Duke's Canoe Club Barefoot Bar and Restaurant — Restaurant in Kauai

Tail of two nights... First night at Duke's Bare Foot Bar, September 21st, 2024 was AMAZING! It all started with our Greeter, she smiled took our name and asked if we were celebrating anything tonight, which we were our 25th wedding anniversary. We were seated in Kai's section.... No words for how amazing she is and continued to be ALL EVENING! Almost like she was promted to do so (but we know better, she just cared), she also asked if we were celebrating anything. This service and the meal was absolutely amazing and we are so grateful to her and the Greeter/Hostess for an incredible evening!! Sincerely, thank you!! Night Two, September 22nd 2024, checked in with the Hostess/Greeters at 6:49pm. We were told a 30-35 minute wait. 10 minutes in I asked if we could go upstairs to see the menu and check the wait times. The hostess acted very annoyed, tapping her finger nails and foot simultaneously, not giving me eye contact as I asked the questions. She said I can go upstairs, if I decide to eat there to reply 9 on the text. I told her I would be back down to let her know regardless. We went upstairs asked for a menu and they put our name on the list. I read the menu, and decided not to stay so I told the upstairs Hostess to take us off the list that we would eat downstairs. We went downstairs and I told the 2 Hostesses at the counter (these two were not the same one that was annoyed earlier but they were both there when I talked to her earlier about going upstairs to check). I told them we had decided to eat downstairs and one said okay. We then proceeded to stand within 7-10ft of the hostess counter for the next 15 or so minutes waiting and watching as other names were called, names of people that had walked up after we came down stairs and got their reservation. Finally after 35 minutes I walked to the counter and asked the girl who couldn't look me in eyes and was still seemingly annoyed how much longer we had. She asked me my name again, I told her. She looked across her screens frantically and then said about 5 more minutes. Seconds later with what seemed to be joy in her voice she said, "you're still on the list upstairs!" I said "I sure shouldn't be as I told them I was eating downstairs, also I never canceled my reservation and I also came and told the girl next to you we were eating downstairs" . Instantly the second girl said, "we have your table ready". The service from Cookie was good, the food wasn't as good, we had the exact same meals as the night before but swapped and again sampled each other's food. That said as we left the restaurant we walked passed one hostess, she would have been the 3rd one, she didn't say goodbye, or anything, I wanted her to, I looked at her hoping for something pleasant to have us end on a positive note. Instead, I swear she rolled her eyes and quickly left the counter turning her back to us and walked away not saying a word to me, my wife or the older couple that walked out next to us. I'll say this, had she offered anything positive this post most likely wouldn't have happened as I would have thanked her and told her "I needed that". I had already rehearsed it in my head. I understand these are young people just learning, but after 35 years in customer service I know you won't learn without feedback. To the 3 hostesses and the young man that would frequently visit them to laugh and enjoy their time at the shirt counter while ignoring customers at the hostess counter, I hope you figure out what it means to be the "face of a company" and more importantly to be the best "CEO of your own corporation" while you are young. That's an important thing to know, no other person will care as much as you will to the success of your own corporation as you will, so make sure you conduct your business as such. Overall the service day one was so good I have to still give the establishment props, I'm confident the issues of day two will be easily corrected and with addressd from management I'll be happy to adjust my...

First. It seems a lot of reviews confuse the upstairs and downstairs restaurants. There IS a difference!!! But reading the reviews it’s clear they’ve posted their review for Duke’s (the upstairs restaurant) in the canoe club barefoot bar section. Anyhow……if you’re trying to decide between the two, GO UP STAIRS! The downstairs restaurant- the canoe club and barefoot bar - are mediocre at best and the staff is average at best. The food was……meh. I was disappointed by the fish and chips and also the Mac nut herb crusted fish. I felt like they just took the fish potty off their burger and put it on the plate. Small small portion size with minimal sides. Overall the experience was underwhelming. I did confirm the two restaurants have separate kitchens so I’d be open to trying Duke’s but I won’t be returning for the overpriced bar food in the lower restaurant. Sorry guys.

The only plus was the...

I found dukes to be disappointing! We had lovely servers, everyone was nice and helpful. But food was OK and VERY expensive. I live in Seattle, a very expensive city, and I could have gotten an insane and lovely experience for the price we paid. I think for 6 of us (a couple people got small apps for their mains and no one got the bigger ticket items, and we all had one drink) came out to over $325. So over $50 per person for small portions of mediocre food plus a well cocktail.

Didn’t feel authentic, didn’t feel local, didn’t feel elevated. Just odd, very touristy obviously and really felt like resort food. We all got sandwiches a couple hours later at our hotel haha.

That being said the space is pretty and everyone was nice. I think having cocktails at the bar below is the move over having a...