Wow oh ? wow!!!! ? My husband is HUGE donut fan and we are very well aware of malasadas back in my hula days...but we've not experienced it filled with "your choice" jelly filling! And so warm and yummy ? with guava and lilikoi ....blows any jelly donut out of the park! It's right off the highway and it is a MUST stop! Our daughter-in-law is the biggest jelly donut fan I've met so I'm excited to have her experience Manuela when we come back ....or find them in South Carolina. They have many locations outside of Hawaii...not sure if that's good or bad. My waistline says 'no' ...ha!
Food: 5
Service: 4
SusieWilson
Parking: Pot hole, gravel area
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Filled Donut
Dylan McMurdie
You can have 6 for $28 or 3 for $16 $2.00 per filling is a ripoff.
$5.33 per doughnut and they are tiny. Would not recommend.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
タママ二等兵
It was normal.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Cole Cofer
These are excellent and well worth going out of your way for! We loved them so much we came back the next day for seconds. Big shout out to the two employees working 9.21 & 9.22, they are both legends and hustled hard to get through a long line quickly. My favorite was the Bavarian cream filling with powdered sugar.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Filled Donut, Coconut, Bavarian Creme, Passion Fruit
Kasea Mashburn
We eat here all the time on the way to the beach. We looovvvvveeee them
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Brittany G
We went to Manuela Malasadas in Lahaina and had a great experience so we couldn't wait to return and eat them again here on the Big Island. We have raved about that place and sent many friends to the one in Maui. This place I will warn everyone not to go to!!
It was one of the most AWFUL experiences for food service!
1. Wait Time: We waited 60 mins for 9 Malasadas and 2 iced coffees!!!
2. Cost: Expensive!! Overpriced for what you get. - The "deal" for 6 Malasadas and 2 drinks for $25 is just for plain donuts. If you add any fillings it's an additional $2 per donut!! - You must order in "threes" we needed 7 donuts and had to order 9. - For 9 Malasadas and 2 drinks it was $46!!
3. Employees: The guy at the window was so confused taking our order and made it way more complicated than it had to be. Then half our order was wrong. The lady cooking was a bit rude, kept pushing the guy out of the way when taking our order and slammed the window on us when we picked up our order and needed more napkins.
4. Quality: - Filled donuts only had a smidge of filling on top, barely inside if any at all! - My friend saw them pour our iced coffees from a can into a cup with ice in it, not even "house made". - The plain ones were good, but you can definitely taste the sour/yeast, if you don't like that you won't like these. - Half the size of Tex's
5. Atmosphere: The atmosphere is horrible. On the side of the highway, in the heat, no view, no shade, no seats, wind and sand blowing in your eyes.
6. Clean Up: These things are messy! With sugar and sweet sticky stuff. Plus, they are best served hot, so you probably don't want to eat them in the car. However, if you eat them there you have to eat them standing and there is no way to clean up after. No water to rinse, just cheap paper towels that stick to you hands. Oh and no garbage throw away your waste.
Not sure what you're paying for, no ambiance, just a small cart in the desert with 2 workers that don't know what they are doing.
Conclusion: If you want to have a miserable experience and to spend 2 hours of your vacation in Hawaii (assuming most drive 20+ mins) for extremely sub-par and expensive malasadas while sitting in the sun being blasted in the face by sand, this is your spot.
If you want to enjoy your vacation and enjoy good food, skip this place?
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Filled Donut, Hawaiian Donut
Engineer 1
This was our second time visiting. Stopped by the roadside stand at the end of the day and ordered a half dozen. The malasadas are consistently great! While we waited for our order, we had a friendly visit with Denori who provided some excellent recommendations for farmer's markets and coffee in Waimea. If you haven't had Manuela's Malasadas - you must stop here!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lisa Maurine Ney
These are the very best malasadas on the big island and we have tried many! (Including the "famous" one on the other side of the island) Authentic, and warm our malasadas were made to order. Our entire family loved them! We highly recommend stopping.
Freshest (fried in front of you) malasadas, worth a separate trip or at least de-tour.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Songhita Misra
I am writing this to review the banana bread by the uncle who has his cart next to this Donut cart. He said it’s his family recipe and trust me you don't wanna miss it. They are the best banana bread I have ever had and even far better than Aunty Sandy’s banana bread that you get in Maui during the road to Hana trip. My husband regularly bakes and he agreed that uncle’s banana bread is the best one so far. We also tried his pineapple bread and they are top notch too. I don't know the name of his cart but he is very warm and welcoming so want to make him famous. Now lemme review the donuts. You don't wanna have them lol. They were pretty hard. I just liked the one without fillings. My trip to this stop was only worth because of the banana bread which we tried unexpectedly.
Garrison Ganowsky
Very good hot malasadas.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Andrew Mao
This place seems to have a Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde thing going on: some of the reviewers show a puffy, flattened donut with a light ring around the middle. What we received was instead a dark, brown, hard golf ball that was not fluffy but quite doughy in the middle — not surprising as it's hard to deep fry a ball evenly without burning the outside.
As some of the other reviewers have said, the fillings are ick (as of Aug 2024). Translation of the menu:
Haupia = coconut syrup (what's served on pancakes) Chocolate Haupia = coconut syrup + Hershey's syrup
These are sickeningly sweet and made it hard to eat more than half of one. Also, it cost $18 for 3 filled donuts. If you have tried Leonard's in Honolulu, you will be sorely disappointed. Also, the bake shop on the south side of the island has far superior malasadas for less than half the price.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
Jenna Canonaco
Never had malasadas before, but oh boy, these were amazing!
Wow oh ? wow!!!! ? My husband is HUGE donut fan and we are very well aware of malasadas back in my hula days...but we've not experienced it filled with "your choice" jelly filling! And so warm and yummy ? with guava and lilikoi ....blows any jelly donut out of the park! It's right off the highway and it is a MUST stop!
Our daughter-in-law is the biggest jelly donut fan I've met so I'm excited to have her experience Manuela when we come back ....or find them in South Carolina. They have many locations outside of Hawaii...not sure if that's good or bad. My waistline says 'no' ...ha!
Food: 5
Service: 4
Parking: Pot hole, gravel area
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Filled Donut
You can have 6 for $28 or 3 for $16
$2.00 per filling is a ripoff.
$5.33 per doughnut and they are tiny. Would not recommend.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
It was normal.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
These are excellent and well worth going out of your way for! We loved them so much we came back the next day for seconds. Big shout out to the two employees working 9.21 & 9.22, they are both legends and hustled hard to get through a long line quickly. My favorite was the Bavarian cream filling with powdered sugar.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Filled Donut, Coconut, Bavarian Creme, Passion Fruit
We eat here all the time on the way to the beach. We looovvvvveeee them
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We went to Manuela Malasadas in Lahaina and had a great experience so we couldn't wait to return and eat them again here on the Big Island. We have raved about that place and sent many friends to the one in Maui. This place I will warn everyone not to go to!!
It was one of the most AWFUL experiences for food service!
1. Wait Time:
We waited 60 mins for 9 Malasadas and 2 iced coffees!!!
2. Cost:
Expensive!! Overpriced for what you get.
- The "deal" for 6 Malasadas and 2 drinks for $25 is just for plain donuts. If you add any fillings it's an additional $2 per donut!!
- You must order in "threes" we needed 7 donuts and had to order 9.
- For 9 Malasadas and 2 drinks it was $46!!
3. Employees:
The guy at the window was so confused taking our order and made it way more complicated than it had to be. Then half our order was wrong. The lady cooking was a bit rude, kept pushing the guy out of the way when taking our order and slammed the window on us when we picked up our order and needed more napkins.
4. Quality:
- Filled donuts only had a smidge of filling on top, barely inside if any at all!
- My friend saw them pour our iced coffees from a can into a cup with ice in it, not even "house made".
- The plain ones were good, but you can definitely taste the sour/yeast, if you don't like that you won't like these.
- Half the size of Tex's
5. Atmosphere:
The atmosphere is horrible. On the side of the highway, in the heat, no view, no shade, no seats, wind and sand blowing in your eyes.
6. Clean Up:
These things are messy! With sugar and sweet sticky stuff. Plus, they are best served hot, so you probably don't want to eat them in the car. However, if you eat them there you have to eat them standing and there is no way to clean up after. No water to rinse, just cheap paper towels that stick to you hands. Oh and no garbage throw away your waste.
Not sure what you're paying for, no ambiance, just a small cart in the desert with 2 workers that don't know what they are doing.
Conclusion:
If you want to have a miserable experience and to spend 2 hours of your vacation in Hawaii (assuming most drive 20+ mins) for extremely sub-par and expensive malasadas while sitting in the sun being blasted in the face by sand, this is your spot.
If you want to enjoy your vacation and enjoy good food, skip this place?
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Filled Donut, Hawaiian Donut
This was our second time visiting. Stopped by the roadside stand at the end of the day and ordered a half dozen. The malasadas are consistently great!
While we waited for our order, we had a friendly visit with Denori who provided some excellent recommendations for farmer's markets and coffee in Waimea.
If you haven't had Manuela's Malasadas - you must stop here!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
These are the very best malasadas on the big island and we have tried many! (Including the "famous" one on the other side of the island) Authentic, and warm our malasadas were made to order. Our entire family loved them! We highly recommend stopping.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Li Hing Sugar Malasada, Filled Donut, Donut, Hawaiian Donut
Worth the wait. Get some fried donuts freshly made by order.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
Freshest (fried in front of you) malasadas, worth a separate trip or at least de-tour.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I am writing this to review the banana bread by the uncle who has his cart next to this Donut cart. He said it’s his family recipe and trust me you don't wanna miss it. They are the best banana bread I have ever had and even far better than Aunty Sandy’s banana bread that you get in Maui during the road to Hana trip. My husband regularly bakes and he agreed that uncle’s banana bread is the best one so far. We also tried his pineapple bread and they are top notch too. I don't know the name of his cart but he is very warm and welcoming so want to make him famous. Now lemme review the donuts. You don't wanna have them lol. They were pretty hard. I just liked the one without fillings. My trip to this stop was only worth because of the banana bread which we tried unexpectedly.
Very good hot malasadas.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This place seems to have a Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde thing going on: some of the reviewers show a puffy, flattened donut with a light ring around the middle. What we received was instead a dark, brown, hard golf ball that was not fluffy but quite doughy in the middle — not surprising as it's hard to deep fry a ball evenly without burning the outside.
As some of the other reviewers have said, the fillings are ick (as of Aug 2024). Translation of the menu:
Haupia = coconut syrup (what's served on pancakes)
Chocolate Haupia = coconut syrup + Hershey's syrup
These are sickeningly sweet and made it hard to eat more than half of one. Also, it cost $18 for 3 filled donuts. If you have tried Leonard's in Honolulu, you will be sorely disappointed. Also, the bake shop on the south side of the island has far superior malasadas for less than half the price.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
Never had malasadas before, but oh boy, these were amazing!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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