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Kauai food recommendations

6,427 Views | 28 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by flytxag
beastinBQ
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My fianc and I are going to Kauai for our honeymoon (thanks Travel forum).

Would love to get some recommendations for lunch/dinner. Will be there this summer. I've read some good things on the Princeville food tours.
~BeastinBQ
JYDog90
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beastinBQ said:

My fianc and I are going to Kauai for our honeymoon (thanks Travel forum).

Would love to get some recommendations for lunch/dinner. Will be there this summer. I've read some good things on the Princeville food tours.
Are you staying at Princeville? Strongly recommend doing so.

We had sushi a couple of nights at the Living Room at Princeville, overlooking Hanalei Bay and watching the sun go down over Bali Hai. Must do.

There was a little saimin stand down in Lihue, called Hamura Saimin, that was great for a casual, cheap lunch. Saimin, along with some chicken or beef satay, and the Lilikoi chiffon pie is also the bomb. Strongly recommend. My wife still talks about it all the time.

We went to Tidepools down in Poipu one night for dinner and it was great and the sunset was good, but we really liked the jungle-y northern part of the island in comparison to the southern part in Poipu
BSD
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I believe the Princeville hotel (St Regis, whatever you call it) is closed for renovation. We used to like eating dinner there. An absolutely beautiful view.

Bar Acuda in Hanalei is our go to now. No view, but the food is great and we usually walk along the bay afterwards.

Tidepools at the Hyatt is good. Donderos (Italian is closed for good, way to go Hawaii). The Beach House in Poipu is the place to go for sunset dinners it seems, but I had the sun in my eyes and got hot. Don't think I'll do it again.

Bubbas burgers and Puka Dog are simple but good. Looking forward to trying the new spots when we go back in a few months.

Some of the food trucks are great too. I can't remember all the names though. We haven't been since Covid so I'm sure things have changed.
Lavender Gooms
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Was there in February for a work conference that we turned into a vacation. Stayed in Lihue, but went all over. Here's where we ate:

Breakfast:
- Keoki's: hole in the wall breakfast and lunch place near the Lihue airport in a very Industrial part of town. Cash only. I had the Loco Moco (white rice, burger patty covered in brown gravy) and it was absolutely delicious!

Lunch/Dinner places:
- Brennecke's Beach Broiler (Koloa): a bit pricy but a great seafood place with views of the beach/ocean. Busy! They take reservations or you can just get your name on the list and go sit at the beach. They'll text you.

- Scorpacciata (Kapa'a): Fantastic food truck. Great pizza. If you go, try the parmesan fries. 5 minute walk to go eat at the beach.

- Anatta's (Lihue): Thai food truck in the parking lot of a hardware store. It was good, but nothing spectacular.

- Ck in a Barrell (Hanalei): Texas BBQ place. Same as above: good, not great. Wouldn't go out of our way to go to again.

Dessert
- Pink's Creamery (Hanalei): loved the milkshakes here. Lots of choices!

- Waikomo shaved ice (Poipu): There are lots of shaved ice places on Kauai. This was our favorite! Little shack at the end of a small strip center parking lot.

We stayed in a Airbnb and cooked most of the meals there. Food prices in Kauai are nuts!

Hope that helps!

Also food related: We did the Lydgate Farms Chocolate tour which was awesome. Really informative and fun tour. Plus, lots of chocolate and various fruits to sample! Side bar - it semi ruined store bought chocolate for us!
barnacle bob
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Congrats!

I highly recommend Tahiti Nui, dinner cocktails and music.

The Regis golf course used to offer a sunset guided course tour. I hate golf, but very much enjoyed this.

Do the golf thing (check ahead) and then slip over to Tahiti Nui.


Tailgate88
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Huge second on Tahiti Nui's for a fun casual night - make sure they have live music that night (they almost always do) and sit in the front room, not out back.

For quick lunch, Pat's Tacos is a food truck in Hanalei.

The St. Regis is now called "1Hotel Hanalei" and it re-opens Spring of 22. ABSOLUTELY eat at their restaurant on the balcony overlooking Hanalei bay for dinner (hopefully it is still there) and see about getting a Resort Pass to hang by their pool and snorkel one day. Don't know if they do it - they did a couple years ago before the hotel changed hands. https://www.resortpass.com/

Be sure to eat at the Dolphin for sushi one night - amazing. Around back they also have a fish market where you can buy the fresh catch of the day and take to eat at home. Sushi grade tuna and all sorts of other great stuff.

Go the Lighthouse for crazy good bird watching one morning. Grab coffee and breakfast at Java Kai in Kapa'a town, then stop at Sushi Girl food truck after for lunch. There is a liquor store right around the corner, buy a chilled bottle of white and eat at one of the picnic tables in the courtyard. Lots of great shops right there.

For a fun day, go to the Sheraton in Poipu. Go to the pool and there is a desk where you can rent a set of chairs with umbrellas on the beach. You can order food/drinks on an app and they bring them to your chairs. The waves are HUGE rolling in and it's a blast of a beach.

Rent snorkel gear for the week at Hanalei Surf shop. Snorkeling is a blast and you can easily see turtles. Tunnels used to be the best beach. I believe they implemented a new system where you can't drive past Hanalei now, they have some sort of bus system? They were just making plans for it last time we were there so I don't know what the actual system is but I'd call ahead and find out. Hanalei surf shop can probably give you the info.

Have a great time - Kauai is one of our favorite places on earth.
CDub06
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Which side of the island? My wife and I will be splitting time on both sides next month after rescheduling from April 2020. I've been researching this trip for 2 years now… I should have some fresh recs in a few weeks.

Quote:

Waikomo shaved ice (Poipu): There are lots of shaved ice places on Kauai. This was our favorite! Little shack at the end of a small strip center parking lot.


Well, this has become a must do for us now.

Side note: I've been to the chicken in a barrel location in Tahoe. It's not Texas BBQ.
BSD
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Tailgate88 said:


The St. Regis is now called "1Hotel Hanalei" and it re-opens Spring of 22.



Ah! I looked it up and it says Fall 2022 now. The Jean Georges restaurant was pretty good there. The views are unbeatable. That said, he needed an updating. And the service could have been a little better for the price. Hopefully this irons everything out. Also, a lot of "fancier" restaurants are BYO so take a nice special occasion bottle of wine if you've been saving one because Kauai is a special occasion (my wife takes a case so she can have a bottle almost every night).

Now we stay at the condos next door (same beach).

About shave ice, my son likes Jo Jo's so we go there.

We used to be in Kauai every other year but haven't been since 2017. We canceled 2019 because the rains took out the road to tunnels and Kee (Maui for two weeks wasn't bad though!) And then 2020 was canceled because of some flu thing (pivoted to Alaska for an awesome experience). We didn't even try last year and rolled the dice for this summer. I'm glad I booked my Hyatt room last June becuase it's now sold out for the June dates we'll be there. Looking forward to hearing what's out there restaurant wise these days and I'll update as well after our trip.
cbaker20
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Koloa fish market had good poke options and lunch special plates. Got food to go and ate al fresco a few times
CDub06
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Just an FYI, if you're doing reservations, be sure to do them early. I set an alarm for 12am HST in order to get reservations at Haena State Park and Bar Acuda. They're released 30 days in advance and go immediately.

Not every place is like that, but make your plans in advance.
Keeper of The Spirits
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Skip any and all luaus

Eat all the shaved ice
Keeper of The Spirits
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Also we have rules even in the travel board

If you can rent a jeep and take the top off do it, the jeep too
beastinBQ
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I wanted a jeep, but had to wait another week. Settled for a mustang convertible.
~BeastinBQ
StinkyPinky
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Keeper of The Spirits said:

Skip any and all luaus



Best advice you will receive.
AgFB
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Kalaheo Cafe is amazing. We just spent a week on the island and went there several times. Stop by no matter where you stay on the island. Sort of on the way to Wimea Canyon hikes.

Get the Kauai Reveled book. Great info and he doesn't get $ from any of the places so he will tell you if they suck.
The Milkman
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Lots of good recs here. Two others I'll add:

Da Crack- it's a burrito place in a strip mall. Nothing else there but delish to grab for something to take with you if you are out driving around adventuring.

Ishihara Market- after a napali coast tour we popped in here and grabbed a six pack and tuna poke from the back counter then drove to a spot with a view and ate it. Prob best fish we had.
DTP02
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Hukillau Lanai in Kapaa was highly recommended to us by people we trust but we couldn't fit it in. That's on the table for next time.

Bistro in Kilauea was quite good; open air and good vibe.

Bar Acuda is very good- make reservations ASAP.

There is a Merriman's in Poipu. We didn't go to Poipu but we ate at the original on Hawaii, and it was fantastic, one of my top 10 dining experiences probably. I'd try that out if you're going to be in Poipu.

You're probably flying in/out of Lihue, so I'd consider Duke's if a meal fits in your travel plans. The food is good, not great, but the scene on the beachside of the little cove there is really cool. We ate there before flying out.

We ate at Sam's on the Waterfront in Kapaa after flying in, and it was a nice pick for our arrival meal while driving on the way to Princeville. It was casual enough that we didn't feel too grungy coming off a long flight, and the waterside location was a nice decompression. Food was good too.

I will say that our view in Hawaii was to eat as much fresh Grilled seafood and sushi as possible, so any competent chef can deliver great fish if given great fresh fish to start with. Hawaii in general is stupid with the CoVID stuff, so when we went last year there were a lot of well-regarded restaurants which had not re-opened or which were on limited hours. This led to a bit of a scramble for everyone for the finer dining stuff. You should be able to find plenty of good Poke just about anywhere, though, and that's tough to beat in my book.

There is a fine dining place on the Wyndham resort which has just reopened or rebranded, which was getting really good reviews from the people we talked to, but the wait was always too long for us.

A couple of non-dining suggestions: make reservations for the Kalalau trail in Haena state park as soon as they open them (30 days out IIRC, and take whatever you can get) and since you're staying in Princeville, check out Anini Beach, a favorite spot for locals for snorkeling and sea turtles. Also, we had an open cockpit helicopter tour (at the time all heli tours were out of Lihue, they were about to start an option from Princeville area) booked which got canceled due to weather. I was really looking forward to that so I'd check that out: Jack Harter helicopter tours.

Here's a thread I started when I was going which has some good info: https://texags.com/forums/54/topics/3197877/2#discussion
JYDog90
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We did the helicopter tour and it was worthwhile. Swim at a private lagoon and eat lunch. They show you the big waterfall from Jurassic Park
Formerly Willy Wonka
DTP02
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Willy Wonka said:

We did the helicopter tour and it was worthwhile. Swim at a private lagoon and eat lunch. They show you the big waterfall from Jurassic Park


Did you use Jack Harter? We are planning to go back to Kauai next year because we loved it so much and to do some things like that which we missed out on.
The Lost
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The shrimp shack in Waimea was fantastic, the coconut stand next to it was not particularly good.

In Kapaa, crave had fantastic donuts/pizza.

The fish market near the light house was ok. My rice was over cooked for the poke, but wife enjoyed her tacos.

Otherwise did things mentioned around here and was a solid week there this week.
Furlock Bones
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don't sleep on Iti Wine Bar next to Tahiti Nui. my wife and i went there one night. one of the bar tenders buddies came in with a bunch of big eye tuna that they started slicing up and putting stuff on. then, just handed a bunch to us. fantastic.
CDub06
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Just got home from Kauai. The best shave ice we found on the island (+ Maui) was Wailea Shave Ice. The foam is a must get too.

Now I need a nap.
BSD
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Man, getting Ke'e Beach parking spots is no joke. They sell out in about a minute!

To make this food related, we'll be stopping and eating in Hanalei everyday on the way back to Princeville.
65532ag
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Headed to princeville in February, going to try some of recommend food spots. Will get in a few rounds of golf, looking forward to it.
Tailgate88
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65532ag said:

Headed to princeville in February, going to try some of recommend food spots. Will get in a few rounds of golf, looking forward to it.
Please update this thread after your trip. I know they had been having problems getting workers last summer. We really want to schedule a trip waiting for confirmation that things are back to normal post-Covid.... they are pretty Covid sensitive over there.
Tailgate88
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Any updates? Wondering how things are going in Kauai.
AlaskanAg99
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Tailgate88 said:

Any updates? Wondering how things are going in Kauai.


Was there 4 weeks ago. Nothing is different, it's life as usual. Low key and mellow.

We were supposed to be in Maui 2 weeks after Lahaina burned, but 2 days after the fire we pivoted to Kauai.

If you like tiki cocktails, visit Mamahunies and buy the mug $45 includes the cocktail, $40 without. They will refill the mug for $10 of any drink on the menu. Best deal on the island and a great view.
Tailgate88
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AlaskanAg99 said:

Tailgate88 said:

Any updates? Wondering how things are going in Kauai.


Was there 4 weeks ago. Nothing is different, it's life as usual. Low key and mellow.

We were supposed to be in Maui 2 weeks after Lahaina burned, but 2 days after the fire we pivoted to Kauai.

If you like tiki cocktails, visit Mamahunies and buy the mug $45 includes the cocktail, $40 without. They will refill the mug for $10 of any drink on the menu. Best deal on the island and a great view.
Glad to hear things are back to normal. My sister was there late in 2021 and they were struggling to find workers to keep the restaurants open etc. Praying for no hurricanes, no floods, no Coxxd .... just typical Kauai life.
flytxag
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Took the family this past June and stayed on South side of the island. I cant complain about anything in the trip. Most restaurants were crowded and needed prior reservations for sit down meals.

Favorites:
Breakfast- avenue cafe
Lunch- koke'e lodge
Dinner - keokis paradise
Dessert - Wailua shave ice
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