Big Monster Sushi Food Truck (KOLOA) — Restaurant in Kauai

@bigmonstersushifoodtruck is well known on the island, and for good reason.

Husband and wife team Rung and Mai Kamraithong, opened their beautiful food truck in 2020, a time when many local restaurants were shutting their doors. They partnered with their friend, Belle Meephol, who owns Watchara Farms, and also manages the restaurant now.

I discovered the food truck while on a visit to Poipu, Kauai in November of 2020, when there were few options on the island for fresh sushi. A local search for sushi led us to the Big Monster sushi truck, nestled in a small lot in the sleepy town of Koloa.

As Big Monster sushi truck grew in popularity, an opportunity presented itself which would encourage Mai and Rung to open a brick and mortar restaurant in the town of Lihue, 20 minutes north (@bigmonstersushi_thai_lihue)

Mai, who grew up in Thailand and learned all of the traditional dishes from her mother, was destined to bring a taste of Thailand to the local Thai community, as well as introducing this toothsome fare to locals and tourists.

Rung previously spent 13 years in the hospitality industry. As a sushi chef that learned his trade at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, you can find him at the Lihue location daily, slicing up fresh caught fish such as Ahi and Ono.

When I asked Mai about the name, ‘Big Monster,’ she giggled and said “well, the restaurant is our child. We don’t have any children, and as people often call children their ‘little monsters,’ we decided to give our baby its proper name.”

Featured dishes on our visit:

Crab Rangoon-Angry Tuna Roll-Green Curry with Chicken-Drunken Noodles with shrimp-Big Monster Roll-Holy Crab Roll with purple sweet potato-Samurai Roll-Hot Mama Roll -Ahi Tuna Sashimi

We love Rung and Mai, and the entire team and can’t wait to wait return and make this our local spot when we...

3 stars because the food was ok. Everything else was not a good experience. We had to wait by the window to place an order for quite awhile because she was busy taking all the call in orders. After that she proceeds to tell us that it's cash or venmo only 🤔, it's a good thing we happened to have cash. What if we didn't??? Can't put up a sign or something so that ppl now b4 standing in line for 15-20 minutes?. They have a big menu on the front of the truck with menu items numbered. So I tell her I'd like #1 & #5, she says tell me the item name - no problem but why number them, and then still ended up messing up my order. Overall felt like they had their customer base established and didn't really need us - walk ups. We were more of a nuisance...

Food: Possibly the best poke we've had. Went almost every other day while we were on south shore. Fantastic fish, perfect sauce blend that added to the fish without distracting from the flavor. Their poke does have romaine lettuce in it which I know some people aren't a fan of, so if you don't like it, just order it without it.

Location: Nice clean little eating area. Decent parking right next to it, but plenty of parking nearby. Old Koloa Town has plenty of cool shops, so we frequently grab food at Big Monster, then grab ice cream nearby and walk around...