Zia's Caffe — Restaurant in Hawaii

My first impression of this place was that it was HOT and HUMID inside. Outside its nice and cool and breezy, but it was SO HOT inside! I noticed when I checked in on Yelp that a few other fellow Yelpers had the same thing to say. What made it worse was that I was seated right next to the kitchen area. Phew. Get some AC in that place, PLEASE!

I thought it was nice that they allowed us to bring some decorations for the table and balloons. They also allowed us to BYOB and provided us glasses for them. Also, know that if you are a party of 6 or more you can only have one check and only pay with 2 credit cards. Being a party of 18, we used index cards for everyone to keep track of their own bill to include tax and tip (then put it on my credit card as I get 5% back on restaurants this quarter with my Disco!).

We all ordered a bunch of appetizer and make sure that you ask them for the house bread because they don't just bring it out to you. Rundown of appetizers: mushrooms with goat cheese was okay but I don't think that I would order them again; eggplant parmesan thing was good, would get again; calamari was decent but I have had better (and worse), at least it was soft but I did not like sauce so I suggest ordered cocktail sauce with it if you get it; shrimp cocktail was good, nice sized shrimp but small serving so it was like a taste and that's it so would save my money next time; garlic cheese bread was delicious, good cheese on it and soft bread, a must have. The house bread was really the best for me. It comes with fresh pesto on the side and the oil and balsamic vinegar is on the table. The bread was soft and had a good crust. It definitely was not fresh out of the oven or even warm for that matter but it was delicious with the pesto spread.

Most of the entrees that came to the table didn't look special at all, in fact I thought the presentation sucked for all the plates except for the steak and my meal. My mom got the ribeye daily special ($29) and she seemed to enjoy it. Several others got the eggplant parmesan and said it was good. Not sure what everyone else got because it was all smothered in pasta sauce so it all looked the same. My husband got the cheese and spinach ravioli. It was okay but I didn't think anything special of it. We ordered a keiki pizza for my son and asked for olives on it. They put like 3 or 4 olives on it and charged me an extra $1 for it. WTH.

I had the Molokai sweet potato ravioli ($15) and it was AMAZING! Theres only like 5 raviolis on the plate but it's pretty bomb. The presentation was great... I'm assuming because it has a butter sauce instead of marinara, you could actually see the food. It comes with macadamia nuts that I think they cook in the oil and butter so it gives the whole plate this wonderfully warm nutty flavor. It also comes with fresh asparagus and grape (or something similar) tomatoes on it. SO YUM!

By the time dessert came around, most of us were full but my favorite dessert is tiramisu so I had to have some there. My mom got the mint chocolate chip gelato. It was good. Not too overpowering on the mint and the chocolate pieces were good chocolate, not that fake chalk tasting chocolate. My husband got the brownie that is supposed to be a mix of a blonde and fudge brownie or something. It was good too. Moist and very sweet. When my tiramisu came I was so excited! It looked so good but when I took my first bite I was surprised because it was so thick and stuck to my spoon and mouth. And where was the espresso soaked lady fingers?! It was just plain lady fingers in between this super thick cream cheese that I guess was supposed to be mascarpone cheese with cocoa dust and whipped cream on top. Many of my family members tried it and had the same reaction of disappointment and unpleasant surprise. I've had A LOT of tiramisu in my life, and never have I ever experienced one with such thick and hard mascarpone cheese, if that's even what it was. Total...

Summary: I've been here 4 times within the past year and it's hit or miss with the food but the wait staff is awesome.

The bruschetta is one of the best I've ever had (if the bread is not overcooked). It's honestly what has had me coming back each time. I actually brought a friend last weekend and we ended up getting the straciatella and it was amazing! Like an upgraded bruschetta. They had a marscapone/ricotta cheesecake with a lemon/orange flavor as a special dessert that week so we decided to try the cheesecake and it was also amazing! We also had a ravioli dish that was pretty tasty but could have used a little cream sauce maybe. Rachel was our waitress and she was amazing.

Fast forward to yesterday. I happened to be in the area again and with my husband and 2 small children so we stopped in for an early monthers day lunch. I ordered the same staciatella but this time the presentation was not as nice and the bread was a little overcooked. Still tasty though. My kids devoured their spaghetti with red sauce and my husband seemed to enjoy his chicken parmesan. I asked if they had any cheesecake from last week and they said they didn't that day but they would have some tomorrow for actual mothers day. Side note- Rachel was the waitress again and she was SO ON TOP of everything. Just amazing!

FAST FORWARD to today (mothers day). I enjoyed the cheesecake so much the first time that I was willing to drive over the H3 to get it to-go today! I called ahead and ordered 2 slices and I noticed they increased the price from 11 to 13.50. I asked them if it was the same cheesecake and they assured me it was but they were serving it with lemon sorbet today. I told them I would not need the lemon sorbet with my to-go order because I didn't want to get the cheesecake all soggy. I got there and paid the increased price either way (would have been fine) but when I opened the box, the cheesecake had old looking sliced strawberries with strawberry juice all over it. I went back in and told them that this was not the same cheesecake as last week. They assured me that it was and they just added the strawberries because it didn't look as nice. Nonetheless, I didn't want them and they were nice enough to take them back and get me new slices without anything on them. Well, I'm sad to report, the cheesecake was definitely not the same. The crust was soggy and it didn't set up as nicely as the one they cooked last week. I wish I had taken a picture of that one! It actually looked quite plain but it was far better than this "Mothers Day Special". Point of my stories- I think it's definitely worth eating here but if you catch them on a bad day at least the service is amazing. Try the food again and it might be different the next time. Lesson to the chef- if something didn't turn out right, don't try and cover it up AND...

I went to their website 3 days ago as I needed food for a Sales Kickoff Meeting for about 30 people the next evening. I printed out their catering menu which had instructions that they required 24 hour notice if I was to order from that menu. I called 26 hours ahead of time and spoke to Steve who was a delight to speak with as he took my order of 3 full size pans, 1 full size pan Caesar Salad, 4 loafs of french bread, and two 1/2 lb pkgs of their Olive Pesto Spread. After taking my order he asked me to hold on so he could tell the cook (sorry I am not going to call him a Chef) in the kitchen in case they had any questions that he should ask me. After a brief hold Steve came back on and told me unfortunately the cook refused to make my order - stating that he did not have enough time and that I should have called earlier! I mentioned the notice on their website and Catering Menu that all they asked for was 24 hour notice, and you could tell Steve did not understand the reason for the denial either and he apologized several times, as he knew they advertised 24 advanced notice. I would have asked for a manager but Steve stated that there was not much he could do because that was the same cook who would be on shift the next day cooking the meal if we got someone to make him do it. And you know I was not comfortable with picking up and eating a meal from a cook that got their feathers ruffled because I expected to get what they advertised! This would have been about a $350.00 order and more to come because we have these meetings every month, but now I seriously doubt we will ever order from them for any of our meetings now or in the future. I guess Zia's does not need our business or from the 30 people that come to our meetings - because they are very disappointed with the "no service" as I am and it would have been a great change of pace from the normal Korean or Chinese food that is around us. Too Bad Zia's - you have such Prima Dona in...