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Island Lava Java Bistro
Full Bar, Great Wine list
Menu
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Disappointed. We tried the new location and found an oddly disparate menu, very uneven service and poorly cooked and presented fresh fish. Stick to breakfast and burgers.
The fish was tough and overdone in the fish taco and not that flavorful
Stopped in during a leisurely walk and had a great experience.
Great breakfast during our Kona get away. Dining area has a lovely ocean view, all open air, making for a delightful vacation breakfast. Pricing was reasonable, service attentive.
Dinner was okay. The drinks were okay. Service was great and if you have dinner they allow you to take some pastries home for breakfast, which was nice. The food wasn’t amazing but the atmosphere and service make up for it.
Love the location, perfect for date night or a special evening. Locals and vacationers are there.
Aloha, met with our BI realtor for a quick biz lunch. Fresh beet salad & added seared ahi to it. Very yummy. Other's had the fish tacos which look amazing too. Enjoyed our meal.
A great addition to the Kona ocean-side selection. Outside seating was remarkable - close to the view but not right on the road. Grilled octopus and cocktails excellent.
My Ribs were tepid/cool and very, very fatty. Friendly staff.
Glad we were able to dine off of the happy hour menu and get some great food at an even better price. Apparently they have happy hour in the upstairs seating all night. We really enjoyed the elua chicken tacos and even got one to go. The poke didn’t look fresh when we got it, mentioned it to one of the waiters and he had the chef remake it with a fresh slab of Ahi and it was delicious with pieces of avocado. Yumm.
It was a little loud and hard to speak to the waiters/waitresses due to the live music, but that’s expected. The music was easy on the ears with some throwbacks like the Beatles.
The location was beautiful. We sat overlooking the ocean and could hear the ocean waves crashing from a distance. We were able to catch the end of a gorgeous bright pink/orange sunset.
Overall, I would gladly dine her again.
First time at the new location fir breakfast. Food was great; service fabulous. And you can’t beat the views.
Our steaks were cooked perfectly with exactly our specified accompaniments. Our server, Mary, was a delight! We'll be back!
Great food
Large portions
Beautiful view of sunset
Easy parking behind restaurant
Pastries and coffee great as always. Meals were disappointing. Not a lot of flavor. Shrimp cocktail was very bland
Nothing better to do on St Patrick's Day than have Lava Java Burgers for late lunch.
Wheelchair entrance from the parking lot had furniture sitting in the path. I was able to push it aside, but be aware that this is not yet a wheels-friendly place. I hope they will improve.
Loved this place so much, we went for brunch twice during our week long visit on the Big Island. It's a must visit- great setting and delicious food! We'll be back in the future!
Great view of Kona Bay and delicious food!
Food was below average. Steak sandwich had very little filling. The poke wrap was dry. Not much flavor. The fish did not taste fresh. The service was good and the location wonderful. Not sure if we will give it another try.
Great place on the water. Sit on 2nd floor and watch the ocean.
Kelly our waitress...top shelf. Great food.
Love this place, great food and friendly service, have been twice this week for tasty lunch.
Good food, beautiful location, slow and confused staff
We have lived in Kona for the past 8 years. We started coming to Lava Java at that time and we have continued to be loyal customers. We always ask for the same waitress. Her name is Elisia. She is the reason we enjoy dining at Lava Java.
Lava Java has changed in many ways, least of which is the location. However, the consistent, excellent service that an experienced server, such as Elisia, provides makes the evening perfect. We feel very special while we dine in her section. She is always happy to see us.
We were very disappointed in the food and the seating service. The waitress was great but we were seated outside in the rain not at the window seat as requested when there were tables open for us to be seated at. Very sad
Good food and service. Pleasant atmosphere and excellent Kona coffee.
Spectacular setting. Food is very good, but not spectacular. Portions are huge; could scale down portions and price and be the best value on Alii Drive. Great pizza, okay salad.
One of our favorite places. Never disappointed always a taste treat.
Reservations a must here. The service was fast and prompt. Ashley was great. The food and coffee drinks we ordered were delicious. Would love to come back.
The service was good, a bit slow. It was odd that when my wife ordered coffee she was charged extra for a large coffee when see did not specify large. She was also charged extra for a tiny bit of almond milk for her coffe, I thought the price of a cup of coffee should have one charge, not three. My wife had a delicious omelet with macedamian nut pesto, avocado and goat cheese, a bit pricey but good ($20 for her breakfast alone seemed a bit high). I had 2 buttermilk pancakes, which were huge and tasty.
Great ribs and fries
Our server was so sweet and provided recommendations for our trip!
I was warned by several friends not to go out to dinner on Valentines Day. They said the food prices would be high, the service would be very slow and long waits. None of that was true at Island Lava Java. Prices were the same as always. We were taken immediately to our table upon arriving (We had reservations). Our service was not slow as our waitress was hopping keeping all her tables happy. The most important thing was we all had great meals!
Music was loud- so hard for conversation. It was also a weird mix of styles and artists. We asked if it could be turned down. It wasn’t discernible that they did. Food was fine.
We have had breakfast there for many years and have always loved the food and view. We enjoyed the new location so much we had breakfast and dinner there during our yearly visit to Kona.
Best beach bar on the Big Island!
We had a reservation for dinner, but after we were seated we had to wait 25 minutes for a server to take our drink order, after which we waited another 10 minutes without our drinks being served, so we left the restaurant. The server was extremely hostile to us for leaving and very unprofessional. The management needs to improve on the service, as this was our worst dining experience of all during our vacation.
Alas, Lava Java has lost its charm with the new location. On 2nd level for dinner, the music (guitar & singer) was too loud, the lights too bright, and the service understaffed. Meal quality has diminished (used L J for 2 breakfasts and a dinner on this visit). Suggest action be taken to improve service, food and ambience, or the recent change will be the downfall that so many restaurants suffer when they enlarge. Would hate to see this happen to one of our favorites during our annual trip to Hawaii Island.
Food was good, but nothing special. Service was excellent and the setting was lovely. It is across the street from the ocean. If you sit upstairs you won’t notice the traffic.
Don’t order the house made lemonade - $5 per glass. Watered down and very bitter lemons. Server didn’t do anything to adjust the bill. Lots of snafus and re-requests to server.
We have eaten here many meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. This particular meal was breakfast at their newish location, very close to where they were before but much improved in space and layout (although we liked the funky sidewalk dining before).
My S.O. was disappointed in his breakfast which included a waffle. First he had to wait to get coconut syrup, then found out the waffle was overdone and tough. Unfortunately, it was difficult to get a server to respond to us each time. My meal was satisfying with the exception that the toast for the open-faced sandwich was burned at the edges. Our server apologized at the end and thanked us for our patience since she said she got busy. However, even at that, it would have been helpful had she checked back with us at some point during the meal. This one incident won't discourage us from dining here again. Great al fresco place right across from the bay.