Pahoa Town

If you want to visit somewhere with character, visit Pahoa Town.  This place is awesome.  There are some small shops to browse through and a lot of good food to be eaten.  I really love this place.  I don't want to scare you off, but a lot of people consider it a hippie town.  But that's what makes it so cool!  And another good reason to check out Pahoa: it is on your way to Kalapana to see the lava.  Now you have no reason not to stop!  Some places to see in Pahoa:

I'm drawing a blank.  I can't name any shops, I only go for the food!  Soooo.... great places to eat in Pahoa (starting at top, the places I like the most):

Pesto pasta with grilled mahi mahi (top) and garlic shrimp linguine (bottom) at Kaleo's Bar & Grill

1. Kaleo's Bar & Grill - Great local food.  They have a great menu, with everything from burgers, salads, pasta, steaks, local cuisine... it's all good!

2. Pahoa Fresh Fish - I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!  I usually get a fish sandwich for about $6.  It's huge and will fill you up.  A little hole-in-the-wall, but absolutely fabulous.  And you get to pick which type of fish you want.  LOVE LOVE.  Side note: Stick with the fish, skip the crab cakes.

3. Mighty Sushi - At first glance, their prices seem high.  $12 for a roll of sushi.  But believe me, these rolls are BIG.  Some of you lame-os might even get stuffed off of one roll.  But for all you normal people out there, you could probably get full off of one $12 roll and one smaller (~$5) roll.  Not a bad price for sushi.

Eating at Ning's with my fellow friend and blogger, Lani.

4. Ning's Thai Cuisine - I'm not a huge fan of Thai food, but this place is good!  I like their soups.  If you're a heath nut, this is the place for you.

5. Paolo's Bistro - We don't have much decent Italian food on the island.  I really like this place though.  They make their own pasta noodles (I saw them rolling out my squid ink pasta!).  Good prices, and the pasta comes with soup.  BYOW(ine).

6. Luquin's Mexican Restaurant - Favorite place for the locals.  Nice place to drink up.

There are other places to eat, but these are my favorite.  And honestly, I haven't tried them all because I'm addicted to these restaurants.  Good stuff.