Bongo Ben’s Island Cafe

This has been our worst meal in Kona so far. The service was awful and the food wasn’t great at all. My husband had the fajitas which he though we’re good. I had the kulua pork and cabbage (I’ve had this before at other places) and it was so hickory smoked I couldn’t eat the dish. Overall great water view but very disappointing in food and service.

Back in 2014, mind you lol
Always stopped here at least once or twice a week for their breakfast. Just super amazing. If you love the contemporary mainland meals they make them even better. If your looking for something with a Hawaiian twist you’ll definitely find it here and just love it the same.

Probably the worst meal we have had in Hawaii. View was great but food and service was mediocre. Had the fish and chips and a pork quesadilla. The fish seemed overcooked and the quesadillas were greasy.

The coffee and food were high quality. Our waitress was a little overwhelmed and it showed in the service. The biscuits and gravy were average, the Loco Moco and Belgium waffles were excellent. The Unilocal discount works, but be sure to double check your bill to see they applied it. Our waitress had to go back and re-​total. All in all, above average breakfast food with great atmosphere.

Good food. Nice waitress. @sshole host — never called anyone’s name on list and then would say people weren’t listening. Rude way to kick off breakfast. Also no iced tea. «Oh, I’ll wait til you make some more,» I say. «Oh we’re not going to.»

The location is great over looking the ocean. We ate breakfast and the food overall was good. The service on the other hand left something to be desired.

Great food and service!
We came here and enjoyed a total open air restaurant! Service was amazing and the food was exactly what we ordered! Delicious.
When we return to kona we will definitely be back!

Came here on a Monday around 10am and nabbed one of the seats that faces the ocean. Score!
I had the Eggs Benedict with side potatoes, and my husband had the Big Bongo Omelet. We both LOVED our meals! My eggs were supposed to be poached but were cooked all the way through, and I’m still not even mad about it :) The omelette had a really tasty white gravy on it, the kind you’d find on chicken fried steak. And it came with a killer biscuit that had me so jealous that my plate didn’t come with one. Mmmm. So good. I urge you to order the biscuit as your bread option.
The coffee wasn’t great, but the view was spectacular — and add free wifi to that («oceanview2015»), and we were thrilled!
Oh, and don’t forget to check in on Unilocal to save 10% off your order!

I came here one day for lunch with my family for a girl’s day out. The server closest to the door told us to wait one minute and completely disappeared. Nearly twenty minutes later, she finally came back and led us to our table. The front of the restaurant/​porch area where we were seated is open so you get a nice view of Ali’i Drive and the ocean just beyond it. Our server (I can’t remember his name) was nice and attentive and took our orders promptly.
I got the Mahi Fish Tacos, and they really weren’t anything special. They tasted like something I could have made at home. They were pretty blah and came with a funky papaya (mango?) salsa that tasted like the jarred kind that Tostitos makes. Maybe it’s just my taste buds, but to me, the salsa and fish didn’t go together very well. The fish was cooked nicely but had no taste. Two from my party ordered the tuna melt, and the other two ordered burgers. Same verdict: nothing special.
The servers here all seemed very incompetent. They were all very young, and from what we experienced, they had a really hard time keeping track of which tables ordered what. Our own server even brought my sister the wrong dish at first. He immediately realized his mistake and corrected it. But I can’t say the same for the other tables around us! The poor family sitting near us must have sent their food back about five or six (I lost count) times before the servers – it took two of them – finally got the orders right. Also, I don’t know what was going on, but the servers were all very clumsy. They kept dropping things and spilling drinks left and right, and every single time, they’d scream or make some sort of loud, shrieking noise. It was very strange and really annoying.
I’d been wanting to try Bongo Ben’s for a while after hearing their ads on the radio, and I’m really bummed this place wasn’t as great as those ads promised. Oh yeah, and I also got pooped on by a bird sitting in the rafters above me, which just barely missed my plate. Delicious.
Very disappointing, will not be back.

Fast friendly service and the food tasted good but both meals came out cold. Good POG mimosas though.

We came across Bongo Bens as we were looking for a breakfast place. Awesome location. They are open for breakfast lunch and dinner with happy hour 2 – 6. Food is a bit more expensive than other places we have been but still good. We were both happy with our choices of the big bingo omelette with fried rice and huevos rancheros. They offer bottomless coffee which is a huge plus. Daily baked cinnamon roll is a must have! We are planning to come back for happy out to try their appetizers

My husband and I ate here twice during our stay on the Big Island. For lunch on our first visit we had the Coconut Shrimp and Chips and ordered a Coconut Crusted Onion Ring appetizer. We ordered our onion rings first and assumed they would be served before our meal since when ordering said, «can we start with…» It was a little frustrating they came out with our meal, but not a huge deal.
The shrimp was great and came with a sweet hot chili sauce that was excellent. The onion rings were also very good and were served with plenty of their «special dipping sauce» which was also good.
The «chips» were mediocre at best, but with two orders of the shrimp and the very large onion ring appetizer we didn’t need to eat them.
All in all, we were very satisfied with lunch although the roughness of the foods and the quantities we consumed left our mouths a bit sore.
Our second visit was for breakfast. I had the biscuits and gravy. The gravy was pretty good, but the biscuits are not big fluffy biscuits like I am used to. The sausage were two thin patties cut up and placed on top of the biscuit under the gravy so in my mind, this was not «sausage gravy.» The included side of Island potatoes were excellent.
My husband actually sent his biscuits and gravy back and got the Mac Nut pancakes instead which he said were very good.

We came here for dinner and the food was pretty average, tourist food. We ordered the seafood sampler appetizer (which was pretty delicious), the fish tacos (so fresh!), however the porkchops and the teriyaki steak were both good but nothing unique. One of the less than average meals was the veggie burger my brother ordered. It tasted bland, had a texture of oatmeal mush, and from one bite we knew it was a frozen patty that they just threw on the grill…
One of our positive experiences of our dinner was our server. I believe her name was Jess? She was wonderful and very attentive.

Decent food, Sad small portions for a main course, and huge portions for appetizers.
All employes on floor make it a not so positive enviroment if the resturaunt is a full house. Servers and bussers need better stress coping skills… The tables were terribly sticky, no matter what got put onto them… Don’t think we’ll be eating there again…

Nice scenery and good happy hour from 3 – 6. $ 3 Kona beer and $ 5 Mai Tai’s. The Bloody Mary was excellent. The server was very nice and attentive but the food was just mediocre.
If you want a place to chill and have a few happy hour drinks with some nice scenery then this is a good spot.

I was famished after my morning sprint down Ali’i Drive and the NFL games were on (at 7am… whoa) and I also wanted to people-​watch so I came back to Bongo Ben’s.
I sat at the table facing the ocean so I could peep the boats, other morning iron men, and skaters… while tearing into Portuguese sausage, spam and white rice. So ono.
Life…is…grand.
Mahalo

The food was good. I had pancakes with macadamia nuts. It was good, definitely worth eating again.
My biggest gripe was the service. I ordered a coffee and didn’t get it until after our food arrived. Our waiter didn’t refill the cup at all. Then, we, a table of seven adults, asked to have our meals separated, to which our waiter replied, «I don’t want to do that, that would be a lot of work.» We would have understood better if it were restaurant policy, which it may be, but the way he presented it seemed like he didn’t want to put forth any more effort. I just feel that in a service industry, he could have asked how we wanted our checks prior to calculating the total.
And to be fair, the waiter was really nice.

Wir waren schon oft hier und freuen uns jeden Hawaii Urlaub auf Bongo Bens und die Coconut Shrimps.
Man kann hier außen mit Blick auf das Meer sitzen und manchmal gibt es sogar live Musik dazu.
Übriges danke an das Unilocal Team für für 10% Rabatt die ich durch das einchecken beginnen habe.
Es gibt in Kailua viele Restaurants, aber Bingo bens ist unsere erste Wahl.
Die Preise sind in Ordnung, das essen gut, die Bedienung stets freundlich und schnell.
Man bekommt gleich wenn man sitzt ein Glas Eiswasser vorab.
Wir kommen sicher wieder und können ohne Einschränkung jedem Unilocaler eine Empfehlung aussprechen.

Food is great, view is good, service was good.
Came in for breakfast, having previously gone to lava java earlier on our trip. We enjoyed the food more than lava java, but the view isn’t as nice since it’s darker and more obscured by the presence of people unless you sit at one of the edge tables.
When in Hawaii I figured that I should try the loco moco sometime and read on Unilocal that bongo bens made them well — Unilocal did not let me down. Upgraded the rice to fried rice on the waitresses recommendation, and I really enjoyed the gravy sauce that was generously poured on top. The eggs were perfectly over easy and I cleaned out my plate.
Other members of my family ordered the garden omelette with a side of one pancake (and she claimed it was the best pancake she’d ever had, although I cannot confirm or deny this as I was too busy eating my own delicious entrée), and the benedict which I was told was nothing special.
I’m glad I gave bongo bens a try. I’d definitely recommend it and as a perk they have a 10% discount if you check in with Unilocal

Worlds best fajitas. Mine was the shrimp one and portions were more than generous. Yes, there were only five shrimp but huge. In fact there was so much food in this fajita it fed two normal sized adults. It was not child sized.
Waitstaff is quirky but efficient. Brother-​in-​law the fruit salad. Sister in law the onion ring app. Place has a beachy vibe and sits on the water for killer views of the sunset.

Bongo Bens might be on a leaky drive with all the other tourist places but that doesn’t mean you should avoid it.
One of the best things about Ben’s is their homemade gluten free bread it’s some of the best I’ve ever had anywhere in the world and it’s only a one dollar of charge.
I highly recommend spending the money and getting the fresh catch for breakfast. You get a huge piece of fish usually tuna steak along with eggs fried rice and gluten free bread and fruit all for under 20 bucks its two meals in one and a very very good.
Ben’s also boasts a great view across the street of the ocean and Huggos.