Blanes Drive Inn

I spent a semester in Hilo during college and lived up on Wainaku. I was a broke college kid but spent many meals at Blane’s.
It was my first exposure to the Big Island Plate Lunch and I still crave it on a regular basis. The teriyaki steak was my go-​to. The combination of the perfect mac salad, white rice and steak/​gravy surpassed even my love for the loco moco.
I’ll see you soon on my upcoming Big Island vacation!

Review based solely on the Korean Boneless Chicken
Korean boneless chicken with rice and mac salad. Winnahs!
OK, for those of you that know me, you know I don’t eat at Blane’s often. I don’t think I’ve eaten here in over 3 years prior to this day. I’ve never had anything good from here so I never paid this place any mind. Well, today I was out with some family and they brought me here for a snack so I figured why not give it another go. As a foodie, I gravitated straight to the «specials» menu and ended up ordering the Korean boneless chicken. Oh my lawdy! I loved it. The chicken was juicy and crisp and it was dunked in a korean sauce for additional flavor then served with rice and mac salad. Korean sauce, for anyone who is unfamiliar is just a soy based marinade seasoned and flavored with sugar, garlic, ginger and green onion. Now picture boneless chicken battered and fried to perfection then dunked in korean sauce, did you picture it? OK, now picture it with rice and some pretty dang good traditional mac salad. Now, didn’t that just put a smile on your face? Lol. I definitely have to give the place another shot. I guess the chef is new, well, he definitely ain’t the one that was here the last time I came 3 yrs ago. I gladly give my boneless Korean chicken a 4.5÷5 rating. The only critique I would suggest is ask for less sauce on the plate. They dunk the chicken and put more sauce under the chicken. The next time I’d go without the extra sauce. The dunking of the chicken is enough. That was the only improvement that I could think of so you know buggah was ‘ono.

Good food, good prices, friendly cashiers. The breakfast special and chili burger is great!

Roadside stop. The counter attendant’s suggestion was the Korean chicken; I was not let down. :)

Terrific local food definately needs improvement.
Personally the katsu is ok just too burnt. They have good hamburgers and sandwiches.
I love the place and looking forward to the improvements.

We alway come her for the slush float. For this that don’t know it’s similar to and icee or sonics ice slush with ice cream.
The food here is good… Hilo …it’s usually gravy on everything. Gravy burger, gravy fries, gravy in the rice.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! PLEASE DO NOT GO THERE!
DOES ANYONE HAVE THE NUMBER FOR THIS ESTABLISHMENT?
If there is a Zero rating then they would have one.
We just left there with my family & had to get a refund because we could not wait any longer for our orders.
1^st The cook & the cashier was arguing about what happened to the plates? Like aren’t you A DRIVE INN RESTAURANT?
So because of the orders somehow got mixed up the 2 cashiers was over– whelmed because the 2 cooks DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO. it was pure KAOS!
We were a family of 15 waiting for over 30 minutes & we only received 1 plate & 1 small corn chowder.
The other couple before us was so upset because they got wrong plates… poor thing may be it was our food,
Because a family after us got there food before us.
THEY JUST LOST BUSINESS FROM MY ENTIRE HILO & HONOLULU FAMILY!

Teri-​beef burger did not taste anything like teri. Took it back and got another burger that looked juicer but still lacked a lot of flavor.

This place had good food but the portions are really small and they run out of food fast I don’t know if it’s all the time but they ran out of fried rice, hamburgers, pancakes and so that sucked and the customer service there was so horrible the lady who took our order did not know how to talk to customers she was rude and mean and the other worker kept making mistakes on people’s orders and they were yelling back and forth while people were eating and it was very unprofessional.

Don’t mean to give them 3 stars but they were out of 3 things we wanted to order and the portions were small. I ordered a mini hamburger steak. The patty was homemade and not the frozen kind that L&L has. The gravy and mac salad were also good. They had a good amount of pepper in the mac salad which I liked. The food didn’t take that long to come out. I’ll probably try them again. Maybe today was an off day for them.

Good food. Sometimes oily. Don’t recommend going on weekends as the service is so slow! Ordered three burgers, and 45 min later, they’re ready. Understaffed for crowd.

Maghi Magi sandwich was great. Loco bowl was just right.
Great local place to eat at

The thing that turned me off right away was the cleanliness of everything. If we would have had more time (we only had about 30 minutes because we were on our way to horseback riding) we probably would have gone somewhere else. We had to both use the restaurant shortly after ordering and it was really gross. Barely flushed, there was a leak in the faucet, so there was a full bucket of water under the sink collecting the dripping, the floor was all wet and everything was just dirty. Additionally, I had to flush the toilet before I could use it and it started backing up to the point where I looked to see if there was a plunger, which there was. Thankfully I did not need to use it. That is when I started to pay more attention to things. The table we sat at (which hubby had already deposited our stuff at) could have used a good scrubbing and there were remnants of spilled soda/​ice cream right in front of the window where you ordered. I get it, maybe it isn’t the cashiers job to clean this up, but it wasn’t busy — she was standing around the entire time we ate, so you or someone else should clean this up. And what concerned me, was that the customers can only see this — the outside of this restaurant — so if you don’t care what the appearance is from the outside — what must it look at behind the counters? I didn’t want to know at that point.
We only ordered a Pepsi, fries, a burger and a salad. The salad was small, but not bad, there were a few leaves that were no good in it. The fries were decent, they were cooked well, not limp or soggy. The burger was meh, nothing special and McDonalds would have been better.
I wouldn’t go back here again.

Had the famous gravy burger here. It was just meh, I dont understand what all of the hype surrounding it is for. A little soggy for me, it was very messy trying to eat this. I guess its good for the price you pay; nothing too special.

Tried the gravy burger, per my mom’s request. She said they were known for it. I don’t see the point, it was bland and needed to add mayo and ketchup just to have some flavor. Fries aren’t great either, soggy and cardboard-​with-​salt-​like. Wouldn’t want to come back. Too many flies with the dining area being outdoors. Used their restroom while I was there as well, it didn’t have hot water… I was scared of what I was eating after making that discovery, hope the back has hot water for the cooks to wash their hands.
I feel like the gravy burger would be good if they added an egg to it, making it a loco moco on the go. Suggestion? –wink– –wink–

I am starting to like this Blanes location (there are 2 Blanes in Hilo). This one is set right in the middle of a parking lot by Lex Brodie’s tire store so it’s only a scenic location if you’re into car repairs and asphalt. Apparently I kind of am. Their bulletin board has all kinds of posters I never see anywhere else, about drag races and car shows.
Anyway, the first time I came here all burgers were ½ price so I was fine with that. The most recent time it was full price but still you cannot beat the burger with an egg and fries that I got for about $ 5. It was great for the money. We also got a slush float which was not cheap but was basically a huge cup filled with ice cream and icee, it was deliciously retro and they were kind enough to top it back off with some more icee when our ice-​cream ratio got too dominant.
Good basic plate lunch, haven’t had anything here yet that wasn’t solid for the money you are paying.

Everytime I come home to Hilo, I need to make a stop here. For what? Just two things: a gravy burger and a strawberry slush float! Disclaimer: this review is only based on those two things.
As I approached the registers this past Saturday, there was a sign saying «½ off burgers and slush floats». Holy hannah, is this my lucky day or what? Stoked on that, i ordered 2x gravy burgers (relax not both for me, although I totally could eat 2) and a small strawberry slush float for $ 4.14! Score!
The girl with the small lip piercing at the register was really polite and very nice. I can always appreciate good service at a fast food or plate lunch joint.
The homemade burgers are flavored perfectly, and the gravy poured in the middle is just the right amount so it doesn’t get terribly messy and ooze all over. Wait, I take that back — it’s not «just right» because I think they could totally slather more of that brown gravy on there. HA, piggy in me is coming out! And yup, that’s all it is folks — patty, gravy, bunz. Don’t expect no lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese stuffs. Those are all add-​ons.
And their slush floats are made with Icee. Although people will argue to say icees and slurpees and hush puppies are all the same. Um, no, Icee wins the slush game by far — says the slush snob.
Ample bench/​table seating at this location. Had some interesting creatures this day hanging out on a table but generally speaking, no one bothers each other so I found it entertaining to watch.
Why doesn’t Oahu pick up this super easy concept of making gravy burgers?!

Seriously the BEST gravy burger in town!!!
Gravy burger, French fries and strawberry slush float — winner !!!

OK drive-​in food in an industrial area off the main highway in Hilo, but the service was lacking. The counterperson wasn’t friendly, never smiled, never said «thank you» for our order and looked annoyed when we asked questions about the food. What is Korean boneless??? Beef, fish, chicken, pork? Your guess would be as good as mine…
Need to step up the counter help because if they don’t want to serve people, they really shouldn’t be working at a drive-​in. Not worth stopping here; you can find friendlier people, better service, better food, and better value elsewhere. And don’t discriminate against me just because I’m not a Big Islander; I’m still local!

It’s all about the katsu, baby!
You want a massive plate lunch that’s so packed with onolicous food that they gotta use a rubber band to keep the container closed? Blane’s is the place to go! I got the chicken katsu and regular drink special and I wasn’t able to finish the katsu. I had to throw a third of it in the fridge for later! The katsu is crispy, even after a 15 – 20 minute drive from Blane’s to the house up the mountain. The mac salad was simple, but still tasted pretty good, and the rice was cooked pretty spot on. I also had a slush float, while not quite as good as Rainbows, it still went well with the plate lunch!
The Good: Huge portions, delicious and crispy katsu, they know how to cook their rice.
The Bad: They’re only in Hilo, katsu is so bad for you but so gooooood!
There’s so many places to get a good plate lunch on any island, but if you find yourself in Hilo go and check out Blane’s There’s a couple locations, and the katsu is crispy and delicious! I’m looking forward to my next trip to Hilo to try more menu items!