Restaurants, hotels, bars and wineries in Kailua Kona from the En Primeur Club guide.
Accolades in Kailua Kona
These three restaurants hold 2026 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence honours. Two sit in Kaupulehu, and one is in Hualālai Resort.
Hualālai Resort beachside restaurant with coastal Italian-inspired cuisine, an extensive wine list, craft cocktails, and beer. It holds a 2026 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, and EPC rates its wine program as exceptional.
Kaupulehu steakhouse by Tyler Florence with Hawaiian influences, an extensive wine list, craft cocktails, high-quality steaks, a raw bar, seafood, and farm-direct vegetables. The room is described as intimate and club-like, and it holds a 2026 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence with a wine list.
Ulu is the ocean grill and sushi lounge in Kaupulehu, an oceanfront restaurant at Four Seasons Resort Hualalai with an open-air room and an a la carte menu. It holds a 2026 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.
This section covers the everyday side of the city, where fresh fish, Hawaiian comfort food, and counter-service formats define the meal.
Da Poke Shack is a counter-service restaurant in Kailua-Kona for fresh Hawaiian poke. The wine program is minimal, and the menu is a la carte. The ahi tuna is freshly caught, never frozen, and sourced daily from Hawaiian waters.
Kailua-Kona fish market and grill known for ultra-fresh poke bowls and a retail fish market that creates a boat-to-bowl experience. Craft cocktails and beer are part of the mix, and it was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives as a bar in 2026.
Broke Da Mouth Grindz is a Kailua-Kona restaurant for Hawaiian plate lunches. Its famous plate is the Garlic Furikake Chicken plate lunch. The menu is a la carte. It holds a 2026 Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Featured Restaurant award.
Kaupulehu and Hualālai Resort hold the strongest wine lists in Kailua Kona. Beach Tree Restaurant & Bar in Hualālai Resort, Miller & Lux Hualalai in Kaupulehu, and Ulu in Kaupulehu all hold 2026 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence honours, and Beach Tree also has EPC’s exceptional wine-program rating.
Kailua-Kona is the main neighbourhood for poke and local seafood. Da Poke Shack focuses on freshly caught ahi tuna, never frozen, and Umekes Fish Market Bar & Grill combines ultra-fresh poke bowls with a retail fish market and grilled seafood.
Kailua-Kona is the main neighbourhood for poke and local seafood. Da Poke Shack focuses on freshly caught ahi tuna, never frozen, and Umekes Fish Market Bar & Grill combines ultra-fresh poke bowls with a retail fish market and grilled seafood.
Kaupulehu and Hualālai Resort hold the strongest wine-list concentration in Kailua Kona. Beach Tree Restaurant & Bar in Hualālai Resort, Miller & Lux Hualalai in Kaupulehu, and Ulu in Kaupulehu all hold 2026 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence honours.
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
Kailua Kona
Selected entries from the current guide for Kailua Kona.
Kailua Kona, United States
Beach Tree fits the Kailua-Kona resort-dining pattern: open-air, beachside, and built around the island’s relationship with seafood, produce, and sunset timing rather than ceremony. Its value is context, with the coast doing part of the work and the kitchen sitting inside a broader Hawaiʻi conversation about sourcing, seasonality, and casual luxury.
Kailua Kona, United States
Broke Da Mouth Grindz on Luhia Street sits squarely in the local-plate tradition that defines everyday eating in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The name signals intent before you walk through the door: this is food built for satisfaction, not ceremony. For visitors accustomed to resort dining, it represents the kind of address regulars return to on weekdays, not occasions.
Kailua Kona, United States
Miller & Lux Hualalai pairs a modern American steakhouse menu with Hawaiian influences, an extensive wine list, craft cocktails, and leisurely, quiet dinner service.
Kailua Kona, United States
Set within the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on the Kohala Coast, Ulu operates at the upper tier of Kailua-Kona's resort dining, where Pacific ingredients and open-air setting define the format rather than ornament it. The menu architecture reflects the broader shift in Hawaiian fine dining toward locally sourced produce and reef-to-table seafood, positioning Ulu within a competitive set that extends well beyond the island.
Kailua Kona, United States
Umekes Fish Market Bar & Grill occupies a working-harbor address on Pawai Place in Kailua-Kona, where the fish market format collapses the distance between the Pacific and the plate. The restaurant draws a local-leaning crowd that treats it as a benchmark for fresh poke and grilled seafood on the west side of the Big Island. It sits in the casual end of Kona's dining spectrum, where provenance matters more than plating formality.
Kailua Kona, United States
808 Grindz Cafe on Kopiko Street brings the plate lunch tradition to Kailua-Kona's working-side streets, where local comfort food outweighs ocean views every time. The format is direct: generous portions, familiar Hawaiian-American combinations, and a clientele that skews heavily residential rather than tourist. For visitors who want to eat the way Kona locals actually eat, this is the reference point.
Kailua Kona, United States
Huggo's sits on the waterfront in Kailua-Kona, occupying a position that places it squarely within the town's open-air dining tradition. For visitors planning around the Big Island's west coast, it represents one of the more established options in a dining scene that runs from plate-lunch counters to upscale resort dining. Booking ahead is advisable, particularly during peak visitor periods.
Kailua Kona, United States
A traditional Hawaiian luau experience on the Kailua-Kona coast, Island Breeze Luau brings together the ceremonial imu pit roast, hula performance, and communal feasting that define the genre on the Big Island. Located at 75-5660 Palani Rd, it sits within reach of Kona's main resort corridor, making it a practical anchor for visitors building an evening around authentic Polynesian cultural programming.
Kailua Kona, United States
Kenichi Pacific brings pan-Asian cooking to Kailua-Kona's Ali'i Drive dining corridor, occupying a space where Japanese technique meets Pacific ingredient availability. The address places it within reach of the Kona waterfront's broader restaurant scene, where coastal casual and more considered dinner formats compete for the same evening audience. For visitors working through the options on Ali'i Drive, Kenichi represents the more composed end of that spectrum.
Kailua Kona, United States
Kona Canoe Club sits along Ali'i Drive in Kailua-Kona, where the town's waterfront dining strip runs parallel to the Pacific. The venue takes its name from a paddling tradition that has shaped Hawaiian coastal culture for centuries, placing it within a neighborhood scene defined by open-air settings, local seafood, and the unhurried pace of the Kona Coast.
Kailua Kona, United States
La Bourgogne brings French culinary tradition to the lava-field edge of Kailua-Kona, occupying a position in the Big Island dining scene that has few direct peers. The name signals a classical European orientation in a market otherwise defined by Pacific-rim plates and open-air seafood. For visitors moving between Hawaii's casual beachside options and the fine-dining tier, it sits at a distinct remove from both.
Kailua Kona, United States
On Ali'i Drive, the main artery of Kailua-Kona's waterfront strip, Laverne's Big Island Alehouse & Restaurant occupies a position that puts it squarely in the casual, communal dining tradition that defines this part of the island. An alehouse format in a town built around fishing, surf culture, and post-activity appetite signals a particular kind of meal: unhurried, sociable, and grounded in local habit rather than tourist spectacle.
Kailua Kona, United States
Pine Tree Cafe sits on Hulikoa Drive in Kailua-Kona, operating within the quieter residential corridor that runs inland from the coast. In a town where dining tends to cluster around the waterfront, this address places it in a different register from the resort-facing options along Ali'i Drive. Specific menu and format details are limited, making it worth contacting the venue directly before visiting.
Kailua Kona, United States
Quinn's Almost by the Sea occupies a spot on Palani Road in Kailua-Kona, where the West Hawaii dining scene runs from plate-lunch counters to waterfront bars. Sparse public data makes it difficult to map the kitchen's precise position in that tier, but the address places it within reach of the town's main commercial corridor and the coastal restaurant cluster that defines the area's casual dining identity.
Kailua Kona, United States
On Alii Drive, the main strip that traces Kailua-Kona's waterfront, Scandinavian Shave Ice occupies a slice of Hawaii's most locally debated refreshment tradition. The format here crosses Nordic sensibility with island ingredients, placing it in a small tier of shave ice operators who treat the product as something more than a tourist convenience. It draws a mixed crowd of regulars and first-timers year-round.
Kailua Kona, United States
Walua Social is worth booking for a polished Kailua-Kona dinner when the group wants Italian trattoria cooking with local sourcing and an easygoing, upscale-casual room. It is strongest for date nights, casual celebrations, and group dinners, especially if pasta, wine, and conversation matter more than a tasting-menu format or resort-style spectacle.
Kailua Kona
Selected entries from the current guide for Kailua Kona.
Kailua Kona, United States
Four Seasons Resort Hualalai is the North Kona Coast resort for travelers who want Hawaii Island's black-lava terrain, oceanfront bungalows, serious golf, and a dining program in one controlled resort setting. Its low-rise design, 249-room scale, La Liste 98-point hotel score, and long-running luxury recognition place it in Kailua Kona's high-end resort tier rather than the island's more conventional beach-hotel category.
Kailua Kona, United States
Kona Village, A Rosewood Resort brings the Big Island resort idea back to its elemental parts: free-standing hale, black-lava ground, Kahuwai Bay, and design that treats open air as architecture rather than decoration. The revived 1965 property now reads as a high-design Hawaiian resort with serious cultural programming, solar-powered infrastructure, and a scale large enough for families without losing its sense of place.
Kailua Kona
Selected entries from the current guide for Kailua Kona.
Kailua Kona, United States
A poolside bar and grille in Kailua-Kona, Billfish Poolside Bar & Grille sits at 75-5660 Palani Rd, where the format follows a familiar West Hawaii pattern: open-air drinking against a backdrop of Pacific light, with grille food anchoring longer sessions. The address puts it within reach of Kona's main waterfront corridor, making it a natural stop alongside spots like Kona Brewing Co. and Kona Canoe Club.
Kailua Kona, United States
Kona Brewing Co. on Pawai Place sits at the intersection of Hawaiian craft beer culture and open-air waterfront dining, drawing locals and visitors who want something more grounded than the resort strip. The brewery format means what's on draft changes with the season and the batch, rewarding repeat visits. It's a working production facility with a taproom attached, which puts it in a different register from the island's hotel bars.
Kailua Kona
Selected entries from the current guide for Kailua Kona.
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