Booch bar is a great local spot with some tasty eats that gets you away from some of the standard eats you’d find on the island. Offering a nice selection of both gluten free and vegan they definitely cater to someone with more of a restricted diet!
That said as a meat eater the jerk chicken tacos were still quite tasty (would have liked it coming with 3) and the rest of the food we got also felt fresh and flavorful. Can’t speak to the Kombucha as we didn’t get any but seemed to have a good variety on tap if that’s your thing. Atmosphere is a bit more eclectic but feels local and calming after a long morning outside. All in all definitely worth a stop if you’re in the area and looking for something healthy.
Love this place. I have been coming here for years. Great for breakfast or lunch. The Kombucha is fantastic. Lilikoi or my favorite ginger/tumeric…..so good. I had the blackened fish sandwich today. It was delicious along with the sweet potato salad. The staff if super and cool vibe. They have expanded as I am sure they are getting more popular for the reasons mentioned above.
The Booch bar is really a bar and more of a take out spot. There is seating but you have to order at the counter and someone brings the food to your table. You also have to bus the used plates and utensils once done with dining. We stopped by for a late lunch this past week. Food was enjoyable and the mahi and Cajun rice was flavorful. So we’re the fish sandwiches, jerk chicken and poke bowl. I enjoyed my meal but we had mixed reviews on the fish sandwich. The food was delicious after taking a survey of all members (5) to our party. Tables are not kept clean at all times and the ambiance is very local and mediocre. The place could use a facelift. Overall, it was a good local experience with fresh eats and fish.
We visited the Booch Bar when we were in Hilo on the Big Island.
They have a lot of vegetarian options and they can make a lot of stuff vegetarian/ vegan by removing/ substituting ingredients.
We thoroughly enjoyed the meal we had here - we ordered the Mushroom Bibimbap, Verde Vegano and Kombucha Flight. Everything was excellent: in presentation, quality of ingredients, taste and price.
We ordered mushroom omelette and blackened fresh catch bibimbap.
Best omelette that I had in a while. It’s very interesting taste but in a good way.
The mahi is way better than the ones we had at lots of places.
Would be love to come more often for the breakfast.
Good food, great vegan choices too! The bartender could have had a better attitude (dismissive, aloof, unfriendly). Another bartender, slimmer guy came to help us; he had a better attitude and saved the dining experience!
Not lot of great options while in Kona, sadly the city looks really depressing in our last trip but at least one of the bright spots is this little restaurant with no signage, we got referred to it by another store which worked out. Food is pretty decent although really bizarre that they were out of fish on lunch time on a Sunday but at least plenty of options for drinks and beers. Of course overpriced as most of the spots in big island and of course they’ve got the new tip options at the counter that you’d pay over the price of the food your ordering at counter and putting the dishes away yourself once your done lol but hey it is what it is.
A great place to have fresh clean healthy food and tasty burger to satisfy everyone in the group. Love their ginger turmeric kombucha and Lilikol lush. Best fish taco we’ve had here.
Food is so ono and the ambiance makes you want to kick it at booch for a daily soul kine of pick me up. ✨✨✨ Mano Ali’i bringing all the mana in the background. Grilled fresh catch fish (mahi) tacos and fresh catch bibimbap is melt in your mouth and spike your taste buds good. Booch on the tap and generally affordable for quality of fresh, local food.
One of the few options for a decent breakfast early in the morning. Most places in Hilo focus on giant pancakes and servings. Here they focus on quality. I have had numerous meals here over the years and enjoyed everyone. Their coffee is also excellent.
Really, really enjoyed our nourishing meals here during our short time in Hilo. Loved the variety of vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and non vegan options. My favorite was the mushroom bibimbap and the super ginger turmeric tonic booch. We enjoyed our first meal so much we came back the next day for another. Also enjoyed the chocolate and tinctures available for sale too. Wish you had a location on Maui.
Great cafe for light fare especially vegan, komboocha. They now serve alcoholic drinks. The space is recently renovated and has additional seating.
Last day on the Big Island and we finally found a place that had Gluten Free meals. The meals were delicious and more “normal sized “.
Just a fun place to get a bite to eat.
Delicious counter-service spot. As someone on a very limited diet, this was my favorite dinner meal on the island, and probably the best GF sandwich I've had in a while. Vegan/GF desserts hit the spot, too, along with a great selection of beverages.
Edit to add: breakfast is amazing too! Nice hefty breakfast sandwich and delicious, crispy French toast. Don't sleep on this spot!
Great spot for vegetarians. Hard to find a place with multiple vegetarian options and this place has quite a few. I got the tempeh Reuben and I highly recommend it if you like Dijon and sauerkraut flavors. The marinated tempeh was delicious by itself as well, same for the purple sweet potato salad. I also got the Moku Mule cocktail and wished it had more ginger. It was a bit dull compared to the individual ingredients. The kombucha was relatively flat so the drink wasn't really carbonated. Still, lots of vegetarian options that were more than just menu fillers.
Nice feel, tasty enough breakfast. Service is chilled out and friendly s food could be more enjoyable - out blackened fish omelette, toast (sourdough from a Kona based bakery), potatoes were screaming for some moisture. The olive tepanade was a great touch for the omelette. The kids’ sausage was a bit pricey at $5/link. Eggs were organic and perfectly cooked. We’ll proceed at )3.50 for 2. Overall, I would recommend it but will try other things on my future visit.
The Booch bar is an unique place at Hilo. I highly recommend this cafe . The crew is lovely and laid back. A special thumbs up for the omelette with blackened fish and the delicious tropical smoothie. Keep going, it is a great place! I haven’t found a better place at Hilo
Ann Klaft Medicine for Dreamers
+5
I love the Booch Bar. I've lived in Hilo Town for 9 years and have watched this place grow. I am so excited about the new expansion though I am sure that people were sad to see "Bear's Coffee" go, but the pandemic was hard for many. I love the new booths here because there aren't a lot of places in town to go sit in a booth and have a beverage and work on my computer with great vibes and music.
I'm so happy for the expansion because this place can get busy (because this is delicious food and drinks, here!) and now there is enough room to accommodate people to study and chill for a little longer rather than taking up the tables for too long and preventing the other customers from having a place to sit.
The food and drinks are always really delicious and healthy and I don't drink alcohol anymore, but the brews and cocktails look amazing if I were to be boozing it still! My favorite is the Palo Santo Jun. The kraut is amazing and I am totally of polish descent and I give the thumbs up! Fermented foods make me happy, but so does the double shot dirty masala chai latte. Some places give you overly sweet drinks, but this has a good ratio (and not laden with sugars to make my eyeballs pop out of my head like I 'm tripping out because that's what too much sugar does to me. lol).
The staff is always super kind and competent and you can see that they work together like a good family to make sure everyone is happy and the place runs smoothly. I love the hanging lights and the fans and this gives like an old timey 30's kind of a vibe, but with a modern and colorful feel to the old soda foundation places, but that's where my imagination takes me.
The music selection is fun and they choose the best kinds of genres and artists and have impeccable taste in music here, which you don't find in a lot of places on this island. Overall, I love to to come here and chill and I was away for quite some time with trauma and pandemic and life to pull me to other areas of the world, but I am stoked to be back around the Booch Bar. I was a Sharkey's coffee employee for 2 years until he closed down (and I got a career doing acupuncture), but would always pop across the street to grab the daily Booch/Jun brew.
Thank-you Booch Bar for giving the love not only to your own place and livelihood, but to your staff, customers, community, and the conscious ingredients that you select to serve us. Thanks for being a positive influence on the neighborhood and for keeping it real. People who love to dance know how to live. right!
WI-FI is on my wish list for here because my hot spot is slow, but brick by brick we build our castles. <3 Great job on building yours!
P.S Thanks for putting hot water in the bathroom sinks. SO many places don't offer that and this is a great amenity to hand washing!
MOre COWBELL! <3 I saw your Walk-in Freezer has a nick name! <3 I love fun people.
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