Snow Factory Hilo

Very unusual texture, like a dry snowball! Very good. The place needs a little more selection… Maybe traditional ice cream! Snack foods would be nice too. It could be decorated a little more and maybe some music playing… Overall a unique business. No where else to get this kind of shaved ice…

The coco-​choco snow with mochi is my favorite… get the small unless you are sharing as the portions are more than generous. I am a big Olé corn-​fed, Houle lookin Samoan on the ride down and up from the opposite side at Kona, and the small is big for me. If you are non kama’aina the desert delicatessen will be a unique and one of a kind experience… and I have traveled the world over. The atmosphere becomes irrelevant as you are on the island that counts and have made the correct decision to go to «the real» Hawaii where you truly are in paradise and not lost in the hustle of commerce and tourism found on Oahu… this place is a great stop for spoiling the keiki, but make sure your buggah is carrying the island respect… this is a great starting or ending point for a walk through wailoa park or even a «last-​off» before the airport…

Best shave ice ever!!! «Break da mouth» is the expression we like to use as locals. They have a unique way of making their shave ice, where its already flavored into the block of ice before they shave it. Often with cream in it too. So it’s a creamy, light and fluffy unique shave ice I’ve had nowhere else in Hawaii. Must try!!!

They shave ice differently here, the ice is infused with flavor! I chose the chocolate coconut combo. It was excellent. They make their own mochi every other day. Definitely worth the trip to Hilo.

Better then Shave Ice but less heavy then ice cream and good for people who have milk allergies. I had the passion combo today and it was super good!

Best frozen dessert I have had in along time! to me it’s better than shave ice! we had our daughter’s birthdays there and loved it! affordable and fun

Not sure what to think of this place. I expected shave ice and I guess «snow» is the new thing but I’m not sold.
If you want to try something new check it out. If you are looking for a traditional shave ice try Wilson’s in downtown Hilo.

My Sister told me that I have to try Snow Factory’s shave ice. I figured it would be like all the other shave ice spots in Hawaii. I was dead wrong. Broke Da Mout! The consistency of the shave ice was like powdered snow, very light. I had passion fruit, mango, drizzled with condensed milk. I highly recommend this place Chee!

This was my first shave ice experience and the snow factory did not disappoint! It was so light and fluffy — almost like a combination of cotton candy and ice cream. This food truck has 20+ flavors. We really enjoyed the passion fruit ice. I think it is more expensive than other places, but their method seemed to be unique. They pre-​freeze all of the flavors with some sort of cream in blocks that are then shaved.

My friend and I stopped in a few months back because we were craving something cold and sweet, Hawaiian weather and all that. The options on the walls looked absolutely delicious, but we wound up having to change our orders three times each because they were completely out of stock on many items. Had we even bothered trying to build our own it would’ve been pointless because nothing was available. In the end she got Li Hing Mui something or other and I got a Lychee something or other. Both were missing a lot of the toppings and yet we were still charged full price. The only reason this place isn’t getting an abysmally low rating is because what we were able to eat was absolutely delicious and the portions were huge. Hopefully the next time I’m in town they’ll have everything available.

It’s a blue food truck so watch for that. I had pineapple and mango with condensed milk. Very good. He moves around but changes the address in Unilocal so don’t worry. Pretty simple operation. Today is a pretty hot day and it is quite refreshing.
It’s different than a snow cone or shaved ice. It’s richer. And doesn’t melt so fast.
This lady just stopped and asked if he could bring his truck to a birthday party. Yes apparently.

Snow is the new thing. Totally different than yogurt and shaved ice. The texture is truly unique and there are tons of flavor/​topping combinations to go with. The owner is a totally cool dude too.
I’ve also seen the reviews about the price. I would say that you pay for what you get. And it is no more expensive than frozen yogurt. Shaved ice is definitely cheaper but if you want to suck sugared water from ice than go get shaved ice. Snow has toppings and ingredients that is worth the money.

Very good texture. Comparable to some snow places in Southern California. This place has a lot of flavors and that’s probably why its more expensive: need money to freeze all the different flavored ice blocks. We had the Li Hing Pineapple and as funky as it was … definitely wasn’t bad. Slow service, yeah but it’s Big Island. Enjoy the surroundings.

I came here in a hot day. I was like this is actually unique on the island cuz nobody is doing this. I’m reviewing on the slow service. I can banter enough bout the service again. Big island itself is just one slow working place. I guess I am used to the face that In the main land everyone is just moving faster /​it’s alot slower here but I understand there is no rush.
7.50 for shaved yogurt iced. Small amount for the price you pay. In honestly, I had better. I had the #22 hi ling special. Just not enough topping especially I just paid 7.50. I just wish after a 20 min wait. I would expect the best shaved ice because the master shaver is crafting it
Up for me. Overall not worth the money for the amount crap you get. Speed it up a bit please?

This is my first time eating at any Snow Factory and I have to say its not like shaved ice. I’ve read people saying it had a texture of tissue paper. Well, I’m one that has eaten tissue paper at one time and it’s not like that. But it does feel like if you had a mouth full of dry crackers in your mouth and if you coughed, it just flew out your mouth… yeah kinda like that because its super cold until it melted in your mouth then the flavor kicks in. It was ok, though I didnt see how it was prepared but I could hear the machines in the back going at it then someone walks out with it.
The small is frickin huge and the mini is tiny and it doesn’t come with stuff on top so we went for the small chocolate mint. I can only imagine what the large looks like. There were a lot of different choices to choose from. There were lots of seating inside and a few tables outside but inside was really hot like whatever they had blowing wasn’t doing it. We just shared ours in the truck with the AC on. The workers here were really friendly and lots of parking in front too. Looking forward to trying other flavors. Definitely give this place a try if your in Hilo!

I am absolutely obsessed with shaved snow. If you haven’t had it you gots to try it. Stopping by Hilo this is the one place you would not want to miss.
There are several shaved snow places in Hilo but not all of them give you as much to eat as this place. The service is friendly and the place has plenty of seating. Bathroom is available from a key you request at the counter.
So many flavors to choose from. Everytime I come here something is usually sold out. Not surprised.
Been here at least 5 times and will always go again

This was definitely a unique experience while taking a short trip to do some shopping in Hilo. This was recommended by my auntie so some of my family decided to give it a try.
First off I will say it is rather pricy for a fancier/​unique take on the shave ice. We visited the temporary location which was nice as there was plenty seating as they were busy on the warm sunday we visited.
Out of the group we had the chocolate, li hing mui, lychee with li hing mui powder and pineapple with li hing mui powder. Two of us had the small size while the other two ordered keiki sizes. I highly recommend getting a keiki size unless you plan to share as the small is actually rather large for just one person.
With shave ice I definitely prefer the more traditional flavors versus the chocolate. I really enjoyed the pineapple w/​li hing powder and li hing mui flavors. I don’t know if I’d make this a regular stop as it is rather expensive for what you get (though at least you do get kind of a lot but you’re still just eating a flavored icy/​snowy treat).
Overall though it was a fun experience and something different thank your normal shave ice experience

I felt like I needed to update my review based on my experience today at Snow Factory:
My husband and I went today to try new flavors. Now, Snow Factory offers 30 different flavors to choose from instead of only a few flavors each day. Also, toppings are now ordered a la carte so you can pick and choose what you want on your snow.
I ordered the pineapple snow with lychee boba pop and my husband ordered the grapefruit snow. Our snow was made and mine was amazing. I would definitely recommend the pineapple snow. The grapefruit, on the other hand, was.bleh. There was a faint taste of grapefruit but it tasted very watered down. We took a few bites of the grapefruit and wanted to throw it away. I told him to just order another flavor, so he got the mint chocolate with chocolate syrup. When the owner heard that we ordered another snow because we didn’t like the grapefruit, he kindly gave us a complimentary snow. We weren’t looking to get a free snow, but the owner cared enough about our experience at Snow Factory and wanted to make it a good one.
Before, the flavors of the snow were enough to keep me going back to Snow Factory. Now, the quality of the service is another reason I will keep going back and recommending people. Snow Factory is not just the latest fad in Hilo, but a place I hope will be a part of Hilo for a very long time.
Oh, and the mint chocolate snow was probably my favorite so far :)

Went to their soft opening on Saturday ⁶⁄₁₅ and again on Sunday. Staff did a fantastic job in working the crowd and answering our questions. Picture did wonders to see what we were ordering since we’ve never tried it before.
Hard to describe the texture and taste. I would compare flavor to guri guri and texture to powder snow. It’s not crunchy like Ice Shave. And it doesn’t melt as quickly as ice cream or ice shave. Will definitely go back to try different flavors.

Whenever a new business opens (or soon to be open), it’s a good thing for the whole community as it creates jobs so 5-​stars! The other locations on O’ahu and Maui have rave reviews, so check-​out Snow Factory Hilo and keep an eye out for their grand opening!
**As of 6÷15÷2013, there is a temporary booth at the same location serving snow ice as the actual shop is under construction.