Big Island for first-time visitors

Best restaurants

The Big Island's restaurant scene divides cleanly along its two coasts: the windward Hilo side, where a compact grid of one- and two-story storefronts along Kamehameha Avenue and Kilauea Avenue holds most of the town's kitchens, and the Kona side to the west, where the eating scatters along Palani Road and out toward Honokaa on the northern uplands. What the list below tracks is the working-cook layer of the island: pizza ovens that also fire regional plates, a drive-in that treats donuts and burgers with equal seriousness, ramen counters, poke windows, Thai kitchens run by their namesakes. These are not resort dining rooms. Addresses skew to 96720 in Hilo and 96740 in Kailua-Kona, with a handful in Honokaa's 96727; hours skew early and close by 21:00 on most nights. If you are eating your way around the island rather than staying inside a hotel, this is the layer that will feed you: twelve rooms chosen for cooking that argues for itself against the address, not for the address.