Overview
Naupaka Beach Grill is a casual resort restaurant at The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort on the Big Island’s Kohala Coast. Google Places and the resort’s own dining page align on the basic identity: this is an open-air, poolside/beach-adjacent grill serving lunch and dinner, with ocean views and a bar program. (maunakearesort.com)
For a traveler, it matters because this is the kind of place that can be either a very convenient “stay on property and eat well enough” stop or a destination for a relaxed view meal without fine-dining formality. The tradeoff is that resort convenience and scenery are a big part of the appeal, while value and consistency look more mixed than the marketing suggests. (maunakearesort.com)
Cuisine & Specialties
The menu sits in a broad resort-grill lane: burgers, sandwiches, poke, salads, fish tacos, and a handful of richer pupus and entrées. The house style leans Hawaiian-adjacent rather than strictly traditional, with local ingredients, island flavors, and comfort-food framing. The official dinner menu shows both lighter options and pricier mains, so this is a “casual but not cheap” meal. (maunakearesort.com)
- Overall menu style: casual American/resort grill with Hawaiian touches; open-air lunch and dinner; bar service with local beers and tropical cocktails. (maunakearesort.com)
- Notable dishes / specialties:
- Loaded “Hapunachos” / “Hapunachos” on the official menu and in reviews as a signature starter. (maunakearesort.com)
- Poke-focused items, including poke bowls and a poke stack; Google’s summary also highlights poke bowls. (maunakearesort.com)
- Fish tacos and a fresh catch sandwich, which fit the resort’s light seafood lane. (maunakearesort.com)
- Naupaka burger and smashburger, both centered on Parker Ranch beef. (maunakearesort.com)
- Fried coconut shrimp, crispy calamari, and tiki-glazed chicken tenders as shareable appetizers. (maunakearesort.com)
- Bigger entrées such as wild caught catch, loco moco, pan-roasted chicken, Big Island style saimin, pork ribs, and a fire-grilled skirt steak with island smoked herb chimichurri. (maunakearesort.com)
- Price range / spend expectations: menu pricing on the resort site shows many starters around the low-to-mid $20s, sandwiches around the mid-$20s, and entrées roughly in the $30s to upper $40s, so expect resort pricing rather than casual-local pricing. (maunakearesort.com)
- Dietary usefulness / limits: there are vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free markers on the official menu, which is useful for a resort grill. At the same time, the menu is still strongly centered on seafood, meat, fried items, and rich sauces, so it is not a broad all-day diet destination. (maunakearesort.com)
Notable Features & Ambiance
This is mainly about the setting: open-air, poolside dining with ocean views and a casual resort atmosphere. The official description and traveler reports both emphasize the view, the beach/pool context, and the fact that it feels like a place where you can linger rather than rush. (maunakearesort.com)
- Service model and seating style: table-service resort restaurant; reservations are available through the resort site; outdoor seating is part of the experience. (maunakearesort.com)
- Atmosphere and decor: relaxed, open-air, pool-adjacent, with sweeping ocean views; not a formal fine-dining room. Some secondary sources mention live Hawaiian entertainment at times, but that appears more like a recurring resort amenity than a guaranteed feature. (maunakearesort.com)
- Practical features: resort location at The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort; casual resort attire is listed, with footwear and cover-ups required on the official site. (maunakearesort.com)
- Best fit: a beach day lunch, easygoing sunset dinner, or a convenient on-property meal when you want views and low friction more than culinary ambition. (maunakearesort.com)
- Weaker fit: travelers chasing high-value local food, a deep specialty menu, or a quiet, low-key meal may be less satisfied; the resort setting, pricing, and some consistency complaints all suggest expectations should be calibrated. (tripadvisor.com)
History & Background
There is not much standalone ownership or chef history surfaced in the sources I reviewed. What is clear is that Naupaka is part of the broader Mauna Kea Resort / Westin Hapuna dining ecosystem, and it appears to function as the resort’s casual grill rather than a chef-driven standalone concept. (maunakearesort.com)
Review Sentiment Snapshot
What People Love
Review patterns lean toward the setting first: ocean views, poolside seating, and a relaxed resort vibe. Repeated praise also goes to certain crowd-pleasing dishes like Hapunachos, coconut shrimp, burgers, Cobb salad, and desserts. Service gets positive mention in some reviews, especially when staff are attentive and the dining experience feels easy. (tripadvisor.com)
Common Gripes
The main negative pattern is value and consistency. Several reviews describe food that is merely okay or disappointing for the price, with complaints about bland or uneven execution, overly salty or heavy items, and the sense that the bill does not match the quality. This downside looks well-supported, not isolated, though it is balanced by other guests who had a good meal and liked the setting. (tripadvisor.com)
Practical Visitor Tips
- Official hours on the resort site are 11:00 AM–5:00 PM for lunch and 5:00 PM–9:00 PM for dinner, with cocktails starting earlier; Google Places currently shows 11:00 AM–8:00 PM daily, so hours should be rechecked close to visit time. (maunakearesort.com)
- Reservations are available, but this is still a resort grill, so walk-in traffic may be possible; if you want a specific time or a view seat, booking ahead is the safer choice. (maunakearesort.com)
- The setting is at The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort on Kaunaʻoa Drive, so plan for a resort arrival rather than a street-front casual stop. (maunakearesort.com)
- If you want the most clearly supported “signature” orders, the best-documented bets are Hapunachos, coconut shrimp, fish tacos, poke dishes, and burgers. (maunakearesort.com)
- For value-sensitive diners, it is worth treating this as a scenery-forward resort meal, not a budget meal; that expectation matches the review pattern better than the menu prices alone. (maunakearesort.com)
Verification Notes
- Official identity aligns on Naupaka Beach Grill, 62-100 Kaunaʻoa Dr, Waimea, HI 96743, (808) 880-1111, and the Mauna Kea Resort dining page URL. (maunakearesort.com)
- The restaurant is listed as OPERATIONAL in Google Places. (maunakearesort.com)
- Address wording varies slightly between sources: Google uses Waimea, HI, while the resort page also shows Kohala Coast, HI 96743. This looks like a geography-label variation, not a true mismatch. (maunakearesort.com)
- No major verification issues found. (maunakearesort.com)
Sources
- Mauna Kea Resort / Naupaka Beach Grill official page —
https://www.maunakearesort.com/dine/casual/naupaka-beach-grill— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Most useful for official identity, setting, hours, reservation posture, attire, and high-level menu framing. - Mauna Kea Resort PDF dinner menu —
https://www.maunakearesort.com/pdf/naupaka-dinner.pdf— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Most useful for specific dishes, price points, dietary markers, and the fact that the menu skews toward resort-grill comfort food with island touches. - Tripadvisor restaurant listing for Naupaka Beach Grill —
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g2219999-d14216038-Reviews-Naupaka_Beach_Grill-Kohala_Coast_Island_of_Hawaii_Hawaii.html— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Most useful for recurring traveler sentiment: views, mixed food consistency, and value complaints. - Tripadvisor nearby-restaurants page for The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort —
https://www.tripadvisor.com/RestaurantsNear-g2312116-d169643-The_Westin_Hapuna_Beach_Resort-Puako_Kohala_Coast_Island_of_Hawaii_Hawaii.html— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Useful as secondary confirmation that Naupaka is an on-property resort option in the Westin Hapuna cluster. - Mauna Kea Resort Westin Hapuna dining overview —
https://www.maunakearesort.com/westin-hapuna-beach-resort— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Useful for broader resort context and confirming Naupaka as one of the resort dining venues. - Mauna Kea Living dining page —
https://maunakealiving.com/club/dining/— Retrieved 2026-04-02. Useful for contextual descriptions of the poolside setting and the broader resort dining ecosystem.
