Overview
Mr. Ed’s Bakery is a long-running Honomu stop on the Big Island’s Hāmākua Coast, best understood as part bakery, part snack shop, and part practical road-trip refuel point. The Google Places record identifies it as an operational bakery at 28-1672 Old Mamalahoa Hwy with a low-price profile and a strong review base, which fits the picture from outside reporting: a compact, busy place that draws travelers headed to or from Akaka Falls and Hilo. (bigislandnow.com)
For travelers, it matters because it offers more than a single specialty item. The place appears to bundle baked goods, jams, take-away snacks, and simple lunch items in a small-town setting that is easy to miss if you are driving through too fast. That makes it especially useful as a short stop rather than a linger-long destination, although the bakery itself has enough variety to justify a deliberate detour. (bigislandnow.com)
Cuisine & Specialties
Mr. Ed’s is in the classic small-island bakery lane, but it is broader than a pastry case. Reporting describes a large spread of cookies, brownies, breads, jams and jellies, plus a handful of simple lunch foods and cold treats. The recurring theme is abundance and variety, especially in local-fruit preserves and grab-and-go sweets. (bigislandnow.com)
- Overall menu style: bakery-first, with a convenience-store / snack-stop overlay. Expect sweets, bread, spreads, and some straightforward lunch items rather than a chef-driven sit-down menu. (bigislandnow.com)
- Notable specialties: cookies, including shortbread and chocolate chip; brownies, including coconut and macadamia-nut versions; bread pudding; jams and jellies, especially fruit-forward varieties like dragonfruit-lime; and “monster cinnamon buns” mentioned by travelers. (bigislandnow.com)
- Savory options: musubi, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, sandwiches, chili, hot dogs, and ice cream were all reported on the menu in outside coverage. (bigislandnow.com)
- Price range / spend: Google classifies it as price level 1, and traveler reports describe it as easy to “stock up” without a high-spend meal budget. A casual visit can be inexpensive, though jam and cookie haul behavior can add up. (tripadvisor.com)
- Dietary usefulness / limitations: The strongest fit is for travelers wanting sweet snacks, pantry-style gifts, and quick bites. There is no strong evidence of a broad dietary-restriction menu; the documented offerings lean heavily toward baked goods, sugar, and bread-based items. That is a practical limitation for strict gluten-free, vegan, or low-sugar diners, even though some jams were described by travelers as low-sugar. (tripadvisor.com)
Notable Features & Ambiance
The place seems small, crowded at peak times, and more functional than polished. A 2017 local feature described it as spilling into two rooms, with tourists arriving “elbow-to-elbow,” and noted that the bakery is packed with baskets and display items. That suggests a busy roadside stop where the experience is driven by selection and pace more than by dining-room comfort. (bigislandnow.com)
- Service model and seating style: primarily counter-service / walk-in retail. Evidence suggests little emphasis on full table service; travelers described it as a quick stop where people browse, choose, and move on. (bigislandnow.com)
- Atmosphere and decor: casual, cluttered-in-a-charming-way, with a lot of product on display. The tone in reporting is warm and old-fashioned rather than sleek or contemporary. (bigislandnow.com)
- Practical features: street parking was reported in the local coverage, and the location is on Old Mamalahoa Highway near Akaka Falls, which makes it a convenient stop during a Hāmākua sightseeing drive. (bigislandnow.com)
- Best fit: a snack stop, road-trip break, or picnic provisioning stop. It also fits travelers picking up edible souvenirs, especially jams, cookies, and other packaged sweets. (bigislandnow.com)
- Weaker fit: anyone wanting a quiet, full-service, sit-down meal or a highly curated bakery experience. Peak-time crowding and limited comfort seem to be part of the deal. (bigislandnow.com)
History & Background
There is at least some meaningful ownership identity here: a 2017 local feature identified “Mr. Ed” as Dean Edmoundson and “Mrs. Ed” as June Edmoundson, describing them as warm hosts. That gives the business a clear family-run, local-rooted feel, though the evidence gathered here does not provide a deeper founding timeline or relocation history. (bigislandnow.com)
Review Sentiment Snapshot
What People Love
Travelers repeatedly praise the sheer variety: cookies, brownies, breads, jams, and easy-to-grab snacks. The jam selection stands out in particular, with multiple sources describing a large wall of preserves and strong interest in fruit-based flavors. Reviewers also frame it as a satisfying, memorable stop tied to Akaka Falls and the Hāmākua Coast drive. (bigislandnow.com)
Common Gripes
The most consistent downside signal is crowding. Outside reporting describes the bakery as elbow-to-elbow when tourists arrive, which implies waits, tight quarters, and a brisk pace rather than a relaxing café feel. Evidence for other complaints is limited in the sources used here, so the downside case is mainly about congestion and the tradeoff of popularity, not about food quality. (bigislandnow.com)
Practical Visitor Tips
- Google Places lists daily hours with a 7:30 AM–5:00 PM pattern Monday through Saturday and 10:00 AM–5:00 PM on Sunday; an older local report listed different hours, so the Google record is the better current baseline but still worth a quick same-day check. (bigislandnow.com)
- Expect a walk-in, browse-and-buy experience rather than reservations. Nothing in the sources suggests reservation use. (bigislandnow.com)
- If you want the best odds of a calmer visit, go earlier in the day or outside the most obvious Akaka Falls traffic window. Crowding appears to rise when tour traffic is heavy. (bigislandnow.com)
- This is a good place to stock a car picnic or pick up edible gifts before or after a waterfall stop. (bigislandnow.com)
- Street parking was reported in local coverage; that is useful to know because the stop is in a small town setting rather than a big lot-driven commercial area. (bigislandnow.com)
Verification Notes
- Official identity anchor from Google Places: Mr. Ed’s Bakery, 28-1672 Old Mamalahoa Hwy, Honomu, HI 96728, (808) 963-5000, website https://mredsbakeryhawaii.com/, operational status listed as OPERATIONAL. (bigislandnow.com)
- A 2017 local feature used a slightly different street-number formatting: 281672 Old Māmalahoa Highway. This appears to be formatting drift rather than a different location, but the Google-address form is the better canonical version. (bigislandnow.com)
- No major verification issues found
Sources
- Google Places record for Mr. Ed’s Bakery —
https://maps.google.com/?cid=16616434920544945428— retrieved 2026-04-01 — used for the core identity anchor, hours, status, rating, address, phone, category, and price level. - Big Island Now: “Honomu Hot Spot? Mr. Ed’s Bakery, of Course of Course” —
https://bigislandnow.com/2017/05/31/mr-eds-bakery-of-honomu/— retrieved 2026-04-02 — most useful for menu breadth, service style, physical feel, ownership names, parking, and the older hours reference. - Tripadvisor traveler forum: “Big Island trip report Oct/Nov 2025” —
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g29217-i268-k15453977-Big_Island_trip_report_Oct_Nov_2025-Island_of_Hawaii_Hawaii.html— retrieved 2026-04-02 — useful for recent traveler confirmation of jam variety, low-sugar mention, and shipping/tasting behavior. - Tripadvisor forum thread mentioning Mr. Ed’s Bakery near Akaka Falls —
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60872-i269-k9870204-Akaka_Falls_and_Hawaii_Tropical_Botanical_Gardens-Kailua_Kona_Island_of_Hawaii_Hawaii.html— retrieved 2026-04-02 — useful for traveler-described cookies and the stop’s role in a broader sightseeing day. - Tripadvisor Island of Hawaii bakery rankings page —
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g29217-zfg9901-Island_of_Hawaii_Hawaii.html— retrieved 2026-04-02 — useful as secondary corroboration that travelers associate the place with shaved ice, jams, and cookies, though the page is a compiled listing rather than firsthand narrative.
