Seafood Bar & Grill

Great find. Recommended to us by several locals. I don’t like calamari because of the chewy texture but our trail guide at Paniolo Adventures said it was the best ever. Boy was she right. It was so tender. Melts in the mouth. I would actually eat it all of the time if I lived here! Awesome happy hour specials. And the best part? They serve Lava Man on tap! Well maybe second best part as the service would rank number 1. I can see why this is the local hang out. Great food and even better service. I just might have to move here!!!

Best happy hour, best service, just bloody good. Your wait person, Danby, is stellar!

Foodie alert — who would guess that the Seafood Bar & Grill in little olé Kawaihae could have not only the very best calamari we’ve ever had, but they also make fabulous escargot! No kidding, six luscious snails in pesto butter with Parmesan bread was the highlight of our happy hour feast. We also had several reasonably priced pupus which included the perfectly cooked calamari.
Can’t wait to return (we are locals) and try the rest of the menu.

Interesting location across from a working port (container ships) and huge gas/​propane tanks.
The bar is upstairs so park in the back instead of up front by the shops on the first floor.
Old Island atmosphere. Nice people working here. Great service.
We sat on the outdoor lanai upstairs die happy hour. Eventually the heat of the sun and the flies attracted to our food drove us inside. But while it lasted, it was nice outside.
We came for happy hour. Not my favorite happy hour on the island. Not bad but not memorable. Wouldn’t repeat. Pupus were priced a bit high and Mai Tai was ok but no where near as good as Lava Lava Beach Club.
This is a great place to grab a happy hour beer for $ 4 on the lanai while you watch the sunset.

Don’t bother with this place. Bad selection of items on the menu and cocky staff. Overpriced menu and food was not so great. Wish we did not eat here as even the staff was bad and the waitress had an attitude and shoved my plate into my arm because it was in her way. Next time wait a minute or communicate better.

Love this place. Service was some of the best on the island. Seafood was fresh and perfectly cooked. All the locals come here so that says a lot. I recommend the coconut fried shrimp with the piña colada sauce! If I lived in the area this would def be my hangout!

GO NEXT DOOR TO THE PLANTATION GRILL. over priced food. worst service. our server was not only deaf but an idiot. she didn’t know what halibut tasted like and couldn’t figure out how to describe their special fishes for the night.
one of us got the seafood fried rice which was just a cheap pile of rice with 2 scallops and minimum seafood compared to the peas and carrots.
next one of us got the Cajun fish which was the smallest slice of fish I have ever seen, piled on top of mashed potatoes which did not go well all together… she was very angry with her dish after our waitress suggested it.
another of us ordered the seafood combo black bean dish which was highly recommended. he really enjoyed it, but it came with no rice, and it is a curry like consistency and needed something to be soaked up with. we ordered rice and it took our server 20 MINUTES to bring us a side of rice. by then he was done with his meal, after stealing rice from the fried rice guy, and we called over the owner just to nicely suggest that the meal be served with rice.
when we called him over, he argued everything. I work in a restaurant and even if the customer is wrong or doesn’t agree about something, THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT! and he con unitedly starred angry at us and kept arguing extremely rudely. we were all completely blown away by the extremely rude service and can’t imagine why it is recommended by anyone.
DO NOT COME HERE.

Hubby and I stopped here for lunch as a respite from over priced resort food. Really neat bar and the décor was throwback tiki style. Very neat. Seat yourself casual kind of place. We ate outside and you do get some road noise, but hey, its Hawaii, enjoy sitting outside while you are here!
Husband’s French dip was the best he’s ever had. He said the onions were tucked into the meat, the cheese was perfect, au jus sauce was delicious. I had the coconut shrimp sandwich. Shrimp was excellent and it came with a lovely piña colada dipping sauce. The lettuce and onion on the sandwich were very fresh and the tomato was red and ripe, not like the pink under ripe crap you get back home.
Fries with both sandwiches were perfect. We’ve found that this little town (Kawaihae) has good food at off-​resort prices — its worth a stop!

Found the place on our last day of our vacation.
Ahi burger is awesome!!! Best Mai Tai on the big island

Seafood Bar & Grill was a find we came across after spending the day exploring the north side of the island. We popped in here during Happy Hour and ordered several of their PuPus at $ 8, including the Siu Mai, Coconut Shrimp, and Calamari.
Their drink specials are excellent during HH — their $ 9 Mai Tai is $ 5, and their beers are $ 4. Excellent value.
Their entrees are def on the steeper side but all very hearty and delicious — filled with plenty of seafood. I got the Black Bean Soup with seafood ($ 20) — I was really impressed — bold flavors and so many shrimps/​scallops!
The view here isn’t the best. but the interior of the restaurant offers a nice, warm Tiki-​like ambiance. It’s a great stop if you’re making your way north of the island or returning home south from a day exploring north.

Location: meh
Service: fast and friendly
Food: very good
Prices: they seemed a little high
We ordered coconut shrimp– yum. Calamari steak– yum and tender
Grilled cheese (for baby) — surprisingly good
I ordered special Opah– $ 35!!! That’s a bit steep. It came with some veggies and white rice
Also ordered swordfish very good.
I’d go back for sure. Just thought the $ 35 dish was a bit steep.

5 stars. Wife and I are family style between the two of us doing a little surf and turf. We had the special which was Opah fish with a red pepper tomatillo cream sauce with mashed potatoes and asparagus and WE COULD NOT EAT ENOUGH of it. The other entrée we ordered was also delicious — a «pupu steak» which was a thin cut of beef with a nice sauce and onions rings on top. We finished off with a lava cake and locally made ice cream while sipping down a Mai tai prior to eating. All of this ran us $ 76 before tip.
The interior is a quant Hawaiian bar feel and feels like a locals seafood place though there were a few tourists as well.
If you are staying at one of the nearby resorts — do yourself a favor and leave the resort and get to this restaurant for dinner and drinks. We may very well be returning for lunch tomorrow!
Props to John, our bartender and server who was just so welcoming, friendly and talkative! Thanks for a great time!