Featured Review
November 2010
Top Restaurants for Gluten Free Dining on the Big Island of Hawaii
Welcome to GlutenFreeTravelSite.com! Each month we choose an especially useful dining/travel review from all the submissions we receive from the prior month and showcase it as our Featured Review of the Month. The winning reviewer receives four of Triumph Dining's Restaurant Dining Cards (one each for American, Chinese, Italian, and Mexican cuisines). Be sure to also check out our past Featured Reviews found in our Archives.
Gluten Free Birthday at Mauna Kea Hotel's Manta and Pavilion Wine Bar
 I celebrated a special birthday last month at this gorgeous restaurant, the Manta and Pavilion Wine Bar, in the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Kamuela, on the "Big Island" of Hawaii. The setting of this restaurant above the beach, facing due west, offers some of the best sunsets you can imagine. It also offers a Celiac or gluten-intolerant person a wonderful variety of safe food choices, beginning with the appetizers all the way through dessert.
The wait staff was totally educated on gluten-free eating and guided me through my entire meal selection without a hitch. It's always scary for me to put my life and health in the hands of a waiter or chef, but after a thorough conversation with our darling waitress, I knew I was in good hands. Just make sure to ask lots of questions and let the concierge know when you make the reservation that you are gluten-free.
 A beautiful basket of warmed gluten-free bread arrived at the table, along with a wonderful tapenade that I could eat. My bowl of squash soup was perfect. I ate every drop in the bowl! My entree was truly memorable and well-suited for a birthday dinner! I ordered the short ribs with a cauliflower coulis and roasted, organic vegetables that were divine. As I savored each bite, I kept repeating, "I can't believe this is gluten-free!" Lucky me.
In the middle of dinner, the Manta Rays stopped by for a visit. All of us dining on the patio were treated to a show with two Mantas swimming in the Bay, just below under the spotlights - they surely knew they were the main attraction!
 My birthday dessert was delicious - a beautiful bowl of freshly made macadamia ice cream, fresh berries and whipped cream, along with "Happy Birthday" scrolled around my plate in rich chocolate! Yum! I was also treated to a plate of white-chocolate macadamia nuts that were so rich and creamy I had to stop after two.
Another portion of the meal to note - The Manta and Pavilion Wine Bar had a wonderful variety of wine to taste by the ounce or glass, as well as some truly delicious Hawaiian cocktails and other adult beverages that are safe for a Celiac - so enjoy!
Mahalo!
You can read more of reviewer "GlutenFreeGal's" Hawaii reviews within our Hawaii section of GlutenFreeTravelSite -- or on her own page on our site where all her reviews are consolidated. She had equally great experiences at other "Big Island" restaurants, including the Fairmont Orchid Hotel's Brown's Beach House on Kohala Coast and Pahu i'a Restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in Kailua-Kona. And ALL the restaurants at the hotel where she stayed on the Big Island -- the Hapuna Beach Prince Resort -- were well-versed in gluten-free food preparation. She enjoyed a particularly wonderful meal at the Coast Grille. You can also follow "GlutenFreeGal" on her own Gluten Free Bowl of Soul Blog.
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