Kona Cafe Breakfast Oct. 2021

Kona Cafe has been a long-time favorite of mine for breakfast. Since I began writing dining reviews in 2012 I had had breakfast here 10 times. And since we were staying at the Contemporary for the first 4 nights of this trip, which is just a short monorail ride away from the Polynesian, I couldn’t pass up the chance to have breakfast here an 11th time.

And so on this Tuesday morning, October 26th, we took the resort monorail to the Polynesian for our 8:40 breakfast reservation at Kona Cafe. First a few photos of the restaurant…

I like the tropical island theming/decor of this restaurant, especially the lighting and ceiling fans…

But I don’t go there for the decor, I go there for the food. More specifically a particular food on their Breakfast menu…

Of note is that Kona’s breakfast menu has shrunk over the years, with fewer options available than what they once offered. A few of the once popular items that were missing (and are still missing from the current Feb. 2024 menu) are the Samoan (which was a Polynesian version of eggs benedict) and the Big Kahuna (which was a combo plate that included scrambled eggs, potatoes, french toast, pancakes, sausage, bacon and ham). However, the Big Kahuna was offered to us as their “Special of the Day”. 

So anyway, shortly after being seated, Andrew found out that he had been offered a job that he had recently interviewed for so we decided to celebrate by starting with Mimosas…

My mimosa choice was the one on the right with Liliko’i (aka POG = Passion fruit, Orange, Guava) juice and sparkling wine. Andrew’s choice had cranberry juice instead of the POG juice. I gave mine a rating of 4 but Andrew rated his only a 3 because he thought it should have had a little more wine and less juice. Our mimosas were $13 each. I still see the Lilko’i mimosa on the current menu (for $14.50) but not the cranberry one. They do have another specialty beverage on the current breakfast menu called the Polynesian Red Eye. This has coconut rum, Liliko’i juice, and grenadine and is currently priced at $12. 

I also ordered a cup of coffee, which I believe was the Joffrey’s Hawaiian Kona Blend. They left the pot on our table, which was nice. This was $3.79. The coffee was very good and I gave it a 4 rating. 

Now for our entrée choices, starting with Andrew’s…

Tonga Toast – Banana-stuffed Sourdough French Toast rolled in Cinnamon-Sugar, served with your choice of Ham, Spiced Ham, Bacon, or Sausage – $16.00 (now the price is $17 as of Feb. 2024)

Andrew has had the Tonga Toast before but this time he said it wasn’t as good as he’d remembered. The outside was hard and overly crisp. He said that it was helped by the Strawberry Compote that came with it though…

Without the strawberry topping he rated the Tonga Toast only a 2 but it was boosted up to a 3 with the help of the strawberry sauce.

And that just leaves my entrée choice, which (with only one exception) has always been my choice here…

Macadamia Nut Pancakes with Macadamia Nut Butter, Pineapple Sauce, and your choice of Ham, Spiced Ham, Bacon, or Sausage – $14.00 (now the price is $15.00 as of Feb. 2024)

This was delicious as ever. I love the macadamia nuts mixed in with the pancakes. They are heavenly! Just to experiment I tried a bite of my pancakes with Andrew’s strawberry sauce and then with the maple syrup that they brought with my pancakes. I found though that I actually liked my pancakes the best with just the butter and pineapple sauce. My rating was an enthusiastic 5!

So this 11th breakfast at Kona Cafe was a success for me but not so much for Andrew. My first dining reservation on our upcoming trip is for breakfast at Kona Cafe with my husband. I’m hoping Kona Breakfast #12 does not disappoint!

One more note to add – When I paid with my Disney VISA card I was given a 10% discount.