Mea Inu Beach Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Kauai

Local beer and garlic fries – what more do you need? (3/5 green stars) I previously wrote a review of the Ai Ono restaurant at Lihue airport, saying how disappointed that I was that the food was served in Styrofoam containers, even when eating in-house. Besides Starbucks, I think Mea Inu is the only other option in the airport. I had a simple repast composed of a Fire Rock ale (Kona Brewing) and plate of garlic fries. Based on my experience, the service (Jane was very friendly), prices ($6 for the fries, $9 for a large beer), and the fact that I was in an airport (limited selection and elevated prices), I thought it deserves 4 stars.

I’m also giving them 3/5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these reasons: • Everything was served on plates, in glasses, with metal utensils. A definite plus over Ai Ono and that dreaded Styrofoam! • There are two ways of looking at the food and beer: What I had – fried potato and local beer – is fairly sustainable, and I appreciate that they had local Kona beer on tap. • The Kona brewery does a lot in terms of sustainability (solar energy, water conservation, GHG emissions, use of local ingredients), community involvement, and fundraising. • However, the overall selection was not at all vegetarian /vegan friendly. There was a quinoa salad and I think that was about it (other than fries). Even the soup and cheese dip (for chips) contained meat. • There’s no information on their sourcing of veggies, fish, meat, etc. on the menu and the restaurant doesn’t appear to...

Kauai was great but unfortunately I had the worst experience at this bar prior to leaving.

My fiancé and I sat down and ordered a bottle of vino to enjoy before our red eye flight back to CA. We pulled out a few dice to play Yahtzee and were told because of Hawaiian law we were unable to play any type of game in the bar. We were SHOCKED as we had played dice at several Kauai bars over the course of our trip.

After going back and fourth for over 45 minutes with the supervisor, and having her pull out the "law" which stated that the bar was unable to provide music, gaming, or gaming systems, and said nothing about allowing individuals to bring in a few dice as they wait two hours for their flight.

We offered to pay for the glass we drank, yet the supervisor, Donna Hernandez, charged us for the whole bottle. We ended up paying $33 for a bottle of wine that we had one glass from, wasted an hour of our time, and management wasted an hour of their time. The supervisor clearly had no ability or control to make any decisions.

Don't eat here or waste your time. eat/drink before you get to...

To be honest I was cautious about coming here when I saw the avg review for this place, but it was the only place with air conditioning and beer so I didn't have much of a choice. I think you have to go into airport restaurants with a grain of salt, that's why this place gets 5 stars. I travel a good amount, and love food, so I'm not giving it 5 stars because it tastes better than McDonald's.

I never had any issues. Every table was full (see above, air conditioning), but never waited more than a few minutes to get checked on by our server, Alyssa. The food was delicious for an airport establishment, and the prices make sense given where it is.

As far as the other reviews, I heard another table ask their server for nachos with "all the toppings on the side", because they don't like garlic. If that's the kind of requests this place gets, from tourists who expect to be waited on hand and foot, no wonder the average review is under 3 stars (I however think garlic is delicious, and the garlic aoli I had...