Beware In Kona....
 

I just returned from 9 days in Hawa'ii and had a spectacular time for the most part.

While staying at the Hilton Waikoloa Village we went into town (Kona) our second morning there and ate breakfast at Denny's. I became violently ill with food posioning about 5:00 p.m. and remained pretty sick for 7 hours after that.

I am pretty positive it was from the food at Denny's because the last time I ate prior to that was 8:00 p.m. the night before. Please be careful, I would hate for anyone to become as ill on their vacation as I was. It was pretty frightening. I reported the incident to the Hawa'ii health department and was sent to a hospital for testing, to determine what exactly made me ill.

Denny's of course accepted zero responsibility, but did offer me a free meal (just what I wanted). Be careful out there!

That's awful that you had to go through that. Hopefully you didn't suffer more than that one terrible day! We'll be sure to stay away from Denny's.

I hope you feel better. I think it's wise to stay away from Denney's in any state! Do you really think anyone being paid minimum wage is going to care about the quality of the food they serve to you? I'd rather have crackers for breakfast than go to one of those places.

I do hope the food poisoning didn't put too much of a damper on your trip. But, can you specifically pinpoint it down to Denny's? Food poisioning may generally occuring a few hours to 6 after eating, but it can also take a few days before the food toxins affect you.

Well, there is low wage kitchen help in fine restaurants as well. This can happen anywhere, regardless of wages.

I agree with the advice of avoiding Denny's, but for a different reason: the food is boring, greasy crap.

Real sorry to hear that. Hope you feel better. Agree with slippahs, you sure you can pinpoint it to Denny's? I have eaten breakfast there many times and have never gotten sick.

Does not sound likely to be food poisoning. I suggest calling the county health department and talking with them. That way, if it is food poisoning, you'll likely find out as you won't have been the only customer to get it.

If you read my post you will see that it was reported to the health department and I am currently awaiting test results. The health department told me that food posioning does not necessarily come from spoiled food, food can be contaminated by workers who don't wash their hands and a whole host of other things.

As far as being sure it was Denny's...can i be 100% sure? No...however my doctor said it was highly unlikely it was what I ate for dinner the night before since that would have put my illness at over 19 hours from eating time.

You know I kind of feel like I am having to defend myself here.....I am just trying to let people know what happened to me and to beware. I feel like I need to apologize for being stupid enough to eat there and/or to blame Denny's for it.

I've gotten food poisoning twice, and I had just about the same time lag between the source and the symptoms. There are different incubation periods for various pathogens in food, but I'd bet that you're right about the meal at Denny's.

I don't think anyone wants to make you feel defensive about it, just honestly trying to make sure there's no other cause.

Like the last time I thought I had food poisoning from a dinner on a Friday night...and the following Sunday night I needed the remains of my appendix removed. Sometimes what seems like food poisoning with a pin-pointable source isn't so obvious :)

I'm not supporting Denny's and don't eat there, but in fairness to Denny's, it might be more appropriate to point the finger towards them subsequent to definitive results from the health department. I look forward to hearing the outcome.

My apologies. I didn't want to assuage blame in fairness to Denny's. Ditto above.

This post has given me renewed strength to never go to a Denny's. I remain, however, obsessed with Waffle House. Not that there's any Waffle Houses in Kona, I suppose.

I was in that Denny's once with some friends and didn't eat there. Something about eating cheap, greasy, processed food when it's 90 outside didn't really appeal to me.

Not that it matters, but let me be clear that I am no food snob. I sometimes indulge in cheap, greasy, processed food. It's just that Denny's version of it is so bland.