Wailua Marina Restaurant

I would hope this restaurant never undergoes the hipster remodel that do many others are suggesting. The menus, the friendly style and food, and the views all make this place a gem :)

The entrance of the restaurant worried us a little since it is very dated. That worry disappeared when they sat us out on the patio by the river. It was a perfect setting for dinner and the staff was very friendly. The nice lady that waited on us seemed to genuinely care that we were happy with the food and experience.
The food was spectacular. I ordered teriyaki spare ribs and they were perfectly tender with great flavor. My wife ordered teriyaki chicken with fried rice. She said the fried rice was maybe the best she had ever had. All you can eat salad bar was included with some pasta salads along with the typical greens.

We come back again and again. Great food. Great value great location and good service. I ordered mahi mahi with teriaki chicken. Salad bar included all for 17.25.
Family owned since 1968. Mahalo
Half moon bay. Ca.

Made a reservation and arrived late. When we got there we were the only ones there. They could have close early, but did not. The staff was nice and professional. And happy to serve us. Understand that local restaurants are very different from
«Tourist» restaurants. The young waiter and bus girl, who were very local, were great! If I had to wait for a table of 2 adults and 4 kids I would be grouchy. But not them. They served with smiles and aloha. Of course the food is ONOlicious as we always get the pork chop. Got the mahimahi, shrimp and kids meals. We were celebrating a birthday and ended it with a mud pie and candle. What a great local gem! I only hoped they were busy enough for the staff to bring home a good pay.

Nice family run restaurant. Food and service are good. Recommend the Salmon and macadamia nut cream pie.

Wailua
We made reservations for 8:30 on a Saturday evening. The staff seemed pleasant enough, and as said in other posts, it could use some up dating. I had stuffed shrimp, three each and a small steak. Which was good. And my wife had a pound of Alaskan king crab. They were on the small size, therefore, not much meat and alot of shell. It was said that they were the only restaurant with Alaskan king crab on the island. The bill with tip came to $ 75.
As I said, reservations at 8:30. We were traveling at 8:15 to the restaurant when the was apparently warning sirens sounded. We never heard the sirens when we were traveling and all seemed fine when we arrived. Understand, this is a marina, therefore they knew all about the tsunami warnings.
As we were eating our meal, we noticed that the staff was very busy, and occasionally looking toward us, but not saying a thing. The, I’m assuming, manager kept checking with as to how the food was. But never said a thing about the warning.
The manager brought us the bill and as we were leaving, we went to the cash register to pay with our credit card. As soon as I signed the bill, the manager told us that we might want to head for high ground. This is something that should have been said prior to us being seated. His money was more important then our safety. We had 45 minutes before the tsunami was to arrive. And it would have been 2 hrs and 15 minutes. This left us in a traffic jam to get our belongings and head for the hills. Luckily we had been exploring earlier that day and knew of a safe place.

Huge portions of food — the stuffed pork chop was divine and the ahi was great. Loved being able to sit along the river and chill. The mac pie was delicious, and the waiter was so friendly and helpful. gave us a few places that were must sees during our visit.

Don’t come for lunch midweek. The place was empty but for one other couple. The waitress, while quick, seemed annoyed when we arrived and in every interaction.
The food could have been made with a microwave and a visit to the freezer section.
I get that the Smith family is an island institution. We enjoyed their luau (the food was also average or below, but the entertainment was great) but if you don’t care about lunchtime during the week, just open for dinner.
Had we not been starving, we would have turned around as soon as we entered, but I saw the 4 stars on Unilocal

Awesome hidden gem. Super chill local style, don’t expect it to be speedy service. But the friendliest restaurant around. Very reasonable prices, over 50 different entrée items for dinner. They give you lots of food. And you can BYOB! bring your own alcohol! Views are nice, since you are right on the river!

Stuffed pork chops or ahi stuffed fish are the best. Ohhhh, theeir chocolate pie or mac pie are mouth watering! I dream of these pies!
The place is a bit run down but it’s been here forever. My husband’s family have been dining here forever.
Go when the main chef is there and not the substitute.

Wailua Marina Restaurant is a must-​go for my family whenever we’re in Kauai. We’ve been coming here for about 13 years, and the waiter, Craig, always remembers us. It’s quite sad to see how the place has been in recent decline. 10 years ago, the place was ALWAYS packed, but when we went recently, we were the only ones there! I guess the property the restaurant is on belongs to the state and nobody has repaired any of the streetlights, and the restaurant isn’t allowed to put up any signs or anything in the area so tourists hardly know it’s there.
The food is always delicious, especially the fish! Always really fresh and perfectly cooked. My favorite is the mahi mahi and my Mom loves to order the mullet. They have an amazing chocolate pie and macademia nut pie. The salad bar that comes with the entrée is a great deal, and the service is amazing!

A really great experience, and one good and one questionable meal. Service was great, waitstaff extremely friendly– they answered questions, had a nice conversation with them about what to do in Kauai and what they did (and where they liked to go) on the mainland. They also took our picture with the river and the mountains in the background– very nice.
As for the food, I had the local fish (mahi mahi). It was very good, fries were decent. My wife had the steak & shrimp combo. Her steak was more like the salsbury steak they serve at the school cafeteria from our youth. And if you liked the salisbury steak from the cafeteria, well, I can’t help you here. The jumbo shrimp were smaller pieces of shrimp held together by breading– then again, the shrimp tasted pretty good– just not real jumbo shrimp. I’d suggest the local fare– that was much better. Both entrees were reasonably priced, under $ 20, and with the positive experience from the staff I’d enthusiastically recommend this place– a good find.

this place has been here since i was a little girl.
local family owned, and in need of a major renovation.
located right next to wailua river, nice place to relax.
i wouldn’t go there for a date, but they have awesome «home» cooked food.
calamari!
fried chicken!
stuffed porck chops!
they make the BEST OXTAIL SOUP!

The décor is a bit dated, but the food is decent. My husband had the fish of the day and said it was seared perfectly. There is a nice view from the patio of the river, you can see a few small boats with fishermen roaming around and also the larger boats for the Fern Grotto tour are moored there. The real treat at this place was the cream pies, they make them fresh daily and they were unbelievably good. I had the chocolate cream pie and my husband has the macadamia nut pie. Really very terrific. Reasonably priced. Plenty of parking. By the way, they do not serve any alcohol at this place.

Day 6
This was our last meal before our long flight. We went to the Wailua restaurant. This place has been here forever. It is sitting on land owned by the state. It almost closed down but the owners were able to put in a bid and keep the business going. You see the big doors upon opening at 5pm. The open air patio like seating, you are able to see the Wailua River and the river boats heading for the Fern Grotto.
I ordered the mixed plate combo that had the steak, 2 chicken skewers, battered shrimp, and a scoop of rice. $ 13.95. The view is nice and it’s a quiet place to dine. All food you order comes with a trip to the salad bar. Good value, nothing exciting but it’s good food and decent prices for most items.