HI Cravings Powered By Jess Da Best

I've been a HUGE fan since their old location in Kapolei near the chinese restaurant / dental office & was a little bummed out when they moved to a temporary booth for a little while before setting up shop in a permanent location at Ka Makana Alii (Adjacent to Applebees). The great thing about it being located at a mall = lots of parking!

Here's a breakdown of how it works
Step 1: Pick your SIZE
Small (Choose up to 1 blend) $7
Medium (up to 2 blends) $9
Large (up to 3 blends) $11

Step 2: Pick your BLEND
Acai (mixed berry blend)
Mauka (green blend)
Pitaya (Nicaraguan Dragonfruit)
Acai Sorbet, my favorite (Sambazon Acai & mixed berry smoothie)
Mango Sorbet
Lychee Sorbet

Step 3: Pick your ADD ON'S
LOTS of add-ons to choose from (each at an additional cost)
Add on categories include
-General add ons i.e chia seeds, bee pollen, chocolate chips.
-Granola & Honey add ons (blueberry flax granola, lehua honey)
-Cookie Dough Add ons
-Drizzles
-Special Jess Da Best add on creations (Ghirardelli Covered strawberries, stuffed choco pretzel, stuffed strawberry ($2.25), cookie ball, stuffed oreos etc.

I know, SO MANY CHOICES RIGHT? If you're unsure, they have special bowl recommendations & you'll see it flash on the screen aka "dessert bowl," which includes strawberries, bananas, white&chocolate chips +cookie dough.

Otherwise, ALL bowls come standard with Local raw honey, vanilla almond granola, strawberries, bananas, pineapples, watermelon and grapes. (substitutions are okay). Current fruit also available are blueberries, black berries and kiwi! Great thing is they don't skimp on the toppings, your bowl will be filled!

Enter your number on the IPAD for points, I was able to get $1 off one of my add ons. Definitely love this place & will be coming back. Their bowls are so TASTY!

It's been a mission to try the acai bowls here for a few years. Well folks, I made that goal happen last night at Ka Makana ali'i. I hardly come out to side of the island. I happen to eat dinner in Kapolei so I suggested to my bf that we stop by here before going back town bound.

The store is small when you enter but there are tables and countertop seating available. The menu is simple and easy to follow. First pick your size: small, medium, large. Then your blend from acai, pitaya, mauka, acai sorbet, mango. Then choose your additional add ons such as bee pollen, cookie dough, li hing mui, or chocolate chips, etc.

Pay first then wait till your name is called. There is a napkin holder and a basket of spoons you can help yourself.

I had the acai sorbet with no add ons. The price was over $7 for a small size. It was delicious, love the twist of watermelon and pineapple added to the traditional acai bowl. Very flavorful and the acai was not frozen with ice chips. It did not melt too fast either.

Come to Ka Makana Ali'i for a refreshing and healthy treat.

UPDATE: May 3rd, 2018
I found a photo! Lol

Small Lobby to order but that just means their business is doing good. Not much space for seating inside since that day was pretty hot. My boyfriend & I always wanted to make our way to try out one of their locations but we never go the chance after all these years. So glad they opened up in an area we kinda frequent every now and then. I ordered an açaí bowl with cookie dough, strawberries, chocolate chips & a chocolate drizzle.. I got a medium sized bowl and I could not finish it. I later regretted the fact I didn't take a photo of it & I didn't finish it because it was one of the BEST bowls I ever had. We will be back to this place again hopefully we get to eat in the store next time since they had such nice murals on the walls & cool A/C.

I've written before about the uniformity of the Acai bowl market, but HI Cravings really does well to set itself apart from the competition. Previously in a little pop-up stand within Ka Makana Alii, HI cravings has moved up to it's own storefront right outside of Applebees. Bright screens, local faire and a glittering display greet you as you walk in, showcasing the specialty items that Jess Da Best offers, such as stuffed strawberries or chocolate covered pretzels.

The acai bowls have this odd divide between the medium and large sizes, where medium leaves you wanting more and the large is way too much. I guess it's good that you want more, but maybe their scoop sizes are just a different metric than my stomach is used to.

All the bowls come with the usual strawberry and banana toppings, but also include canned pineapple chunks and fresh watermelon and grapes. While I'm more of a fan of just the strawberry, blueberry, and banana toppings, it's really refreshing to get a completely different fruit menagerie. Usually they have "special" rotating fruit toppings that you can add for an additional fee, featuring seasonal options like blackberries, blueberries, and even kalo.

The biggest draw for us, however, is the cookie dough as a topping. You can get plain cookie dough or cookie dough with chocolate chips or white chocolate chips. It's indulgent, it's gluttonous, and it's absolutely delicious with an acai bowl.

We've tried a couple of the other blends, like the green mauka acai or the dragonfruit mix, but we always go back to traditional acai.

There were a lot of specialty bowls that I noticed at our last visit, topped with ridiculous amounts of cookie dough, sprinkles, caramel/chocolate drizzles, and more. They're a little frightening to me, but if you have a sweet craving then let me know how they are.

HI cravings is now a staple of any Westbound trip we take!

The acai bowls from here are pretty good. It comes in small ($6.50), medium ($8.50), and large ($10.50). All of the bowls come with strawberry, banana, grapes, pineapple, honey, and granola. I'm liking that they give grapes and pineapples. Not too many places offer that. On the other hand, my blueberries are missing. Hmmmm!

The prices are on par with other acai bowl places. I got a small and it filled me up. This place is at the Ka Makana Alii, next to the poi mochi place.

Really excited for this local company to be here... always supported them wherever they went especially when they use to meet at the parks.

Really disappointed ordering today. Ordered a large bowl of Acai, and replaced the grapes and pineapple due to being allergic to it. They called my name out right after I paid for our bowl. Weird being that our friends bowl that was ordered before us didn't come out yet. Told the girl we ordered a large bowl and they gave us a medium. Had to wait again for our bowl. When it came out, it seemed as if they just took the medium bowl and dumped it into a large :/ Our friends who got their bowl before us had way more than we did even after eating their bowl before us.

I took the bowl up to the counter and I showed her my my concerns. She got really really defensive and told me they put the same amount in each bowl. Then I asked her to take a look at both bowls because we ordered the same thing. She gave attitude and told me that she can add another scoop of acai if I wanted. After that, I just took both bowls, shook my head and walked back to my family.

Way to go with customer service!

Meh...it's just A-OK for me (see below).

"Where's the best acai place this side of the island?" he asked.

For goodness sakes, we're in Ewa and things really take a while for great businesses to trickle to the great plain. So for a lack of a better options, "Jess Da Best" was a quick recommendation. But if this person asking me would've been willing to travel a few more miles north or east of here, he'd whole heartedly agree with my recommendations. But hey...he asked for "ewa side."

Shucks...where do I start?

GIMMICKY. They lure you in with the cookie dough balls (not a fan) and the stuffed strawberries. Ok, strawberries were good but my Pinterest inspired stuffed berries could make Jess sweat a bit. If you're into the cookie dough balls and the stuffed strawberries come early in the day as they do run out. As with all gimmicks they run the course until the next gimmick pops up. So good luck with that.

If I compared the "base" acai bowl with the base acai bowls from all the juice & smoothie places I've tried - this would truly only be A-Ok (on the upside) and is really yielding a truthful "meh...ok" rating. But Yelp doesn't give half stars and I'm a half full kinda gal.

SMALL portions for their small bowls. Really? Sadly so. Check out the other places and compare what you get for their small size! At $6.80....ok $7.00 a bowl you really don't get that much acai AND the granola isn't great (chalky tasting). I should have just asked for a huge bowl or scoop of their acai sorbet and just skipped all the fruit and granola shenanigans but even at that, the acai portion is small. Did i just write SMALL five times in the same paragraph? Get the point?

I wasn't a fan of acai back in the day when "Jess da best" worked of out of a residential area and there were throngs of people in line, sweating in the Ewa sun for a bite full of her concoctions. If truth be told, I wasn't and still not a fan of long lines for anything. She is now at the Ka Makana Ali'i location albeit it's a temporary tented location by CPK...the long lines have dissipated and her loyal followers no longer have to sweat it out in line.

RIDICULOUS....LY GOOD! :)

Walk in and the staff was so fun and friendly! They gave excellent recommendations and showed us best value for our family size too!

We got the large family acai tray to go. We added the condensed milk strawberries, chocolate chip cookie dough bites, and condensed milk over the tray. The guy was so nice he gave us a sampler cup for treats to try for our next visit.

Took the tray home, and EVERYTHING was sooooo good and fresh! The entire family ate it over a two day period.

Well even with those two days, back today to enjoy so more! This was oh so good once again!

I love that they have Pepsi drink options and the 5 star loyalty program! Their community involvement is another bonus! We support local!

I have been avoiding this place for a while. Why?! Because I LOVE the traditional acai bowl. I am one that will dig straight to the bottom and try they acai before I know if I like it. I want that deep purple goodness. So when I heard of this place, I got the feeling they turned my favorite carb load treat into an unhealthy dessert.

BUT..my motto is to always try something once before I judge.

So instead of the weekly milk tea treat for my kids, I dragged them here. Best decision ever!

Location: There is no sign outside. You will see the Beautiville sign. Go in there. Then you will see the shop to your left. Can't miss it. There is a private lot for parking, not that many stalls but we did not have trouble finding any.

Customer service: this isn't a sit down restaurant. You go to the counter and order. But the workers are very nice. I asked the lady at the counter what is the difference in flavor was for the acai bases. She gladly explained the difference. I also asked her to surprise me with the flavor of stuffed strawberries and she totally didn't disappoint. All the staff are trained all around duties. So they got this system down. Fab job in efficiency!

Ambience: it's that perfect spot after you workout, or come from the beach. The aquamarine walls, the local art and the vibe gives off a casual welcome.

Acai bowls: the bowls are not the traditional acai bowls for sure. BUT they are still a must try. You have a choice of what base you want: There is the acai blend, pitaya, mauka, mango sorbet, and acai sorbet. The Acai and Pitaya are their original house blends. The other 3 are from IL gelato, and are thicker and creamy.

I opted for their acai house blend with all the regular toppings. Regular toppings such as banana, granola, honey and then some watermelon, honeydew and pineapple! I didn't know how it would taste, but it actually went really great together! It was a fruity, refreshing taste to it all. The blend of acai and melons was delish!

My son tried the acai house blend, but with little hing mui. At first bite he thought it was too sour. But once he mixed the acai and fruit, he gobbled it up. He loved it!

My little one ordered the mango sorbet with regular toppings. She also topped it with condensed milk. I dug for the mango sorbet. It was the best blend with the fruits. Darn kid knows how to order better than me!

I also ordered the cookie dough and stuffed strawberries. My kids loved it. The cookie dough was lighter than I thought. Both tasted great with or without the bowls. My recommendation is to run with it!

Overall, this is not the traditional acai bowl, but the choices and blends that they have make it a really good treat on carb load day. My next visit I will mix the acai and mango sorbet. If you are wanting a creative spin on acai bowls, this is the place to go.

Hidden hole in the wall. Literally kinda hidden. If it weren't for Yelp, I probably wouldn't have found this place!

Worth the find tho. I walked in.... You go right for the nail salon and left for these awesome desserts.

There's soooooooo many options! Mango, acai, pitaya, melons, strawberries, Nutella stuffed strawberry, cookie dough....... The list goes on and on and on!

LOCATION: convenient if you're in Kapolei. A little hard to find if you haven't been here before but it's a cute little shop.

PRICE: Pricey... But worth it. Fresh tiny cut fruit, good consistency of acai or dragon fruit and the endless toppings!!! Sooooo delicious!

SERVICE: cute, young girls with the endless options you might as well keep coming back to find your favorite

FOOD: I enjoyed it. Good balance of fruit and acai oh the cookie dough and Nutella stuffed strawberry makes this place different than the rest.

I'll definitely stop by this place when I'm in the Kapolei area again!