Black Rock Cafe — Restaurant in Hawaii

While BlackRock Cafe has been a pretty casual, enjoyable, local, watering hole, one in which I have thoroughly enjoyed for the past 5 years, there is room for improvement. As a lifelong vegetarian, there are extremely limited food options. No veggie burger patty options, no portobello burgers, etc. No tofu, nor vegan menu options. No fresh baked goods or bread. Best I had offered was an omlette, hold the eggs. But, nevertheless, I had enjoyed my time there. There are probably only a half dozen kegs, of which at least 2 are usually not working. No ciders, nothing really special from locals, such as Ola Brewery, etc. Sierra Nevada, yeah, Paul has it. Just like Safeway... Even Malama Market- down the road- offers special local beverages on tap from Ola and others in their "Anytime Bar" including refillable growlers for $11.50, plus a dollar off upon refill, sometimes featuring live musicians. No Bailey's Irish creme at BlackRock, either, sorry for the lack of that brunch treat, if you are on vacation. Anyway, I enjoyed BR until a one-day-a-week bartender, Carley, is there, Fridays; seems she didn't like my tallkng to the owner, Paul. I was offering a suggestion to Paul, to clean the hallway to the bathrooms, because the grease on the floors (outside of the kitchen,) for the record, is so slippery, patrons have said they have to hold onto the walls walking down the hallway to the women's (no soap or hot water, even for employees) restroom. My suggestion is to not wear Crocs while visiting this establishment, especially if you need to use the restroom. If you don't wish a spirit of Aloha, where the bartenders will change Hawaiian music to a cable TV music 70's rock...

We headed to the Black Rock today for lunch, and it went badly. First, the waitress didn't want to stop sweeping to come wait on us even though we'd closed our menus and were obviously waiting. She never even took our drink order. We were right by a window, and it was too bright, so we asked for a different place. And we were told no because she was sweeping. She finally offered one table but refused to let us have the one literally right beside it, which was dimmer, because she was sweeping that part of the restaurant--not that exact place, mind you, but in that general area. We asked again if we couldn't have the table that we wanted in a nearly empty restaurant, and this is when she got snippy and told us we could just wait until she was done sweeping. We said that in that case, we'd just leave, and instead of apologizing, she said that was fine with her and we could just go. Told that we would complain to management, she said that she's been there 9 years and that she's not going anywhere. As we complained to the cook about her rudeness, she finally stopped sweeping long enough to round the corner and tell us that we were the ones who were rude for insisting on a different table. It boggles the mind that paying customers are considered rude by this woman for having preferences. We...

I respect myself too much, to ever "settle" for this dump. Ignorant employees who thinks it's "ok" to constantly call you "darlin"! So disrespectful and unprofessional. Cannot eat food in that atmosphere because of the Filthy floors, super tacky crooked pictures on wall, no air conditioning, smelly stale stench lingers around. I can imagine how gross their bathrooms must be. 45 minutes or more, wait for breakfast. Had to witness a wonderful local patient family walk out, hungry and down trodden, because their son had to go play soccer and family couldn't wait any longer. That family, being classy, didn't even make a scene. Come ON, Owner and Kitchen Staff! Get your plan together! Also, this place should have more pride in its' structure, it's a Pahoa historical site for goodness sake! The owner doesn't seem to care about "giving back" to the community whose generations of families have patronized Pahoa Black Rock, by simply renovating! The waiting area bench is thin, and uncomfortable. If you're sitting on that bench waiting for a table, you'll probably going to have someone's behind right in your face. Get some quotes, and apply for a business recover loan, owner! Leave a Legacy behind? Nah, ain't never...