The Best Places To Eat In Kauai In 2024

Are you looking for the best places to eat in Kauai?

Looking for the best places to eat in Kauai? Kauai definitely lived up to the hype that our family and friends had been telling us about!

Between the beautiful teal ocean, the unbelievable snorkeling, breathtaking mountain views, and some of the most delicious and fresh food… it’s a trip that we highly recommend anyone take!

Check out our list of the best places to eat in Kauai, Hawaii below!

The Best Places To Eat In Kauai

Besides doing a little grocery shopping for breakfast foods, beach snacks, and Hawaiian brewed Kona beers and seltzers, we mainly ate out for the rest of our meals.

Pro Tip: Pick up some fresh, local fruit from a grocery store or fruit stand for the beach!

Eating out this much isn’t typical for us, but we budgeted extra for it because we were so excited about the quality and freshness of the island food that isn’t readily available in Denver.

In our opinion, when visiting any island in Hawaii, you must try poke, bbq, shaved ice, fresh fruit, and acai bowls.

Below you’ll find some of our favorites mostly around the Hanalei area as well as a few bonus places that take a little bit of a drive to get to but are well worth it! 

1. Kalypso Island Bar and Grill

This is a fairly popular restaurant in the Hanalei area.

They had various food options to pick from such as shrimp, fish, burgers, fries, and so on.

Personally, we would call it an upscale Hawaiian bar food joint. 

Sam had a fantastic Ahi Tuna sandwich from here and I really enjoyed their coconut shrimp!

Plus, they have fantastic cocktails and an extensive, creative shot list.

The shots even come with a souvenir shot glass, which is even more of a reason to try one!

We had a great time at this restaurant and if it’s just you and your significant other, we highly recommend that you request one of the two seat options that have their own little deck/balcony area.

You can feel the Hawaiian breeze hit you and take in the surrounding views while enjoying a fantastic meal. 

2. Hanalei Poke

Sam absolutely loved this poke joint.

It’s a small place where you order at the window and then you can eat at one of their bar seats or a few select tables outside.

Sadly, I don’t eat fish but Sam really loved it!

He said the fish was extremely fresh, the fish was cut into the correct size (not too big or too small), and the toppings and sauce were very complimentary to the dish.

Plus, Guy Fieri has been here before so you know it must be good! 

3. Wishing Well Shave Ice

This place is “famous” on the island!

I’m not really sure if famous is the correct word but tons of people recommended this shaved ice joint to us.

Not only do they have countless options when it comes to shaved ice, they also have an extensive list of acai bowls and coffee as well.

I highly recommend that you try one of their acai bowls but obviously you can’t go wrong with their shaved ice either!

4. JoJo’s Shave Ice

We went to this shaved ice shop multiple times.

We found that the line typically isn’t as long as Wishing Well and we loved the different options that they had!

We always got the small size and even then, the portion was too large for just one person.

We highly recommend that you split this with someone else.

We tried several different flavors and each one was absolutely delicious.

This was also the first shaved ice we tried on the island and it was a shock to us that the shaved ice was served on top of a scoop of ice cream.

Whether it is like this all throughout Hawaii or just parts of Kauai, it was very common and wow, was it delicious!

5. Nourish Hanalei

This is another establishment that is “famous” in Kauai.

So many people recommended Nourish to us for their tasty acai bowls and smoothies.

Get there early because the line can get long and there is very limited parking.

The views are absolutely incredible from this little shack so you probably won’t even notice the line! 

6. Tahiti Nui

This is another popular “upscale Hawaiian bar food joint” in the Hanalei area.

This was our first meal in Hawaii and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

They have fabulous coconut shrimp and you can’t go wrong with one of their delicious Mai Thai’s.

Also, their happy hour has some good deals that are worth swinging by for after a day on the beach. 

7. Pink’s Creamery

This is a small ice cream and grilled cheese parlor and it completely shocked us with how delicious the food was.

We had been eating seafood and acai bowls for most of our meals so we wanted a little comfort food and boy did it hit the spot.

We tried a regular grilled cheese and one with bbq in it and both were fabulous. Be sure to ask for some hot sauce!

The sauce was delicious and complimented the sandwiches perfectly. We highly recommend this hidden gem!

We didn’t try the ice cream but there was a line out the door of people ordering it.

8. Tiki Iniki

This place was super close to our AIrBnb and honestly the reviews were a little skeptical so we didn’t know what to think.

I’m happy to report that this place surprised us and we had a great experience with our food, drinks, and the atmosphere.

We highly recommend that you sit at the bar, if possible. It seems like they are a little short handed on staff due to the pandemic but we had great service at the bar!

All of their specialty cocktails come in different, fun, Hawaiian mugs or glasses. There’s even one that comes out on fire!

9. Happy Talk Lounge Restaurant and Bar

This place was walking distance to our AirBnb and we found it last minute when we were looking for restaurants nearby. The views and atmosphere were incredible!

The restaurant is completely open air, you look over the beautiful landscape and can see the mountain run into the ocean with the sun setting beside it!

We sat at the bar and loved our time here. It was towards the end of our trip so I was looking for more comfort food and ended up with chicken tenders and fries and it was scrumptious.

Their beer was served super cold and they had live music playing. We would definitely recommend this place!

10. The Spot North Shore Kauai

Another cute little spot near our AirBnb, they served breakfast bowls, smoothies, açaí bowls, and more.

We split one of their açaí bowls and it was delicious. It’s a little window that you order from and then you eat outside at one of the tables in the courtyard.

We loved this for a little snack but it wasn’t our absolute favorite açaí bowl that we had on the island.

11. Kalalea Juice Hale

This was one of our favorite açaí bowls that we tried on the island. It was absolutely delicious and we can’t recommend it enough.

It’s served at a bright orange building on the side of the highway and can get pretty crowded at times.

They had plenty of benches and tables outside to sit at while you enjoy your treat.

This was one of my favorite açaí bowls that I’ve had and highly recommend it.

This was also Sam’s favorite coffee while on the trip, he thinks it was because of their homemade coconut cream option you could add instead of regular milk.

12. Sam’s Ocean View Restaurant

This is another very popular restaurant on Kauai that serves up a variety of foods.

I got shrimp pasta and Sam tried a fish dish (his favorite of the trip) and we both loved it.

The views are incredible and we loved that the sea breeze gently comes into the restaurant as you’re eating.

Try to sit at the bar stools that look directly at the ocean. The staff was super friendly and overall it was amazing. 

13. Lava Lava Beach Club

We couldn’t decide where to eat for dinner one night and Sam surprised me and took us here.

This was such a great time as the restaurant is right on the beach and has beach seating.

There was live music playing and they made some delicious cocktails.

We both enjoyed our meals as well and we had to try their lava cake due to their name being Lava Lava Beach Club.

The dessert did not disappoint. We definitely recommend that you at least go for a Mai Thai or two and try the dessert, while sitting at a table on the beach, taking in the ocean views!

14. Bubba’s Burgers

Every time we passed by Bubba’s the line was out the door and it was packed with people.

We decided we wanted to see what all the hype was about so we got here shortly after the restaurant had opened for lunch.

It’s a small burger joint and they serve up milkshakes as well. We each got a burger and split some parmesan truffle fries and it was all incredible.

We sat outside on their porch and watched cars go by and the ocean waves crash in the distance.

If you’re looking for a tasty burger joint, look no further. We still talk about how delicious this meal was!

15. Koloa Fish Market

We were on the way back to our AirBnb from scuba diving when we passed the Koloa Fish Market and the line out the door was crazy.

We both immediately asked what that place was and turned the vehicle around to go see!

We were super excited to find out that it was a fish market serving poke, bbq, and more.

Sam got some poke and said it was some of the best on the island.

I got some bbq and it was pretty good. We both got a slice of their mango bread to share and oh my word.

It was NUTS, it was so delicious that I have looked up a recipe on Pinterest to see if I can make some that is remotely close to what we had here.

We highly recommend that you stop here if you are in the Koloa area and make sure to get the poke and mango bread!

16. Al Pastor Tacos Food Truck

This place is right off the side of the road in a food truck park! There were plenty of options from another fish taco truck to BBQ to Ethiopian food and coffee.

We really liked all of the options and wished we had time to try more. But, I tried the shrimp and Sam tried the fish tacos.

We both enjoyed our tacos, but Sam really liked how fresh the fish was in his! They go to the fish market every morning to get their fish and butcher it themselves.

Their hours on the truck are 11-“sold out”, if that is any indication of the freshness!

Final Thoughts On The Best Places To Eat In Kauai

We hope this list on the best places to eat in Kauai inspires you to go to Hawaii or makes you that much more excited to try new places on your next trip! Happy Traveling!