Post #101581 by tikiyaki on Tue, Jul 13, 2004 11:59 PM

On 2002-05-16 12:02, Tiki Chris wrote:

There is also an Uncle Billy's hotel in Hilo that I spent a few days at. It was cheap but very nice with a central garden with ponds full of koi and our room had a lanai that looked out over the lava rock gardens (with old rotting tikis) next to the hotel and beyond to Hilo Bay. They had some tiki mugs in the gift shop for sale and you could get drinks in ceramic bamboo mugs in the bar.

can't vouch for the accomodation at uncle billy's in hilo, but i gotta recommend the free hula show and the bar w/ the giant pineapplde hanging from it!

My Uncle Billy's experience was unfortunately not pleasant. I went to the restaurant in Hilo. It was July 4th, and the day after my girlfriend's birthday. Being that we spent her birthday doing the exausting hike to see the lava flow (amazing!) I wanted to treat her to a special birthday dinner.
We got there at 6-ish and the restaurant was half full, and they couldn't seat anyone else because they were "slammed". After waiting 1/2 an hour to be seated, we waited another 15 to get our order taken.
We watched the Polynesian show, which was ok. I had arranged with the hostess to have the band sing Happy Birthday to my girl with a cake and the whole deal...well...it never happened. It took 30 minutes for my girlfriend to get her Mai Tai, and an hour to get our food.
By the time we were finished eating, the band finished and there was no birthday ANYTHING. They totally snubbed me. From the time we entered the place until the time we left, we'd spent nearly 3 hours. We also missed some of the fireworks going on outside.
There seemed to be enough staff to handle the 30 or so people in the restaurant, but the place is SO poorly run, they couldn't even handle it. By the time we left, there was maybe 2 other tables with people.

So, needless to say, Uncle Billy's is on my shitlist. I totally appreciated the 50's old Polynesian charm of the place, but with service as bad as it was that night, I will never go back. I also will never stay at any of his hotels, which, the locals tell me, I shouldn't do anyway.
When in Hilo, I highly recommend the Hawaii Naniloa Hotel...right next door to Uncle Billy's. It's nice and VERY inexpensive. I stayed there for $69 a night !