Sunlight Cafe

Ramen: If you want to pay $ 8.99 for package ramen, then go to this restaurant. Disappointed. I could have made my own at home and save money. Wonder what else they cook that is instant made or premade?

Very nice setting but food. Ramen tasted like it came out of a package, fried mandoo was baked (probably frozen package type) and awful. Also not much variety in the vegetable tempura, thinly sliced. Needs much improvement.

Such a cute little restaurant if you’re looking for a decent or mediocre lunch or dinner spot in Hilo.
Japanese cuisine with a contemporary taste. A few local Japanese items on the menu, as well as fried shrimp and mandoo. Somewhere just past comfort food. Not the best grub you’ll find in Hawaii, and at competitive prices too, but when you’re craving the type and desire a tasteful and classy environment (which is hard to find in Hilo), it works.
If you’re local, you can find everything on the menu someplace else and cheaper. So keep that in mind. For example, you may not want to pay that much for a Chicken Katsu plate even if it is really good here. In this case, stick to your local drive in. But if you’re like my husband and loooove Katsu, these are really very yummy.
Their ramen is unique and unlike the other noodle soups on the island (which is not a lot to begin with), so this is what I’d suggest if you want to try what they do different here. You have to be down for non traditional Ramen though. I honestly enjoy it. I love the noodles they use, it tastes like a fresher, better version of the noodles in Top Ramen packs. You know, that curly al dente texture. Don’t lie, you crave it too sometimes. In fact, their ramen somewhat tastes like an elevated bowl of Top Ramen, like a Top Chef went in and doctored it up. Not a bad thing if you ask me. But I also lived in the dorms in college so Top Ramen was golden to us.
The sautéed shrimp ramen (spicy) is my go to and my taste buds say delicious. I’m never disappointed. I just wish it were spicier. Much spicier. The broth base is very stable and I seriously love the way the sesame seeds, peppers and cabbage settle into the soup and still remain slightly crispy. So unusual yet so perfect here. My favorite part of it. The sauté on their shrimp is impressive and the bowl is a standard big. This is the dish that I come back for. None other and the price is fairer than the rest of the menu.
The Miso Eggplant appetizer (also available in the combo plates) is good and cooked the way I love it, where it creates an edible eggshell and a medium soft squashy inside. Good flavor.
I’ve got the butterfish a few times because I really love the fish and no matter how someone messes with it, you can always find the butter in there. Theirs is alright if you can look past the fact that it’s not a filet but in small strips or pieces. The other con would be that it’s unreasonably priced for what you get. The pro is that they fry it up so good that you can eat the flaky skin.
I’ve done the Unagi and it does its thing, gives you sweet meat from the sea, but the texture and cook on it does not sync up for me.
Choose the miso dressing for your garden salad.
Really great modern, simplistic décor with hip accents and clean lines and edges. We really love the color and wood throughout and the ambiance is my favorite aspect of coming here. It’s always quant and surprisingly quiet. Dim lighting. Nice treat when living in Hilo for sure, but I wouldn’t make it a must stop on your list if you’re visiting for a short trip.
Most things taste standard and what you’d expect from these popular dishes, so I can see why this place isn’t blowing folks away yet. Give it a try and poke around. I do want to see them fill up more. The server is shy so don’t mistake her for being stand offish. Be kind.

Every time we come here I have excellent service, and the food is great! We usually get the deluxe teishoku. One from column A and B. Ambiance is very quaint. Even when there are a lot of ppl, it doesn’t get too loud.

It had to happen eventually. We found a bad restaurant in Hilo. Despite its attractive interior, the food and service at the Sunlight Café are, unfortunately, beyond poor. Our food arrived cold, undercooked, and overly tough and fatty. We tried the teriyaki chicken and were disappointed when it was partially raw inside and covered in chewy fat. The miso soup was also cold and completely without flavor. The salad was the only part of the dish that was worth eating, and to the restaurant’s credit, it was very good, as was the dressing.
However, when the problems with our dishes were brought to our server’s attention, she took the chicken back to the kitchen, never returned with it or a substitute, and refused to remove the item from the bill. This resulted in us each eating a $ 12 side salad. Due to the late hour and having a fussy baby, we went ahead and paid and left rather than arguing with management, so this review is my only recourse for such bad service and undesirable food. As there are many other quality options for the types of food prepared here, including Restaurant Miwa in the same complex, I would avoid eating at this establishment.

Had the teriyaki chicken here and it was AWFUL! We couldn’t even eat it! How do u mess up Teri chicken?!! What’s worst is when we told them that it tasted bad they said «it tastes ok to us» and they didn’t even offer to get us something else or take it off the bill! (which is what other good businesses would do!) this isn’t the first time I’ve found their service to b less than friendly. Their «NEVER SMILE» server I could tolerate but this whole Teri chicken incident is jus too much!
I’d say skip it and spend ur hard earned money somewhere that they appreciate u.

Love the veggie ramen — hits the spot when returning from a long flight. Brings the local flavor back in an instant! Quiet ambience & the service is always fast. Good for the working folks who are on a limited lunch break too.

Food was good. Looked just like the photos. Had the unagi and chicken combo. Probably the most generous piece of unagi I’ve been served in a long time.

Their menu looked like any other, not much deviation from the typical dishes, however I could probably eat Japanese food like on the menu every single day. There’s joy in these simple kinds of dishes. Love that it’s byob! Although they didn’t have those small ceramic cups for sake, our server brought these small glass shotglasses that worked fine.
I really enjoyed our appetizer:
EGGPLANT with MISO SAUCE $ 5.99: The eggplant was cooked nicely, the skin still on with a charred look and flavor to it, which was a nice textural contrast to the very tender of the eggplant on the inside. I was surprised it was easy to eat with the skin being left on, it wasn’t chewy at all, and the flavor was spot on, not too salty and just the right amount of subtle miso to it.
I ordered a teishoku, with both options from «Column A» from their menu which was an additional $ 2 charge onto the $ 16.99 price tag:
BUTTERFISH SHIYOYAKI + UNAGI $ 18.99: The miso soup to start was good, light in color yet tasty enough, but also not too salty, and was served piping hot. But the fish seemed to be sort of doused in the shiyoyaki sauce, kind of a no-​no for me. The quality of the fish and eel was pretty good but I wish they went very light on the sauces and focused more on enhancing the natural flavors of the fish rather than hiding them by adding the thick sauces.
My friend ordered TEMPURA which must have been just okay, she wasn’t oohing or aahing over it.
We couldn’t say not to their GREEN TEA ICE CREAM on the dessert menu. We finished it off easily. My friend said it was from Hilo Homemade Ice Cream, so I was happy to see that Sunlight partners up with fellow local businesses. Although the food is decent and on the lackluster side, I think they could improve a little and bring in more customers.
Located just to the right of Lanky’s Bakery at the Hilo Shopping Plaza, you can’t miss this spot. Décor and ambiance is handsome, with deep rich wood flooring and tables, a beautiful look to the contrast of the dark and light walls. Of course service was attentive since we were the only customers from 6:30pm until closing; I was surprised there weren’t more patrons, but then again it was a weekday, not to mention the day after Christmas.

Great food. Excellent atmosphere. Competitive prices. You will not be disappointed.

I love the atmosphere! Perfect for romantic dinner! I pretty much love allllllll of their food!

3 stars A-​OK. It’s a nice clean contemporary setting (once you get inside)…service was efficient and food was good. We were in a rush and I had the same thing I had last time… mixed skewer plate was 2 grilled shrimp on a skewer, skewer of mushroom, skewer of chicken yakitori. Skewers are a little small but included miso soup, salad, and furikake rice for $ 12.99. My friends enjoyed their meals also (fried tofu curry and fried fish and chips)… although nothing was a «knock-​out» we all were satisfied and happy.

My first time eating here. Modern décor, clean, fast service. 6 of us opted to eat Japanese and stumbled onto Sunlight Café. I had the mix plate, mahi, tonkatsu, teri chicken, and when it came I couldn’t believe the portion size. It was huge, and for $ 13 it was worth it. The meal came with 2 scoops of rice and a choice of toss or mac salad. Only bad part is green tea is priced by the cup and they use tea bags instead of having the tea served in a tea pot. Recommend green tea as part of the meal. Other than that I’ll be a return customer when back in Hilo.

This is the second time I have eaten here and I gave it another go! Nice presentation of food. However, the tempura and chicken katsu were cooked in a microwave (at least reheated). Furthermore, the chicken tasted old and was strange and stringy.
The first time I ate there the eggplant was overcooked and dried out and the saba was cooked to long and also dry. There were two pieces actually and the bigger piece came out pretty good but the smaller piece suffered.
Service is also lacking, we were one of two tables dining and never got a refill on water or a check-​in from the waitress.
Oh well, Back to my consistently good thai restaurant!

Cute & Romantic place to dine… Food was Average… didn’t like all the Sesame Seeds they put on mostly all their dishes… eeewwww…I like the Green Tea Ice Cream! Thats always a plus for me! Yum!!!

We ate at Sunlight Café for the first time last month. My first impression of the restaurant was that it has a nice ambiance. Although there is not a lot of seating (35 – 40 people max), it’s very nicely set up and comfortable. It is located at the Hilo Shopping Center on Kilauea Ave with lots of parking.
When we ate there for dinner on a Saturday night at around 6:30 p.m. there was only one other couple there, and two more groups of four came in after us. The service was o.k., and the food came pretty fast.
The one big let down for me was that I was not able to order the combination of food that I wanted. If you order a combination plate, you can only order one selection from the «A» side of the menu and the other selection must be from the «B» side of the menu. So my craving of Beef teriyaki with butterfish could not be done:-(Even when I told the waitress that I was willing to pay extra for that combo. The food that I did eat tasted really good, it was chicken katsu with butterfish (love butterfish). The only thing that I didn’t like about it was that sesame seeds were put on everything: the katsu, butterfish and on top of the katsu sauce. We ordered an appetizer which was a bbq stick combo of chicken, mushrooms, shrimp and bacon wrapped scallops, but that also had sesame seeds sprinkled on that too! I have nothing against sesame seeds, but I don’t want it on everything.
Recommendations for Sunlight Café: let people order whatever they want on the menu (charge more if need be), and hold back on the sesame seeds!
Restaurant set up: 5 stars (very nice)
The service: 2.5 stars
The food: 3 stars
I recommend Sunlight Café if you like a nice setting, and Japanese food with Chinese influence. Just don’t be suprised if you cannot order the combination of food that you like.

Love the atmosphere! Quiet and calm… the perfect setting after a stressful day. The furikake butterfish is ‘ono!

Food 3.5 stars
Service 2 stars
Restaurant atmosphere and cleanliness 3 stars
Restroom 1 star ickiness
We went here after driving via the North side of the Big Island, from Kona to Hilo.
First of all, DO NOT follow the directions you get if you click «Directions» on Unilocal Mobile for iPhone. It will send you on a wild goose chase way up near University of Hawaii, Hilo. This restaurant is in the same strip mall as Island Natural Market. If you want accurate directions, search on the market, not the restaurant. Oh, and definitely visit Island Natural, if only for entertainment value. I’ve never seen so many freaky looking people in one place, in my life.
I ordered the Tofu Ramen, and my BF ordered the beef teriaki ramen. Both were very good but not particularly orgasmic. They were in a tasty broth and there was plenty of protien. And they were steaming hot. The ramen noodles themselves were fine — not home made; nothing to make a big deal over. We ate everything and left satisfied. Maybe I’m spoiled, coming from the LA area, with plentiful noodle houses. For Hilo, this place probably deserves more stars, but I’m basing my review on my prior experiences in similar restaurants.
The service was OK. Given that, for a while we were the only customers in the restaurant, I’d think that we would have received more prompt drink refills. Oh well, it eventually happened but the service was not stellar.
The only restroom is outside the restaurant in a corner of the strip mall. Pretty nasty and ancient. Like, tiny square sinks protruding from the wall with antique fixtures. Dirty tile, no paper towels. Hot, muggy, and smelly. Ewe. That’s another reason for less stars. If a restaurant cares, they’ll make sure the restroom is clean, even if it is a communal restroom.
This restaurant was OK but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back.

I usually wait to go to a place at least 3 times before I write a review. I have gone to Sunlight Café more than 3 times… but I keep ordering the same thing! I can’t help it — the saimin is just too good. So to be fair I only know one dish here intimately… I’ve also made all of my dining partners order the same thing so I haven’t gotten to sample any of the other dishes.
But oh… the saimin. Or ramen I guess. A friend of mine who lives in Oahu now was craving Sunlight Café’s saimin — I thought, but you live in Oahu? Why would you crave a Hilo place saimin? So I tried it, and I know why! The broth is just salty enough without being overpowering — really good flavor! And you can tell it is homemade and not from a powder. The noodles are the soft kine — I would guess that they are fresh and not dehydrated. Get komoboko, plenty green onions, egg… I know it doesn’t sound crazy special, but trust me. All together the flavor is just so ono! You have your choice of ordering it with katsu, tempura, teriyaki… but I’ve always gotten the mandoo. Can’t help it — it comes with a side of vinegar for dipping and 6 (or 5?) pieces of mandoo. I never think I’m going to finish, but I haven’t left food in my bowl yet!
My guess is the same love and care that goes into their ramen goes into all of the other dishes. It is family run and owned, and definitely cared for. Service is subtle and fast, atmosphere is kinda hipster meets samurai. Clean and cool. I’d like to say I’ll try something else next time I go… but that saimin calls to me on a cold rainy day!

I had no idea this restaurant existed until a friend arranged a get-​together there. Nice atmosphere and delicious grilled Saba (mackerel). The portions could have been a bit larger but no other complaints.