Restaurant 2978

The sushi rolls were pretty good. The wait staff was nice and friendly. The eternal sunshine roll was my favorite.
Overall great experience!

Sushi always hits the spot. Bonus complimentary seasoned edamame was delish! Our waiter was attentive. Food was great. A good local spot. We left with full tummies for under $ 50
FYI I originally wrote this post in December 2012 but it sat in my drafts. Nonetheless it was great then and I’m sure it is now too!

Want choke grinds? Come here. The breakfast platter was huge and enough for at least 3 people. You get macnut pancakes; some Portuguese sausage; spam; eggs; charsiu and more!
Just found out that this place is closed though. So sad.

Really good sushi and very reasonable
Prices! Get there early before the rush, so many good things
:-)

This was based off of our lunch experience only. We both got the teriyaki fried chicken and man, I wanted to tell the cook «you know the chicken was already dead, right? No need to fry it to disintegration!» We ate it because we were trying to be polite since the waitress was so nice but yeah, we definitely wouldn’t come back for lunch or at least not that dish.
It should be noted, if you’re missing Oki Diner’s «famous» pancakes, they apparently make them here! They also had S’more French toast which sounded good, we just never got back there. We’d probably get it to go though because this is definitely a locals place and several other patrons had no problem giving us stink eye throughout the meal. Not holding that against the restaurant at all because the server was super nice but I pay my money just like everyone else, I’m respectful of locals and won’t be intimidated into leaving a place.

The service was great. Our server was friendly and helpful. He suggested the volcano roll so we got that. We also had the eternal sunshine roll and the spider roll. The spider roll was my least favorite. The volcano roll and the eternal sunshine roll was great. It was also suggested to us to order the pork appetizer. It’s on the secret menu. We loved it. It was Filipino style with soy and vinegar, great with my husbands beer. The shrimp tempura plate didn’t appeal to me. I like my batter on my shrimp crispy and flaky instead of thick and doughy.
The s’mores dessert was the finale. It was really good. The server said he made the furikake soybean appetizer and the dessert. I really enjoyed this restaurant. If you are ever in Kauai. Try this restaurant on Umi street. I’m a fan.

Skip this place! Food was OK, service was good, but…
Very weird ambiance. It seems like a big empty room with a few chairs and tables thrown in. It’s quite dark, maybe they keep the curtains closed so no one can see in.
Sushi was okay, lots of rice but the fish was fresh and a little stingy on the wasabi. Ramen is the best bet, cheap, tasty and large. My dad really loved his mash potatoes (yes, mash potatoes at a sushi restaurant). I think the quality of the food was okay, maybe I would come back for the monster breakfast everyone talks about. Not for dinner. I found it weird that they only had one sake, and it was only available by the bottle for $ 34, yet they had several on the menu.
I like that it’s a local kind place, but in this case I might head to a hotel for sushi and save this place for breakfast.

Went here for a fairly early breakfast. The coconut syrup was divine!
It was quiet that morning and service was prompt. We were heading out for a day of hiking so didn’t want to get too stuffed or we might have eaten more than just pancakes.
The rest of the menu looked good too, though we weren’t staying long enough to come back for dinner. Next time.

Try not to be turned off by the décor when you walk in. The food won’t let you down. Unless, of course, they happen to be out of everything you try to order, but don’t let that stop you!
I really enjoy the food here. The only problem is the lack of service at lunch time (don’t go here if you need a fast lunch!), and the lack of customers is a bit of a turn off. Dinner is pretty great, especially if you order sushi! But beware, the bar doesn’t open until 10, so if you try to order a drink, it’ll take a while because the owner/​sushi chef/​bartender can’t mix you a drink until he’s not busy. We waited about 30 minutes to get a second round of strawberry patrons (delish!).
Their corned beef hash moco is mouth watering. Their chicken curry katsu saimin is pretty tasty. The fried saimin can be a little boring. Their sushi, and especially sashimi are off the charts awesome. The burgers are ok. The lunch price for the guava ribs seems to be a much better deal than the dinner price (basically same portion double the price).
It’s a solid menu all around. Definitely worth a visit. One of the tastier local places on Kauai.

Furikake Edamame was on the house. I’ve never had it this way and I love me some Edamame! It was great, I’m going to make this at home for my next get together.
Pupu Steak was great, cooked just right, the onions and mushrooms blended well with the seasonings on the steak.
Rainbow Warrior Roll — Shrimp Tempura, topped with ahi, salmon and avacado with spicy sauce.
The 3 above things plus a tall bottle of Sapporo made my dining experience at Restaurant 2978 a great one. I cant wait to go back!

The Pupu steak was delicious.
Their sushi was phenomenal. Best tuna tried so far in Kauai.
The Saimin noodles were far too salty. Would ask them to give low sodium Saimin option next time.
Nice ambiance with Hawaiian dancer and live entertainment on a Wednesday night.

This was really a fun place. Went on a Wednesday night. Live music by a trio of locals and a table of ladies next to us entertained everyone with a few hulas.
Food was very good, multiple different items including sushi rolls, nigiri as well as Noodles and other Japanese items. They also have standard bar & grill items such as wings, fries, burgers etc. Pretty good selection of beers.
We had a few Sushi rolls, the Katsu chicken and Saimin. Everything was very good. The interior needs some work, but who cares, you’re in Hawaii.

We came for lunch & dinner during our stay on Kauai. Look for the sign for Richie’s Bar & Grill above the door (not my pic
). It does say Restaurant 2978 on the door, and even the server couldn’t quite explain the multiple names «Yeah, same place».
First lunch when we landed. We were lured by the sushi pictures and then found sushi is only served at dinner. Doh!
The g/​f got a two egg breakfast (
) while I went with the Lychee BBQ Ribs plate lunch with green salad instead of mac (
). Both dishes were good (hashbrowns got the thumbs up) though there was a *lot* of BBQ sauce (~¼″ thick) on the ribs and they were a little fatty.
Our dinner was an accident. We looked in the windows of the Korean spot in Lihue, Kimchee #9 (
) and it just looked sad and the lack of banchan on the tables worried us so drove down the street to Restaurant 2978.
Complimentary edamame (
) was coated with furikake (a rice seasoning made with crushed nori, sesame seeds, and other spices). My first furikake encounter and a nice departure from the basic salt preps.
Furikake salmon came with furikake spaghetti and garlic bread (
). The salmon was baked, I think, and was moist and flakey. The furikake prep was simple, but added just the right amount of seasoning. Delicious dish.
Sake nigiri had so-​so knife work (see rice peeking through the left piece
), but was delicious.
Saimin was a *HUGE* bowl of noodle soup with plenty of green onion, fishcake & spam and half a hard boiled egg (
). Broth was like a shoyu ramen broth, which I liked. Noodles started out as a clump and eventually separated. They were flat (
) and firmer than other saimin I’ve tried (and disliked) and somewhat past al dente.
Probably my favorite saimin to date, but after half a dozen encounters with the dish I’m coming to the conclusion that I’m not a big saimin guy.
The servers both times were very friendly and easy to flag down if we needed anything.

We discovered this place from Unilocal and it sounded interesting. So glad we decided to go.
We went on a Wednesday night, and it was packed with locals. We managed to find two seats at the sushi bar so we sat down and immediately ordered some drinks. The staff was super friendly even though they were clearly overwhelmed that night. The service here wasn’t stellar, so I suggest sitting at the bar so you have direct access to the staff and grab a drink right away. While you’re at it, offer a shot of sake to the sushi chef/​owner Richie. You’ll get a lot of extra attention if you do.
The band was playing traditional hawaiian tunes and people were getting up and hula dancing, men and women alike. This place has a really fun atmosphere and everyone was incredibly friendly.
On to the food…
This is Kauai so of course the fish is good. We had the ahi and it melted in my mouth. So so good. But hey you can get that almost anywhere here. For me the real deal maker was the Saimin. We ordered as an after thought. It was only $ 7 and they split the order into two large bowls for us. This is heaven in a bowl. The noodles were perfect and the broth was amazing, you have to try it.

We stumbled across this place on a Unilocal search. Although it was empty when we arrived at 6pm on a weeknight the food was actually very tasty. The service is really good and they gave us complimentary edamame tossed in butter and then seasoned w/​sea salt &furikake — very tasty! He ordered the special pasta of the evening — Opah w/​Furikake Pasta. This was very good — the pasta had a light cream sauce and the fish was made to perfection. I ordered a bento box… boring! It was good but not exciting I have to admit. I would recommend this place if you’re looking for something different and a slight twist.

This place is also called ‘Richie’s bar and grill’ — You will find that name on top of the restaurant but ‘Restaurant 2978′ on the door itself (easily confusing)
This is a BREAKFAST review. I make no statements as to the yummyness of this establishment at any other meal time than breakfast. If you go there and eat lunch and somehow don’t like it, please don’t take this review to mean I endorse their lunch (nothing against said lunch, I’ve just only had breakfast there).
The breakfast here was Awe-​inspiring. Let me say that again, AWE-​INSPIRING.
We ordered the XL Bumbucha Breakfast, and we shared it between the two of us. This one $ 19.99 meal came with:
4 eggs
10 slices Portuguese sausage
2 pancakes (we upgraded ours to Banana Macadamia nut and it was amazing)
3 corn beef has cakes
1 pile of hashbrowns
4 scoops of their ‘Ono fried rice’
They bring it out on a giant platter, i can’t imagine a singe person eating this much on their own, but they don’t indicate that it’s actually a shared item on the menu. I’m personally a breadth of culinary experience type of person, and this breakfast platter certainly did the trick.
The banana macadamia nut pancake isn’t on their menu, they only list banana or macadamia nut, but combining the two was totally doable and totally delicious. I love when a pancake is both full of an topped with my asked for ingredients and on that front I was not disappointed.
The fried rice was great. I think it had spam in it, but i’m not 100% sure, i’m just sure was delicious and that after eating two scoops of it i wish I had more tummy space to keep eating.
The sausage was great, i made sausage egg sandwiches with the sausage as bread — yum yum.
The raving review only comes with 4 stars due to ambiance — it’s a crummy looking little place, doesn’t get a ton of light, and looks a little run down inside. You don’t feel excited to be eating inside (but then the food comes and everything is exciting again),

Here is one where Unilocal failed me — or I guess it technically is the restaurant’s fault…
I love finding «hidden gems» and «dive bars», but this place turned out to be a mistake. First off, it IS in a bad location — my wife wondered what the neighborhood would be like at night, instead of at lunch when we went. It IS a «locals» place, but I think this is mostly workers just looking for a cheap/​close place to eat, not for anything special culinary-​wise.
Second, there IS a bar next door — this is the restaurant that is attached. Despite the trendy name «Restaurant 2978», there is nothing trendy about it.
I would be afraid to order sushi here. I ordered chicken teriyoki and I would swear that it was made from one of the many wild chickens running around Kauai. The chicken was all dark meat, tough and fatty. It came with a side salad and some white rice, both of which were better than the chicken. My wife had a burger — just to be safe — and it was very salty and nothing special.
The iced tea came out of a fountain gun — enough said.

After having a ton of ahi on our trip in Kauai, it was time for some fresh fish sushi. On our trip so far, we’ve had it seared, grilled, poke, and now it was time to get it sashimi’ed!
It was our 6^th night there, and honestly we were a bit tired of local food. It was time for some homey good sushi rolls! Thank you Restaurant 2978, you really hit the spot. We decided to sit by the sushi bar (good decision) the chef was really nice and the service was quicker. No flagging down the waitress. Just talk to the chef and tell him what you want!
We found out the chef was from Santa Cruz, near where we’re from in California. Good first impression because Santa Cruz is an oceany place, so I know he can make sushi since he worked at a sushi restaurant over there.
My favorite roll was the Magic Dragon! It had everything you want in it. Shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, avocado, and unagi. The shrimp tempura had so much shrimp meat in it, unlike some places that try to stuff it with batter.
We also had the sashimi platter ($ 27) with well sliced 9 pieces of buttery salmon and 9 pieces of ahi tuna. I’m bummed they didn’t have hamachi that night, but nonetheless, the salmon was great! It was as Chef Yoshi advertised, «buttery goodness!»
The Eternal Sunshine roll was the least impressive for me. It resembles the Alaskan roll, and has a tang from the lemon on top of salmon. It’s good for salmon lovers, but it wasn’t for my taste.
Lastly for dessert, they gave us this deliciously sweet smore like ice cream treat! You guys read my mind! I was asking my friend if we should go to Lappert’s for ice cream, and they brought out this graham crackered goodness out. It definitely completed the meal.
Pro tip: always complete your meal with something sweet! :D
Overall, we had a great time there. Everyone there were so friendly, it felt like a big happy family. Local people would just go chill and drink with the workers there and eat good sushi. It’s a great vibe, we had great service, and they have delicious sushi! Keep it up Chef Yoshi! You guys were one of my favorite food places in Kauai!

Super yummy, buttery, smoky, FRESH King Salmon prepared by Chef Yoshi… I wish I was hungrier and my tummy was emptier because I could’ve been there all night. Rainbow Warrior is also highly recommended. Don’t worry that it says it’s Richie’s Bar & Grill outside– one in the same. If you’re looking for super fresh, yummy, creative sushi, come here. We had our 2-​yr old with us and he had a great time cuz the staff was so nice. I’m also told the hamachi arrives on Fridays so if you’re into that it should be worth the trip if the salmon was this awesome.
If you make it out there and you see construction, go around back where the Toyota dealership is and there will be a road that takes you to the restaurant.
We will definitely be back and looking forward to the next visit here.

THE BAD:
1. «Oh sorry, we’re temporarily sold out of that…»
I think we heard that 20x from the waitress during the 2.5 hour dinner we had there.
2. Weird atmosphere — felt like it they converted an old, deserted, nightclub into a restaurant by throwing a few booths inside. Not a fun, cozy vibe in there.
3. Slow service, awkward moments with the server. and just the general lack of things they had «in stock».
THE GOOD
OKAY for the food they DID HAVE (half the menu?) the food WAS pretty good, possibly GREAT.
Fair enough, you didn’t expect so much business from graduation night… and you sold out of certain stuff. but HOW DO YOU SELL OUT OF ASAHI AND SAPPORO when you’re a Japanese/​Asian Fusion restaurant? Insanity! They had ONE type of sake left — only one, good thing it was good!
BEST PART: Since they were out of so much stuff, they doubled our orders of sashimi. and the slices of fish were already quite generous ! The boy even stated it was the best tuna he had during our 8 day stay. and I think he had tuna every night.
2 stars for atmosphere and service, 4 stars for food.