After 4 long years I'm finally heading back to Kauai. I'll be staying on the North Shore. 4 years ago we enjoyed Polynesia Cafe for it's good food and reasonable prices, Bali Hai for drinks/views and Cafe Hanalei for a special (read expensive) treat. I'm looking for up to date recommendations on the North Shore. So here's my wishlist:

Who has the best Shave Ice?

Who has the best mixed plates? How about a killer loco moco?

Lastly, who has the best seafood?

Four weeks and counting....

Not much has changed in those 4 years since your last visit since Polynesia Cafe is still good with reasonable prices, Bali Hai is still good for drinks/views and Cafe Hanalei at Princeville Resort is still a special treat, although I thought the Fri night seafood buffet was just OK. Been there (North Shore Kauai) in 2006 and 2007.

Best shave ice - can't tell ya on north shore, but did enjoy Jo Jo's Avenue Shave Ice in Waimea, which is run by the original owner of that other Jo Jo's

Best mixed plates: other than Polynesia Cafe's kalua pork poh boy, I saved my appetite for inexpensive ono grindz from pono market in kapaa, some of the best mixed plates around on any of the HI islands...perfect for beach picnics...the fried chicken is a treat

Best seafood (other than the seafood buffet mentioned above): don't know for sure as I didn't try that many on the north shore, but did enjoy Hanalei Dolphin. Although not seafood per se, Bar Acuda in Hanalei Center behind Papaya's is a popular tapas restaurant that opened in recent years you might want to consider

Have a fantastic return trip!

Mix plate in Hanalei: Village Snack Shop. I don't eat loco moco, but it looked pretty devastating here.

Fresh seafood in Hanalei: The Dolphin fish market located in the back of the restaurant. Great ahi rolls, other sushi and poke for take out.

The poke stack at Sushi Blues is pretty awesome.

Favorite restaurant in Hanalei: Postcards. Great fish specials.

Agree with bluefan about Bar a cuda and pono market (fried chicken!)

We also enjoyed the small plates and pizza at Saffron, which is in Pali Ke Kua in Princeville.

Sorry to say that the mixed plate has closed in Hanalei it's now chinese. agree on the Dolphin, if you have a cooking facility when we were staying there in Dec we bought fish there almost every day and took it home and made our own wonderful fresh seafood. bought there sushi rolls to go too. plus in the refrigerated section they have some great organic greens, cheeses and other speciality items.

Alas, it is true about Hanalei Mixed Plate, but you can still get good mix plate in Hanalei at Village Snack Shop in Ching Young, just behind where HMP used to be. Aloha!

Annahead
We live north shore Kaua`i, and dine out often (yay!). Here's da scoops -- from Princeville to Ha`ena:

CJs - Princeville Center
dinner; best salad bar
lunch Monday thru Friday
**great prime rib & lobster

Na Molokama - inside Chevron station
take-out breakfast, lunch, dinner
closed Sunday
**great cheap-eats

Paradise Grill - Princeville Center
breakfast (new), lunch & dinner

Saffron - in Pali Ke Kua complex
dinner only

Bali Hai - Hanalei Bay Resort
bar only
(restaurant closed in 2007)

Cafe Hanalei - Princeville Hotel
breakfast, lunch, dinner
Sunday brunch buffet
(Friday nite seafood buffet no more)

La Cascata - Princeville Hotel
dinner only (pricey)
(rumored to be closing soon)

The Living Room - Princeville Hotel
pricey drinks & pupu selections
great views, especially at sunset

Foodland - Princeville Center
deli offers wide selection of cold stuff, plus plate lunches, sandwiches, and fresh sushi. Whole huli huli chickens $6.99

Dolphin - Hanalei
dinner and lunch
known for its seafood (plus their market in back) and salad

Postcards - Hanalei
vegetarian, plus fish
dinner only

Tropical Tacos - Hanalei
tacos; lunch & dinner

WakeUp Cafe - Hanalei
breakfast only; open 6:30-11a.m.

Kalypso - Hanalei
mixed reviews; lunch & dinner only

Ching Young Village Snack Shop
breakfast & lunch only
this is THE place for plate lunch!

Polynesia Cafe
breakfast, lunch, dinner (BYOB)
still good after all these years...

Sushi Blues
dinner only; sushi, fish, chops, salads, pasta

Panda Chinese
tried it twice; will not recommend

Hanalei Gourmet
lunch & dinner; burgers, salads, fish, chicken

Bubba Burgers
burgers (Kaua`i beef only), hot dogs, onion rings, fries, etc.

BarACuda
dinner only; mixed reviews

Mediterranean Gourmet
lunch & dinner; closed Sunday
fish, salads, burgers, chicken -- plus homemade falafel, hummus, etc.
This is the only oceanfront restaurant on the north shore.

For shave ice, either the shave ice truck at the "gateway to Hanalei", or the shave ice shack behind Bubba Burgers.

Also live Kauai.

Went to Mediterranean Gourmet last week for my birtday. It was absolutely horrible. The food was low. Service was excellent, but that wasn't of much help. I'll do a complete review

Hanalei Dolphin is okay, and even better if you take out and BBQ yourself. For BBQ, depending, Big Save's fish can be good too.

Aloha,
http://beatofhawaii.com
PS: Thanks Fodors for hosting this forum.

Auntiemaria, really appreciate your extensive list and price range of good food options on the North Shore! Have personal favourites on the East and South Shore where we've stayed for many years, but really need advice when we visit the beautiful North Shore now, as a few of our former faves have closed. Mahalo.

We have always had good meals at Lighthouse Bistro up the road in Kilaeua.

Good fish tacos and a pretty good wine list. No view tho.

boh,
....glad I'm not the only one with that opinion of MG.
Happy late b'day.

Wow, tons to choose from. Sounds like we'll definitely hit up Polynesia Cafe Village Snack Shop and Dolphin up North, and Pono Market in Kapaa. Can't pass up killer fried chicken. I'll never loose enough weight before this trip, no matter how many hours I spend on that darn treadmill.

Mahalo everyone. Can't wait to get back to my favorite place on earth.

As with dining spots everywhere, service/food can be variable. Unless a restaurant is unbearably horrible, we give them two chances before deciding if they're on our "recommend" or on our "avoid" list.

Mediterranean Gourmet has always been on our recommend list -- but others have expressed disappointment. Conversely, I've seen "recommends" here for restaurants which are on our personal "avoid" list. Different strokes for different folks...

annahead:
Pono Market's fried chicken is usually sold out by about 1pm. Buy it by varying sizes of containers, or include it as your plate lunch. Boneless pieces, marinated in teriyaki sauce, then battered and fried. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmm!

To each his/her own. We actually had a really good meal at Mediterrean Gourmet on our last visit in August. A plus, on the evening we were there was a trio of musicians who played Hawaiian tunes while we ate. Very nice.

FYI - I believe the Bali Hai is due to reopen in June.

annahead, when you go to Pono Market to get your chicken, be sure to get their mac/potato salad...it is the best. There's also these little sweet things they have up at the counter that are really good, but I can never remember the name of them.

auntiemaria, I read that Hanalei Wake-Up Cafe was closed. Is this true? We're coming next week and were not expecting to eat there, but if it's open, we're there!

We like the Hanalei Dolphin and Bubba's.

Hanalei Wake-Up Cafe occasionally closes for vacation -- and remember that they're only open 6:30am to 11am. They were open yesterday, BTW.

iceeu2:
Those sweet things are called manju -- and they come with various fillings. My personal fave is apple...kinda like having a mini-apple pie in just one bite. 6 or so to a package. Yum! We also have been known to drive all the way to Lawai to get homemade ones at the market there. Sinful...positively sinful.

govisithawaii:
Overheard at dinner Monday night, that the deal to reopen Bali Hai Restaurant, fell through. Will keep my ears open for any updates!

And speaking of dinner Monday, I'm going to give a solid recommendation for Kintaro's in Waipouli -=- especially for their Japanese teppanyaki. Our chef was Michael (non-native, surfer dude) who prepared what was possibly the best teppanyaki we've had...anywhere. Portions were _plentiful_, food was perfectly cooked (steak for us, shrimp and chicken for our new friends), and Michael was entertaining -- without being too "over the top". Early, on a weeknight, is the key to getting a table without waiting.

Had two great meals at Kintaros the over the last 2 yrs.
Mrs Kal loves the "Purple Hazes"

I think they start lining up at 5 or 5:15
Ressies for 6 or more only I believe.

NO WAKE UP CAFE....NOOOOO!!!!
How dare they take a vacation! As long as it's not in Dec/Jan.

b_fitz...I like Bubba's too, esp the chilli fries, but have to get at least a Double Bubba's to get a taste of meat.

Thank you AuntieMaria. We know we can always count on you for being on the pulse!

Thank you, Auntie, Glad to hear Wake-Up's still open. We'll be there 6:30 a.m. next Saturday before hitting the Kalalau trail. Can't wait!!!