We’re staying at the Hyatt in Poipu. We’ve been to Kauai several times and have experienced the traffic and travel times. We’re definitely going to try JO2 in Kapaa and will probably return to the Beach House because it’s become something we do on every visit to Kauai. Other than that, I’d be interested in hearing about some of the more casual spots you might suggest.
We stayed there too. We did all casual for our week as we had our 3 year old daughter with us. Here are some recommendations very close to the hotel:
Sushi: Makai…small stand inside a local supermarket. Had to eat in the back of our jeep. Great trip adviser reviews. Totally agree. Amazing!
Pizza: Pizzetta
Breakfast: Big Save supermarket. Recommended by Hotel staff…awesome breakfast bar but no place to sit. Very reasonably priced. You might think I’m crazy but great place for breakfast. We ate there everyday and nice to not pay crazy prices for at least one meal per day. Also really enjoyed their Poke…tons of different selections and after watching all the locals buy the poke we gave it a try and it was fantastic.
Thanks for the recommendations ! All 3 are new to us, and I look forward to trying them.
We just returned from a week at the Hyatt in Poipu, Kauai, and we ate really well !!
We tried 2 of the places AdamK recommended …
We ate at Pizzetta in Koloa after a day of hiking in the Waimea Canyon/Kokee State Park area. The pizza, a thin crust Super Combo, was excellent, the Islander salad was fresh and huge, and the beer was cold. This was a great change-up from the fantastic seafood we had most nights. The prices were reasonable and the service was great.
We stopped off at Makai Sushi, in the Kukuiula Market in Koloa, just as they were closing (5pm on weekends). They had 1 Gorilla Bowl - ahi, ono, salmon, cucumber, avo, sweet maui onion on a bed of sushi rice, shaved dykon, & ocean salad sauced with wasabi, aoli, & sesame seeds - left, so we decided to take it. We went back to the Hyatt, grabbed a bottle of 2007 Mount Eden Chardonnay Reserve from the in-room refrigerator and headed to one of the 2-person swings facing the ocean. The Bowl was just the right amount for the 2 of us, the setting was incredible, but the wine ran out too soon 
The reviews for this place are totally justified.
Our best meal of the week was at Jean-Marie Josselin’s new restaurant in Kapaa, JO2. We shared the Seafood Sampler, which included small portions of almost all of the seafood starters. What a great variety of fish and flavors, beautifully presented and delicious. We also shared the heirloom tomato sampler. It was a much simpler dish but the tomatoes tasted perfectly ripe. For our main course we had mahi mahi and ono, and both were fresh, well cooked and very tasty. We ended with the “local banana crème pie”, and this too was amazing. It was a deconstructed pie, with a rich custard, caramelized banana slices, banana ice cream and a “sand” of ground hazelnuts. I still dream abut this dish …
We did eat at Tidepools, one of the Hyatt restaurants, one night. My wife loved her watermelon salad with a balsamic glaze, both fish dishes tasted fresh and well prepared and the service was excellent. Our corkage fee was graciously waived, so we gave most of it back to our server. Unlike some of the reviews, I didn’t find Tidepools overpriced. It seemed comparable to other similar restaurants on the island and the ambiance is fantastic, especially in the midst of a big resort.
We also ate at Brennecke’s after spending some time at Poipu Beach. The guy sitting next to me at the bar ordered a burger that looked amazing … and huge, but I went with the Ahi sandwich and it was really tasty. Better than Gott’s to my taste, but the location may have had something to do with that
Our one disappointment was at the Beach House. We’ve probably been here 8 or 10 times over the years, and always enjoyed it. Apparently, it’s under new ownership in the past few months, and the new management is trying different things. For example, to get a “front row” table for sunset - around 7:15 or 7:30 - we were told to make a 5pm reservation. We made the reservation, showed up at 5 and were seated after about 15 minutes, along with many other parties. We then had to drag out the service - cocktails, starters, main and dessert, for a couple of hours. I felt bad for the servers, who spent most of the 2+ hours standing around, since almost all the patrons were doing this. We only saw one table, a party with a small infant, turn over before about 8pm. We talked to our server about this, and while he said the slow pacing was expected, it was clear he wasn’t going to say anything that might reflect on the new management. It still felt very awkward, though. The food was fine, although here it did feel pricey. The view was great and we enjoyed watching the surfers while we waited for the sun to go down. Some low hanging clouds did manage to obscure the actual sunset, but I’m not blaming the restaurant for that !
Our last meal, on the way to the airport, was at Kauai Beer Company in Lihue, and about 5 minutes to the rental car return. We sampled a variety of beers and they were all tasty, the pork sandwich and the bangers and mash were quite good and the Cheesy Beer Fries we shared undid all the healthy eating for the entire week.
BYOB, with a corkage fee, is very common on Kauai. We brought 3 bottles with us and took one to Tidepools and one to the Beach House. Both stated a $25 corkage fee, but as I mentioned, it was waived at Tidepools. JO2 has an $18 fee, but we didn’t take a bottle there, and ended up ordering off their list.
There’s a wine shop in Koloa with a very nice selection and reasonable pricing. They have arrangements with several restaurants in the area to waive the corkage fee if you take a bottle purchased in the shop.
Thanks for the great report. Ate at the Beach House (unbelievable meal and sunset view) after snorkeling next to it all day and Tidepools (we stayed at the Hyatt) back in 1998 on our honeymoon.
Glad the places I recommended worked out.
Bumping an old thread to see if the restaurants recommended are still valid, or if there might be others? Spending a couple of weeks on this island in Dec and am doing a little recon.
I just got back from Kauai a couple weeks ago. We stayed in Kapa’a, so all of my recommendations are around there.
JO2 is still solid. They have a great $35 dinner deal if you come between 5-6.
Fish Bar Deli has fun cocktails and good specials.
I heard great things about Aina Kauai, but I wasn’t able to get a reservation.
Pono Market and Leong’s Meat House are great for plate lunches and Hawaiian food. There are food trucks everywhere; I especially enjoyed The Musubi Truck and 808 Grille. Hee Fat General Store and Wailua Shave Ice were my favorite shave ice spots.
I also did a food walking tour in Hanalei that took us to Village Snack Shop and Bakery for chili pepper chicken and macadamia nut pie and to Hanalei Poke. I’d go back to both in a heartbeat.
Have a great trip!!
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A couple of friends said Aina
was superb.
Michael,
We just returned from Kauai last week. We stayed in the Princeville area for the first time as we normally stay in Poipu. Not a lot of dining choices in the Princeville area. We haven’t been to the island for five years.
We dine at the following restaurants. We have brought wines/champagnes to the island on all our previous trips.
Gaylords…$20 corkage, decent wine list if you don’t bring. Food and service were as good as or better than our last visit. Ask for Jeff, a great waiter who knows his wines. He runs their wine program. We are going back in December and he will be our waiter.
J02…Food and service are as good as it was before. Friendly staff. Corkage went up to $30.
Aina Kauai…we wanted to try it based on what we read. Small restaurant. Fixed menu. $135. Corkage $40. My friend brought a Haut Brion but we asked to have it decanted. He went to look for one, came back, and said they didn’t have one so we opened a Corton Charlemange instead. Decent stemware. The food was well prepared and thought out. Parking is very limited. We would go again.
Baracuda…In Hanalei. It’s one of the fine dining restaurants in the town other than Postcards. The food and service were as good as before. Corkage was $30 up from $25. Good stemware. Ask for Amanda, she enjoys wine and is very personable. She is one of their senior staff. We met people who couldn’t get reservations so book far in advance. There was a huge line of people trying to walk in before they opened.
Ama…sister restaurant of Baracuda and serves ramen. Wine friendly.
Koloa Town…La Spezia. We dined there twice in the past and are going back. The food is good and the prices are reasonable. They were wine friendly so we will see if they still are.
There is a nice wine shop in the Princeville shopping center where the Foodland market is located. Great selection with high prices. It was fun to check out their selections.
Have a great trip.
Darrell
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Any more to say re Aina? A friend who went said it was a top 5 dinner for him ( but not sure I trust him on that).
We dine often not so much in San Francisco anymore but in other CA cities Napa, Sonoma, Los Angeles since our son lives there now and in Europe.
We felt the quality, preparation, and taste of the food were worth the $135. For that area in Kauai, the price is expensive but there are not a lot of fine dining options in the area. My wife is better at evaluating food than me (very frank)…she leaves the wine stuff to me. For her to say she thought it was our best meal on the island and would go back says a lot.
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Very helpful, thanks!
Thanks for the detailed tips, Darrell. Appreciate the notes on wines.
We just returned from Kauai and I thought I share some brief notes. Special thanks to @Darrell_F for his fine writeup above, which pretty much served as our guide this trip.
Hualani’s - dined here on our first night, and only by chance I did not bring wine - turned out great, because they had the 2022 Occidental Freestone-Occidental on the list for $145. We did shared pupus for the meal, left stuffed, and this turned out to be one of our top meals of the trip, highly recommended.
The Plantation House (Gaylord’s) - bring your appetite! We brought a 2016 Rivers-Marie Cabernet, corkage iirc was $25. Started with the tuna crudo, which could easily have been an entry in itself. Then to the Oscar, which was HUGE, neither of us could finish, and we decided we should have shared an entree. Great food and service, reasonable corkage.
‘Āina Kaua‘i - What a trip this place is. This is a one-man operation, top to bottom (I understand he is looking for help, which is terrific, he needs it). Despite one guy handling everrything, service is relatively timely and he even finds time to sit and visit. Corkage here is up to $45, but I recommend it - the list is, well, weird. And speaking with Mitch he said he doesn’t really like wine, so I don’t think I’d trust those unknowns on the list. Our SQN “In the Abstract” was delightful with the well thought out dishes. I would definitely return
JO2 Natural Cuisine - Corkage here is now an ambitious $50(!), but we did it anyhow. Looking at this place from the outside you’d take no notice and walk right past - and you’d be missing out, this was one of the finest meals of our trip, highly recommended.
Naisla Kitchen and Cocktails - happenstance find, purely random when we didn’t have plans one night -jackpot! What a great spot, fresh bright flavors, terrific service, and a reasonable $20 corkage. Definitely recommended.
Oasis on the Beach - I wish I could recall what corkage here was, but I recall it being reasonable. Drank our last bottle of SQN Poker Face, Somm was very intrigued and happy to partake (probably why I don’t recall what corkage was - comped maybe?). Anyhow, nice spot, not really on the, but close 
Food was very good, but not a standout for the trip.
Went here last week, totally on your recommendation. Absolutely spot on. Everything was well prepared. We did not BYO, but the list is respectable and they have some nice sake selections as well.
Thanks very much for posting this.
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Thanks for the write up. I’m in Lihue for the weekend and don’t have a car. Gonna go to Hualanis tonight and Gaylord’s tomorrow night. Brought a couple bottles so I’m set on wine
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I was just in Kauai for a week - thought I’d share my impressions on our dining:
Bar Acuda (Hanalei) - difficult to get reservations, so be on top of it exactly 30 days before. However, it was worth it and probably the best all around meal we had. Wine list looked decent, but we brought our own. I was told via email that corkage was $30, but was charged $50. I didn’t make an issue of it because I didn’t want to get upset and I felt better to just let it go. Their website now says $50, so they must have changed it between the time I inquired and the time we dined. Anyway, food was very nice, pacing was good and not rushed. I wouldn’t consider the food “tapas” as they describe it, but it was very good.
The Bistro (Kilauea) - this was decent and felt like a good value. My fish was super fresh and delicious. The negroni tasted like a dive bar version and was huge so I didn’t end up drinking any wine here.
Tahiti Nui (Hanalei) - this was just ok. Again, fish was really fresh and tasty - sides lacked any inspiration, but this is fairly casual spot. I brought wine - corkage was $30, stemware was pretty clunky - they focus on cocktails, not wine.
Avalon Gastropub (Kilauea) - this was interesting - kind of a hodge-podge of items on the menu. The beet salad was served with a whipped ricotta that just came off as odd. I think beets go really well with chevre or blue cheese - ricotta, not so much. My wife had the hanger steak, which was good, but if you’re used to hangers from Flannery, it didn’t quite measure up. However, the shining star of the meal was the lamb chops - definitely the best dish of the week in Hawaii, and possibly the most delicious thing I’ve been served in a long long time at any restaurant. The wine was a disaster - I brought my own and the cork broke - the waitress tried really hard, and I even stepped into try to save it, but it was a crumbly mess. Not their fault, but they also didn’t really have the tools to save it.
The rest of our meals were at our hotel. We stayed at the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay, which was amazing. It was definitely a splurge, but we got a pretty good deal through Costco travel. It included $100 a day food credit, which was easy to spend really quickly there. The Sandbar restaurant by the pool was great. The poke bowl was fresh and tasty. They also had a dish they called Ahi nachos that used fried wonton wraps as the tortilla chips and it was absolutely delicious.
We were just in Maui and Kauai for a little over a week and a half. Bar Acuda was also our dining highlight in Kauai. We ended up going twice and brought wine once. We weren’t charged corkage, no idea if that was an oversight or not. We also enjoyed a couple of lunches at Hanalei Poke. The main restaurant at 1 Hotel (1 Kitchen, I think) was also pretty good.
In Maui, we had two very good meals at the recently opened Koast. Excellent fish specials and a pretty good wine list.