Aloha Lehua Cafe

This place has great food. The seared ahi in wasabi lilikio sauce is so Ono! Salads are fresh and tasty with homemade dressing. A family run business. Very down home and casual. Authentic Hawaiian food.

Da bomb!!! … Clean restaurant, Stellar food, awesome service… If you haven’t visited I highly recommend this place, the owners are nice beautiful people, and they also are active in the community, they also present car shows every now and then, it’s a real loving place with a Ohana feel.

Definitely worth the drive from Hilo. We took advantage of the great $ 10 for $ 20 Unilocal offer to boot. The Hawaiian Nachos were amazing and the ahi fish and chips was great as well. Will definitely be back many times!

It’s been a while since I’ve been there but the Kalua pig nachos are soooo good! Wonton chips, Kalua pig and this mayo sauce was such a delicious combo. The only confusing thing when I went in there was figuring out what side to order from… I guess there were 2 restaurants in one; not sure if it’s still like that or not. Aloha Lehua was on the right side.

I walked in and a 10 year old behind the counter told me they were closed. Their posted hours are 8:30 to 8:30. The Unilocal hours are correct. Should have checked here first.

Decent little place to eat at. Be very careful if you have food allergies, we were told there was no onion in their Loco Moco, burger patties are filled with onions. Otherwise the food was pretty good.

Driving around and got hungry. Saw this place and decided to stop and try. No regrets. Food cooked perfectly.

Holy smokes! What a wonderful staff and excellent service. They were out of the mahi mahi, but we went with Hawaiian Nachos and the Combo Plate of the Shoyu Chicken and Pork. Oh, damn that pork is done right! The chicken thighs taste like a favorite recipe of mine, so we were NOT disappointed. The salad dressing was different… but good! It was all quite tasty and as others have written: FOOD PORTIONS ARE HUGE! The nachos would taste 100x better with freshly fried won tons per order, but it doesn’t matter. The special sauce leaves you going in for more!

Fair Hawaiian food fare. We just moved to the area a few months ago and have tried a few of the local places in Pahoa, I wasn’t even sure if this place was still open because there is rarely anyone there. After reading other reviews my husband and I decided to give it a try for date night. I was really not impressed. I got their pork Laulau and Kahlua pork platter which came with one scoop of rice and a little salmon lomi; it was good but the Laulau was not as good as L&L’s. It was about $ 5 more than L&L’s too which would have been ok if it was better. My husband got the Kahlua pork wrap which he thought was ok but didn’t like the fact that they put cucumbers in it which threw off the taste of the pork. His also came with French fries which looked gross and greasy to me but he seemed to enjoy them. Usually I’ll steal a fry or two but not this time, lol. The food was average. The service was ok. It’s just a family owned place and it was clean and very cutely decorated for Halloween. The young girl working the counter argued with her younger brother about work which I thought was kind of cute. I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to bus our own table or not because they did have trash cans but they brought us our food on dishes so we just left them on the table. When we left an older lady maybe the mom walked out and scoped our car which kind of freaked me out. I will say that I really, really enjoyed their lychee lemonade! It was perfect. I may go back just for that.

This shop is so amazing. Came in based on others’ Unilocal reviews. So glad I listened. This place is when you walk in is like a fast food restaurant. Order at the counter and then wait for your food to come. The food is delivered by other members of the family… so cute. But most importantly the food is delicious and also is in huge quantity. Probably enough for 2 – 3 meals with my lunch.
Table favorites included the Hawaiian Assorted plate and Shoyu chicken.
Will definitely be returning.

We stopped in here on a whim and ate the best Korean short ribs ever. The shrimp scampi was bomb too. Great family owned place, clean restaurant, nice sized portions. If you are hungry while in Pahoa area, definitely stop in for some great hawaiian grub. You won’t be sorry.

Why are you Unilocalers talking about anything other than their award winning seared ahi tuna with a light wasabi cream sauce? For $ 15.99 it is a must try.
We arrived at closing time (7pm on a weekday) but were still welcomed in.

I love coming here and grinding on the lau lau plate or the seared fish. The fish is always super fresh and the servings are big. The green salad is also really fresh and a wonderful side with the main meal. The décor is kind of in between the old KFC theme mixed with the new cafés Hawaiian theme but I think it adds to the fun. My favorite place to eat in Pahoa!

Had the kalua nachos! Good stuff! Who would have thought to put kalua and lomi on chips??? And the sauce is kinda sweet, goes good with the salty!

Solid tasty comfort food that is pretty inexpensive. The cashier and cook were super nice and helpful. Lost one star only because a bunch of menu items weren’t available. The world famous Hawaiian nachos were interesting and tasty.

A regular stop in Pahoa for local kine food. Got the shoyu chicken today which was awesome. Adobo could use a little more vinegar in my taste but delicious none the less. Super nice staff. Ambiance leaves a litte to be desired but hey, for the price, I’m definitely not complaining. Very healthy portions of meat.

This place has a feel similar to a fast food restaurant, plastic booths and all, except after you order at the counter, they bring the food to your table. I ordered the Hawaiian nacho plate, and my husband got the bbq pork sandwich. We ordered all of our food to dine in, and the portions were HUGE. Perhaps it was just the specific items we ordered, but our food was exceptionally greasy, which I was not expecting based on other folks’ pictures and reviews. (I think we should have ordered the «plates» instead maybe?) Also, the balance of flavors was just not quite right with the sauce and salt — see details below. The service was excellent, and the staff were very friendly and attentive.
— Nachos: The Hawaiian Nacho plate was much larger than what folks with to-​go container pictures are showing. The dine-​in version was a full-​sized dinner plate piled 6 inches tall. I wished I had ordered the «bowl» instead of the «plate,» as we took about ²⁄₃ home, even after both my husband and I chowed on these nachos. In terms of flavor — the ingredients were generally tasty, but there was just so much of the «secret sauce» that it unfortunately overtook everything else with the flavor of mayonnaise. After several nachos, I decided my stomach could not take any more friend wonton chips smothered in mayonnaise (which is saying a lot, because I love a good greasy fast food meal every now and then).
— BBQ Pork Sandwich: The pork sandwich was good, overflowing with pork and lots of bbq sauce. The french fries were of the super greasy limp variety (which I actually prefer), but both my husband and I agreed these were the saltiest french fries we had EVER eaten (again, saying a lot, because I enjoy McDonalds, Wendy’s, etc. with extra salt on them).
All in all, I would give this place another shot and probably order one of the plates that sound less greasy. Substituting out the french fries would also be a good choice, based on the photos on Unilocal of other people who got salads instead. The service here really was excellent, with super nice staff, and the portions were very generous, so despite the extreme salt situation and seriously overwhelming mayonnaise, I would try it again. Perhaps a different dish would up my Unilocal rating.

I’m one of the cheapest eaters on Unilocal,and in no way was this place expensive.
The two of us ate like Kings for about $ 25.
Hawaiians love HUGE portions, and this place does not disappoint — Between a full order of the Kahlua Pork, and the Large Hawaiian Nachos — we were stuffed.
I only wish the fried won-​ton chips for the Hawaiian Nachos were fresh-​made.

Pretty pricey.
I got the fish and chips but with salad. They served it with a mango vinaigrette dressing which was good. I thought it would be fried slabs of fish, but they were fried bite size piece which they served with tartar sauce. The fish was pretty dry. ($ 10.99)
My boyfriend got the two choice with shoyu chicken and pineapple bbq ribs served with two scoops of rice and mac salad. The shoyu chicken was good and the ribs had a good sauce, but the meat was hard and dry. ($ 12.99)

Used the Unilocal $ 20 voucher (for $ 10) at Aloha Lehua Café in Pahoa. We went at noon on 5÷30÷14. There was just another table of customers. Another table of people came after us.
Our food arrived about 5 – 7 min after ordering
I had the seared furikake crusted ahi with lilikoi aioli, green salad with balsamic vinegrette and hapa rice; daughter had the kalua pork nachos with won ton chips. Both were generous tasty servings. We loved and savored every bite.
If you’re looking for a fine dining experience, go somewhere else, as this was a family business with their young son serving. We had no problem with this, as we know that local kids tend to be shy and maybe not as outgoing and chatty as mainland kids.
I definitely will return. Good food, comfortable dining area, plenty parking and the owners did chat and asked how we liked the food, first chance they had.