Gill's Lanai — Restaurant in Hawaii

We come to the BI for 2-3 months each year and have been coming up to Gills several times each visit for the past couple of years, as we have friends that live in Hawi. We always loved the food and atmosphere at Gills. We've watched this place grow in both capacity (more tables) and popularity in the past 2 years, however, they did not expand their service or kitchen capacity.

We went to Gills yesterday (Jan 9th, 2025) with one of our Hawi friends, looking forward to having the always delicious fish tacos. My wife ordered the fish sandwich (which we've never tried before) and as usual, my friend & I ordered the fish tacos. Like a lot of places in this economy, the prices had gone up significantly and our 3 person lunch order with just one coke was $90! OK, at least we were going to have a delicious lunch, right?

Well, Gills had expanded the number of tables again, with even more tables in the upper parking lot. We found a spot and waited for our lunch. And waited, and waited, and waited.

When I ordered, I received a text message for the credit card transaction, so I knew exactly the time we ordered. At 48 mins after ordering, my wife received her $23 fish sandwich which she allowed me to try. We both thought it was not only tasteless, as it was on what I would call a store bought hamburger bun, it was like eating a mouth full of bread since the two small pieces of fish were breaded as well. The fish was barely detectable to the palate.

Well, as we all were now very hungry, she started to eat. She had completely finished her meal when our tacos arrived 58 minutes (yes, almost 1 hour) after we had initially ordered! And on top of that, the fish was not "hot" off the grill and it was just "meh".

Our friend that lives in Hawi stated that he had not been to Gills in about 6 months or so, and after this meal, he had no intention of returning. We completely agreed with him.

For a $90 lunch, to say it was disappointing is an understatement. Unfortunately, Gills like other places, massively expanded there table seating but not there service or kitchen capacity. And the result is a complete failure in our opinion.

I guess we will have to just chock this place up to another place that "was once great", but completely declined due to there initial success and then expansion. Sadly, we will not be coming...

Under new ownership. Disclaimer: I used to work for the owner as a cook at the Kohala Coffee Mill, but he never asked me to review or knows I am, and my review is honest.

I thoroughly enjoyed my fresh catch (Mahi Mahi) banh mi. Only points off for the pickled goodies needing to be drained a bit, as they got my sourdough bread (from excellent local bakery, Sundog) a bit soggy. If I ate more daintily that would’ve been more of a problem, but I was hungry so there wasn’t too much time for the bread to lose its crunch. 😜

It’s not fast food (and that’s a good thing!) so be prepared to wait as they make your meal.

The cashier was obviously new. Make sure to get them to repeat back your order if you make substitutions. And be ready to wait in line to order during the lunch rush.

Enjoyed the addition of soothing guitar tunes playing in the background. The visiting kiddos at the next table liked the big screen in the back showing surfing scenes.

Tourists, please remember your tips help local folks eke out a...

This is an awesome hole in the wall!

I was a pain when ordering here but they were incredibly nice about it.

We wanted two tacos but two different kinds: one poke and one Baja. I wanted garlic truffle fries (not one or the other). I wanted goat cheese on my kalua pork quesadilla. They did it all.

Both my husband and I loved the quesadilla. It was our favorite. The addition of goat cheese was perfect. I also really liked the poke taco. The Baja taco was lacking a little flavor for my preference.

The garlic truffle fries were tasty. The tortilla chips were perfect and the mango salsa that came with the quesadilla was delicious.

Everything is reasonably priced as well. The hot dogs were tempting as were other things on the menu.

It can take a bit for your order to be ready depending on how many people are there so just be patient.

Make sure to check them out if you're going to...