offers a breakfast buffet, though I have only been here for dinner. They also have a lounge available in the building with the same great view. The lounge has a full bar and appetizers/​sandwiches/​pub grub which is available without a reservations throughout the day. I have eaten at the lounge many, many times. The food has many local and interesting items and is usually quite good. This is my lunch go-​to inside the park.

GREAT view of the crater. Clean and friendly but food was slightly under par. Ahi was bland; poi was blander than bland; mahi mahi was over cooked; kid’s pizza was an obvious frozen pizza. Still better than going hungry but if there were more options, VH would be in trouble! Adult lunch was $ 20 and kids $ 15… best part was the view.

Beautiful view. I will admit that.
But the food is so mediocre and the portions are teenie. I understand fine dining serves small portions, but not this small, please. I always leave hungry, and there aren’t that many choices to begin with. All the dishes are just a bunch of weird combos… I don’t think it embodies Hawai’i, personally.
The view is nice though, and if we go here we always request a table beside a window.

Read some negative reviews here. But the food was pretty good, and the service was wonderful for my family and I. We had 3 different fish dishes and one lamb dish, also a few appetizers and desserts. While it’s all about the view here, no regrets and quite happy! May I add that our server Skyler was wonderful and made some great suggestions. He was on top of his game!

This was my second time here for lunch. Although it was not crowded the noise in the room was annoying. The walls and ceilings are all hard surfaces and it has large picture windows looking out over the crater. Any loud conversations tend to dominate the room. I would not like to be here if a large tour group came in.
The menu seemed to have been trimmed since my first visit. Not much to chose from. I selected what was called the Taste Of Hawaii. This was a bit disappointing. Watery poi, dry and bland kalua pork, an okay salad with goat cheese, rather ordinary poke and potato/​mac salad. Nothing special. Maybe I should have had the «special» hamburger.
The service was not very attentive. It seemed like I waited a long time for the check once I was finished. The server did not remove my dishes when I was finally able to get her attention and ask for the check.

Call for Reservations!
This is a fine dinning restaurant.
The food is simply delightful. We got the Rib Eye and Rack of Lamb. We drank the weekly sangria and that was delightful too. The guy ferments them weekly we are told. Today’s flavor is Strawberry Peach sangria. We then had the banana coconut cream pie. So yummy!
With all the treats mentioned, you also get a view of the volcano’s orange glow. We came in at 7 and when it became dark, they turned off all the lights and people took pictures. Of course they put them back on after 5 minutes.
Great fine dinning + amazing view of lava = $ 170

Great service starting with Scott the bartender, followed by Francine and finishing it with Maketa.
Drinks were awesome, but the food was really not that big of a deal. In fact, the menu had nothing substantial to offer. We later found out that the lounge was not the actual restaurant after waiting for 25 minutes for a table.
We are grateful for the super awesome service but we wish we were told that we weren’t waiting to be seated at the actual restaurant.

Arriving in Volcano from Hilo, soon after entering the Hawaii Volcano NP, we stopped at Volcano House for lunch. We didn’t realize that there were two separate restaurants inside. We found that out after eating at this one. We shared a Hawaiian pizza (pork, pineapple, bacon and cheese), and a salad. Food was good, not extraordinary. Service was good.

Not sure why everyone was griping about service but we had dinner last night and the service along with the food was great. It was the perfect ending to an adventurous day of sight seeing after swimming at the pool.
We ordered the kampachi, which was excellent, the stuffed chicken was hearty and bursting with flavor. We treated our driver to dinner and he ordered the rib eye with purple potato mash. Kids had buttered pasta and kalua pig with rice.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this restaurant after a long road trip to see the volcano.
As for the view, you can see the glowing Calderon from a far distance but it’s not close enough to be noticeable.

We went there twice: for lunch, I had a Hawaiian pizza (ham, bacon & pineapple), and for dinner, I had an ahi sandwich with chips (daily special).
Verdict: The view! Reserve in advance for dinner and you’ll enjoy a beautiful lookout of the Kilauea’s spewing lava at night. The food is fine, nothing crazy. Weird combination of sandwich and chips (without enough dipping sauce). And always a bit on the expensive side.

This dining experience came with a tour package.
I ordered the mahi-​mahi and my husband had the chicken. It was just okay, I would have liked to try other items on the menu, but since it was with the tour, we had to take what was offered. What stood out the most was the crème brûlée. That was amazing, especially with a cup of Hilo Mill coffee (which isn’t Kona, but still amazing).
Service was good, and the place itself was really nice, the views would be spectacular had it not been nightfall and foggy and I was seated near a window.
Overall, not bad, worth a try for a dinner with a views

Stopped in for lunch after touring the volcano crater.
The dining room is classic old school Hawaiian, with wood and décor from a time past.
The views are majestic! Wow! What a view!
I had a lunch special of a grass fed burger with fries and a starter salad for $ 13. It was very good!
They have a full bar, and the service was friendly and attentive.
This was a nice place to stop… the fireplace and fresh cut wood was a nice touch. It is worth checking this place out, especially for the view!

This is an awesome place to unwind and grab a bite after volcano-​exploring. Although the food didn’t «wow» us, the service and atmosphere was great & welcoming.
We had the avocado dip with house-​made chips (which were taro and sweet potato), fish sticks with fries, and teriyaki chicken plate.
Avocado dip & chips: 4 out of 5 stars (chips were a bit too hard, dip was flavorful, big portions)
Fish sticks with fries: 3 out of 5 starts (pretty basic, fries looked like the frozen kind)
Teriyaki chicken plate: 3 out of 5 stars (also basic)
Overall it was a nice experience to sit and eat while watching the steam rise out of the lava holes.

Three stars for the food, but five huge stars for the view.
The food was meh, we had a beef and pineapple pizza and a burger with fries while sipping hot chocolates. It was cold out, so the hot chocolates helped. But overall, just meh on the food. There was some live Hawaiian music but it was more hotel-​y Hawaiian music than real authentic music.
The view on the other hand, spectacular. You can see the volcano crater from here and at night, you can see an otherwordly red glow from the crater itself. Or innerworldly, I should say since it is literally the glow from lava you can see here. Very cool, but I kinda wish such a stellar view hadn’t been wasted on something as mundane as a restaurant. A lot of other Unilocalers have recommended the Jagger museum to see this view, and we didn’t have time to do so, but that might be a better viewing point.

You’ve just worked up an appetite marching 6 miles around a volcano, what chu gonna do?
The cuisine here was fabulous and the service was impressive. Ice cold adult beverages were delivered with precision timing and delivery.
This lodge also has a gift shop with some great gifts we hadn’t seen anywhere else. The view of the smoldering and gassy volcano is spectacular and only added to the dining experience.