Da Shark Shack — Restaurant in Hawaii

(Last visited 12/14/2022.) On a Norwegian cruise around the Hawaiian islands and today's stop was in Kona! While exploring "The Big Island" on the Kona side we saw this restaurant with these big giant signs out front that said "WINGS" on it. Well, they worked because if you invested that much money into them signs to bring me in, they better be good...

Atmosphere/Appearance: This place is so cool and so chill. It has amazing views that look right out over the ocean and toward the cruise ports. The whole thing gives me tiki hut vibes and to delivers them very well.

Service: I can't remember the young lady that took care of us, but she was great. Super friendly, bubbly, uplifting and made sure we had everything that we needed.

Food: So upon walking in you see a popcorn machine! I'm a sucker for some freshly popped corn so I got some! It's complimentary of course. It was salted well and just gets your palate ready for more food! My first beer was the Cocoa Brown Beer from the Kona Brewing Company (located close by actually). The beer was very dark, but not too thick like a port or stout. It tasted like an IPA and a port had a baby, a lil' swirl action. It also had a bit of a chocolatey flavor to it that I was a fan of. I just didn't like the bitterness of the IPA part. Our first flavor of wings were the Kona Gold. The wings were of a decent size and reminded me of a honey mustard. They were cooked well and the meat came off the bone pretty easily. These were a golden BBQ sauce basically, but the sauce kinda left my taste buds pretty quickly. Next up were the Hawaiian Chile & Garlic wings. These looked like a typical sweet Thai chili sauce. However, there was a good crisp on the skin of the wing, there was a great deal of the sweet Thai flavor that blended well with the garlic. Last, but not least were the Hot wings. A classic. These definitely smelled hot and had the spiciness to back it up. The spice came in right up front and lingered for quite a while. I was pleasantly surprised with these.

Value: For Hawaii, this place was actually very affordable. 6 wings for $10.00 and 10 wings for $20.00. The popcorn was free of course and the beer was, I don't remember. Lol.

In conclusion, if you're looking for Hawaiian food, you could bypass this place, but if you're looking for a little bit of home, some familiarity, some decent wings and good beer, check...

Avoid this bar at all costs unless you want to be beaten up by the locals.

My husband and I decided to try this nice looking bar this evening for a quick drink before what should have been a romantic dinner. Unfortunately there should be a sign outside that says "locals only". When we arrived the bar owner announced that him and his buddy, an apparent regular were "Republicans". I don't know why. Being British we tried to be polite and engage in what we thought was a friendly conversation.

I am not sure what happened but when we tried to leave the local patron decided I was "mocking America" and started threatening me physically. Calling be a C* and a B* and all sorts of unspeakable epithets. I am a 43 year old woman, barely over 5 feet tall and this man who was close to 6 feet and over 200lbs decided that it was acceptable to threaten me and call me names. I was very frightened but tried to defuse the situation. Another customer or perhaps employee told us it was time for us to leave. The bar owner chased us out and made his best efforts to appear apologetic.

I was so scared I asked him to make sure the man was not there when we had to walk back past the bar to get our car after dinner. He said he would "deal with the guy". I was so shaken by the experience that we decided it was safest abandoned dinner and get out of there. And when we walked back past the bar not 5 minutes later, the guy who threatened me was happily drinking at the bar as if nothing had happened. So I can only assume the bar owner was concerned he'd get a bad review and doesn't genuinely care about the safety of tourists who might be unlucky enough to visit his bar.

I would recommend avoiding this bar at all costs. There are plenty of other business in Kailua-Kona that will make visitors feel welcomed rather than terrified for their lives. I will be making complaints to local business groups as well as this sort of treatment is truly...

You go here for one reason, the location. Grab a brew or one of those traditional island drinks and watch the show. The view across Ali'i Dr. to Kailuah Bay is awesome just about any time of the day, but certainly worth it at sunset. But wait- there is a breakwater wall on the west side of the road directly across the street where the waves crash during sets sending spray over the wall and onto unsuspecting tourists along the walkway. Occasionally, when it is a big enough wave the spray reaches all the way to the street and nails an unsuspecting car as well. Raucous cheers go up at this hole-in-the-wall bar with every drenching. How much fun is that? And if that were not enough, there are usually fishermen on the breakwater wall further north (outside the spray zone- duh!) where you can watch the occasional lucky dude reel in his catch. The dock lines the north side of the bay as well so you can watch tourists come in and out on boats. If you are into people watching, this can be by far the best show in town. Just be on the lookout for those...