The Tavern

We really enjoyed The Tavern last night for dinner. Just wish we would have arrived to see the sunset. Food was delicious and service great (thanks, Amy!). Disappointed that it will be closing at the end of the year but hopeful something equally good will appear.

Its been so unseasonably Hot on Kauai, that the option to eat here became about the air conditioning! Not the Food. Its very sad state of food here… The menu is so dated and boring. Fried chicken is so over cooked and dry! Do not take chicken off the bone and try to fry it! Your chefs here don’t know how to cook chicken!!! Please leave the bone on and try to teach them how to fry juicy fried chicken. The salads used to be good, but now the lettuce greens are huge and not the great organic baby lettuces that they used to serve! Lettuce feels like hydroponic with zero taste and no texture! Caesar salad horrible with cheap romaine and it is NOT BABY ROMAINE or organic like they used to serve. Trying to trick us??? Not our group. Also after you order a salad for $ 18 dollars to throw a 2 oz piece of fish on, it becomes a $ 30 dollar fish salad! Ridiculous over priced and fish piece is minuscule. Tasteless ~ for those that want a salad with fish try dolphin restaurant in Hanalei. Special was ahi katsu… Why use ahi? It becomes hard & dry and tastes like sawdust in your mouth! Perhaps use a sweet tender piece of white fish if you are going to do katsu fish. One friend had salmon and ordered medium rare it came well done as well as tiny piece of fish for the price. We also ordered the burger which comes with bacon and the bacon was cold ontop of a hot burger! Which tasted gross and felt like it was a week old and they found it in the back of refrigerator. If you are using refrigerated old bacon that has been cooked days before you serve, perhaps heat it before you put on top of a hot burger. Also ordered medium rare came well well done and hard to chew. The cold bacon was a complete turn off ~ the French fries were ok but tasted like frozen pre cut pre seasoned restaurant supply frozen garbage! We ordered the coconut brûlée which was NOT BRÛLÉE OR EVEN CLOSE. Wrong dish to serve it in, the little tiny bowl was not a brûlée dish, nor was there a crisp hard shell, it was a gross coconut pudding with something weird on top not brûlée which became a huge disappointment for our table but made us laugh!!!
Make fresh ~ change your menu ~ support the local farms, that give you organic baby lettuces ~ bottled salad dressings from your suppliers are not fresh ~ get a chef that understands temperatures ~ try bringing in more local fruits, produce, meats, poultry ~ you really need to change menu with the seasons. Or just change because restaurant has a scenic location and the local people who live on island are not the tourists who come only once, we would love to have a good restaurant in princeville! This right now could be the worst!

Beautiful location. If you are heading up or back from Napali Coast, then make a stop here. We had dinner at sunset and it was truly memorable. We had hummus to start with and vegetable medley for me and buttermilk fried chicken for the husband. Be aware this place closes at 9.30pm so ensure there is enough time. Views are amazing. I ordered the rose sangria which was refreshing as well. Nice little spot for American food! The vegetable medley was amazing– eggplant, artichoke and courgette on a bed of kale and quinoa with a pesto and cream sauce. YUM!

The view is amazing. The food was wonderful and the drinks were great. I had the Caesar salad which was very authentic with whole anchovies, lemon juice and incredible dressing. I also had the short ribs and cheese grits. The ribs were tender and flavorful. The grits were a nice compliment.

Nasty flies ruined my lunch. Meat was too thick & bacon did not dazzle my mouth. What is the rave about the bacon? Seriously disappointed that Roy has his hands in this place.

I’m writing this for fellow Unilocalers who are visiting Kauai. If you’re a local, I might add a star as the Tavern would be different from many of the other restaurants on the island.
If you’re on vacation, I really can’t see how you’d put the Tavern on your list of places to eat. The family and I put in a long day at Hanalei Beach and we’re looking for an early dinner. Baracuda didn’t open until 5:30 and an hour wait for three kids isn’t an option. The second highest ranked place was The Tavern. If you’ve been to a golf club in the past, then you’ve been to a place pretty identical. Same cheap tables and booths you’ll see the world over. Paper napkins are a dead giveaway as to quality and ambiance.
We made it just in time for happy hour: calamari, flatbread, and hummus. The hummus and calamari were no different than any other costco brand you could have. The flatbread was horrid. Crispy flattened styrofoam would be the best description. For entrees we had the Shrimp Scampi (sautéed pasta with shrimp), the pot roast, the fried chicken, and the shrimp and grits. If you had blindfolded me to hide the view of Kauai, I couldn’t have told the difference between the food here and any other chain restaurant. It was okay, but certainly nothing memorable. The only way I could rank this place higher is if I was a local tired of eating Ono and Mahi. I can’t imagine how long I’d have to live here for that to happen.
The service was good. The views we’re just okay.

Had high hopes for this place given the reviews and probably just excited to be in Kaua’i but it did disappoint us.
The free parmesian popcorn that they provide was not fresh and could have used salt.
Poke was not good and just too salty which is all you tasted. Luckily the waitress took that off the bill which was appreciated since it is $ 20. For that price, it should have been the best ever.
Same salty issue with the burger. We really like burgers to be seasoned and have issues with most restaurants not putting any seasoning and relying on extras and sauces. But on this burger, when you take a bite it just taste like rock salt.
Drinks where pretty good though.
1 star for the nice waitress
1 star for the drinks

This is my favorite Kauai restaurant. Still, I check it out every six months or so to be sure quality remains the same or better…
I have been there twice this last week and the food and drinks were excellent. Thir hamburger with bleu cheese and carmelized onions was outstanding, cooked to the requested medium rare and served on a wonderful brioche bun. The House Salad was generous enough to share and the house dressing was original and delicious. We also had the flat bread pizza and calimari during happy hour and were well satisfied.
Did I mention drinks? The Tavern serves these best and most deadly mai tai I’ve ever had. Happy Hour is from 4 to 5 and the drinks are a good value.

Really surprised by the other reviews. This place is a 2 – 3 star place at best. Over priced «upscale bar food» in a golf course pub setting with food that was over sauced, over engineered (deep fried bacon? Wtf) and underwhelming.
The major issue here is the prices — $ 18 – 30 per entrée do not match the ambience and setting, the style of the menu, or the quality. Essentially this place is an over priced Ruby Tuesdays, except Ruby Tuesday’s food is better.
Ambience: 1 – 2 stars. The restaurant is in a desolate building on the Prince Golf Course and the Pro shop is around the corner. Certainly the views at sunset are great but I’m not paying for sunsets in Hawaii, they are a dime a dozen. It’s like any other duffer’s pub on a golf course — rich colored carpets and blonde wood tables. Paper napkins is the first sign you are at a place that doesn’t take the food or ambience too seriously.
Menu/​Food: 1 – 2 stars. I’m a hamburger and cheeseburger connoisseur and I never leave a single morsel remain on even a mediocre burger, but the tavern burger was just terrible. First of all, the patty was over cooked (asked for medium rare) and tasted like an unseasoned frozen bubba burger you get from Costco. Second of all, they put deep fried bacon that was so greasy it over whelmed the burger. Bacon is already amazing — don’t ruin it by covering it in some crappy breading and frying it.
On my wife’s fish — it was cooked perfectly and the Parmesan seasoning was great (3 – 4 stars) but the over the top cream sauce was basically an out of the jar Alfredo or cream sauce that ruined the fish. Fresh fish and other fresh ingredients don’t need to be sopping in a sodium filled sauce to make it taste good. This fish could have been served with asparagus and a rice and it would have been divine. Instead, it was like an Applebee’s sizzler special.
Overall the cost of these entrees, $ 19 for the burger and $ 30 for the fish, is crazy for the quality and type of food you get. I’d recommend going to Baracuda and spending a bit more and getting every penny worth the price.
Service: 3 – 4 stars. Service was good. Polite, friendly and timely. Too bad the food didn’t match up.

Really disappointing for a Roy’s joint. It’s more bar type food. Overall, the food tasted more reheated than fresh. The wife and I ordered the burger and ribs. The ribs tasted dry and overcooked — the glaze on top was good but the meat was so tough that I couldn’t enjoy it. The side mash was good but the cheese on top wasnt even melted, again just looked cheap and not like a Roys spot. The burger was better but also overcooked or tasted reheated. Katsu bacon was too much but aesthetically looked cool. Fries were really good. We had the kiddo — it was cool they give a small quesadilla for them at no cost. But the food was priced fair if it didnt taste like overcooked or reheated food. As you can tell I am a bit bitter about that.
Tap beer was good for $ 5 and the ambiance is spacious but almost too much where it feels like you’re eating in an open hall… not a restaurant. Service was fine — waitress didn’t care much but that was fine with us.
Im surprised that Roy’s keeps his name attached to this, definitely not typical of quality of his other restaurants. I would recommend skipping out but Kauai’s choices up North are unfortunately pretty limited.
I would’ve gave it one star but the $ 5 beer in Hawaii can always get a bonus star drom me.

It’s odd to have a seemingly large empty building adjacent to this place, but look beyond that, Go downstairs and enjoy the view from the bar at sunset.
We enjoyed a few pupus and probably the best Mai Tais we had the whole time we were on Kauai. The food was great (shrimp and grits were yummy, the hummus was creamy, and the Mai Tais were very strong) and the ambiance was great — a few out of town travelers and a mix of locals. View overlooks a golf course, Hanalei bay in the distance and makana mountain. The pictures from the back lanai were spot on and made for amazing photos.
A good stop of you’re up in Princeville or Hanalei area. Parking is ample, and just the drinks are worth coming. I wanna go again…

On a top rated golf course is where you will find this restaurant. You might have trouble using a map apps to get here but don’t worry. If your in Princeville, it’s on the west side of the Prince Golf Course. Just continue heading west on Kuhio Highway about a mile or two and it’s on the left. If you hit a church. You didn’t go west enough.
It was my wife’s and my wedding anniversary so I wanted something more upscale. From what I heard about the restaurant. Is that Roy from Roy’s Restaurant fame created this restaurant. But besides the culinary flair not too much of the dinner reminded me of Roy’s. What I mean is that it’s not thrown in your face that Roy did this or that. It just shows how modest the man is even though he is a genius when it comes to amazing meals.
We started with cocktails. My wife’s favorite. She had a cucumber gin gimlet (spelling) and I had a mai tai. Very refreshing. Cheese flavored popcorn was also served with our drinks. Not the kind you buy at the store but the kind that had soft crumbles of cheese stuck to the popcorn. Great with the drinks.
For an appetizer, I had the Tavern French soup. Very flavorful. For a guy who likes onions. I was in onion heaven.
Our entrees were for my wife the ribeye and I had the Maui Maui. Both plates were beautiful as well as delicious. My wife had her ribeye medium, Pupu style. Sliced covered in a rich brown gravy. She gave me a few bites. Pupu good.
My Maui Maui was cooked perfectly with the crispy skin up. On top of mashed potatoes with asparagus, sliced cherry tomatoes and broccoli. Great dish.
For dessert we had the sundae. Caramelized bananas, chewy coconut bites, vanilla ice cream, pineapple chunks and tons of fudge. My gluttony knows no bounds.
The views aren’t the best. It’s mostly of the golf course itself. But you can still see a great sunset and the Pacific if you really look out.
Service was good. Parking not a issue. Prices are fair. If you want an above average culinary experience. Eat here. The restaurant is a winner.

Weird experience at the tavern today. We went for dinner on thanksgiving– agreed that all restaurants are short staffed then– but our waiter just plain left! In the middle of our meal– he went home. He did not tell us or get us a replacement. Strange
Food– we got the calamari– mediocre– not
Fried well enough, I got the Ono Parmesan crusted– meh especially for $ 34!
The husband got the buttermilk chicken– that was very good.
Overall a 2.5−3 stars.

With «The Tavern», Roy Yamaguchi has redeemed himself from the embarrassing mediocrity of «Roy’s» in Lihue. Inconspicuously located on the lower level of the Prince Golf Course, the restaurant has an expansive view of the golf course and is probably a great spot for watching sunsets.
As Kauai is notoriously known for mediocre restaurants at prices that are known to cause spontaneous miscarriages, even if you’re not pregnant and not a woman, we approached The Tavern with some trepidation. However, our rather odd, but shining light of a server kept us on the right track in terms of ordering the right food and food/​wine combinations. Some of the more memorable moments –
«Yes, the Malbec is a great choice to cut the grease of the food. Whoops, did I just say THAT out loud?» (After ordering the Malbec with the short ribs, cheeseburger with fried bacon and pork ribs.)
«Well, the pork ribs and short ribs are from different animals.» (When asked how the ribs differ.)
«Now, can I ask you why you ordered the fried chicken? Because there are a lot of Unilocal reviews about how great the chicken is, but now they’ve changed it to a frozen chicken which isn’t as good.» (When I tried to order the fried chicken.)
«There are some people who Unilocal on their phones right on the table, even before finishing their meals!»
We ended up ordering two pork ribs, one short rib and one cheeseburger (with fried bacon). The burger and short ribs were delicious, with the rare burger being one of the best my friend’s ever had. The short ribs basically melted in my mouth and the flavor was exquisite (it wasn’t made in a pressure cooker but really really cooked over a long period of time. The pork ribs had a nice flavor but too tough. The table next to us ordered the fried chicken and they didn’t look too appetizing.
For those Unilocalers who didn’t like the Mai Tais — I’ll admit these are NOT traditional Mai Tais with the standard mix and pineapple juice. The Mai Tais had some basil (not traditional), orgeat and the usual two types of run. It had a great refreshing and «classy cocktail» flavor, but those expecting the «traditional» better known Mai Tai will be disappointed.
Overall, a really pleasant surprise, made memorable by our awesome and unique server… whom I hope never to run into on a dark, deserted highway.

I have come to expect mediocrity when it comes to the Roy restaurants but I must grudgingly admit this was at least OK. I was attracted to the high end comfort food being offered that is abundant in the Bay Area but not so much in Kauai. We didn’t order drinks (thanks to your reviews) and just went straight to food. GZ wanted to try the escargot since he has never had it. Our server seemed a bit reluctant to allow us to order it, saying that it «has a Roy spin» to it and is not traditional. So why is it called «Classic Escargot»? Very confusing. Despite his misgivings, we ordered it anyway and enjoyed them as much as inexperienced escargot eater can (mostly tasted like butter and herbs). The bread it was served with was very buttery, toasted perfectly and delightful.
Entrees come out super QUICK so I am guessing they are mostly precooked and heated up or prepped really really well. The fried chicken was fried well and it had an interesting seasoning to it (I think it was Asian tinged but GZ wasn’t so sure). The pork ribs were also solid; quite sweet (made your hands sticky) and tender. The bacon cheddar mash was pretty heavy on the cheddar but also pretty good.
Overpriced? Of course but not terrible for a special night out.
Overall, kind of a strange vibe because it’s aiming for casual with food/​service but charging prices comparable to the view/​atmosphere. Once you swallow that, it’s easy to enjoy yourself. We were able to grab a reservation around sunset and the view was pretty awesome. Waiter was a little strange which brought the vibe down a bit. We had to tell him we were ready to order, otherwise he seemed content just letting us eat the remains of our app.
I don’t know… everything was just kind of OK. Nothing spectacular (except the view) or terrible.
P. S. I forgot to mention our popcorn was BURNT. Nothing worse than burnt popcorn.

5 star view and worth the trip.
The view is amazing and the service was very good if a little too overly familiar giving out personal information about other service members.
The food, like much of the food in Hawaii, leaves something to be desired. «Ginger» soup was all soy sauce, no other taste was discernible. Ahi poki was a small blob of fish for $ 22 that was stringy and a little scary to eat, with heavy soy again on the salad which was large uncut leaves.
I had an absolutely wonderful evening but it was mostly the great company and great views! fun bar area. I would definitely go many times again and bring people, just don;t have high expectations on the food level.

So, The Tavern is right down the street from the St. Regis, and is on a beautiful golf course. You’d imagine that this would be a pretty upscale place, but actually, it’s just a clubhouse restaurant that serves burgers and fried chicken. Definitely wasn’t expecting that, but I kinda like it. Anyway, we came in without a reservation and ended up sitting at a high table in the bar area. Not totally awful, but the service was slow in getting to us even though the place was virtually empty. Rather than serving table bread, they gave out popcorn that some weird powdery cheese on top of it.
Anyway, we ordered the following:
–The Tavern Burger
–Buttermilk Fried Chicken
–Guava Lemonade
Greg had the burger, and I had the fried chicken. So, let’s discuss the chicken first. It came with a breast, drumstick, and a thigh piece over mashed potatoes and greens. I love fried chicken, especially when it’s hot and the breading is delicious. My reaction to the chicken was that it was underwhelming. It seemed a little underseasoned and parts of my chicken were dry. People are right in saying that the mashed potatoes were good, but the chicken was so-​so. On the other hand, Greg said that his burger was really good, and the one thing we both really enjoyed was the katsu bacon (basically fried/​breaded bacon!!). While Greg said it gave him heartburn, the whole meal was delicious. I had a few of his fries too and those were also good. My adult guava lemonade was good, and wasn’t very strong or sweet so it was quite refreshing.
So my general feelings about this place is «meh». You can certainly find better food options outside of here, and really all I say is that if you don’t want the food being served to you pool/​beachside at the St. Regis for lunch, this is a better option.

The Tavern by Roy’s is amazing on three main points:
1) The view. You get a panoramic view of the Princeville Golf Course, and a fantastic sunset view.
2) The drinks: at $ 10-​$ 11 the Mai Tai and Hairy Mary are the two best concoctions on the Garden Isle
3) The 1lb Rib Eye. See posted pic. Happy organic Kauai grass fed cows make fantastic beef. It’s easily splittable for two. Get this, a few appetizers, and a few cocktails and split the Tavern Pie, and you will be in heaven for $ 100 for two!
Don’t listen to the haters who gave this place 4-​stars because «it’s too noisy» or «the décor isn’t up to par with a fine restaurant». They clearly do not understand what a TAVERN means.

Still the best Mai Tai in town. Our server was delightful and the food totally delicious. Our table with a view of Bali Hai at sunset was spectacular.
The only thing preventing the 5^th star continues to be aesthetic and logistical. The acoustics are quite poor so the room is very loud. The bar and the restaurant also share the same space which provides a casual feel but not necessarily the feel that you would want in a higher end restaurant.

Roy Yamaguchi-​I had no idea you did comfort food!
The Tavern on the Prince Golf course on Kauai is such a polar opposite from Roy’s that I would have never guessed they shared the same owner.
The Tavern has a very «manly» vibe to it, in my opinion-​the big wood tables, the menu filled with options that include bacon or some other form of pig, and the large windows displaying a fantastic view of the Prince Golf Course… I don’t know, for some reason all of this together just scream «MAN» to me.
The Tavern has a somewhat limited menu but the choices are delicious ones! If you’ve eaten at Roy’s before, don’t expect those smaller, bite size portions with the detailed presentation. The Tavern is comfort food-​and lots of it-I’m talking unbutton your pants lots! Don’t get me wrong, we all enjoyed our meals, but you definitely see a different side of Roy Yamaguchi here.
For starters we had the Escargot and the Calamari. Both were delicious and the escargot is easily some of the best I’ve ever had. Swimming in their own mini pools of butter, bread crumbs, parmesan, garlic, and lemon-​this dish came complete with warm bread to sop up all the excess. The Calamari was ok, but nothing I’d be dying to order again.
For our entrees we had:
*Braised Short Ribs: DELICIOUS! Who doesn’t love a tasty, melt in your mouth short rib-​especially when paired with cheesy grits and bacon green beans-​you really can’t go wrong. I was just sad that I had a huge chunk of short rib left over that I couldn’t take home!
*Tavern Pesto Shrimp Scampi: Very tasty with shrimp that were cooked very well, nothing too special and out of the ordinary, but just a very good, comforting, usual pesto pasta.
*The Tavern Burger: Now this is the dish that we heard all about. A giant burger topped with Deep Fried Katsu Bacon, Caramelized Onions, Smoked Gouda, and Chipotle Aioli. To be honest, the idea and look of it was a lot better than it actually was. If they are going to deep fry bacon, they need to get bacon that is a little more thick cut-​the taste of the bacon was lost in the deep frying and didn’t offer anything to the burger.
If you’re looked for a large, rich, comforting meal definitely check out The Tavern. If you’re coming for dinner, try and get a reservation around sunset, the view is fabulous. If you’re looking for something similar to Roy’s, this might not be the place for you.