Tip Top Motel, Cafe, And Bakery — Restaurant in Kauai

We reserved a 3 night stay at the Tip Top Motel, Cafe, and Bakery in Lihue, Kauai, HI -- for $165 per night plus taxes and fees -- because we liked its location, rates, non-smoking rooms, and favorable ratings of their restaurant and bakery.

Two out of four were correct.

We got a phone call at 1:30 pm on Sunday, October 23, while we were waiting in Honolulu airport for our connecting flight to Kauai, saying that their office was closing at 1:45 pm, and that a room key would be left for us. We knew that the office and cafe would also be closed on Mondays.

We got to our room a few minutes after 6 pm, to discover that despite "no smoking" signs, the room had a strong smell of cigarettes.

My partner is allergic to nicotine; both of us are non-smokers. We immediately called the office number, but could only leave a message. We never got a return call.

My partner ended up getting sick, with sinusitis and phlegm and coughing all night and itchy skin for 2 nights. We cancelled the third night and we were promised a refund of that night, which we got 2 days later.

The room itself reminded me of a cross between an old Motel 6 and a Roger Miller song:

No phone No pool No pets Don't smoke your cigarettes

(except guests before us did)

Also, no mini-fridge, no kitchen or kitchen items like a coffee maker, no luggage rack, and it had a small open closet with 5 plastic hangers. (The closet made little difference to us, as we refrained from unpacking clothes to avoid them absorbing smoke odors.)

There was WiFi (free, unsecured, with slow Internet).

There were few electrical outlets, most in use -- so I recommend bringing a power strip along.

There was a small, noisy window air conditioner. We ran it day & night, but the room was only cool, not cold.

There were good blackout pull down blinds for the front and back windows.

There was a TV with Spectrum cable, but with an odd assortment of 22 channels: TCM, SyFy, TruID, Lifetime, Hallmark, Disney, LMN, ESPN, ESPN2, a Surfing Channel, Freeform, etc. -- but no standard channels (no ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, FOX, CNN, nor Weather Channel).

There was no bathtub, though the shower appeared to have been recently remodeled with tiles. It had a nice shower head, but no wand, and water pressure and temperature were good when I showered, but a few minutes later my partner found it low by half.

There was no housekeeping on Monday, nor was there an emergency number posted. (I wonder what would happen if there was a water leak or fire?)

On Tuesday, I was at the cafe/office door at 6:45 am. A sign on the window next to the door said the office was open daily from 6:30 am to 3 pm and 5 pm to 9 pm -- with cafe hours of 6:30 am to 1:30 pm -- obviously no longer accurate. Painted on the door were office hours of 7:30 am to 3 pm (not true, the office closes at 1:45 pm) and cafe hours from 7 am to 1:30 pm, closed Mondays. (I suggest that you call for their current hours.) There is no "office" -- the motel duties are handled by the cafe cashier. The cafe was similar to a Denny's (with a limited menu) -- but much larger in size, with 6 servers plus a busser and kitchen staff and a cashier. Typically orders were served very quickly, around 10-15 minutes. (Sign on wall said Help Wanted -- Cashier and Kitchen Help.) The menu was typical of a breakfast and lunch place, and the cafe seems to be a favorite of locals, who fill the place as soon as it opens at 7 am. Prices were reasonable -- example: two eggs with choice of meat and toast or rice for $10.79, with Kona coffee at $2.39.

There is no longer a bakery. There was a glass display case, but instead of baked goods, touristy things like wood carvings are displayed for sale.

Their location is excellent, with McDonald's and Walmart only blocks away, and a short drive to many beach areas and restaurants.

My 2 star rating is based on its location and price, though I recommend that non-smokers give this a pass. The odd hours are troublesome, and I suggest you don't arrive on Monday or after 1:30 pm Tuesday...

We didn’t have very high expectations, and were willing to accept that this place would be pretty basic since it’s the cheapest accommodations on the island. Unfortunately it was a lot worse than we expected.

When we arrived the room smelled so strongly of bleach that it made us dizzy and we had to open all the windows and door in an attempt to air out the room. 24 hours later and it still smells of bleach.

From the time we arrived (1:30pm) till about 4:00pm, there was someone right outside our window using power tools (a buzz saw is my guess). It was so loud that we couldn’t hear our TV even on the loudest volume and we couldn’t have a conversation without yelling. The room doesn’t have regular pane glass windows so we had no way to block the sound. They continued using the saw the next morning starting at 8:30am and persisting until we left at 11:00.

There was a large group of extremely loud guys in the room next door who were hanging out outside their room (right outside our window) yelling and drinking for hours until they finally left at 8:00pm, only to go to the bar down stairs where we could STILL hear them.

We decided to order pizza to the room. We didn’t finish all of it, and realized that there was no fridge in the room. This wouldn’t be a big deal, if it weren’t for the fact that our room was infested with ants (we didn’t know this). We opened the box of pizza the next morning to find HUNDREDS of ants crawling all over it. Upon further inspection we realized that there were tiny ants crawling all over the room.

To top it all off, we decided to get breakfast at the cafe next door (owned by the same company). My food was OK (nothing special, bacon was a little over cooked and pancakes were flat and mushy), but my girlfriends omelet was undercooked. The food was pretty expensive, I would expect a lot more for a $40.00 breakfast for two.

I would NOT recommend this place to anyone. If you’re looking for cheap accommodations, I recommend either camping or reserving an Airbnb far in advance to get...

Love this cafe! We first came here in 2019 and, based on the other reviews, ordered the banana macadamia nut pancakes and oxtail soup. Both are wonderful. In the pancakes, the banana slices and the nuts are cooked right into the batter; the banana makes the pancakes super moist with just the right touch of sweetness, while the nuts add a nice crunch. The soup, even the small size, comes with a generous portion of melt-in-your-mouth oxtail. It is a touch too salty for me, but I tend to prefer my food more lightly seasoned.

We were back in Kauai a few weeks ago for a friend's wedding. This time, we stayed at the motel, so we had two breakfasts at the cafe. The food is still just as good. We split the Tip Top Yokozuna Bento for one of our meals. It was tasty and - as advertised - a large amount of food, more than enough for two people.

The motel room was clean and functional and - the main draw - much more affordable than anything else we could find in the area. The check-in process was a little unusual. The front desk is only open from 2-2:30pm, so unless you can make that small window, you need to request an after-hours check-in. I also emailed ahead of time to confirm the room rate, at which point I was sent an invoice to pay upfront. (So what happens if you don't email them?) But everything went smoothly in the end. Just make sure you read your confirmation email so you know what to expect.

Finally, the cafe definitely gets busy. Go early if you don't...