Waikoloa is a popular resort area located on Big Island, Hawaii’s Kohala Coast. It’s well known for its stunning beaches, luxurious resorts, and incredible recreational water activities.
Given that the Kohala Coast enjoys a tropical climate with warm year-round temperatures and is one of the sunniest regions on the island, it’s no surprise that sunsets here are spectacular. That’s why dining at many of Waikoloa’s restaurants offers not only jaw-dropping views but also unforgettable dining experiences. You’ll be able to find everything from traditional Hawaiian dishes to international fare.
Table of Contents
- Roy’s Waikoloa Bar & Grill
- Lava Lava Beach Club
- Kamuela Provision Company
- Pueo’s Osteria
- Sansei Seafood Steak & Sushi Bar
- Foster’s Kitchen Waikoloa
- Kuleana Rum Shack
- Napua at Mauna Lani Beach Club
8 Best Restaurants In Waikoloa
Roy’s Waikoloa Bar & Grill
Address: 250 Waikoloa Beach Drive, Waikoloa, HI 96738 // Phone: +1 (808) 886-4321
Roy Yamaguchi opened his first restaurant in Oahu in 1988, featuring Hawaiian fusion dishes. Since then, several other locations have opened throughout Hawaii, California, and South Florida. But no matter where you dine, the food, quality, and service at Roy’s are always impressive.
Surrounded by the historic King’s Trail, featuring fascinating petroglyphs and lava fields, Roy’s opened 26 years ago in the King’s Shops. This luxurious yet laid-back restaurant is open for dinner, offering the bounty of this Hawaiian island with grand views overlooking the fairways and lake.
Aloha Hour is the best way to sample some of Roy’s delights in the bar area from 4:30-5:30 pm every day of the week, featuring great drink prices and a Pupu platter that includes Szechuan-style baby back ribs, bacon Caesar Brussels sprouts, firecracker Ko Chu Jang chicken wings, tiger shrimp, truffled maitake mushrooms, creamy polenta, and rainbow poke.
Dinner guests can order from a sunset prix fixe menu or à la carte. If you’re a fish lover, my favorite is Roy’s Macadamia-Crusted Mahi Mahi. Other standouts include butterfish, ahi, and short ribs.
Lava Lava Beach Club
Address: 69-1081 Ku‘uali’i Place, Waikoloa, Hawaii 96738 // Phone: +1 (808) 769-5282
This is our go-to Waikoloa restaurant each time we visit the Big Island of Hawaii.
The ambiance is fun and casual, and you won’t find a more quintessential island setting. Located on picturesque Anaeho’omalu Beach (called “A Beach,” even by the locals), the setting is stunning whether you’re here for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. However, with the myriad of tiki torches and live music, dinner is one magical time to visit—especially when you get to do it with your toes in the sand.
The restaurant does not take reservations, so if you want to be here for the sunset (an incredibly popular time), come a bit earlier and have a signature Mai Tai or other fun cocktail at the bar before being seated. The food here is superb, with lots of good land and sea choices, and it’s not as pricey as many other oceanfront restaurants on the island. Lava Lava is also open for breakfast and lunch.
Do save room for dessert. Our favorites? Kona coffee cheesecake and Big Island Key lime pie. Ask for extra forks and be warned that these are addictive.
Kamuela Provision Company
Address: 69-425 Waikoloa Beach Drive, Waikoloa, HI 96738 // Phone: +1 (808) 886-1234
Located on the Pacific edge of the Hilton Waikoloa Village, this casual dinner-only steak and seafood restaurant, often referred to as KPC, offers oceanfront dining with stunning sunset views. The restaurant is very popular, so reservations are highly recommended, especially if you want to be seated outdoors.
KPC offers a curated menu of seafood and steaks to vegetarian options while celebrating the farms, fisheries, and ranches of the Hawaiian Islands, using locally sourced ingredients to create mouthwatering dishes.
The setting and food here are amazing. If you’re an oyster fan, consider starting your dinner with New Zealand Rock Oysters (flown in daily). These can be prepared chilled and raw or broiled with a spicy dynamite sauce. We prefer the raw version paired with a nicely chilled Sauvignon Blanc. For main entrees, the Brick oven Huli Huli chicken is an island favorite and if you’re into scallops, the red curry Hokkaido scallops are amazing, crusted with coconut black rice.
It’s important to note that collared shirts are required, but resort wear and shorts are acceptable attire.
Pueo’s Osteria
Address: 68-1845 Waikoloa Road, Waikoloa, HI 96738 // Phone: +1 (808) 339-7566
You may not come to Hawaii for Italian food, but if you get a hankering for Italian after all the fish and seafood you’ll be enjoying here, you’ll want to dine at Pueo’s Osteria.
When our concierge at Marriott’s Waikoloa highly recommended this dinner restaurant, we were a bit surprised an Italian restaurant would be on the top of the list. However, our mantra is always to trust the locals, as they know best.
This cozy but modern-style restaurant serves up delicious plates where the flavors of Italy meet the style and abundance of Hawaii’s influence and locally sourced ingredients, making for a delightful culinary experience.
The menu features appetizers, salads, pizzas, flatbreads, pasta, land and sea options, and desserts. Pueo’s chef creates a daily flatbread special, which happened to be a fig selection when we dined. Paired with a lovely chianti, it was a perfect combination.
My husband loved his Linguine Nero Arrabiata made with squid ink pasta, and local shrimp, topped with a spicy pomodoro sauce.
Of note is that all pastas and pizza crusts are made in-house and they are phenomenal.
Sansei Seafood Steak & Sushi Bar
Address: Queens Marketplace Suite 801, 202 Waikoloa Beach Drive, Waikoloa, HI 96738 // Phone: +1 (808) 886-6286
It’s no secret that Waikoloa is home to some of the best restaurants on the Big Island, and Sansei is one of our favorites. Hawai’i Magazine readers named Sansei the “Best Japanese Restaurant” on the island in their annual poll.
And if you come on Sunday and Monday from 4:45 to 5:30 pm, you’ll get 50 percent off select food and sushi dishes. I love the Hawaiian Double Decker Roll with spicy tuna and avocado, served with a Thai chili aioli and tempura crunchies.
If you’re a sushi lover, you’ll be in foodie heaven as there are so many amazing choices, but for others in your party who might not be sushi fans, no problem, as this Japanese eatery delivers other options that include a myriad of small plates, pasta, and other fish and steak.
Their steaks are all-natural, raised with no hormones and no antibiotics. Gomadore New York Strip is the most popular cut, tender and accompanied by a gomadore sauce made with sweet miso and sesame seeds. It’s tender and mouth-watering with plenty for sharing.
Foster’s Kitchen Waikoloa
Address: 69-250 Waikoloa Beach Drive, Waikoloa, HI // Phone: +1 (808) 657-4500
This restaurant’s fame reportedly rests on its fish tacos, but thanks to an expansive menu, everyone can find their favorites here.
Foster’s Kitchen provides a fine dining experience that feels casual, laid-back, and family-friendly. The eatery prides itself on buying from local farmers, producers, and fishermen, making food from scratch, and using non-GMO and USDA Certified organic products.
What’s good here? Practically everything. But since we didn’t eat “everything,” we’re happy to share a few suggestions.
A friend told us about the Paniolo (cowboy, in Hawaiian) Salad, one of Foster’s signature dishes consisting of grilled sirloin prepared medium rare, then thinly sliced and placed on a bed of mixed greens, topped with Maui onion, cherry tomato, cucumber, bacon, and gorgonzola crumbles. The salad is finished with a balsamic reduction drizzle and a side of gorgonzola dressing. But word of warning: this salad is big enough to be shared.
You’ll also find appetizers, other salads and soups, burgers and sandwiches, main entrees, BBQ dishes, and pasta here.
Kuleana Rum Shack
Address: 69-201 Waikoloa Beach Drive, Waikoloa, HI 96738 // Phone: +1 (808) 238-0786
Kudos to the Big Island’s first distillery. Kuleana Rum Shack not only offers guided rum tastings and signature cocktails but an outstanding lunch and evening dining menu with impressive service.
On an island where eating out doesn’t come without a hefty price tag, this restaurant’s prices won’t break the back of your budget. And if you get here for happy hour from 3 pm to 5 pm, you can enjoy discounted prices on signature cocktails, Big Island beer, wine, and small bites.
Kuleana Rum Shack offers pupus, salads, sandwiches, and ono plates featuring a variety of fish and meat entrees.
My favorite dish here is the Sesame Seared Ahi (with both black and white sesame seeds), garnished with grilled asparagus, Furikake, a sesame wasabi salad, unagi butter, and a wasabi aioli served over rice.
My friend who is a vegetarian raved over the Vegan Coconut Curry with crispy tofu, roasted eggplant, sweet pepper, bean thread noodles, sweet chili drizzle, and pineapple salsa.
Napua at Mauna Lani Beach Club
Address: 68-1292 S. Kaniku Drive, Waikoloa Village, HI 96738 // Phone: +1 (808) 885-5910
It’s hard to believe that Chef Keoni Regidor entered into the food industry peeling shrimp at Bubba Gump’s along with his friend and brother-in-law Brandon Lee. Years later, the two brothers own and operate their own restaurant called Napua at the beautiful Mauna Lani Beach Club. And what an amazing place it is.
Open for lunch and dinner, Napua blends classic Hawaiian flavors with upscale resort dining and every item is sourced from local farmers, ranchers, and fishermen.
Let me just say that the ocean views, ambiance, food, and service are awe-inspiring and there’s tremendous creativity in the entrees that change according to season, availability, and chef preference, making the dining experience that much more exciting.
We decided on an ‘appetizer tasting’ evening which included some very cool choices. The Sweet Corn Ribs are like nothing I’ve ever had before, served with Korean pepper paste (gochujang), kale Furikake, and a yuzu kewpie sesame mayo dressing.
Once again, the Calamari starter was incredibly unique, a panko-crusted calamari steak with tomato poke, house-made sweet chili aioli, and unagi (freshwater eel). The flavors and textures made for a heavenly delight.
Not only is the Waikoloa-Kohala area known for its impressive resorts and beaches, but the food scene here has literally exploded with chefs bringing their freshest ingredients and creativity to the table—all making for a true aloha experience.
Visiting other destinations in Hawaii? Check out our other restaurant guides:
- 7 Must-Try Ko Olina Restaurants
- 13 Best Traditional Hawaiian Dishes
- 10 Must-Try Breakfast Places On Maui
- Best Lahaina Maui Restaurants
- 6 Must-Try Haleiwa Restaurants
Noreen Kompanik is a Registered Nurse and San Diego-based travel writer and photographer. Over 400 of her published articles have appeared in 38 different digital and print publications. She especially loves writing about family travel, luxury travel, food, wine, coffee, history and travel writing and shares these articles on her travel website What’s In Your Suitcase.