Mariachi's Mexican Cuisine — Restaurant in Kauai

This place is... Bad. There's no other way to say it. The service is just awful. We had six different people visit our table & not a single one seemed to care. Everyone was rude & seemed to be having the worst day of their lives.

The food wasn't good. The chips were meh at best. The "salsa" was bad & consisted of what tasted like marinara sauce with diced onions. The nachos were bland & small. The tacos were basically shell with lettuce. None of our food had much meat save for the chicken nachos which still weren't very good.

I asked if their happy hour margarita was available in blended strawberry to which our server, who claimed it was her first day, said she would check. She came back & said it was $1 more to which I said I would just have the Mai tai since it was $2 less plus I wasn't paying extra for a strawberry version of their marg. It's only two bucks but it's the principal of the thing. The server returns 5 minutes later with our tables drinks including my strawberry Marg & tells me "they already made itso you'll like it" thinking maybe they'd just charge me the Mai tai price since that's ultimately what I ordered. We get the check & not only did they not charge me the lesser price of the Mai tai that I ordered or even the higher price of the happy hour margarita but they went ahead & charged me the full price that I said I wasn't interested in paying originally. Whatever. We just deducted the amount directly from the tip. We weren't really sure which one was our actual server we just know that our service was terrible. We didn't stiff them but really we should have. Awful awful service.

We had planned to order more food & drinks but at this point we just settled up & went to Duke's followed by Skinny Mike's for dessert. The staff at both of the other places were much happier to see us & made us feel welcome. It was even Cinco de Mayo so we thought it would be a fun atmosphere. Wrong! That's one of the primary reasons we went to have a good time & enjoy the evening. They weren't even that busy yet as it was before the main rush & they had plenty of staff. There really was no reason for it. It's sad because the location has so much potential & if they cared could be a highlight on the island.

Terrible food. Awful service. Why bother? There are tons of places nearby that are far better in both categories. I don't want to sound like a shill for other restaurants so I won't list them off but you really can do better just about anywhere else. Seriously.

We'll never go back & I can only assume the other Mariachi's is just as bad so we'll avoid...

Had chips and salsa.

Fajitas mixtas (bistec y pollo)

And a "make me happy margarita".

Fajitas are standard fare. You get 3 tortillas which is inadequate for some and excessive for others, I'm sure. Solid staple dish worthy of 4 stars, but I'll grant three because it was very greasy. Could have been prepared with substantially less grease/oil. The guac, pico de gallo veggies and beans served with it were delightful and the rice mediocre.

The chips and salsa are standard 3 star options as well. Salsa seems from a jar, not fresh made.

The margarita first served was inadequate at best. It tasted as if it had carbonated water added to it. Ingredients were supposed to be triple sec, fresh lime juice and tequila only. After one sip, sent it back. Presumably a manager approached (didn't identify himself) to inform us that everyone loved this margarita. I kindly explained that to my palate, it's no good and I'd simply like to not be billed for it. The gentleman kindly proceeded to remind me that if everyone else loves it, then it must be something unique to me and my lady. Odd approach, but whatever. I reinforced the idea that I don't intend to pay for it and a replacement is unnecessary as I'd expect more of the same if he's so convinced it was perfect and I'm the problem.

Thankfully our waitress took it upon herself to remake the margarita herself and a delightful variant arrived with much more color to it than the previous oddly off color and bland but carbonated offering we had received prior. We expressed gratitude, and were happy to pay for the second one she had brought us.

I find it both odd and telling that she made it herself without the bartender and we got a solid option. Can't make sense of how or why that is unless she knows something we don't about the drinks typically coming from the bar. Of course that's speculation and conjecture, but our conclusion nonetheless.

It's a decent option within walking distance of the Sonesta/Marriott, but 3 stars is...

This is our fourth visit to Kauai, and our fourth time eating at this establishment. My husband and I both ordered the tortilla soup, but my soup was awful. I could not eat it so I sent it back. My husband said it was ok but only ate half of his. The service was absolutely horrible. It took over 15 minutes for someone to come over to take our order. The soup should have been brought out first and then the entree, instead it came out at the same time. After our meal was delivered,  our waiter never came over once to check on us, and we waited over 15 minutes for him to come back to give us our bill. I voiced my displeasure with the soup and asked him to take my soup off the bill. He outright refused. He said that the food we cook here is good. He kept pointing out the fact that my husband ate his and I said that doesn't matter, the soup was so horrible that I could not eat it and had to send it back. He then went over to the front counter to speak to another person. I could tell by his body language that he was clearly telling him about what occurred at our table. Instead of bringing us our bill, he had that person bring it over instead The waiter didn't have the common courtesy to bring the bill to us himself because he was avoiding us. The man who brought over the bill would not look me in the eye, instead he handed the bill to my husband. I again voiced my concern and again was told that they cannot do what I asked. I sternly said, three times, that the customer comes first and he outright refused. Plus, when our meal finally came out, my husband's meal was only luke warm. Needless to say the waiter did not get a tip. We will be...