Looking for the top places to eat in Kauai that have it all. Good food, atmosphere, best prices or any combination of the above. Thanks!

The Beach House- great food great view
Kintaro Restaurant- great Sushi
Norberto's El Cafe- good mexican
A Pacific Cafe- great Pacific Rim
Duane's Ono Burger- Best burger on the island.


Many others but some of my favorites

On the North shore our two favorites are the Hanalei Dolphin,well prepared fresh fish(they have their own seafood market.Also have the best chowder on the island along with the large family style salad. Zelo's Beach House in Hanalei. Great variety of food at reasonable prices. Their bartender is a double for Burt Reynolds.

The Beach House is wonderful! We were there several years ago and loved the atmosphere, the beautiful view of the beach and sunset and the food was fabulous! I recently saw a segment on the show "The Best of..." where they featured the best romantic restaurants and the Beach House was spotlighted.

The Beach house is excellent. Be sure to get there for a sunset reservation.
Also Roy's is terrific too. But you don't go to any Roy's for atmosphere. Order their chocolate sufley (sp?) it is out of this world. Also the sunday brunch at The Princeville Hotel (North shore), is outstanding. Great local flavors.

Also on the north shore (Hanalei) is Postcards.

I agree with the Beach House and Zelo's. At the Beach House, I had the best crab cakes I've ever eaten.

Also, the town of Hanalei on the North Shore has several great places with nice atmosphere. And while all of Hawaii is expensive, Hanalei seems to be a little more reasonable than other areas.

Also, a fairly inexpensive place that's a good choice for breakfast is Ono's Family Restauarant. They have the most fabulous pancakes made with coconut, bananas and macadamia nuts and served with coconut syrup. I'm nearly drooling just thinking about them...

You can't tallk about Kauai food without mentioning Hamura Saimin. May not be a "gourmet" place, but can't beat it for great saimin, teri beef sticks and true local atmosphere!

We thoroughly enjoyed The Beach House. We also ate at Tidepools at the Hyatt and enjoyed that. Fabulous meal at Brennecke's and House of Seafood but it lacks a view and has lousy service.

It's been about 10 years since I was there, but we had a great meal at Gaylord's Plantation just outside of Poipu. Wonder if it'still there?

Aloha Sharon,
Here is a portion of my 12/01 to 1/02 trip report to Kauai on "Grub"...here we go:
======================================
Grub:
Duke's- "Fish Taco Tuesday"...$2 for a taco and $2 for draft beer. Duke's also
has one of then best salad bars we ever seen. $9.00. Not bad for Kauai.
Coconuts-Great fish, seafood paella, and the lobster raviolis are outta this
world!
Lemongrass-Good sushi. Locals were giving it a bad rap, service poor, but we had great fresh fish and the server was a hustler.
BRICK OVEN PIZZA!-Need I say more?...Got the whole wheat "super pizza" with garlic butter crust! I hate to build this place up so some [people don't have wild-arse expectations but it's goooooood.
Oki Diner-Good pre-golf breakfast place...and I got a floor show when the
server, Kay, pulled a total Don Rickles act on my fuss-budget bro in law. What a
hoot! Homemade corned beef hash and the fried rice was "ono"!
Waimea Brewing Co-The Nui Nachos were even better than what I remembered! Kalua pork nachos, chipolte sour cream. Also made a pretty good ahi wrap we had to split since it was very big.
Paradise Seafood-More good fish tacos!
Margarita's-See above. Diff style than Paradise. Still good. Get there early or
they run out of fish. Good passionfruit maggies too.
Bourbon Street Cafe-Eggs Creole for breakfast was up to "French Quarter"
standards!
Whaler Brew Pub-BIG Disappointment. Mrs Kal wants to save our money and buy the
place. Such an outstanding location that they have let severely deteriorate the past 3 yrs. We had a bill of around $45 and they couldn't break a $100 bill. The service was trying the best they could. Great place to watch the whales and the new, HUGE cruise ships that come and go into Nawiliwili Harbor. They have to Crisco up the sides of the ship to get them in past the breakwater.
Wailua Family Restaurant-Good meal for a decent price. Nice salad bar.
Lizard Lounge-Cheap eats. Great service.We watched Monday Night Football on the sat-TV. Started at 4:00pm Kauai time. Cool.
Al & Don's-Same ol' place.
Eggbert's-Good food,good service. Banana pancakes w/ coconut syrup!
Veggie omlette big enuff to last all day.
Hula Girl-Another place w/ good fish and pupus. Nice local entertainment, too.
Wake Up Cafe-Hanalei...Were were going to have pre-Napali hike b'fast at the
Hanalei Gourmet since the ad said the opened at 8 for b'fast. Well, at 10ish,
the seats were still on the tables and the guy was sweeping. Told me to come
back at 11. Yeah...right. Wake Up Cafe was down and across the street. Very
good. "Hanalei service" but worth the wait.
Mema's-Very disappointing. Usually great Thai food. Now in a new location right on Kuhio Hwy in the same center. We ordered 2 pupus and a rice dish, small soup and coconut chicken. Brought it all out at once! Spicy soup had a ton of ginger in it. Wrong spice!
Aloha Pizza-Second best pie on Kauai. Calzones good too.
Cafe Portofino-Finally ate there after all the years of saying we were. Actually pretty good pasta place. A bit pricey but nice portions. Good harp player for entertainment. Sit out on the deck, tho.
Aussie Tim's BBQ-Really good BBQ. Excellent BBQ black beans. Southwest Mac and cheese was totally decadent! Tim was a kick in the arse too! It's a BYOB place so if you like beer and Q, bring it or go around the corner to the mini-mart or across the street to the Shell station.
======================================
Since then, we understand Margarita's has closed it's doors.! Also, Roadrunner cafe may no longer be opened.

We keep forgetting about "The El"-Norbertos El Cafe..Taro leaf enchiladas!
And this was the second trip we made and missed Hamura's Saimin Stand!

But, on the whole, Coconuts was the best.
Mahalo,
Kal

It's a trick question-----there ARE NOT 10 great places to eat on Kauai.

We're going back in June. Is Charo's up in the Princeville area still open? I heard it closed and reopened and may have closed again. It was such a pretty location for a restaurant.

K,
Are you the same K that was on the other Kauai thread?

Charos' was Cert's in '00/'01 trip and then last year it had the Charo's sign back up.???
Kal

Did someone say the Roadrunner restaurant is closed? One of my favorite places on the island. We are going in May. Check it out someone please. Tell me it ain't so. Nobody mentioned the Mixed Plate in Hanalei. We usually eat lunch there once. I agree, Postcards is very good. the Beach House is wonderful as well, but we are to lazy to drive back to the North shore.. I guess I really want to know places from the Pacific Cafe up. Thanks.

Sharon,
I just heard from a Fodor Friend that just returned about a week ago that yes, the Roadrunner is closed.

From Pac Cafe up...Coconuts, Lemongrass, Bullshed, Sukithai, The El, there's a Pancho and Lefty's in the old Big Wave Brew co/Jimmy Z's place in Kapaa and Bourbon St Cafe in P'ville Shop/Ctr.
Kal

topping for vikki and other hungry honeymooners

Thanks for topping this one! I must have missed it...it's a huge help!! Mahalo!!

HI Sharon,
I would have to say that my absolute favorite place is the Hanalei Dolphin. My family went there 11 years ago and I took my husband back with me on our honeymoon last April. It is the best experience that I’ve ever had. I’m not a big one for fish, but my husband loved his. We are planning our trip for this June and that is the first place that we will go!!
One other place that was good was the Hanalei Gourmet. They do picnic items to go. We had the best lunch and took it on our trip to the beach.
And I can’t go to the islands without going to Dukes for some Kimo’s Hula pie!! It’s become a family tradition!
Hope you have a great trip.

My wife and I ate twice at Postcards in Hanalei during our week's stay last October. The chef's specials were awesome both days. We thought it was better food than the Beach House, but not by much. The Beach House has a much better view however...