Quick answer: For breakfast near Kealakekua, go to Teshima’s for pancakes, The Coffee Shack for the view, or Menehune Coffee on the way to the bay. In Kailua-Kona, Papa Kona, Journey Cafe and Açaí Hawaii Company are our picks, and Big Island Grill is the classic diner. Go early, because the best mornings here are over by ten.
Breakfast is the meal this coast does best, and it is also the one visitors most often waste. You are up at five thirty because your body is still on mainland time, everything good is quiet by ten, and the ocean is calmest before the wind comes up. Knowing where to eat breakfast in Kona, and roughly when, shapes the whole day rather than just the first hour of it.
These are the places we actually send guests to, split by how far you are willing to drive before coffee.
Close to home, breakfast in Kealakekua and South Kona
Teshima’s. Same family since the 1940s, and the reason to go is the pancakes. It is an old school room with old school portions and none of it is trying to impress you, which is exactly the appeal. This is our first recommendation to almost everybody.
The Coffee Shack. The best view of any breakfast on this island, and we do not say that loosely. You sit on a deck looking down the slope at the water with the whole of Kealakekua Bay laid out below. Go early, both for the table and because the cloud often builds later.
Menehune Coffee Company. Sitting right on the way south toward Kealakekua Bay, which makes it the natural pause between waking up and getting in the water. Good breakfast, good coffee, no ceremony.
Theatery. The chocolate breakfast is the thing people talk about afterward. The whole place is built around a theater experience, so it is a different sort of morning rather than a quick one. Worth reserving.
So’K Coffee Station. Drive through coffee and breakfast burritos. This is the one for mornings when there is a boat to catch and you are eating in the car with the windows down, which is a legitimate way to start a day here.
Kaya’s is also on our list for this stretch and worth a look if you are working your way through the neighborhood.
In town, breakfast in Kailua-Kona
Big Island Grill. The classic local diner. Big portions, no pretense, and the room is full of people who live here. If you want to eat the way Kona eats, this is it.
Journey Cafe. Newer, and the bowls are good. This is the casual, quick option for a morning when you do not want to sit down for an hour.
Açaí Hawaii Company. Açaí bowls, and the right answer after an early swim when nobody wants anything heavy.
Papa Kona rounds out the list in town.
There is more of this, sorted by occasion rather than by neighborhood, on our South Kona eat and drink guide and in our wider list of Kona restaurants we send guests to.
If coffee and a pastry is all you want
Plenty of mornings that is the entire requirement. White Nene is the small batch roaster we send everyone to first. Hico has locations in both Kealakekua and Kona, so there is usually one on your way. In town, Arise is the bakery, and you should go early, because the good pastries sell out and we are not being dramatic about that. BerryBird and Kona Coffee and Tea both do a reliable cup in town.
We wrote all of this up properly in our guide to the best coffee stops on the Big Island, including what the words on a bag of Kona coffee legally mean, which is less than most people assume.
Breakfast before a morning in the water
This is the bit of planning that actually matters. The ocean here is calmest and clearest early, so if you are snorkeling, the sensible order is coffee, water, then a proper breakfast afterward.
Heading to Kealakekua Bay or Two Step, stop at Menehune or So’K on the way down and eat something light. Going to one of the beaches nearer town, grab a pastry from Arise and save the sit down meal for ten o’clock when you are back and hungry.
What we would avoid is a big slow breakfast at eight followed by an attempt to snorkel at eleven, which is when the wind picks up and the water goes cloudy.
Or just eat at the house
Honestly, a lot of our guests end up doing this for half the week, and not because they are being frugal. Coffee on the lanai in the first hour of the day, with the trade winds coming up the slope and nobody expecting you anywhere, is the thing people describe when they get home.
Stop at the store on the way in from the airport, which we cover in our guide to flying into Kona, and you have breakfast handled for the week. Buy the local papaya and a lime. That is the whole recipe.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the best breakfast in Kona?
For a classic sit down breakfast, Teshima’s in Honalo for the pancakes and Big Island Grill in Kailua-Kona for the local diner version. For the best view attached to a breakfast, The Coffee Shack above Kealakekua Bay, by a wide margin.
What time do breakfast places open in Kona?
Most open early, often by seven, and many are quiet again by ten. Hours on this side of the island change more than you would expect, so a quick call before you drive is never wasted.
Where can I get a quick breakfast on the way to snorkeling?
So’K Coffee Station for a drive through breakfast burrito, or Menehune Coffee Company, which sits on the road south toward Kealakekua Bay and is the natural stop before you get in the water.
Is there good coffee in Kona or is it all for tourists?
It is genuinely good, and you are standing in the belt where it grows. White Nene, Hico, BerryBird and Kona Coffee and Tea are all worth your money. Look for one hundred percent Kona on the bag rather than Kona blend.
Do you need reservations for breakfast in Kona?
Rarely, with the exception of Theatery, which is a sit down experience rather than a drop in. Everywhere else, going early does the same job as a reservation.
If you would rather have a kitchen and a lanai of your own for at least some of those mornings, here are our three homes, and we are happy to tell you what is good this week before you arrive.
Featured photo by Mark Bonica, used under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.