I am not one to leave bad reviews but I feel that this experience needs to be showcased for health/cleanliness reasons. We went to On The Rocks to celebrate my birthday and take in the beautiful views… the ocean is beautiful but that’s about all you’ll get from this restaurant. We were unlucky enough to sit on the railing overlooking the views (which you’d think would be the best seats). It started off with battling several cockroaches from climbing on our table and chairs, which we fought off with another table of people next to us(with no help from staff)..until we decided to move tables completely. After we moved, it left the railing tables open which allowed the rats to come out. Walking over the tables and chairs, finding the dirty plates that were left for at least 30 minutes after other guests had left. Waitress was aware of the entire situation, offered nothing more than laughing it off and no apologies. Just absolutely distraught that the issues are well known and no one is concerned or attempting to resolve the issues. Not to mention, the food is very expensive for the quality that you get and service you receive. This restaurant has so much potential and I was very sad that we had the experience that we did. After seeing everything that saw and the lack of action by staff members, I am very concerned for the health/safety protocols of the kitchen area. I am writing this in hopes that something is done for future guests.

Great spot for dinner or lunch with a view. There was an artist there at lunch when we visited but they have music later. Menus pretty good. Prices are average. 6 people cost 180 ish. I had fish and chips which was great but portions were small. Taco salads are huge. Seafood chowder is great and comes in a bread bowl.

Nice little place with good drinks and food. The kitchen is a travel trailer but don't let that fool you. The staff was fantastic as well as the view. Absolutely would go again!

I like the atmosphere, the food is decent but nothing to scream about. The restaurant usually gets very busy (they don't have reservations, walk in only) - I was placed next to the live performers and the host was kind enough to check if I'm okay to be placed close to the performers of which I don't mind because that means I'm also close to the water. The staff are generally pleasant and I didn't have to wait too long for my food. The food is average, I had the clam chowder served in a sourdough bread with a side of poke and I also ordered fish tacos with a side of volcano fries to go for my friend.

Service at the bar was SLOW. Bar tender walked by me five times. Had to flag him down. Ordered Kona Seasonal beer and it was great! Fish Tacos were interesting. The flavor was good as was the texture. Onion ring appetizer was really good & large! If you go here, I'd get a table. Not sure I'm going back.

Great place for happy hour! Drinks are a decent price (compared to others in the area) and the fish tacos are pretty good, but were small in portion size. My waiter, Victor, was very friendly. For cheap happy hour drinks and food this place is it! The only downside, arriving just as happy hour started, was having to sit in the sun as the spots in the shade were taken.

Nice casual dining spot on the waterfront. This place was recommended to me by a local when I asked about live music. Because it was drizzly, I sat at the bar, and there are many umbrella covered tables. Service was friendly, prompt, and not over zealous. I was able to sit and watch football, enjoy a drink, and eat some delicious fish tacos (grilled, not fried) without feeling rushed.

This is the best food I have ever consumed, I ordered the Kilauea fire burger and it is so perfectly made its crazy. And the atmosphere is amazing, right on the beach with music and the lights on the trees. The green mango drink was amazing too.

Our experience here was amazing. Family of four, hanging by the water, enjoying a delicious lunch. Fish tacos! Awesome! Mai Tai heaven! Loved it!!

Delicious! Putting our feet in the sand was great with the food while we watched the sunset. Plenty of options and a few vegan/vegetarian options too. The drinks were great and wish we could go back before we leave. Would recommend to anyone visiting Kona!

Food was honestly very disappointing. Aside from the poke nachos that we ordered, the other dishes were bad - overcooked fish, beef patty in our burger not of great quality. Not a good place for food, but the atmosphere and the vibes were nice! Service was also good!

On the positive, the view is beautiful, the live music is really nice and my meal was good! However, they are constantly extremely busy. You can't make reservations and will almost certainly have to wait to even be seated. Once seated, unfortunately, everything took forever and waiter didn't come back to check on anything, not even water.. and it is HOT at this place y'all. Not breezy, despite being next to the ocean and maybe it was just where we were seated but my group and I kept getting smells of sewage whenever the wind did blow. In summary, it's not a bad bad but there are other better options nearby.

First stop on our honeymoon had 4 of their specialty cocktails each was amazing. Had the fish and chips and the fresh catch we both shared our meals and were impressed. Must stop location of your looking for a place with great food and great atmosphere. Dining is right on the ocean front with a great view of the sun set. They have live music which makes for a great experience. Workers are very friendly and do an amazing job. Everyone working there loves their jobs you can tell by their passion.

I have wanted to eat here for years, and it never seemed to work out! Well I finally got to eat here and it did not disappoint! 🤙🤙 I was so pleased with the staff, food, and setting! The staff was friendly and did a great job! The food was awesome! It was Fresh and had very good presentation! The burger was awesome! I don’t know how I got my mouth around that thing!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 The view was breathtaking! There are other great restaurants close by, but their views have a big wire running right through your view!! 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ the view at this place is an unobstructed view of the beautiful Kona ocean! Great place! I will return here for sure! Great experience!! 🤙🤙🤙🤙

Cool place to eat right on the water in Kona! Live music, hula dancer were performing on the sand to add to the great ambiance. Food was decent, our waitress Heather was amazing! Put yourself on the wait list at least an hour before you plan to eat at peak times though! Recommended

After traveling over 24 hours, we were ready for lovely meal. We stopped in at On the Rocks and were pleasantly surprised how quick we were seated and speedy arrival of our fish tacos. We enjoyed the young man performing music! It was a lovely atmosphere! We both ordered fish tacos. The corn tortillas and fish were both dry; what a disappointment. Then we waited and waited for our check. My cousin finally went to seek someone to bring our check. They assured us someone would be with shortly. Nope, that didn't work; so we finally went to the checkin and paid our bill. This certainly put a damper on what could have been a wonderful first night of our vacation!

Amazing food and service. Fresh food and strong drinks ;) The view was nothing short of amazing. Our table was in the sand which was cool. I think our servers name was Savannah. Very nice and efficient staff Favorites: -shrimp and chips (jumbo and fresh shrimp; yummy sauce) -Da bomb fries (seasoned perfectly; these were gone within a few seconds of being set on the table) -pina colada (not pictured; sooo good) -the view

We’ve been to On The Rocks multiple times over the last few years. I make it a point to visit a few times each time I’m in Kona. Even worse, I’ve been raving about this place to my friends and family over the last few years. We came back today (6/12/22) and we had a terrible experience. The wait was long, they couldn’t get a table to sit our children with us (only 6 of us in total) they removed my favorite thing on the menu and when I asked our waiter what happened to it, I received some response along the lines of “I was in High school 3-years ago and I can’t even remember what girls I was with then.” Then he laughed. I ended up finding something else to eat, but my expectations were down the drain. I ordered the Kalua Pork sandwich, which was good. My wife had the fish tacos, which were also good. My mother ordered the fish and chip and she hated it. Overpriced, didn’t taste good, and a small portion. My father ordered the taco salad and it was, in his opinion, “ok”. When I asked about a kids menu, the waiter just told us the few items on the menu. We ordered based on what we heard. My one kid’s meal was $6.50 (which is pretty normal for a cheese quesadilla) however my other child ordered the “3-sliders”. Big surprise when we got the bill and it was $17!!! That was the same cost as my adult size pork sandwich. I would have ordered him something else if I would have known. Finally, about the waiter. Cameron H. He was terrible. Not only for the things I’ve already mention about him, below are a few more. When my parents went to pay, he just said what the total bill ‘s cost was and proceeded to ask for the card. My dad asked for the itemized bill to look at and since the guy already inserted the card into his handheld machine, he was unable to get back to the screen with the itemized bill. My dad said that he didn’t want to pay without seeing the bill first, and the waited proceeded to get defensive by saying “Do you think I added something to your bill?” And “I used to work at a 5-star restaurant”……like we care. Bottom line, you should show your guests the bill before processing payment. We proceeded to ask him for a printout of the receipt and the waiter said “…but I have to walk over there to get it…” it was 20 steps away. He never brought them to us, we ended up going to get our own Print-outs. This experience had ruined this place for me and I will not be returning again. I’m only giving a 2-star because the food tasted OK.

Wow, what an awesome place and experience. We went for a sunset dinner. Showed up when they opened, twenty minute wait time. We parked at the scuba/açaí parking lot. They validated our parking at Huggos. We got our table and it started raining heavily. Hostess came by and offered to move us to a sheltered seat right away (all the seating was outdoor). I read reviews w ppl complaining about not being moved when it rained. They must have read that because they were diligent about it. Our servers name was blue. He was awesome. Always on the spot with anything we needed. Very friendly and got every piece of our order right. Our first round of drinks was during happy hour $6 Mai Thais (delicious and a bargain). Entrees were delicious. Got the sliders with volcano fries, wife had the chicken Sammy. We ordered a mud pie dessert. It was delicious. I kid you not, it could serve 4 ppl! Then as we were eating dessert the live entertainment started just as the sun was finally setting. The music was beautiful and the view was priceless. It was the perfect anniversary sunset dinner in paradise.

Food was just OK. My dad’s tuna was overcooked as well as his French-fries. I ordered the Volcano fries with my fried shrimp and the fries were also overcooked. They put some sort of spices on it to make it “Volcano” but apparently it doesn’t contain any salt whatsoever. You can see my plate below. That was the entire dish. Got tarter sauce but no cocktail sauce. I suppose I could have asked for it but typically it comes with shrimp. Perhaps it was an off night for them. But the atmosphere was great. We really enjoyed the live entertainment and if you get there early there is a nice view of the ocean.

You can't beat the atmosphere of sitting alongside the ocean, torches burning, live music & hula and .... sand under your feet! Add to that very good service and pretty delicious food! Started and ended our trip here🤙

Very cool places. The location is just amazing. You can feel the strength of the sea and smell the ocean while you are having your dinner. And this is something extraordinary. I also have to say that is A bit expensive and some dishes could be bigger (a part the desserts. Cakes are huge)

Nice little restaurant with very nice staff right by the sea. We only grabbed some fries as a lunch snack. Food was good, but a bit pricey, got photos of their current menu attached. There is parking right in front of the restaurant, albeit very limited spaces. Another public lot is less than half a mile away.

The food was very good and the sunset view was priceless! There was music and a hula dancer. She gave a few quick lessons which was fun.

I had the poke nachos and they were really delicious. The poke to wonton chip ratio was a bit low, but that’s the case with most restaurants and it definitely wasn’t so low that it was any kind of issue. I also had the vanilla & macadamia nut mud pie and that was just fantastic. It was raining really hard when we went so that was a bit of an issue but we made do and the staff was really friendly and accommodating. Great experience.

My burger was great, the meat was perfect and the bun was super flavorful. My mothers fish sandwich was great and my sisters chicken tenders were the best she ever had. I also got the lava flow and oh it was so good. I hope you can go to this place!

A great casual restaurant right on the beach in Kona. Food was decent, drinks were good, and you can't get a better sunset view, sitting right on the beach edge. Entertainment was also good with live music and hula dancing. Prices were reasonable

We ate here 2 times during our honeymoon stay in Kona! This was our favorite restaurant. Danny was our server both times and was so helpful and kind. We love the Da Bomb Fries, Fish Tacos and burgers! So delicious! We will miss this place!

The best ahi poke bowl that I’ver ever had! Food is amazing! The floor is sand floor! (For those of you who miss sandy beach!) Definitely the best place to watch sunset as well. Live music and dance are also playing. Get a drink with a souvenir cup to take home.

Wasn’t horrible at all and the food was decent. Obviously going to pay tourists prices at a place like this. Drinks were good and service was normal. Sitting in the chairs in the sand and table took a little shifting around. No little critters running around like other post mentioned and seemed clean.