Foster's Kitchen Kona — Restaurant in Hawaii

SALT SALT and more SALT!!!!!!!! Just had dinner there on april 3, 2024. Had an appetizer that had pesto and it was so overly salted that you couldn't taste what peso supposed to taste like. The crackers were overly salty that came with the pimento cheese. The cajun black and shrimp was overly salted and burned your palate. I ordered essentially the BLT and the candied bacon had no candied effect and it was just excessively salty bacon and the chicken in that sandwich was overly salted. My wife ordered a Mai Tai and it wasn't sweet. I researched the other reviews and more complaints about excessively salty food and our bill was over a hundred dollars.

I've eaten in many states and many restaurants. And I have to say I've never had my mouth burn from salt and that is such a rookie move and either you have a chef who doesn't care or you got a rookie who hasn't been trained. But if you're using an old-fashioned salt shaker to season your meat, then I recommend you do it the smart way and use your fingers an about an hour of viewing on the food network and you'll see how to properly season meat with salt. I would not eat there again but I will say that the service was fine.But whomever in the kitchen believes that more salt is better isn't tasting their own food. And I read the reviews and whoever responds to them says they appreciate the feedback. But I don't think you're really doing anything because it is unconscionable to have bacon or chicken or pesto that is so pervasive with salt that you can't taste anything else. I mean, it's like it was deliberately done just to sabotage your food. I mean it's we're talking like a ten year old is cooking in the kitchen and a 10 year old has a excuse.

So anyone who's reading this review or the owner? If someone wants to eat at this restaurant, when you're ordering anything that's gonna have salt, be very specific and say look, your reputation is you overly season your food with salt. I don't want overly salted food. I want it done properly and if it comes to me overly salty I'm not eating it. I'm not paying for it too. Maybe just maybe whomever is reading these reviews and saying they appreciate the feedback will actually do something. But you're not doing anything thus far so train your staff to know how to use salt properly and not shake it like it's parmesan on a pizza.

No more overly...

I was not going to write a review, but people deserve to know what kind of service you can get at Fosters. I want to first say that the manager and our server, Chenine was amazing.

My issue is with the bartender, who was extremely disrespectful not once but twice and went out of his way to make sure. My husband asked for a margarita without sugar and for the second round, bartender came over and when he asked for a skinny margarita, he started to correct us on what we were ordering. Then he proceeded to go back to the bar and then talk to his colleagues, look at us and then laugh in our direction. I am not an idiot to see a mean girl experience when I see one. While this first incident was resolved with the manager who was amazing, it is really the next day that made me write this review.

I was sitting with my family at the kava bar, BEHIND the restaurant when I saw the bartender and he saw me from the balcony. He then turned and said something to his colleague AGAIN and laugh in our direction . I am all about learning from mistakes and letting things go but I WAS NOT even in the restaurant and his actions are so completely disrespectful, he makes the entire fosters restaurant and experience cheap, unprofessional and unwelcome. For a place where everyone is amazing and the food is delicious, it is such a disappointment to see someone go out of their way to make people feel unwelcome, judged and feel terrible. The bartender truly ruins the Fosters name and I am so sad to see such an ugly experience happen.

I hope the manager and owner of the restaurant let him know that his actions and "mean girl attitude" not only ruins the experience and restaurant, but truly goes against the entire spirit of Hawaii. It's embarrassing to see someone ruin the name of Fosters when this is really a great place but the bartender not only made our experience terrible but also...

Just finished having dinner with my friend and I just gotta say i had the most relaxing and best experience I've ever had at this restaurant. The waitress was very helpful and knowledgeable of not only the menu but the actual dishes. It says something when your server can acutely describe the food in detail and with enthusiasm. We ordered the calamari which she warned us came grilled not fried which was a nice touch didn't really care for it but i liked the fact that she went out of her way to let us know so we wouldn't be surprised. I had the gumbo and an order of cajun fries. One thing i don't like is the fries always come out almost burnt. Kind of like they have then sitting there and just drop then back in the fryer to heat them up. The gumbo was killer wish i would've ordered the bowl instead of a cup. The flavors blended really well and the spice wasnt over powering as sometimes people tend to do with gumbo. My friend ordered the cajun shrimp pasta on our waitresses recommendation and as soon as the plate came out I wanted it. I literally grabbed a fork and started trying it (rude i know but that's how good it looked) and the taste was amazing. The manager was going around table touching and you could tell he was being attentive since our waitress started getting a rush. Food tasted great, presentation was awesome, came out hot and didn't take long from when we ordered to when it came out. Next time i go im going to try the chicken pesto pasta. This was definitely a great way to end a...