MILITARY ONLY - Koko at Kalia at Hale Koa — Restaurant in Honolulu

I don't like giving the Hale Koa a three star review however, they earned it. Lets start by saying that the rooms, the view, the beach, the food, and outside bar were great. The issue is the front desk, first of all you can never get a hold of them to book the room, and yes i know you can go online, but if you have more questions before you book, good luck getting a hold of them. When i checked in i was told that my card would be charged almost $1200 dollars, no problem right, well it was expressed that it would also have holds placed on even more money on my credit card as I used the resturants inside the resort, so the first day was $1200, the third day was 450, the 6&7 day there were even more pre-authorization holds that i had no idea were placed on my account. So when i checked out and was told that my total stay was $3600 dollars I said ok, so then they did a full charge of that amount $3600 dollars. I was told by the front desk at checkout that the final bill would be against all the previous hold that were placed on my account, which was completely and utterly BS. but at that point what are you going to do. Here is the thing, thankfully i had a credit card that had a high credit limit, had I used a debit card, or other credit card that did not have a high limit, the final charge would not have been approved!! What if i was a young sergeant, or someone else who was not as fortunate?? Be clear up front, get more help on the front end so that it does not take 30-45 minutes to speak with someone on the phone, and more importantly be transparent that you are going to place so many holds on money throughout the stay. Had I known i could have made the decision to just do a direct charge for breakfast, lunch and dinner on my card, so that you didn't place so many holds on the same card i was going to use to pay for the rooms that i rented. Lastly, you keep the kids water slide closed ALL weekend, when that is the prime time that kids are there - Why? Why do you only have it open during the weekday? Not very accommodating with respect to that when you have a little 8 year old just staring at it...

The prime rib buffet was overpriced and underwhelming (at best).

3 tables of various foods with minimal seasoning, and a single cutting station for prime rib that was somehow both tough/dry and undercooked at the same time. Desserts were also lackluster and dry if not downright unappetizing. They couldn’t even make coffee without burning it and leaving grounds in the roaster. I’m not sure if the staff doesn’t care or the quality is genuinely that low. On top of this they still charge for soft drinks.

All this at a cost of $70/person. Visitors and residents alike can easily find better food within walking distance for far less money.

Terrible experience and do...

We have tried this restaurant 3 times during our stay. Two for dinner and one for breakfast. We tried the Mexican food buffet and the seafood with crab buffet for dinner. The Mexican food buffet tasted bland and food that should have been hot was cold. The seafood buffet was mediocre in flavor and again cold. Temperature control of the food seemed to be an issue for all meals. The breakfast buffet omelet station was great and the gentleman running it was friendly. The pancakes were cold and stiff. The waffle mix for waffle station didn't taste good either. The fruit was good. Overall for us, we would rather eat somewhere other than this restaurant for...