"They always seem to fly in from the Big Island and Kauai and stay here at the hotel," says Saunders, Pagoda's manager and a 20-year employee with HTH Corporation, a locally-owned company that operates the Pagoda Hotel, Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikiki and King Kamehameha Beach Hotel in Kailua-Kona.

Once a common backdrop for "Hawaii Five-O" scenes, the Pagoda Floating Restaurant represents old-time nostalgia for many kamaaina.

"We're such an established name among local residents," said Keri Miyamoto, the restaurant's manager for the past two years. "Our clients are 90 percent to 95 percent locals."

This includes Florida and Francis Padron, who've dined at Pagoda at least once a month for the past 10 years.

"We take our kids here whenever they're in town," said the friendly couple, as they worked their way through a plate of crab legs during this past Tuesday's lunch buffet. "Pagoda offers great value. And this is why we keep coming back."

Starting tomorrow, the weekday lunch buffet will be priced at $14.50 for adults and $6.50 for keiki five to 10 years old. Saturday's buffet will cost $15.95 for adults and $6.95 for children. Dinner prices from Monday through Thursday are $23.50 for adults and $10.50 for kids, and $25.50 and $12.50, respectively, during the evening weekend buffets. (A limited a la carte menu is available during all buffet hours.) Sunday brunch buffet's tariff is $19.95 for adults and $8.95 for kids.

"In addition to the full-on dessert and salad bar, and shrimp and vegetable tempura, we also put out four hot entrees during lunch and eight during dinner," said chef Nathan Kina, formerly of Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch & Crab. "But bar none, the top-three items are the tempura, the crab legs and the carved prime rib, which are available seven nights a week."

Rattling off an impressive list of numbers that would be the envy of any local eatery, Miyamoto cited that they do at least 180 lunch covers and seat up to 250 guests for dinner.

"And for Easter, we're expecting up to 600 people for brunch and another 600 in the evening," said the soft-spoken Miyamoto, who started off as a part-time reservationist with the hotel and worked her way up to management. "We plan these special holidays one to two months out, so we should be ready."

Geared toward the local palate, the Easter brunch buffet will be rolled out Sun., Mar. 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost is $24.95 for adults and $12.95 for children.

Jenny Takemoto has greeted Pagoda guests for the past 35 years.

The evening buffet will be served from 4 to 9:30 p.m. and will cost $27.95 for adults and $14.95 for keiki. A scampi station will be added to the lineup.