Kauai Island Brewing Company — Restaurant in Kauai

My rating is a combination of service received and food/drink. Husband ordered the pulled pork sandwich and I ordered the falafel burger. He really enjoyed the pulled pork! He says he would get it again. I enjoyed the falafel burger but it was a bit much. Both sandwiches came on fresh baked buns which were really tasty and dense. My falafel patty was about 1/2 inch thick with a grilled, crispy crust. It had good flavor, savory, but it was just too much falafel for one person. This would be a great one to share. Fries accompanied both plates and they were pretty good, fresh cut fries. I tried the porter, stout, and red beers. I was pretty disappointed because both the stout and porter we're almost identical in flavor profile. The red was better but had too much of a bitter after taste for my liking. My husband and I went here during early afternoon on a Monday. The place was busy and loud but we only had a 20 minute wait. Instead of waiting, we too two seats at the bar. Our server was the bartender (Caucasian male, mid 40s-early 50s with short, shaggy, sandy brown hair) We sat down and it took him a few minutes to even acknowledge us; no nod, not a hi, no eye contact or anything. He finally said hi and asked for our drink order. I asked to taste both the porter and stout beers so he poured me two very foamy shots to try. Within two minutes he asked which one I liked and wanted. I hadn't even tried both yet! I didn't have time so I just ordered the stout. He poured and gave me my beer and continued helping other guests while cleaning dishes and clearing the bar. After my husband and I took a few minutes to look at the menu we sat there completely ignored by the bartender. After about 10-15 minutes he rushed by and I said "we're ready to order when you're ready". He stopped long enough to tell me "have some patience, I'm really busy if you couldn't tell". No joke, I was pissed and we should have left. I was not rude when I spoke to him however his tone was very rude and condescending. Then I thought, well, maybe I WAS rude but then I heard him say the same thing to two other customers at the bar where did nothing more than ask to order a beer. This bartender is a rude and inconsiderate man who should not be working in hospitality. Overall, this place has some cool t shirts and pint glasses, decent food, beer that's a bit disappointing, and one rude bartender man. We should have waited...

We were excited to visit here after reading positive reviews and getting recommendations from people we met. I gotta say I was kind of disappointed with the whole experience. We arrived early during happy hour, there wasn't really anyone to greet us when we walked in so we grabbed a table. The waitress did come by and we started with a couple flights. She was REALLY pushy about ordering food, I thought this was a brewery so I didn't think it was that unusual that we wanted to try the beer then maybe order food, maybe not. Anyways we did decide to order at which point I inquired about the happy hour prices I had read about(my bad not looking at the chalk board I guess). We ended up getting a new waiter due to a shift change, he was also not too proactive either but got the job done.

We ordered nachos and some wings, I thought the nachos were fantastic, they have pork on them..the wings took a while to come out but were also very good. The beers we had were ok, but nothing struck me as all that great.

The place is kinda a dive, I can see how that would be a fun atmosphere but there's no AC so it was hot, sticky, and uncomfortable. We weren't really expecting that after having been outside most of the day so we were caught off guard. Something that really turned me off was that because it was so hot both the front doors and a large back door were open, and with that came flies...lots of them, all around us and our food. Look I understand flies get in, but this was kind of excessive. There should be screens on the front doors at least.

We were going to buy some glasses with our beers but the waiter forgot and never charged us so we decided to cut our losses and not buy any shirts or glasses and head out after food and a few drinks. I'm glad to say we went, the food was good so props on that, but overall I was not impressed with the service and the uncomfortable atmosphere. You may have better luck, and I would still recommend at...

Just totally uninspired. Took about 15 minutes standing at the “please wait to be seated” podium for anyone to acknowledge us. No actual greeting when someone finally came up, just “inside or outside”. They weren’t overly packed or anything - plenty of open tables.

I should also mention that the outdoor “entertainment” was a guy on guitar that seemed like he picked up the instrument a couple months ago and was trying his best. He’d play a few chords, look down at his song list on his iPad, hum some lyrics, and then end the song.

Anyway, it was another 15 minutes for anyone to acknowledge us at our table. Again, it was not busy and they did not seem understaffed. The young gentleman that came to our table didn’t greet us or introduce himself or anything. He just looked down and mumbled some words. I caught a “beer” in there, so we ordered - and of course they were out of what we ordered. We pivoted, and that didn’t really end up well. Both beers had kind of a soapy taste to them. The food was equally disappointing. The fish tacos were as bare bones blah as can be, and my wife’s fish sandwich was also a nothing sandwich. Also worth noting is that my dish came about 5-10 minutes before my wife’s and neither one of us were given silverware or condiments.

I want to support local, but man. Not good. If you’re a microbrewer in Kauai with big dreams - scale up and go for it. You can do it better...