Roy's Waikoloa Bar & Grill

The wine list at Roy's Waikoloa reads exactly like you'd expect from a polished resort restaurant on the Kohala Coast — California-heavy, approachable, and designed to move bottles without starting any arguments. It's not trying to surprise you, and it mostly succeeds on its own terms. Open the list and you'll recognize every name on it, which is either reassuring or a little deflating depending on who you are.

The list leans hard on California, with Oregon and Washington making token appearances and a smattering of New Zealand and France rounding things out. You're looking at exactly the kind of lineup you'd find at a well-run resort chain: Sonoma-Cutrer, Meiomi, Duckhorn — solid producers, zero risk, zero discovery. There's nothing wrong with any of it, but the list doesn't reflect the genuinely exciting Pacific Rim geography Roy's cuisine is built on — no skin-contact whites, no volcanic-soil minerality plays from anywhere interesting. The gaps aren't gaps so much as deliberate omissions in service of a safe, high-turnover program.

The by-the-glass program runs an estimated 10-16 options, which is respectable for a resort setting, and covers the basics well enough — a Chardonnay, a Pinot, a red for the table's steak-orderer. Pours clock in at $14-$20, which stings a little when the wines themselves aren't exactly rare finds. There's no visible rotation or seasonal glass program to speak of, so what you see is what you get, every night.