Kalaheo Cafe & Coffee Company — Restaurant in Kauai

I expected reputable and delicious, but what I got was freezer burn and rotten produce, and flavorless slop.

My omelette was a frightening horror show. Vegetables that were practically raw, not cooked, yet rotting and sour mush. Chunks of zucchini and peppers that had sat in a fridge for weeks, perhaps bagged together? Barely heated. I was so hungry I just nibbled at the outside overcooked browned shell of egg. Not a lick of seasoning or love or flavor.

I chewed remembering the show "Kitchen Nightmares" and seeing Gordon Ramsey in restaurant refrigerators. That slime I realized is what I just chewed and swallowed thinking maybe just one bad piece wasn't indicative of the next bite. But it was. I had to chuck it.

The hash browns looked promising but were freezer burned. Again no seasoning or fluff or steamy goodness, just cardboard. EVEN the salsa was dead, straight out of a tub, a dark brown dried blood color. Not made fresh. Or sourced with care. Why would anyone wait in line for stewed tomatoes without any heat, just the cheapest canned condiment?

The best part of what Kalaheo Cafe serves is straight from Costco, the bagels and cream cheese, pastries, croissants, even if the mark up is insane. It's edible.

The home fries for example were NOT fresh or made with care, days old. No crunch, no flavor. Like they had been sitting in a hospital cafeteria steam trough for days. For 5 bucks, a side, they grace you with a serving spoonful. These people have should not be in the food business. They don't have taste buds evidently.

I still feel sick after hours of eating there. You couldn't pay me to go back. No standards, no care for freshness or local produce. Shame on these folks for dishing up spoiled food. They should be...

What a disappointment. Stormy day, so my family and I wanted to find a smaller, more interesting dinner place. The hotel had a sheet of suggested restaurants, so we chose the Kalaheo Cafe & Coffee Co. A 15-minute ride from the Marriott. We arrived at 6:30 with plenty of empty tables, no waiting. Our waitress was great, very happy, and went on and on about the breakfast service, which was a bit strange given we were there for dinner. My wife and I ordered the BBQ Bone-in Pork Chop; our daughters ordered the Hamburger and the Chicken Tenders. The menu described the Pork Chop as "Old Bay French Fries, Coleslaw, Smokey Cheese Sauce, Buttermilk Ranch Dressing."

When our food came, the "Smokey Cheese Sauce, Buttermilk Ranch Dressing" was a combination of what seemed to be cheap nacho cheese topping mixed with bottled ranch dressing. This sauce was frankly discussing. This mess was poured all over the fries and pork chop. My pork chop was half the thickness of that of my wife's pork chop. My meat was dry and anything but a well-cooked piece of pork. The meat was so dry it was difficult to swallow; I ended up going outside and eliminated the food by throwing up. While I was away, the waitress took my plate away. I told Tawny my pork chop was dry and that I had to go outside and ... She went off and came back with the check. No apology, no offer to bring a different pork chop, nothing.

The last insult was when I looked at the bill; we were charged $1.00 for what was equivalent to a tablespoon of Bar-B-Que sauce my daughter requested for her chicken tenders.

I came away with the impression that our waitress was trying, but the rest of the staff resented visitors.

It might be good for breakfast, but a real...

I'm giving this lower stars than it deserves for food because of the rude as hell female Asian manager. She needs to be fired. The wait staff were very nice. The food itself was pretty good. Yesterday the Asian manager made a mistake and quoted me $32 on the ono fish entree (says MP on the menu so we have to rely on what they tell us) which I ordered to go right before they closed after eating some other things there. Instead of apologizing and offering to do something, she started gaslighting me, saying you said it was too expensive so why did you order it? What does it matter if I ordered it or not after saying it was expensive? Other restaurants I wanted to go to were closing so I reluctantly ordered it before I couldn't get dinner after a long day. She was trying to deflect blame onto me. Most restaurants would offer something as customer service. When I mentioned her mistake, she said she won't do anything and told me not to come back. Wow, I've never been told that by a restaurant employee. Overly hostile response. It's strange- this is the 2nd time in 2 days that without being shown the actual price, I was quoted $4 below what they ended up charging me once I got the bill. I don't want to just accept it anymore. Is it getting that bad that restaurants have to do this bait & switch tactic? I'm going to start writing down what they quote me and show them. Nothing like this happened on Maui which I was at before Kauai. I'm feeling more attitude and rudeness and desperation? on Kauai which makes me sad because I love this...