" Dude - does this have anything to do with THIS story, or are you just trying to write your own reviews using the Ono Kine page? "

" Naniloa Disapointing. Ken Fujiyama and the Naniloa resort have made headlines recently, with the abrupt takeover and remodeling and the like, with a common theme of making a “world class resort” out of the local landmark as his lofty goal. I thought I would give Mr. Fukiyama an opportunity to please me at his resort, so I went to the Easter Brunch at the old “Poly” room at the Naniloa. I have eaten at Mr. Fukiyama’s other restaurants at the Volcano house and at Nani Mau Gardens, so I had an idea of what to expect and I can say, that after those experiences, my expectations were not too high. That was fortunate, because the food, atmosphere and overall experience failed to even meet my low expectations. When we walked into the “poly room”, how sad it was to see that it had been refurbished on the cheap, a coat of paint the biggest improvement that I could see, without any of the other elegant touches that I would expect, like wall coverings, carpet, art work or other sorts of decorations. The buffet was set up on tables with white table coverings without ant sort of decoration, indeed the only decoration on the food tables or the dinning tables was a flower arrangement on the dessert table. I felt I was walking down the service corridor at the Waokoloa hotels, instead of stepping into ma world class resort eatery. Even the windows, looking out into Hilo Bay, were dirty and looked as if they had not been recently cleaned. It was a sad beginning to what was to be a totally sub par experience. The most disappointing of all was the food that was served at this event. Starting with a romaine salad with brown edged and speckled lettuce, complemented with only a piece of tofu and an unripe slice of tomato. That was the entire salad bar. The rest of the buffet went downhill from there, with cold fried potato’s, overcooked shrimp, a dry baked fish and mystery goulash. The prime rib station cut plenty of beef, but most to medium and well done eaters, a truly rare piece of beef was no where to be found. French toast was found next to the bacon and sausage links. But all the toppings were away on another table past the omelet station. Fresh Fruit consisted of ONLY papaya slices and pineapple chunks, and there were fewer items on the dessert table than ingredients at the omelet station. The only high lights of the meal were snow crab claws and the potato mac salad, and only because the were The cost of the meal, at $34.99 per person, would lead one to believe that an elegant and tasteful banquet would be laid, but what we got for the money was a cheapo breakfast buffet. Ken Fujiyama is attempting a world class resort on a motel 6 budget. But then, we have seen this kind of half way efforts before from Mr. Fujiyama. Its clear that if you want to attract visitors and locals alike to your new digs Mr. Fujiyama, you need to learn to run a proper food service. And hey – it all starts with the food. Chris Drayer P.O. Box 1503 Hilo, HI 96721 808-969-3713 "