HUKILAU LANAI

HUKILAU LANAI

KAPAA, KAUAI

Next to our Kauai beach shack there is a oceanfront hotel with a nice little restaurant called the Hukilau Lanai.  We have eaten here several times during our Kauai visits.  This trip we stopped in for dinner on a Saturday night.  As usual the place was packed.  We did not have a reservation but arrived early enough to be seated.  After we were seated there was a wait and the bar was full.  The photo above was taken from our table.  Nice view of pool area and beyond is the ocean.  For starters we enjoyed the Adams Ahi Poki Nachos.  Crisp wonton chips layered with sashimi grade ahi poke, tomato, avocado and tobiko, topped with wasabi cream.  This dish has tons of potential but is a little too sweet for our taste.  The dish is full of furikake which is a sugared seaweed.  I loved the poke but could not eat the entire dish because of the sweetness.  Next we moved onto a nice Arugula salad which featured locally grown arugula, fresh beets, corn off the cob and a basil vinaigrette dressing.  This was a good salad but would be better if they added some other lettuce other than 100% arugula.  I liked the beets, corn and dressing. Entree items include Pasta, Steak, Prime Rib, Pork Tenderloin and fresh fish.  We tried the fresh Ahi Tuna served with okra gumbo and polenta.  I don't know if gumbo, polenta and ahi go together too well, but separately each was good.  The gumbo was spicy and full of flavor.    One good thing about the Hukilau Lanai is that they offer 20 different wines for under $20.