It's amazing how Paulie (the owner) manages to keep consistency at this place. I had a new server I have not seen there before and he was doing his job like he has been there for forever. I talked with the MOD (Manager On Duty) and I learned how much they do for the community, like serving free food for the needy and Thanksgiving and catering at the Kona Hospice. Salute to this restaurant!

It was bound to happen. After all the good experiences a crash had to come. The two of us had lunch there and we had a $10 coupon that we wanted to use. Even though our bill was over $30, the manager refused to accept the $10 coupon at full value. I still don't understand her bumbling about "it can't be used as cash" and I feel sorry for our waitress who probably was not receiving her full tips because of the manager. I know one thing, at the end of the day the manager was $10 over in the cash register. What really surprised me was her unfriendly tone towards us. Experiences like this make me not wanting to go back to the place and it will take time to digest this incident.
Added on 01/22/2009: I just found out that my Frequent Diner Account with them was credited with $0.00 (zero!) on this occasion!

I stayed away from this place for a month and a half, but the truth is that I missed it! I went there today and was greeted with "Sir, we haven't seen you in a while!" Still good food and good service!

We went to Jackie Rey's for dinner while we were in Kona. Great food and atmosphere. Loved the parmesan toast. I had the surf and turf special it was perfectly cooked and seasoned.

I didn't realize I didn't post anything about this restaurant for a while. It's still one of my favorites and a regular stop on my "restaurant tour" because of the consistency, value, service and good food. It's highly recommended for lunch or an informal dinner.

It's one of my favorite places and I got a $15.00 coupon for a lunch or dinner entree, so let's go there, right?! I ordered a burger ($11.95) with mushrooms ($1.50 extra) and an iced tea ($2.50.) Great lunch as usual, check please. To much of my surprise the $15.00 coupon was good only for the $11.95 burger and not for the $1.50 extra mushrooms! I really do hate penny pinchers, and that lunch doesn't taste that good anymore.

I'm a frequent visitor to this restaurant but I usually go for lunch and I have not been there for dinner in a while. Having three hoteliers as guests gave me a good opportunity to showcase this restaurant to them. (One is an Executive Chef, one is a Director of Sales and one is a Hotel Restaurant Manager.) I made the reservation well in advance and requested any one of the four tables by the windows. You can imagine my surprise seeing all those tables occupied when we showed up for dinner! Apparently, our reservation was forgotten.
We sat at the bar and ordered drinks. Another surprise came, they didn't have Campari! "Nobody orders it so we don't carry it" said the bartender. (I reminded her that I'm somebody and just wanted one.) There is no excuse not to carry Campari in any full service bar and restaurant, period. After waiting about 30 minutes one of the four requested tables became available and we were seated.
All four dinners were very tasty and nicely presented. The wine list of the restaurant is very extensive and the Sommelier was a great help with recommendations to pair the wine with our food. However, we were given white wine glasses for the red wine and were told that was the only glassware they had. All of our desserts were also good, except the Lilikoi Cheesecake, which was still half frozen. To top it off, our waiter brought the dessert silverware to our table in his pocket. That's inexcusable in any restaurant! Not knowing what else has been in that pocket, we spent the next minute by washing our silverware in our drinking water.
We ordered three after dinner drinks and they all were barely more than a sip. At $9.00 a pop we certainly expected a decent serving.
Overall, Jackie Rey's fell well short of the expectations this time and I certainly didn't look too good in the eyes of my guests with the recommendation of this restaurant.

I don't go to this restaurant as often as I used to, because it's getting more and more expensive ($15 for a burger? That's resort restaurant price!) In addition, they changed the menu and two of my former favorites are no longer available, but I have to be honest, it's still good food with good service. I had lunch there today and tried something I have not tried yet, and it was delicious!