Green Market & Cafe

We selected this restaurant because it had pretty good reviews here. I and my family (wife and 2 young daughters) had just finished a tour in Waipio Valley so we were pretty hungry. It was 5:00 pm on New Year’s Eve, and the place was pretty empty when we entered with only 2 tables occupied. Nobody greeted us, so we took a table out on the back patio where the other guests were seated. The waitress was deep in conversation with the couple next to us describing all the menu items. After about 5 minutes she finished, came over to our table, and said she would be right with us. Both my wife and my daughter really had to use the restroom, so I politely asked the waitress where it was. To my surprise, she told me, «You just need to chill out for a while.» In my many years of dining out I’ve never had anyone say anything like this to me before. It was really rude! After another 5 minutes, the waitress came back and told us that she had a party of 23 people coming in and that she couldn’t serve us (even though she had just taken another table’s order as we sat down). The place was totally empty at the time, and I think the real reason was that the staff and/​or owner didn’t want our children in the restaurant. If you have kids or you want a place with more friendly service, then the Big Island has lots of other restaurants to chose from. Give this one a pass. If I could give it 0 stars I would.

Amazing dishes! Even though we are vegan, the lady that served us, the owner, made sure we could have the vegan options of the regular dishes. It was incredible! Organic, light, extremely tasty and healthy, all at the same time! Wish there was one back home, in California.

Excellent food and iced herbal teas for lunch. Tofu bowl for her, Grass-​fed beef for me. Pleasant service, personable owner/​hostess. A very relaxed, enjoyable lunch break with tasty, nutritious, and healthy food. Serving sizes were more than adequate.

On our way to a hike we wanted to stop and grab lunch. We were having issues finding the original place I pulled up on the map so we just started walking down the street. The sign up front said they had a fresh catch special, so we walked around back and figured what the hell.
We had the shrimp app, which was good. The amazing part was the fish sandwich with sweet potato salad and the fish tacos. Both were just great. This is exactly the kind of place I hope to stumble upon when on vacation.

The Veggie Egg Benedict was delicious, French Toast also, little expensive therefore only ⁴⁄₅.

The big island has a lot of wonderful food, and sometimes I feel that I’ve tried most of it. Green Market & Café is no exception– in fact, it exceeded my expectations.
The ambiance– peaceful, beautiful interior, lanai, and set in a lush green gulch. Sit outside on the terrace.
The food– excellent; I had the ono sandwich on a gluten-​free bun with the sweet potato salad (which I am still dreaming about); portion size was perfect. My mom had the ono bowl with seasonal veggies (mostly baby bok choy). Sauce was delish. They were out of Sauvignon Blanc but we had a Pinot Grigio instead. Great wine list.
Service– A +++ Danielle was lovely; extremely friendly, hospitable, and fun.
Definitely worth a drive over to Honokaa. Take a look in the antique store next store. Have added this to my highly selective list of big island traditions ;)

I have eaten here over 10 times for lunch and dinner. I’ve never experienced rudeness from the owner or the staff. What I do get consistently is delicious food, lovingly prepared and a relaxing environment to enjoy it in. I recommend the beet salad, the fish tacos, and the basil rubbed fresh catch. The lemon tart is yummy!

This is really more of a $$$ kind of place than $$. Entrees start at $ 19 but most are close to (or even over) $ 30. Have a drink or appetizer and you are over $ 30. I read the reviews of the place expecting $$ but was unpleasantly surprised by the prices when we saw the menu.
OK, having said that, the food was actually rather good and still work the price in my opinion. Had some fish on a bed of risotto that was very very delicious. We got there kind of late and were the only ones in the restaurant. We sat on the back patio which had a pleasant breeze and no problems with bugs as others had mentioned. Service was very good, too.

Atmosphere, architecture, good company in the owner, delicious and well-​prepared with nice presentation.
Pure class in our sleepy little Honoka’s community.
Try everything! All at once!

My review is mostly about the service or ownership. My food was great, extremely over priced, but pretty good.
The bad… Holy moly, the owner actually yelled at my child while I was waiting to pay for my meal. She was outside on her phone, my son was trying to say «excuse me» to get by her and she yelled at him for interrupting her phone call! I mean seriously, don’t support this woman’s business. I have had friends that have had really positive experiences, and other friends that were absolutely appalled. She also openly talked about how much she hated her chef and was going to fire him. Wow, too much anger and drama for an overpriced burger.
****** Update*****
Ugh. Don’t buy it folks. She’s lying. Like I said in my review, this was only about my actual dining experience. (I tried out in the kitchen for maybe a couple days, I was really slow, and it was clear it wouldn’t work. Absolutely no big deal. I was fine with it and completely agreed that I wouldn’t work out, I never had hard feelings about it. The chef was absolutely amazing! Despite all the trash the owners were talking about him, he is a brilliant chef.) The reason I wrote about my experience at this restaurant is because I was recently asked about what places to check out on the island by my mainland friends… This place came up.
Lol, but yeah, as you can see by her response, way too much anger and drama for over priced food. And I will say it again, the food itself is pretty great (as long as one of the cooks or chef is in the back). The wait staff are kind. However, some of us have had run ins with the owner unfortunately.
Seriously, she’s really mean.
Oh well. Try it out, see what you think.

My review was exactly what I experienced at Green Market Café. You have decided already for me how my fish was and you didn’t even cook it, let alone taste it.
I was the one that tasted the fish and it was a bit dry inside and the outside was crispy; likely from being fried too long. It was difficult to tell that the water was filtered since it was room temperature.
With your attitude in your Unilocal reply, I’m glad I didn’t complain to you in person. You probably would have spit in my food.
You seem to be the person that’ is so «unhappy» that you ungraciously attack every customers Unilocal criticism, even when criticism is warranted. Perhaps it’s because you opened a restaurant without having a clue how to run restaurant, other than into the ground?
I’ll be more than happy to banter back and forth with you since, it’s your Unilocal business page that have been collecting all your less than diplomatic replies. Keep digging deeper.
I invite anyone to read my past reviews and you will see that the vast majority are 4 and 5 star reviews. I stand behind my original 2– star «Meh. I’ve experienced better» review of Green Market Café.

Ive been living on the island for some time now and have tried to visit every restaurant I can. My wife and myself pride ourselves on being foodies.
This past week my mother and daughter came to visit and I wanted to take them to Wai’pio Valley.
On the way there we wanted to stop and get some food and decided to give Green Market a chance on the suggestion of one of our Aunties, and SO glad we did.
When we arrived no on was in the place even though it was close to noon on a Saturday. You have to walk around back of the store for seating and when we did we were greeted by Danielle who said we can choose our seating. The outdoor area is comfy and ambiance is nice.
Danielle came over brought our drinks, I ordered one of their «ades» in which I was informed they were out, but Danielle offered to make some fresh for me. Being that I changed my order and I had Ginger Kombucha which was terrific.
We ordered our food and Danielle hung around to talk story with us nearly the whole time the food cook, very nice and kind woman.
When the food came the party began! No joke, straight up it was the best food on the east side of the island. Everything from the burger to the ketchup is handmade.
We ordered — The Burger, Fish tacos, special of the day fish sandwich and the Ahi bowl. Every item and all of its sides was just delicious, but by far the star of the show was the fish tacos.
I have had a lot of fish tacos, but I got to say, these may be the best I have ever had.
I place this place as my current favorite restaurant on the Big Island, and if you are anywhere near it it is worth it to go and eat there.
I read one review that someone had a bad experience, but my experience was amazing, the chef even came out to speak with us.
FIVE STARS GET THE FISH TACOS THANK ME LATER

Amazing!!! Wonderful food. So fresh and delicious. Super service. Can’t wait to go back!!! Black bean burger and potstickers are out of this world. Loved the sweet potato salad.

Amazing food. Good burger and veggie burger. Best ketchup I’ve ever had. Lovely and sweet owner. Gracious service. Clean, welcoming environment. Makes me want to go back to Hawaii just for this.

Family of five with lots of dietary needs. Worked great.
Looks like a market from outside and not super clear its a gourmet restaurant. Clean and nice inside.
Food was excellent especially the Asian slaw. Would recommend.

The meanest, rudest and most unpleasant dining experience of my life!
I hardly ever write bad reviews especially for small businesses but this was appalling.
The manager, whose name is Danielle, didn’t greet us when walked in and when we asked could we sit down she said «If you can find a table outside!» and breathed a heavy sigh and turned her back to us, even though there was at least 3 vacant tables outside.
We waited 20 minutes to have our order taken. We only wanted to split the beef, have some wine and some water.
We waited an additional 30 minutes in which we got our wine but no water and no food. So my mother who’s in her 60’s walked inside and asked politely if we could have some water which was in the bar behind Danielle yet Danielle said «Can’t you see how busy we have been tonight?» even though there was only 5 tables all with couples. My mother replied «Yes I know that, can I please have some water that is behind you?» Instead of getting the water for my mother she yelled angrily at the other waiter from the other room to get the water even though it was right next to her & then told the waiter in front of my mother that my mother was being rude!
Clearly we walked out at this point. What an unpleasant woman.
What we also found shocking was that 5 tables had not been cleared after guests had left, food and plates piled up. The only thing we witnessed Danielle doing well was collecting money and giving bills.

Stopped by for lunch. Service friendly. Food tasty and fresh. Mahi Mahi was delicious. Would recommend.

Stopped here after our horseback tour guide recommended it and were thrilled! They source their food from local Hawaiian, organic growers AND they know how to cook it! Plenty of gluten free options, vegetarian options, and vegan options (and real options, not menu afterthoughts like most places). The waitress was sweet and friendly and the owner & chef was super nice as well. To top it all off, the price was incredibly reasonable. You MUST go here!

Thanks to a couple of recent Unilocal reviews we found the café on our way from Hilo to hapuna beach and it was dinner time
We pulled in to a small store front– really drive just north of the little green building and park in back. Walk thru the store to find a nice clean crisp area that was well lit from three walls of windows, that gave an incredible view of plantain trees, avocado trees and mango trees. It’s was so clean it was like it just opened the day before
Menu item were locally sourced, organic, and gluten free where possible
My husband really enjoyed his ribeye that was cooked to his perfection and had a well seasoned flavor He liked the el dente to the carrots and had do many roasted potatoes he couldn’t finish them. I ordered the Asian rice bowl — you had a choice of white or brown with sautéed red and green peppers, bok choy, mushroom, onions and grilled ahi The veggies were done just right here too
Both presentations were nice
We were offered a nice dessert menu but had no room to spare They also had a decent beer and wine list
Very small but friendly staff

Beautiful setting. Scrumptious mushroom tacos. Mid afternoon so had place to ourselves. Owner took time with us to talk story. Basic good place, fair price by Hawaii standards, clean. Market very limited offerings.