Post #441098 by TorchGuy on Thu, Mar 19, 2009 3:29 AM

I had assumed Don's was hoping at a different hotel... When I was in Kona, summer of '05 (my first, and so far only, visit to Hawai'i) once I discovered the Royal Kona, I spent a great deal of time hanging around there. No Don's at that time, but it had the bar, the restaurant, another funky rental room (circular) behind the restaurant, and enough tikis, tiki torches and 60s-70s decor to make me fall in love. The gigantic bouquets of exotic fresh flowers were amazing. I hope the lobby got the waterfall working better, and kept the big multi-globe capiz shell light fixture (and the smaller domed capiz shell fixtures) which really needed cleaning and fixing. The one sad thing I see in these photos are the big Easter Island heads - three, back-to-back - in the center of the curcular dining room, with flowers above. Why do I call that sad? Because when I was there, above the heads was a (no longer functional) gas firebowl! They told me they hoped to fix it in an upcoming run of repairs. Took lots of photos, but I have no way to host them. I ate in the restaurant they had then, which was very good. That and the Kona Inn were the best I found there, though Huggo's On The Rocks was pretty good too. All were pricey, but I came expecting that.

If I return to Hawai'i, I'll be returning to Kona. If I return to Kona, I'll go to Don's, camera, notepad and lots of cash in hand and a ride home secured - when I'm done there, I definately won't be able to walk back!