Wailua Drive In — Restaurant in Kauai

Definitely no saimen anymore, no broth, no soup and noodles. They've "rebranded" and the food that is available is actually very good. We got the Poke and Fried Chicken combination, and they were cool enough to offer greens instead of mac salad, and the greens came with a gingery sharp salad dressing that was delicious.

The chicken was real chunks of great dark meat chicken with the skin still on, and it was well marinated, deep fried super crisp, and sauced with a spicy, tasty, not hot, sweet sauce that really satisfied. The sesame seed and green onions were great accents. The poke had huge chunks of fish, and there were two sauces, one creamy the other soy sweet, and there were the good poke elements of plenty of onion and other goodies. It's funny to talk about the rice, as everyone has rice, but this was fluffy, soaked up everything it touched rice, which was the perfect compliment to everything else.

They also had plenty of ube and lilikoi cheesecakes, helpfully labeled for the tourists as "sweet potato" and "passionfruit" flavored. Lovely little things that were rich, not too sweet, and the perfect size to keep all to oneself.

Great, local food, served up for anyone...

First off, I have a 10 month old. I asked for hot water, the girl at the counter told me they couldn't heat up water. This is a noodle joint, they BOIL NOODLES. So I responded informing her it was to feed my baby. Like, maybe they could just heat some water up on the stove? This immature, ridiculous yellow sunglasses wearing girl rolls her eyes and rudely/sarcastically says, "No, we can't do that." I'm a service professional, been in customer service in restaurants and coffee shops for over 20 years. Owned a coffee shop for over 15 years. If any of my employees ever spoke to a customer that way, I'd fire them on the spot! I go to the bathroom, no hot water hooked up to the sink. MAJOR HEALTH CODE VIOLATION. This would get a place shut down until corrected in California. On to the food- flavor was decent, but dishes were underwhelming. Pork belly was slightly under cooked, chewy unrendered fat and tough in the center. Soups had no salt/very little flavor (no depth, where's the umami?), curry was lumpy and clotted. This place needs to focus less on their branding and more on being an actual restaurant. Very, very...

The first time I went to Saimin Dojo it was okay. The broth was not piping hot as I like it, but I got some enjoyment out of my bowl of noodles. Recently, I decided to give it another try when a friend asked about the place. We both ordered the Won Ton Mein and were not impressed. The broth was hot, but the chilled veggies they put in it immediately turns the broth warm. The wonton was hard on the outside, and while eating I found a piece of plastic (wrapping) in my broth (towards the end). Upon leaving I took the piece of plastic to show the young lady at the counter. Instead of apologizing FIRST, she said that it was just the wrapping from the noodles. I looked at her and said, "That still doesn't make it okay!" She then apogized; but how sincere it was, I can't say. I love supporting local establishments and have never written in anything like this. This has bothered me, and having trained in customer service I decided to write these comments and hope it is taken well to ensure betterment of the establishment. I love to see all our local establishments...