Kiawe Smokehouse

Reviews

• Caleb R.

  star star star star star 8 September 2026

  Holy smokes the food is delicious.
  Make sure to ask for Chad, he's the bomb. Brisket is amazing. Ribs are tender. Chicken is soooooo good.
  Fries could have been a little crisper but flavor was great. They need a huge sign out front because more people need to know about this place.

• Martin S.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 4 September 2026

  I really wanted to like this place. The location is right on the water with great views at sunset. It's in touristy Kona, so I figured it's gotta be decent.
  
  Food was meh, I had some sausage plate, but it was forgettable. The entree was served with a few sauces, but only one was worth using - just not my thing.
  
  That most bizarre part of our visit was our drink service. My spouse ordered a gin and tonic, and it came back flat. We asked the waitress about his drink, the manager said they don't have tonic water, so they substituted with club soda. Why bother taking an order for a drink that you cannot make? Gin and tonic is pretty basic.
  
  Service was pleasant, but that's not enough for me to go back.

• Bill S.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 1 September 2026

  Just terrible service.   Not sure if it's a kitchen issue or a staffing issue but food took forever and was cold when it got here.  
  
  Should have been great.  But it wasn't.

• Charles P.

  star star star star star_border 27 August 2026

  Excited to see a new spot in Kona, and a BBQ joint at that. Saw it advertised on FB, and was surprised nobody had created a listing here yet. Yay me!
  
  They had a soft opening a week or 2 ago, & the timing couldn't be better. A few doors down, Bubba Gump will be closing in two days. Hopefully some of the crowd will now go to Kiawe.
  
  Located @ Daylight Mind Cafe in Waterfront Row, Kiawe Smokehouse is open daily from 3-9pm. It's a perfect solution to Daylight Mind Cafe being a breakfast & lunch oriented spot. Why not diversify & offer something completely different, thus created a whole new revenue stream?
  
  If youve been to Daylight Mind before, you know the seating. If not, it's a nice spot right near the ocean. Spacious, you can have in or outdoor seating. We came on a Friday, and there was nice live music.
  
  As this was my 1st try & there were no reviews yet, I took it upon myself to represent Yelp Elites, and ordered as much as I could! Between me, the Mrs and my toddler, we put a nice dent in the menu.
  
  We started with an order of fried green tomatoes. I can't think of anyone else in Kona that has it, and I have loved them ever since first trying them eons ago in Atlanta. They didn't  disappoint. Although not the best, they were decent- enough to fulfill my craving. They were thicker than I'm used to, had the right tartness to them, & the dipping sauce was something close to Utah's infamous "fry sauce", but more heavy on the mayo and less on the ketchup.
  
  Before the fried green tomatoes came out, we were given a plate of cornbread w/butter. I'm not sure if this is a thing because they are new, or if it's a standard everyone will get, but it was appreciated. The cornbread was flavorful, dense, & the whipped butter was perfect.
  
  We ordered a "small kine bowl chowder" for baby, which was actually a decent size, esp. for $5.
  It was corn chowder, & she loved it. I had a taste (for the sake of the review), and it was good. Not too creamy, not too corny.
  
  My wife ordered a combo plate of 2 meats and 1 side.
  The two meats chosen were Kiawe smoked pull pork and Kona coffee rubbed beef brisket. The side was house fries, at my daughters request.
  
  The pulled pork was ok. It was tender, shredded thin but it ate thick, if you know what I mean. The beef brisket outshined the pork though. It was nice and tender, and had the perfect amount of fat. They were nice sized cuts and I enjoyed dipping them in each of the three different barbecue sauces to see which matched best.
  
  Speaking of barbecue sauce, the three sauces are coffee redeye (the most mild), Carolina (the spicy), and guava curry (the somewhat spicy but also tangy). I think I preferred the coffee redeye then the Carolina, over the guava.
  
  My combo plate was the big papa of them all- 4 meats and 3 sides! I wanted nothing the same that my wife had, so we could end up eating 6 of the 9 items on the menu.
  I chose the house made pastrami, smoked half chicken, house smoked sausages, and baby back ribs.
  For my sides, I went with Asian slaw, sauerkraut, and German potato salad. The plate also came with a small amount of pickled vegetables- which were fantastic.
  
  My pastrami was very good, nice and soft and flaky. The menu says it comes with horseradish mustard. I don't care for it, so didn't bring it up when I noticed it was missing.
  
  The smoked half chicken was nice and soft, juicy enough, and had a good smoke flavor.
  
  There was a choice of three sausages for the sausage, a Portuguese sausage, and I forgot the other two. I opted for the third option, which was the spiciest. And it was.
  I have to say the sausage was the least of my favorite meats. Normally sausage is a sure thing, but this was a little off. It was way oversmoked, so it was black inside and out, brittle, and super dry.
  
  As were my baby back ribs. They were much drier than I like to eat ribs. I want them glazed with some sort of sauce, tender and falling off the bone when I bite into them. These were very dry, but the smoke flavor was good.
  
  My sides were hit and miss. The Asian slaw was just ok. Not disappointing, but not exciting. The sauerkraut was disappointing, as it was really soft and mushy. It had the right amount of tartness/sourness to it, giving me the coughs/teary eyes a couple times- which is a good thing. However, I like mine to be crunchy, and this was the opposite. The German potato salad was a home run. This was really really good. I would order that again in a heartbeat. Perfect in everything.
  
  Service was good, although I think there was just one waitress covering everyone. Food did come out a little bit slow, but it seems all of the tables arrived around the same time, so all the orders were in together.
  
  Overall, there are some kinks to be ironed out, some growing pains to overcome, but I'm glad there is a new restaurant in town. Since I've gotten my "sampling" out of the way, I know what to order next time (beef brisket, German potato salad).

• Vic M.

  star star star star star_border 22 August 2026

  Nice location right on the water. They're relatively new and still have a few kinks to work out however overall we had a nice experience for dinner.
  
  Friendly caring staff.
  
  BBQ Chop Salad was delicious. The meat smoky and tender $15.95
  
  The House Spinach Salad also was very good $9.95
  
  Clam Chowder in Bread Bowl was good although we had expected a larger bowl (bread) $11.95
  
  Beer, wine and mixed drinks available.
  
  Prices aren't outrageous and seem "fair" for what they offer.