Sam Choy's Kai Lanai

My husband’s dinner was good, I however had the worst dinner we’ve ever encountered there. I ordered a Chrispy Duck dish but half of it was chicken. Duck is dark meat & half of this overly breaded & then fried dish had white meat in it. They were trying to save $$ by doing it. It is an expensive restaurant so you expect good food. DON’T ORDER THIS DISH!!

Beautiful view! Great drinks and pupils! Friendly staff!

The former Wendy’s location is impressive; great sunset view. The food is good, not spectacular. The service was attentive and thoughtful. There was a mix up on our wine order and they comped us 2 glasses; nice gesture. Their fish is fresh and well prepared...Fish trio was nice combo. Suggest reservation for front row table.

Everything was fantastic except for the weather. We tried a couple of their signature drinks and three menu items. The Mai Tai was typical, but Hawaiian Mimosas were outstanding. Fried rice with eggs was good, but the Beef Stew omelette was inspired. Everything about a Sunday dinner with family wrapped in an omelette. We ended with coconut pineapple fritters, which turned out to be a perfect end. The local honey matched the fritters perfectly. Next time we’re on the big island it’s worth the two hour drive from Hilo.

Had lunch there. 3 of the five meals were very good. The out door view is amazing

Food not bad, waitress left a lot to be desired. Asked for a suggestion and she told me “I’m funny” - wasn’t trying to be.

Read many of the reviews on Yelp. Decided to form my own. And I give it an official...meh.

Poor wait staff, over priced and underwhelming tasting entree. Thought maybe it was just a bad night, gave it a second try and it was just as bad.

Food was great. Service was sub-par.

Sam Choy's Kai Lanai restaurant has awesome views. The food is excellent. There are plenty of selections on the menu. It's great that breakfast may be ordered all day Saturday and Sunday. My favorites are the fresh fish sandwich and house salad with Oriental dressing.

Enjoyed our meal at Sam Choy’s on our last night in Kona and it was an outstanding experience. The food was cooked to perfection and delicious and our server was cheerful, attentive and very helpful. Although it ended up being overcast, we had a great view and were very comfortable. Be sure to get the calamari appetizer and the Pineapple Coconut fritters for dessert!

We remember this place as a little more upscale but it’s now more “every day”. Nice views to the ocean if you forget about looking over the mall rooftops. The word on the street is that Sam has forgotten about this location, instead focusing on his Oahu location. Two of us tried a “new” shredded duck entree and found the plum-based sauce did not taste very good — had an earthy/dirt taste to it. Our server was efficient; food came out quickly; but not overly friendly. I doubt we will go back. Too many other “OK” places to try.

Good food & service. Beautiful view. Noisy.

food was very good but the service was very very rushed and poor

Duck was undercooked, steak my friend received was overpriced. View from outside tables is spectacular

Delightful with good service and tasty food.

Our waitress, Rhonda, was wonderful . Very friendly and anticipated our needs. Came to check on us but did not intrude. The food was tasty, setting was stunning, but we found it a bit pricey. Lovely evening - just cost us more than we thought it would.

Service was excellent. Becca was awesome server!

We had brunch on a Sunday and were so pleased with the beautiful setting, delicious and generous portions and friendly service. The prices were very reasonable and all four members of our group were pleased with their selections which included a ham omelette, fried rice, and eggs Benedict. The reservation process made our seating so quick and efficient as well!

I had the short ribs and my wife had the "catch of the day". Both were prepared well and very enjoyable. Portions are generous. Can't comment on the dessert because we were too full to try one. The Mai Tai's are excellent. Setting is on top of a hill overlooking a shopping center and a main road but it also had a clear view of the ocean.

Excellent food!!! Their seafood is so fresh as well as the salads. Will return again on our next visit to Kona.

Typical tourist-trap restaurant. Was disappointed at the quality and choices of food, was expecting more based on write up in magazines. Only plus would be watching the sunset on a good day...but it was raining when we were there.

Had reservation for 6pm, didn’t get sat till after 6:30pm due to sunset and guests just hanging out at their tables for it. Food was disappointing.

Overall excellent, great views, great service, nice atmosphere. Only one of our party of seven had a small complaint on the over done ness of a fish dish, all others were excellent.
A must stop every time that we are in south KONA. Also, don’t miss their happy hour for great deals on excellent drinks and appetizers.

Great sunset view & drinks—daily catch bland overcooked & expensive—I’d come for drinks @ sunset & dine elsewhere or stick with a seafood salad which was tasty.

Love their food and the view!!! Service was excellent too. Waiter was Nathan and he was on top of his game!

good food, great atmosphere, waiter was great i think Nathan was his name

Great situation and atmosphere, views fantastic, food not so good. Started ok with chicken wings but all 3 main courses were poor. Desert was supposed to be pineapple fritters but could taste no pineapple at all, also was told it would be free as it was my birthday but it still appeared on the bill. It did get taken off but I would have been unhappy to pay anyway. Overall though a bit disappointed I still enjoyed the place and might give it another chance.

We had a reservation for 7. we got there an hour and 15 minutes early to sit at the bar. We had great service at the bar but didn't get seated till 7:40 pm after asking about a reservation three times. We started asking at 10 to 7

Don’t bother to reserve - it doesn’t matter. But it’s okay because there’s a lot of seatings.

Tourist trap! Dry fish on both my and husband’s entrees. Nice place for a cocktail and vista only. We’ve been on Hawaii for over 2 weeks and it was the only disappointing dinner we had. Also, small menu and at 6:00 there were 3 entrees not even available.

Incredible views. Amazing sunset. Servers were far too busy to provide decent service. Drinks were not great and overpriced. Food was decent.

It was our anniversary and we reserved outdoor seating at 6pm. So we could experience the sunset during dinner. It was absolutely fantastic. The food - orange duck and seafood trio was delicious. Service was extraordinary - Derek was awesome!
Will def go back!! .

We had a lovely table and excellent view of the sunset. The drinks were great. Our server was good but was extremely busy and we sat for long periods without being checked on.
Our food was a disappointment. Our appetizer wings were served cool and slightly soggy like they had been sitting for a while. The duck was gross and the fish was over seasoned and extremely dry.
We will head back to this restaurant in the future for drinks but eat somewhere else.

We really enjoyed our 3 experiences at Sam Choy's. The staff was really friendly and accomodating.

Our waiter, Garrett, was very attentive and our food was served quickly and was very good. Added bonus to the beautiful view, we saw a whale spout!

Our experience was really good. We made reservations, arrived early and didn't have to wait. The food was good. My husband would have liked a cider instead of an ale. I think a wine would have gone better than the ale with my macadamia nut encrusted catch of the day.

Waiter was stressed and not enough help, poor service and attitude!

The waiter gave timely service and the food was tasty and came on time. The views of the pacific were stunning

They don’t use this site for reservations....
but said we would have a table in 5 min
We waited 45 min to be seated right next to the entrance , which was open the whole time we waited. Food was over priced, hostesses were clueless, server seemed annoyed we were there.