Merriman’s

We have eaten here maybe 5 times over a long time period, let’s say 20 years. It is always good, always expensive. Tonight we had a tomato salad that was a bit disappointing. The tomatoes are way out of season back home, maybe in Waimea as well? Anyway, the standards are high here and these were just ok. The Opah fish entrees we’re nicely done, priced at $ 49 per entrée. I tried a wine tasting, which appears to be new since our last visit. 4 reds tonight, 2 oz taste of each. A fun idea.

My sister and I were told we had to visit this place, and it is true. It is the best dining experience I have had in the State of Hawaii; perhaps the best dining experience I have had ANYWHERE. I’ve been to Maui and other islands and never had food or the dining experience like this.
The restaurant is nicely laid out, not too crowded and the menu is unique. The service is off the charts friendly and inviting.
I started with a tomato and arugula salad; the tomato tasted like it had just been harvested. Amazing. I had the falafel for my main course and it literally melted in my mouth.
One of my favorite was the house-​made bread with Alaea salt, which the bus boy graciously let me take home after my meal.
Our server was Megan and she was great. Josh, the manager was also a great person too.
We loved our experience so much that we went back a second night, the very next night. We can’t wait to try their Maui location!!!

From the moment we arrived the service and food were top notch! The staff was very efficient, professional and personable. The food was delicious and prepared to perfection. Jarod was our server and was a great guide as this was my first visit. Mahalo!

Great meal. Service was a bit slow at first, but improved as the evening progressed.

We saved Merriman’s towards the end of our Maui trip and it was by far the best meal we had. I ordered the sampler appetizer special as my main course which had shredded pork quesadilla, tomato and lobster, ahi poke, and fried goat cheese on greens. My husband ordered the heirloom tomato and pesto salad (amazing) and a seafood dish that was also tasty. Perfect from start to finish. We loved it so much, we purchased a gift card for my in-​laws.

A friend recommended this restaurant and we ended up liking it so much we went there twice in our week long stay on the big island. The food is mainly locally sourced and all super fresh. I had the Ono both times and always got a second side order of the jalapeño mashed potatoes, which are amazing. My wife had steak on our first visit and pasta on the second and she loved them both. The desserts were both great and the service each time was exceptional. I can’t recommend this establishment enough.

NEW FAVORITE PLACE ON THE BIG ISLAND! They have amazing food and amazing service!
I had the 16oz Prime Bone-​In New York Steak, which was the most tender meat I’ve ever had. It was so soft and juicy, and paired extremely well with potatoes! I NEVER finish an entire steak, but for Merriman’s I definitely made an exception (though I had to share a little with family)! The Kahua Ranch Lamb and Lowline Cattle Local Beef were also extremely tender and tasty.
For dessert, definitely get the Chocolate Purse! It looks rather interesting, but I was shocked by how much I loved the contrast between the thin, crunchy outer «purse» and the soft, molten inside. I always appreciate restaurants who know how to make a true «molten» cake, and they succeeded with this one! My family devoured it in 2 minutes or less!
Clearly, Merriman’s knows how to make the perfect meat! It’s pricey, but completely worth it if you are willing to splurge on a good meal! Our waiter was extremely attentive and friendly, and took great care of us throughout the dinner. And their goal of locally sourced, organic foods is also a plus!

My fiancée and I had dinner at Merriman’s based on a friend’s recommendation. We love eating locally sourced, organic, fresh foods so we were excited to eat here.
Food: ⁵⁄₁₀ this is the disappointing part. We ordered the lamb chops and filet mignon. The lamb chops were $ 40+ and they were mostly fat, and a bit over seasoned. It was a serious let down. The filet on the other hand was delicious and cooked rare, although we asked for medium rare.
Service: ¹⁰⁄₁₀ fantastic service from the moment we walked in to the moment we left.
Wine: ⁹⁄₁₀ a little on the pricy side, but a massive selection of all types of fantastic wines.
Ambiance: ⁷⁄₁₀ cute and quaint with beautiful and thoughtful menus, but the place could use a little updating.
In my option the food is always top priority in a restaurant, so even though they shine in the other categories, I have to give a ³⁄₅.

These guys sure know how to do it! The service was on point from the moment we stepped in the restaurant. Our beverages were always full, the warm bread basket was plentiful, and all the staff were quite friendly.
The food was fabulous-​they ensured we had ample vegetarian options. The salads were fresh and crisp, goat cheese chèvre warm and flavorful. Entrees were great and dessert was a perfect ending to the experience.
If you’re on the island, do not miss this restaurant! I’m sorry we didn’t try it on our four previous visits– but will definitely make up for it next time!
Thank you Merriman’s for a great birthday dinner experience!

We had an excellent lunch at Merriman’s. It exceeded by far any other restaurant meal we’ve had on the island. The restaurant’s commitment to serving excellent local produce, fish and meats. The starting salads, one featuring beets and one charred pineapple were delicious, perfectly dressed, and fresh. The daily fish special was moist and delicious – simply and perfectly prepared. The short ribs were perfect, fork tender and with an excellent and subtle Asian-​inspired sauce. The prawns were not local, as the server clearly explained, since local supplies had run low. They were Gulf shrimp, and were very well prepared. Desserts were great too – chocolate purse and especially the lilikoi mousse; the latter was perfectly sweet, tart, and light.
The wine list is pretty good – excellent by Hawaii standards. Service is very good; well informed, friendly and attentive, without being intrusive.
The price is fairly high – we paid about $ 100 for lunch for 3 people – but moderate by Hawaii standards. Worth it, in our opinion.

1. Excellent ambience
2. Good yummy foods
3. Birthday treats
4. Good wines
Uncomfortable services by too often changing staffs, you’ll see what I mean.

Really good food! We ordered the lobster salad special with greens and avocado and the pasta appetizer which was really good and highly recommended it wasn’t very heavy and portion was just right for two people. My boyfriend the Hawaiian low line fillet med rare which was so good juicy and perfectly cooked I almost kept it for myself! I had the special day boat special — gray snapper macadamia crusted with two huge prawns, polenta and mustard greens. The fish was cooked well however the prawns were a little over cooked. Service was awesome, ginger soda needed more ginger and less sugar. coffee was good (we had the med roast). The chocolate purse was over hyped sad to say. You can skip it !

Arguably the best restaurant on the Big Island if quality, flavor and service are what you’re after. They specialize in farm-​to-​table cuisine. (Chef Merriman was among the original founders of the Hawaii regional cuisine movement back in 1985.) Most dishes can be made gluten free. It’s a spendy treat with an average check of $ 100 per person for three courses with drinks.
I noticed on my most recent visit (¹²⁄₂₀₁₅) that portion sizes have decreased, and stupidly, a starch no longer comes with many entrees. For example, if you don’t order a side dish of rice or mash with the monchong, you will probably leave hungry (especially if you don’t eat bread, which I don’t because of celiac).
I strongly recommend a reservation and expect to wait 15 – 30 minutes past the time for the table. To alleviate demand, they have opened an overflow dining tent just off the main dining room. They set up round tables that can seat six (wedding reception style) under heat lamps, which are a great option if you are with a larger and impatient group. Otherwise, wait for inside.

Had a terrific brunch here. Excellent service and food. The saimin was delicious, the burger was exceptional, all the greens and other veggies (especially the potatoes) were first rate, and the eggs Benedict was lovely. They had five kinds of coffee to try! We tried three and loved two.
That chocolate purse was one of the best desserts I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a LOT of desserts! The lillikoi mousse with macadamia cookies was very good but over-​shadowed by the purse. Pineapple juice was perfect.
Maybe the best meal of our trip so far, with sushi at the Fairmont Orchid being the other contender. This place was better for kids.

Excellent service with great locally farmed food. We started with some salads. I had the kale and beet salad, the Cesar with chicken & Hirabara Farm Earth Grown Lettuce Salad.
My husband and I both had the Macadamia nut crusted monchong. It’s was lite, flavorful and tasty! Our party also order the Kalua Pig & Sweet Onion Quesadilla, the Hand Made Ricotta Cheese Cavatelli Pasta and Chili Pepper Kauai Prawns «A La Plancha». All of it was excellent.
Desert was really good too. We ordered the chocolate purse! To die for. Definitely my fav. We also got the coconut crème brûlée and the strawberry crusted pie with ice cream.
You won’t be disappointed with anything off of the menu!

Weekends brunches end at 1pm, we arrived a 1:05 and they still served us. Three of us ordered two dishes, a Benedict and a fish taco. They were both very well made: simple style that clearly favor local sources and the quality of the ingredients. (Alice Water style?) Mimosa was topped with a small ball of orange sorbet, very nice. The Mobeeto (Mojito, but substitute whatever with Beet juice) was weak in alcohol and tasted more like flavor water. The drinks, however, were beautifully presented.
Coffee was good and strong. The «purse» dessert is a molten cake wrapped with paper-​like fluffy and crispy crust. It makes the melting chocolate very molten and richly delicious. The accompanying vanilla ice cream was also well made.
Happy and satisfied, we also toured their herb garden right outside. That’s a nice break to the long drive to Kona.

This is one of our go to places on the Big Island. Service is always good, great wine list and pretty decent foods too! We usually come here for dinner but looking at their lunch menu I think I may make it a point to come for lunch instead of dinner next time. I’m not a big eater and like variety so I prefer to have more of a selection with the small plates and appetizers.
That said, during our most recent visit my husband and I had the following:
Ricotta Cavatelli with Asparagus and Mushrooms: hands down this dish deserves 5 stars. My husband doesn’t even like mushrooms but he couldn’t get enough of this. Great flavor combination with the ricotta cheese and olive oil based sauce. Not to mention the Cavatelli is handmade at the restaurant. It smelled so wonderful and was so delicious that I forgot to take a picture before realizing the dish had been completely consumed.
Warm Crusted Big Island Goat Cheese: another 5 star dish. Great combination of sweet and savory with the strawberries and lightly fried goat cheese. My husband swears that this dish is what keeps him returning and had been looking forward to it with baited anticipation. It did not disappoint!
Peter’s Original Caesar Salad: 4 stars. I love the creativity of the fried green tomato croutons. The salad dressing was a tad bit too pasty, even for a Caesar. But was still delicious no less.
Waipio taro and fresh lone palm chickpea falafels: 2.5 stars. Great concept with locally sourced ingredients. Falafel is hard to do without the right accompaniments. Some pita bread and hummus would have made this dish much better. I’d love to see chef Merriman create his own spin on hummus with locally sourced ingredients. I bet it would be amazing!
Prime bone-​in New York steak: 5 stars. My husband would rate this 4.5 stars but he never gives anything a 5 star rating. I tried some of the steak and thought it was one of the better I’ve had. The steak tasted perfectly aged; cooked and seasoned to perfection. And I’m not much of a steak eater. The hubby rates the steak above Ruth’s Chris which is his favorite steakhouse in Honolulu.

Let me start off by saying the service here is impeccable! All the staff here deserve kudos and some recognition for the great job they do, however my overall experience in the other departments were «meh».
Service: 5 stars! Service was great, our waitress was beyond lovely and attentive throughout the entire evening. Very friendly and our waitress was spot on.
Food: meh this is were my review really went down. Ordered the New York steak because it sounded lovely but when it arrived it was beyond chewing and fatty not in a good fatty way. I am aware a New York steak isn’t the most fantastic cut but for the price I was expecting more. Also the peppercorn topping/​rub on the steak was just too much, killed the flavor of the steak and was way overdone. Very disappointing for the price. My party felt the same, their food was good but not great, our expectations were set too high.
Cocktail Tip: the MoBeeto cocktail is beyond amazing, very girly looking but great flavor that anyone would love. Was the most popular drink of that night by far, almost every lady had one on their table.
This place gets a lot of hype and yes if it was the first and only meal of my vacation I’m sure I could give it a 4 – 5 star review after eating Applebee’s back home but after a week of fine dining trying all the best restaurants this place definitely wasn’t in our top 5. Good restaurant, great service, just not what I expected, still worth a try.

I had the very best meal of my life here. No joke.
Came here for a nice birthday dinner for the hubby whilst on the big island. Made an easy reservation via OpenTable (and glad I did, as it got quite busy quite quickly, even during the middle of the week!).
Our server was fantastic. Friendly, to the point, gave us plenty of detail (but not too much) on menu items/​drink suggestions. But the real star of this visit was…
The food. Every food item we got was outstanding. Perfection. Perfectly flavored, seasoned, cooked, presented. I wish there were words to really describe how perfect everything was! I can’t ever remember a time when I felt so happy while eating. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it really was some of the best food I’ve ever had in my entire life. Both the appetizer (Kalua Pig Quesadilla) and the entrée (half portions of Seared Ahi Tuna and Mahi-​Mahi) were out of this world delicious. The seared tuna, being my absolute overall favorite. It literally melted in my mouth. Crispy, flavorful crust. Soft and smooth and buttery on the inside. The shoyu-​citrus sauce that accompanied was the perfect compliment to it.
Man, I get happy every time I think about my visit here. Easily one of my favorite memories from my Hawaii trip! If (and when) we come back to the big island, I will make it a point to come here again. I’m already looking forward to it!

When researching places to eat on the Big Island, Merrimans comes up a number of times as one of the best restaurants on the island.
We each had the wine flight. It was four wines for $ 33. When we went it was a rose a white and two reds
Rose — good. I’m typically not a huge fan of roses, but I did like it
White — it was very fragrant. A very strong floral.
We skipped appetizers in favor of dessert so we went straight for the main courses. We had the Kahua Ranch lamb, butcher’s cut and the sautéed day boat mahi mahi.
For dessert, I had read many rave reviews for the Crispy molten «Original Hawaiian chocolate» purse and we also ordered the Velvety Hanaoka Farms Lilikoi mousse. My friend loved the chocolate purse, and I thought it was ok. The mousse was good, but I didn’t want to finish it.
It is a «white linen» style restaurant
Our waiter had a very unique style. We liked him and he seemed to know the menu. He was very «theatrical» with his gestures, which made us smirk.
We enjoyed our meals, but I am not sure if it was worth the money.