The Hanalei Gourmet — Restaurant in Kauai

As a small business owner myself, I understand everyone is understaffed. My issue is not one of being understaffed, it is one of poor communication and disrespect for patrons. We were told it would be a 30min wait for a table at 6:30PM. We continued to check back in and were told 10-15 more minutes. Great... People were enjoying their dinner and taking their time. Totally get it. We were seated at 7:30 and ordered by 7:37. At 8:20 we signaled our waiter and word for word said, "Could you bring our kids' meals out whenever they are ready. We've been waiting an hour and half for dinner and its not going well." Our waiter replied to us "Stop being so aggressive, Man. It's not my fault." We managed to talk him into going to check to see if our food was ready or how much longer (usually not a crazy request). We decided we were not going to end up having a good experience and let the bartender know we were leaving. The waiter then came out and told us "No, your food's not ready yet". Not sure if he was having a bad night or what but no one deserves to be dismissed and disrespected like we were. This is not the first time we've eaten here, just the first time post COVID. Being short staffed (like the sign says before entering, as does everywhere else) does not need to mean poor customer service. The poor attitude of the staff and the dramatically reduced menu (relative to what's online on their own website) should make this place way down anyone's place to...

I will start out by saying the waitress is very good. The bread and butter was tasty right from the start. Pay for refills keep in mind.Ordered huge steak was delicious and cooked almost to perfection ( medium well) side of vegies and mash potatoes worth the 40 bucks steak is big enough to almost split honestly. Pasta and chicken would have been much better tasting with a different sauce I would not recommend this dish my gf and son were not a fan wasted most of it unfortunatly. Salads were big. OK NOW HERE IS THE REASON I GAVE IT 4 STARS. My 3 years old.was very hungry we ordered pasta with butter no garlic and of course we were given pasta with garlic and nope.Kara was not having it so WE SENT BACK THE PASTA ONLY TO BE REFUSED. THE WAITRESS BROUGHT IT BACK TO TABLE AT APPROX 8PM FEB 12 AND SAID THE COOK/MANAGER REFUSED to remake pasta even tho it had garlic in it. The waitress should be the boss the management obviously needs some customer service skills. I dont mind paying for food when it is what I ordered.. Steak came out about 10.minutes after the other 4 peoples meals at my table received their.food.pasta and chicken. Cook or manager that refused the pasta needs a mental health exam. Gave the waitress roughly $40 tip bc she was very food. Thank you to the waitress hopefully whoever the bosses are give you raise..good...

First, the staff have always been very friendly and sweet when I've visited which is important to me. Second, the food is delicious, regardless of what you get. My boyfriend and I had just finished hiking out of the Kalalau trail (22 miles later.....) and as much as we have been embracing the local cuisine in Maui and Kauai, our bellies were practically screaming BURGERRRRRR!! when we finished hiking. We got lost in nirvana here in their amazing Gorgonzola burger, my feet aches melted away with the guava passion fruit daiquiri. One of our favorite places in Kauai to eat hands down.

It's a bit more "Americanized" than other places, we've been eating a lot of poke at little fish markets, so sitting down and getting burgers and sandwiches is not your typical plate lunch meal but they do have a lot of local ingredients and they definitely incorporate some Hawaiian flair in what they do. (It seems like they always have fresh fish and chips and pasta)

Highly recommend! Nice price for what you...