Ponds Hilo — Restaurant in Hawaii

I had made reservations for Monday evening. We arrived and had zero wait. The host was pleasant. Water was brought and the waiter arrived almost immediately after. We ordered the Mai Tai special. The drinks came very quickly, and they were DELICIOUS. The waiter showed us photos of the specials on his phone. My wife ordered the NY Steak (🤔 why are they no longer called "NY Strip" anymore?) medium well, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed veg and garden salad. The waiter pushed a "Papaya vinegrette" dressing, but she asked for ranch dressing. I ordered the Seafood Linguine with vodka sauce and the soup de jour, "Tahitian Clam". It was only a few minutes before the salad and soup arrived. The soup was very nice, not overpowering taste of clams. My wife was several bites into her salad before she realized it didn't have ranch dressing, but was in fact the Papaya vinegrette. Luckily she isn't allergic. She accepted the apparent error with good nature. A few minutes after we finished the soup and salad, the entrees arrived. My linguini was a decent size portion, with a good amount of fish, clams, scallops, and shrimp in it, but a bit sparse for the price. My wife's plate could have come from a magazine shoot. The steak was a thing of beauty. I know I could never grill one so pretty. She cut into it and it was cooked perfectly! Then she had a bite. It was beef. But other than that it had no flavor. It was grilled with no salt, no garlic, no pepper. It is very surprising how much just a little salt can change the flavor of meat. I suggested she send it back, or we get a salt shaker (the waiter had left us a pepper mill, but no salt). She said no and tried a few more bites, but she just couldn't enjoy the steak. She flagged a waiter over and asked for some A1. For a $40+ steak. While waiting for that, she tried the garlic mashed potatoes. They weren't. They had no garlic, no salt, no flavor. She then tried the veg. Steamed and very pretty but again, no flavor. No salt, no butter, no pepper. Bland. Meanwhile, I thoroughly enjoyed my Seafood Linguine. Which made me feel just a bit guilty. The two of us plus tip was well over $100. It was supposed to be a special dinner. It will be one we will remember, but one we will NOT be repeating.

As to the restaurant itself, it is charming, built over a koi pond. Fish and turtles and ducks provide some entertainment. And a man began playing a guitar while we were finishing up our meal.

So We cannot recommend unless you must check the box to be able to say you've eaten there. My suggestion is it you want some flavor either bring your own salt shaker, or head over to Verna's drive in and get a Moco...

I feel bad giving this restaurant two stars, but the truth is the food was not only poorly prepared and completely under-seasoned (no salt or pepper at all), it actually made my boyfriend and I ill. We came here about two weeks ago while we were staying in the area. We wanted a nice "upscale" dinner and this restaurant had many good reviews. To be clear, the staff are very nice and the place itself is rather cute. We sat by the bar, overlooking the water. There was live music in the back, but we didn't feel comfortable being around so many people dining.

The cocktails we ordered weren't very strong. My margarita barely tasted of one. For food, we ordered the Opakapaka Filet (on the smaller menu), which was sauteed and served with a lemon butter caper sauce. I honestly couldn't even finish this dish, it was straight up gross. The mashed potatoes weren't hot nor were they mashed. I had a full sized potato lump on the plate. The fish was coated in flour and then sauteed, so all you tasted was the coating rather than the delicate fish. Then they served this horrible white (no joke, it looks like white paint) on the fish. The sauce was cold and I'm assuming what made me ill. It must has just been a batch they made at some point during the day and they just throw it on the fish. I could only eat a handful of bites before calling it quits.

My boyfriend ordered, per the recommendation of our server, the Crab Crusted Opakapaka with roasted red pepper sauce. Another disaster. First, it looks gruesome with the red sauce. The sauce itself wasn't good and it overpowered any flavor of the food. What is the point of getting fish if the only thing you taste is the sauce? It was so unappetizing looking that I refused to try his dish. He said it was tolerable but later regretted eating as much as he did due to stomach pain.

I ended up nauseous the rest of our night. We had to cancel our after dinner plans so I could go home and be sick.

Although the staff were lovely and genuinely cared about our experience, the food was just unacceptable. Our food was ill prepared, cold, and clearly dangerous to consume. Fish should be able to stand up on its own. Season it properly, cook it simply and serve it. Unless you're trying to hide the actual flavor of the fish, you don't really need funky sauces. So the question is how fresh was this fish? Also, please actually mash your potatoes and make sure food is served at the appropriate temperature.

I question anyone who gives this restaurant five stars. Certainly wish this establishment well, especially as everyone struggles through a pandemic, but wow. Worse meal...

We went here recently for our 27th wedding anniversary. We had excellent seating over looking the local favorite ice ponds where the locals jump off a green railing into ice cold pond water. Our waiter was patient while we picked out our selections. He was helpful. We chose to try the red pepper crab crusted Opakapaka fish with a loaded potato. We chose a Sheared Ahi Salad appetizer to share. They brought us fresh bread with butter to go with our salad. I ordered ice tea and water with lemon. My husband had a diet coke with water to drink. Our water was checked by our wait staff regularly. We loved the favor choices. The cream sauce for the main dish exploded with flavor. The sheared Ahi was an excellent choice as our appetizer. We had the fish & salad it was fresh & and sheared Ahi was cooked but not overcooked. Perfect. I had mentioned to our host that we picked this restaurant to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary. We were treated to a free complimentary photo taken of both of us by the wait staff. We were given a free brownie with vanilla ice cream & whip cream & 🍒 cherry on the garnish. This was a pleasant surprise. We had a great early dinner. We enjoyed the experience because even though we were together, it was like the waiter wanted us to get our privacy time on this milestone event. He was watching us but not interfering too much. He appeared when he knew that something was flowing next. We did get our photo in a paper frame to keep of this great experience at "Ponds Restaurant". Go and try it. You might find it on a higher scale, but you get what you pay for. In the end, if you are too full to try their bread pudding, get it "to go." You will enjoy it later when you have digested your meal. It was a great way to end the day. Thank you, Ponds Restaurant, for making our 27th wedding anniversary a day we will truly...