Ohana's vs. Kona Cafe

[grgich]

I'm torn between these two restaurants.... I need some opinions.

It was only going to be my immediate family for dinner at Ohana's, then we were taking a Wishes Cruise leaving from the Poly later that night.

But... my SIL and family will now be in-town for that evening, so we would like to all eat dinner together... well, maybe....

I tried to add people to my reservation at Ohanas and it was a no-go... no room at the inn, so to speak... unless I wanted a dinner at 9:30pm, which won't work since we are going on the cruise. And SIL's kids are 4 and 1.5, which is another factor that works against us for a later dinner.

So, I asked to see if anything was available at Kona for the larger party size... and Kona was available around the same time (5:30pm).

My family has been to O'hanas before (we've stayed at the Poly a couple of times but this trip we are staying at YC and AKL), and we LOVED dinner at Ohana's. My kids (DS13, DS11, and DD10) really love meat on a skewer, as well as all the appetizers/salad. But now that they are a bit older, I think the whole coconut races thing is not something they would find amusing, other than to "help" their younger cousins possibly.

My thought is that we may want to split up our party; send some to Ohana, and some to Kona (around the same time). Personally, I'm thinking I would like to try Kona (we've never tried it on previous trips), but hate to give up something I *Know* my family likes.

Our reservation at Ohana is at 5:10pm, which is pretty early - do you think they could accommodate a larger party if we just showed up with more than the number on the reservation?

 

[Armandocme]

I don't think they would be able to accomdate a larger party if you just walked up. When we went last month, there was someone else at the podium trying to get seated without an ADR and they were told the wait would be 2 hours just to see if there would be any openings.

As far as Kona goes, we loved Kona so much we went there 3 times during our last trip. The food there is excellent, but there is no entertainment like at Ohana.

 

[jjatwdw]

I couldn't decide between O'hana and Kona on my last trip so we ate at both. We liked Kona much better and will be going back there next May.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

we love kona!! it is the best we had an amazing meal there in december and are going back in august
the service is great
i have heard mixed reviews at ohana and there have been some changes to the menu
you cant really go wrong though

 

[Tam1067]

We just ate at both on our trip earlier this month and loved them equally but for different reasons. 'Ohana is VERY crowded every single night, though. I'd be surprised if you could get more people in even if you showed up. But Kona is really good as well, and the choices there are all varied. I'd say you know the crowd you're dealing with best, but I really don't think you'd be disappointed with either one.

 

[nurseypoo5]

We couldnt decide either, so were doing both. That being said, if your meeting family and friends whats the point of splitting the group. Go to Kona. I cant remember ever ever hearing anything bad about this restaurant..but i hear some bad things about Ohana, i bet you'll enjoy it a lot! Its the one place i can not decide what to eat.

 

[beth_cam]

When was the last time you went to ohana? Do you know about all the menu changes? If you havent been since the changes, you might find you may as well just try Kona. Some people think the new menu is just fine but many of the repeat customers are not at all happy. I havent eaten there so I cant say myself just adding more 'food for thought'.

 

[grgich]

We ate dinner there in 1999. We were seated behind the fire pit, out of the "action", but that was ok with us. My kids were only 3, 5 and 6 at the time, and did enjoy the "races", but they *really* enjoyed the food. I can't recall exactly what appetizers they liked, I'm thinking it was potstickers. They really liked the shrimp on the skewer, and the salad with ginger dressing. I think there was another appetizer they liked, dipping it into some kind of ginger sauce.

DH seems to be the hold-out for O'hanas. He has really good memories of our children enjoying themselves at Ohana, and he's not convinced about Kona because he finds the atmosphere lacking. And its his sister's family that we are meeting there, so I'm thinking he wants to go with something he knows already....

But I'm working on him - printed out the menu for him to peruse.....

 

[nurseypoo5]

I heard that in October they were bringing back the old menu to ohana..there is a thread somewhere about this. All the old favorites coming back. Anyone know any new news?

 

[jennifer293]

We went to both this trip..Ohana was disgusting and Kona was AWESOME

No doubt in my mind that you would love Kona over Ohana any day!!!

 

[chrissyk]

I love Kona too. The food is very good and the prices are reasonable. I also like O'hana if we're going with a crowd, but it always takes a while to get seated even with ADR's. I don't like that so much. Also, from what I'm reading on this board, it looks like O'hana changed their menu since we went there last. Bummer.