Postcards Restaurant — Restaurant in Kauai

Food Allergy People Beware

The website advertises that many of their items are gluten and vegan friendly AND items can be customized to your needs. You would think a person with a dairy allergy would feel safe eating in such an establishment.

I can honestly say I have NEVER been more disappointed and angered at the experience we had in this restaurant this evening. When we arrived and spoke to the server about our order, we told the server that my daughter was allergic to dairy and what options would be appropriate for her to order. Upon receiving our food at the table, my daughter again asked the person delivering the food if her plate was dairy-free. She was told it was. My daughter is very good about inspecting her food before she eats and noticed the sauce that was served with her fish. It looked creamy. She patiently waited before she took a bite to make sure her food was safe. Upon asking our server, we found out that there was yogurt in her sauce. The server was very nice and apologetic and she removed the plate and took it back to the kitchen. She brought out another plate without the sauce. Upon inspecting the food, the broccoli had the same sauce on its underside...they transferred the same sides to the new plate KNOWING she had a dairy allergy and had already sent a plate back with that understanding!!!

Here is where it gets REALLY good...I asked to speak to the manager. She came to the table and I explained the situation. She never said she was sorry, she told me she would check with the kitchen. Before she left, I explained to her how serious our situation was. My daughter almost died from a dairy reaction as a child. She is 20 years old now. The reaction I received from the manager is the reason I am so angry. Instead of saying she was sorry and she would go check with the kitchen and they would make this right, I was told to stop yelling at her! (Which I was NOT!!) I was angry, but I never raised my voice. I was then told that I should not take my daughter to a restaurant and feed her at home!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? YOUR WEBSITE SPECIFIES YOU HAVE VEGAN FOOD!!! You should be a PERFECT place to go to for a dairy free meal!!

A perfect response from the manager should have been that she cared about the safety of her patrons. She should have been mortified that food that had been returned due to an ALLERGY was sent back out to that patron.

Our server brought our check to us and they had removed several of the items from our bill. That was appreciated. But, the manager should have been the one to come back out instead of hiding in the kitchen. If you do not know how to deflate a situation or INSULT a patron when they bring a legitimate concern to you, MAYBE you should not be a manager...and you should not promote those types of foods on your website.

Thank you (sarcasm) for making our last night out in...

Tldr: Don't book your wedding reception here.

Yeah, they lowkey ruined our wedding reception. We really wanted to love it, but had such a bad experience on the night I can not recommend for a formal dinner. Half of the menu was unavailable and we had a tremendously difficult time booking for a group of 12.

The bad: Super difficult to book: -Over 9 weeks we tried 6 phone calls, 8 emails (to 2 different emails) and eventually had to ask our photographer and celebrant to go in person as we had no confirmation from them that we had a booking and hadnt received any setails about what the deal was with private functions. A week later we finally heard back via email.

Very pricey for a private function: -Once we finally heard back, booking the private area that would leave little room to spare foe.the 12 of us was $2200 for the evening (530 to 930) which included a dedicated server and the ability to control the music but would not cover any food or drink.

And now we're on to the real issue of the evening.

The REALLY bad:

Half the menu unavailable on the night: -on arrival, we were presented with a full menu barring one entree that was out and one main that was down to one left. We asked them to hold that for us. By the time we ordered drinks and came to order mains 15- 20 minutes later- 3 of the 7 main dishes were unavailable, including what we had asked them to hold. We had no lamb, beef, and only 1 scallop dish which we gave to the bride. All that was left was a vegetarian pasta, vegetarian risotto and a fish dish. That left 6 of our party of 12 out of their preferred dish.

The good:

Service was lovely: -Honestly, the only thing that kept the night alive was Alexis our server who kept her calm and apologised profusely as each hurdle came up. You're a star and we're really grateful we had you on the night x

Cocktails were good: -one of the best pina coladas I've had

Recognition of the poor experience we had: -they kindly offered 25% off our bill for our poor experience

The neutral:

The food that was available wasn't bad -Some interesting combinations on the menu. But to be honest, the dinners we had at other restaurants in the region before and after our reception were far more delicious, although less high end fare.

At the end of the day though, this was meant to be our once in a lifetime dinner and they really, really let us down. Maybe go for a nice dinner for 2 or 4, but from our experience I'd say look elsewhere for a formal or larger dinner. Learn from...

The worst meal I have ever had in my entire life. We ordered out, due to covid. Staff was pleasant and atmosphere seemed to be inviting while I was waiting for my order. But the food was absolutely AWFUL, just revolting. Fish, lamb, steak, spinach salad... all went to trash. Combination of "flavors " from sauces and food execution was absolutely disgusting. "Chef" should find another game to play. I live here and it's sad to see such food being presented.

Response to my review "From the owner" We apologize we didn't meet your expectations. However, you were half an hour late picking up your food. Unfortunately the quality of the food deteriorates the longer it sits getting cold. Hopefully you can join us for dining in after covid is over to experience the food as it should be enjoyed.

Ok, I didn't want to get in details about your "food", but let's be precise. When I ordered the food, I was told it would be ready in about 45 minutes, and that's when I picked it up. If for some reason it was ready half an hour earlier, the flavors would not go from delicious to absolutely revolting. Good food stays delicious for hours. Not in this case. Food WAS warm, again, nothing to do with my mysterious late pick up. Cilantro in spinach salad and in garnish for fish had a foot long stems, I guess it grew while I was delayed. Wagyu steak was dry and good part of it was simple fat, not the yummy fat but disgusting unchewable substance, and I'm seriously questioning if it was wagyu at all. Lamb was raw, and I love rare meat but this one was still walking. Marinate was awful. Grilled ahi.... it looked and tasted beyond dry, even it was still raw on the inside, just like if it was dehydrated. If that's one of chef's talents, I applaud, but wouldn't recommend for eating. All dressings, I would not call them sauces because sauce is referred to something delicious, were revolting. I can go on, but I think it's plenty. Chef doesn't understand flavors nor the proper food preparation. Blaming me for picking up my food late, even though I was on time, is just...