Kauai Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Seattle

You know how you find a little hole in the wall, out of the way mom and pop restaurant that is quirky but well worth a wait and the crowd for the food? Well this is NOT one of those places.

Two of us did a walk-in lunch order. Getting everything in a takeout box didn't help the quality of the food or the overall experience. The inside of the run-down store grunt is dimly lit, hot and humid, cramped, and sweaty. Maybe that's authentically "Hawaiian" but it was not an enjoyable place to even wait for the food, let alone eat there. Everything from the counters to the tile floor was chipped and grimy. Far from being cute and homey the inside just looked dirty and old. Even with the two leaf-shaped ceiling fans, it was stuffy and humid. Hand lettered signs send to be posted on everything... And they were tattered and greasy.

The server/order taker was BUSY doing both tasks. She did an okay job but, from how things appeared, she was the only front of house worker. From the line of people waiting to order and waiting to get their food, they are understaffed.

I had the BBQ pork and chicken combo. The pork was flavorful but bubblegum-chewy and about a quarter fat. The chicken was great texture and almost flavorful.. Like almost seasoned but not really. The rice was cooked perfectly but the Mac salad had soggy noodles. The flavor of the Mac salad was unremarkable.

The pineapple chicken may have been authentic, but the flavor was barely noticeable. All the sauce was pooled in the bottom of the takeout container. Because the skin was still on the chicken, all the coating came off easily. I had one piece of crispy, deep fried chicken skin that was delicious. A few pieces of chicken, on the top of the pile, we're crispy and pretty good. However, most of the chicken that had been sitting in the sauce was soggy and unappetizing. The sauce seemed more like diluted pineapple juice than sauce.

I wouldn't try this restaurant again. There are many better tasting, cleaner, and flavoring food choices...

Changign from 5 stars year of so ago to 3 stars...Really a shame...I've come here tons of times since they opened in 1993..a year after I moved to Washington. The lady with blond hair who takes the orders always looks at me like I'm from different planet when I ask for extra "gravy" aka sauce on the teriyaki plate. She told "they pour it on the top so it will be there there." Not forget to argue.. Obviously there's some, but not any extra to get to the rice. I guess that's why there's extra sauce you can buy. Oh and the teriyaki chicken and beef were dry.

Since folks have raved about their Loco Moco thought I'd give it a try...I really don't know what the raves are about. Two hamburger patties, two eggs and gravy. The seare was nice and crispy tho inside of the patty was a bit too bright pink for my liking, tho seare was nice and crispy. What are going to do when it's a take out.

I'm not usually this hypercritical. Maybe it's because I was only told of the long wait than normal 15-20 minutes only after I completed the order...and in reality it was 3O minutes...and maybe its the frustration over the years of asking for a little extra sauce and getting that expression like I'm from a different planet..and portions get smaller as prices increase it's Seattle.

Tho the food is visually...

It was my first time here and it took a good 20 minutes to drive. I arrived at 10:30 am on a Saturday and the parking lot was full. Kauai also services for breakfast so there was a good amount of diners in the morning. It's not a full service restaurant, so you will have to order at the register. The menu was a bit overwhelming as I was glancing at every other plate in the restaurant and couldn't decide. The friendly older lady behind the counter took my order and said they would bring it out to me. I won't ever forget the savory seasoning of the Fried Saimin Noodles and the made from scratch gravy + burger patty of the Loco Moco. The Loco Moco comes in two different sizes. I opted for the larger one as I wanted two eggs. When I asked for extra gravy, I will say I received a ton of gray. The cook was very generous. The rice was fresh and not gooey/clumpy, making the meal even better. The meat patty was cooked to perfect and was tender. The Fried Saimin Noodles had a generous amount of meat and the portion was massive. It was not too salty as there was an even amount of ham to make up for the flavors. This is by far my favorite Hawaiian...