Waikoloa Grill’n Bar

New name is «Waikoloa Grill and Bar.» They have Happy Hour till 5:30pm and only open till 8:30pm unfortunately. 5 star service with 5 star tasting food for an inexpensive price comparatively. Highly recommend! Will be back when I’m on the island! Went back 8−19−13 and they were closed!

Some of the best Calamari I have had in a long time… They make Calamari, using calamari steaks. instead of tiny little Pods and legs… Entrée was great too… Really good fish place.

Can’t believe haven’t written about this great restaurant before! This is the 3^rd year visiting The Big Island and it is a must to eat at Waikoloa Grill n Bar at least twice in a few days (formerly called Buzz’s Sandtrap). Obviously by the former name, you can tell its next to a golf course.
Wonderful FRESH fish — try whatever the fresh fish is, truly fresh and wonderfully prepared. Honestly more food than you can eat but very reasonably priced.
They have a Happy Hour from 3:30−5 (may want to double-​check end time) where you get a free pupu (ie, appetizer for us mainlanders). The $ 5 mai tai’s during happy hour are the best I’ve had on any island in Hawaii — not too sweet and just perfect. The drinks are great and so are the appetizers. Especially love the calamari. Its not the over fried rings you get in most restaurants, but truly a piece of calamari, sliced with a very light breading and topped with a lemon caper sauce (am sure the chef has a fancier name for the sauce, its truly a top notch dish).
Haven’t had room for the desserts — but they sound great.
Always enjoy chatting with the owners, bartenders, servers and everyone we meet who is also drinking and dining. Wonderful establishment and families would be comfortable, too — without breaking the bank and enjoying wonderfully prepared food.
Can’t wait for my next trip … my mouth is watering thinking about the calamari and the fresh fish … we will be back!

Walked there from my home at the Waikaloa Resorts. Wanted to try this place out.
Upon arrival, i had the feeling that I had walked into a restaurant that would be quite at home on an episode of the Golden Girls. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The décor is a bit dated but I still had to see how the service and food would pan out since that’s what really counts.
Ok, so the service… it’s very friendly and prompt. Our waiter once the executive chef and the owners son is very nice and friendly. Told us his story on being a triathlete and his non profit to promote a condition that he has and is near and dear to him.
Ok, so the food… the food was actually very good. While not a five star dining experience, it was flavorful and prepared quite well. No disappointment.
The Mai Tai I had was delicious.
I plan on returning for a nice casual dinner out with friends or by myself. I found the prices to be fair.
It’s a family owned place and I like the lack of «corporate» feel to it.
High Point: Friendly service and decent food
Low Point: The décor could use some updating.
Chances I’ll return: Definitely. I want to try some other menu items.

Atmosphere: Nothing special. Furniture and tables, while nice are not anything to write home about. While we were there they had live piano music which was a bit loud. But it wasn’t a huge issue
Food: the complementary bread and the plate of grated parmesan, olive oil, garlic, and balsamic is good. The ahi poke appetizer is delicious. I could have eaten a huge plate of it. For an entrée I had the pan seared Ono. While good it was a bit over cooked and the rice that came with was a titch dry. But overall if was good. I would come back just for the poke alone.
Service: our server (Chris?) was fantastic. Super nice guy and responsive. A definite asset to the restaurant.
The restaurant is a bit expensive but I would go back

Very friendly service. Good food after golfing.

We had been here when it was another restaurant, and were shocked the golf store was closed, but were so glad we stopped by! Unfortunately we missed the great happy hour, but the salads, paella, calamari and wines we chose were just fabulous. Cindy and Dick, the new owners were very gracious and the staff was efficient and enjoyable. Love it!

Have been going here for the past few years and have been loyal customers even though the appeal has been going down the last two or so years evidenced by the lack of vehicles in the parking lot and empty tables. This time the straw broke the camels back. Some long favored items were gone from the menu like Portageuse soup. Management states that popularity of such items had wained (contrary to those in the know (SERVERS). Future plans for the menu will be more limited according to owners due to alleged changing demographics of diners. The up side was that the service staff were very understanding and tried to ease the pain, but apparently have limited influence. According to management, thee have been instances where potential diners would enter, review the menu and leave. As sad as it is for me to say
, I will no longer return to this restaurant during future visits to Waikoloa.

This is a well kept secret! The food and service are exceptional. I would highly recommend the Calamari. It is an appetizer but big enough for the main course.
The prime rib is superb. The price/​performance on this place is teriffic.

This is my favorite place. It is now called Waikoloa Grill ‘n Bar, but it is the same place. Its right across the road from the Marriott and Hilton hotels, right on the golf course.
The best Happy Hour– yummy Mai Tais, real ones & Mojitos with fresh mint right from the garden for $ 5. They are very friendly and casual there serving up a free snack during happy hour.
They have a very good salad bar, a meal in its self, with fresh greens and wakame and all the other fixins. I had the steak and lobster last night and I gotta say, I was NOT disappointed.
Give this place a try for good food at a reasonable price, fabulous happy hour and now… LUNCH! I haven’t tried the lunch menu yet, but I hear the French Dip is pretty darn good ;)

Great place, great food, awesome happy hour, and wonderful staff. Very romantic and secluded.
I would recommend: Calamary Steak, Fish Spring Rolls, Clam-​chowder soup, Steak.
Rum cake is so good.
Great Mai Tai’s, Margarita’s, and Mohitos.

Not a fan of The Sizzler… however, this place was worse. The décor, music selections, and food were all horrible. We couldn’t even substitute a baked potato for the veggies and salad bar. Yes, unfortunately I said salad bar. Save your time and money. They obviously are not interested in repeat business.

Buzz’s has recently changed its name to Waikoloa Grill and Bar, but it’s the same place.
This may be the best happy hour on the island – $ 5 cocktails (big ones) and wine, $ 3 beers, and a free pupu of the day (crispy potato wedges for us). We also ordered the artichoke and sizzling mushrooms, which were both good.
The vibe is old kitschy Hawaiana, with lots of bamboo and ukelele music and a big fish tank, and the food is classic steakhouse with an island twist. The prices were reasonable, the servers were all sweet, and there’s a decent view out toward the mountains. All in all, a pleasant place for a drink or two or dinner.

Keep in mind this place opens at 3pm and closes at 9pm. The service was excellent. The staff was very friendly. I ordered the steak and lobster and it was delicious! The price was very fair. Keep in mind everything in Hawaii is slow, well I shouldn’t saw «slow». It’s just very relaxed and non rushed. I understand some people are used to having fast service and in a very rushed manner, especially folks from California. I noticed all places in Hawaii are the same. Even their speed limits are slow. So it’s not the servers that are being rude and purposely slow. It’s just their culture to not be in a rush. They actually enjoy every minute of life.
I noticed restaurant owners in Hawaii love to sit and socialize with their guests. It was actually a very pleasant experience. So I wouldn’t say their service is slow. I recommend this restaurant to any travelers coming this way.

Our family of four had a very satisfactory dinner at Buzz’s while staying at a condo nearby. I particularly enjoyed the tournedos of beef (plenty of black pepper, somewhere between Steak Diane and Beef stroganoff in style); one son enjoyed the baby back ribs a lot. Drinks (Mai tais for husband, wine for me were good and generous). As other reviews have noted, a nice salad bar, particularly by Hawaii standards.
The only downsides: the «artichoke surprise» appetizer, ordered by the other son, was the wrong kind of surprise– artichoke overcooked and not to his taste at all). However, the attentive server took it off the bill when she noticed he wasn’t happy with it. And the teriyaki-​prepared steak my husband had was only so-​so.
A definite 3, and with careful menu selection you might do even better!

This establishment is a decent bar local to several condos within the area of Vista Waikoloa. The staff was very pleasant and happy hour was pretty good.

We stayed at the Hilton Bay Club and were looking for a casual dinner. I found Buzz’s on Unilocal and we chose it to stay out of the Kings and Queens shops, but not leave the resort area.
A really nice find. Simple, relaxed, good drinks, good food. Salad bar is nice, two of us had rib eyes which were very good, not steak house quality but perfectly acceptable. The other two shared the ribs. The ribs were really REALLY good. I was really surprised.
Definitely worth a shot if you are staying there in the Hilton properties.

Buzz’s is a solid establishment in Waikoloa that features great steaks. All of the entrees come with the salad bar where there are some great ingredients and a pretty good potato salad. Get your salad before you put in your order because the food comes out very fast.
I had a great ribeye and also heard the filet was very good. I got the ribeye with «Sinatra Sauce» which contains olive oil and capers. They claimed steak was their specialty and I agree. The prime rib was also some of the reddest and juiciest I have seen. I’m pretty sure they actually pour blood on top before they bring it out.

We had no idea what to expect from this restaurant, but after calling and speaking with a Manager we knew they had some gluten-​free options so went for it. The restaurant is located right on a golf course very close to the Waikoloa resorts. The menu is pretty extensive and they have a salad bar like you’d find at Ruby Tuesday’s, which was a pleasant surprise. Sure some croutons were floating in the dressings and some old dude didn’t believe in using tongs, but I love a good salad bar.
The waiter couldn’t have been more helpful with picking out gluten-​free options and we found out that the Manager had actually bought some packages of gluten-​free pasta prior to our arrival just in case my wife wanted pasta. She did end up ordering some pasta scampi dish, which was really oily and not the best meal of the honeymoon by far, but still this place gets an A for effort. Oh and there was some sort of ice cream mountain for dessert that was unreal and thankfully got the oil/​garlic taste out of our mouths.

We were staying at the Hilton Waikoloa, and wanted to eat something delicious outside of the spendy hotel itself. Buzz’s is spendy, too, but not nearly as much as the eateries in the hotel. The ambiance was nice, with a view of Mauna Kea at sunset, and it’s right next to a golf course, hence the apropos name. There’s a pretty salt water aquarium near the entrance, and it has a nice, informal but upscale feel to it.
I cannot be so effusive about the food, however. I ordered a «10 oz fillet «steak medium, and it had very little taste. I had been warned not to order steak in a restaurant, but, hey, I live in a condo and can’t risk getting evicted by the homeowners association stasi, not to mention imprisonment by the fire department for having a barbecue on the lanai, so I have no choice but to order steak in a restaurant, know what I’m saying? The steak was $ 30.95, and no, it was not worth every penny.
They had a small salad bar, which contained pretty standard salad fare. Edible? Certainly. Superlative? Not really. What annoyed me was that a woman (who said she made the salad) was standing there the whole time I was getting my salad. She kept monkeying around with the salad bar, putting things in, taking things out, getting in the way, all the while telling everybody «Go ahead and serve yourself, don’t mind me.» This has happened at other places too many times for me to believe it is purely a chance occurrence. No folks, I am firmly convinced this is an example of the Worldwide Sisterhood of Super Secret Salad Bar Squads making sure that patrons do not eat away at restaurants’ profits by eating too much darn salad! Well, it worked with me, because I was thoroughly intimidated. I should have sent my wife up to get seconds, because she would have warded off the salad bar guard with a set of cucumber tongs if she had gotten in HER way.
Even my kids complained about their food. I noticed my daughter’s «pizza» looked like tomato sauce, cheese and pepperoni spread on sourdough bread. Nice try, but you’re not fooling the little ones with that trick. They are not foodie wannabe’s, but they do know a pizza when they see one.
So, anyhow, it wasn’t bad, but for the price, I would just expect better.