the Bistro

It’s in a tourist trap but the food is good and reasonably priced. Sit at the bar to hang with the locals. I don’t like wings but theirs I could eat any day. If Alecia, ask for a tropical Moscow mule.

Stopped here on a whim, it was so good! My boyfriend and I split the pulled pork sandwich and upgraded to sweet potatoes fries. Both were fabulous, and we are both full! The purple sweet potato fries and spicy dipping sauce we my favorite! Definitely check this place out.

We had an interesting experience at the Bistro a few days ago…
Being a large group of 12, the waitstaff was relatively good at handling our group. However, when I, a woman with short hair, had my order taken, the waitress referred to me as «sir.» Now, I don’t find this offensive, but it was weird and made a lot of us uncomfortable, especially when the waitress did not apologize. The evening moved on fine after this, but clearly this doesn’t merit a 2-​star review, so there is more.
A member of our party is a recovering alcoholic, and has been clean for a good amount of time. He ordered the chicken marsala, which is accompanied by a wine sauce. The alcohol is cooked out of the sauce, and theoretically, it should have a very bold flavor, and barely taste of wine. He received his plate, and I noticed him barely eating his food. Another person at the table asked to try his food, and confirmed that the sauce was definitely off. There was a clear wine taste, and the alcohol was not cooked out. We brought this to the attention of the waitress, who responded, in quite a condescending tone, «Well, you are aware that Marsala sauce has wine in it, correct?» We responded that, yes, we did know, but this sauce was off and all we wanted was to return the plate or at least have the chef confirm that this was how his sauce was supposed to taste. Rolling her eyes, the waitress took the plate back. When she returned, she explained that he chef did taste it, and it was off. Meaning that: one, the chef did not taste his sauce before serving it; and two, a recovering alcoholic had alcohol as a result. Of course, he was very upset. We will not return as a result.
It wasn’t all bad though. The food was all okay, not special, but okay, and the resident cat was pretty cute. Not a great deal for the prices, and small plates are definitely not enough food for a whole meal.

Local spot. Quite a cast of characters. Few choices in the area. The sliders were ok. But, the fries, ribs and grilled artichoke were excellent. No food to go or doggie bags but they will provide foil. Great waitress.

My review is only about happy hour.
When we arrived we were immediately greeted and found a seat on the patio. The décor is adorable. The ambiance is very nice; the place feels hip yet classy. It is great for couples or friends wanting to meet up for drinks. I kept asking my boyfriend how they got so much ikea-​inspired décor to the island though lol. It definitely has a hipster vibe.
When it comes to service they get ⁵⁄₅. Our server was very attentive, pouring water before we could even ask and making sure we had anything we needed.
As for the drinks, the happy hour half-​priced Mai tai was awesome! It had a nice fruity taste and was appropriately strong.
Finally, the happy hour food is like bar food … But really nice bar food. The pulled pork sandwich was on point and pretty big. The fries were perfect. Wings were good but nothing special though. I really wish that early afternoon you could order off the main menu and not just the happy hour food menu. I think they don’t open up the main food menu until 5:30 pm.
Overall I’d recommend this place.

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Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees. I’ll start with the good. Half price Mai tai was good. Now on to the rest… we live here. This place should be full of locals if it’s a good spot since there’s no other restaurant with table service in Kilauea. That should have been our first clue why it’s not. I asked about gluten free options since I have an allergic reaction to wheat. A gluten free menu was brought to the table. I saw the exact same dish on the regular and GF menu and asked what’s the difference? The server didn’t know. She’s worked there for over a year at least. She went to the kitchen to ask the chef and was told «it’s prepared differently». …what’s that mean? It’s the same description on the menu? She couldn’t answer. My friend I was with knew the hostess. She asked her if she knew, she came back with the same response, it’s prepared differently. Oh, and by the way, it was $ 33 on the GF menu and $ 30 on the regular menu. $ 3 ain’t no big deal, but give me an answer that actually answers the question. What’s the difference? It’s a sirloin steak with mashers and mushrooms… I asked the server again, just plain curious at this point. Was the kitchen area cleaned off so no cross contamination occurred? That would be an answer… well, lo and behold, that was the answer. Area was cleaned so no cross contamination occurred. Hmmm. Ok. I’ll have the steak med rare. The $ 15 artichoke app arrived. Tasty but undercooked. Couldn’t eat the outside leaves. $ 11 Risotto small plate arrived, really tasty. Then the $ 30 steak. Cooked Med rare but a tough piece of meat. Mashers were good but just warm, mushrooms undercooked. Had to ask for salt and pepper, received plastic S&P grinders from Costco… nice touch. Server never did check back to see how our dinner was. She was busy sweeping the patio. (There was a busser). Had to ask for wine with dinner. Just an overall underwhelming experience for the price. This place could be so awesome, might just take advantage of the half price happy hour at the bar in the future. That’s where the locals were and gone when it ended. I won’t be bringing visiting family and friends here unfortunately.

Whenever we are on Kauai, we make one trip to the Bistro for dinner. The food is very good and it has a very comfortable atmosphere (not too touristy).

WOW!!! Found this place on Unilocal and I’ll add to the ratings! Everything was fantastic from the service to the food! We will be back before we have to go back home.
Lamb lollipops (ask for entrée size) and spinach/​cheese dip were our faves!

we had drinks and pupas at the bar one day and dinner 2 days later. FAB ULOUS! Really fine dinning meals. Great prices. If in the area, a MUST!
p. s. the best French Fries ever and I am over 50.

Best service and the food and wine selection were both great :) definitely get the flatbread and chocolate mousse

This place is just okay. The food is nothing special, especially for the price.
My family and I had already eaten some appetizers at a wine bar prior, so we weren’t too hungry. My parents wanted to order small plates to do a tapas type of meal, but my brother and I weren’t feeling any of the small plates, so we both ordered the larger entrées.
My parents ordered the mussels, lamb sliders, and something else. It’s so hard to remember because there is nothing memorable about the dishes. My dad hated the mussels and my parents thought the sliders were average.
I ordered the mac nut pesto and you can’t really go wrong with pesto pasta. I liked how they were generous with the size and quantity of artichoke hearts.
My brother ordered prawn risotto or something like that, and the prawns were so dinky and small.
Service was good, not spectacular. Would I come back? No.

This place was okay. The food was nothing to get excited about, but the ambiance was pleasant. There is a cute silver cat that walks around the place which is cute.

Mr & I chose The Bistro for our midweek dinner & what a great choice!
Mac nut pesto w/​sundried tomatoes & a ton of artichoke hearts & shaved parm– the flavor was pesto-​perfect & the pasta was al dente
Kale salad — awesome flavor with a ton of sliced almonds
Beet salad — loved the macs & dressing but wished the beets hadn’t been sliced so thinly
Mai Tais were only okay. We got them only because they were on the Happy Hour menu. We’d probably pass next time to try their gin passion fruit option

I wish we could have taken the Bistro back with us to Los Angeles! We kinda stumbled across this place while exploring the North end of Kauai. The food is a-​m-​a-​z-​i-​n-​g! A foodie’s oasis. Thank you to the chef for the amazing food experience and service. You can do no wrong. I want to go back right now. Feed me, Bistro!

The service was good and the Mai tai happy hour was great. The food was a bit lacking. I had the bbq pork sandwich which didn’t have a decent amount of bbq flavor. I will give it another go eventually, I hate giving less than 4 stars.

A wonderful spot for a date night; when we were there we saw a few other couples had the same idea. The space is unique, having a hybrid indoor/​outdoor feeling which adds to the ambience – don’t worry, you’re all covered if it rains.
Sometimes they have a live band playing indoors; playing music that matches the atmosphere. We enjoyed the options on the menu and the food was quite tasty. Drinks were good and decent wine selection as well.

We walked in without a reservation and the place was busy. We opted to sit at the bar and enjoy a few small plates along with some nice pours from bartender Casey, who properly made us a couple Mai Tai and Gin Passion (Hendricks)
cocktails. We really enjoyed the Ahi Rockets, Artichoke Tapenade and Kale Salad. Service at the bar was friendly, efficient and the conversation from the local folks was full of aloha. All and all an enjoyable evening at moderate prices. Highly recommend.

My brother laughed when I read him the sign on the wall of The Bisto: «A small restaurant serving moderately priced meals in a modest setting.» I would say that the prices are more than moderate for the serving of food that we got. My family and I came here on our last night in Kauai; we were staying in Kilauea and this seems to be one of the less casual restaurants in the area. I had the beet salad and the beef sirloin, and both were decent. I was excited about the addition of macadamia nuts and lilikoi to the beet salad, but could barely taste either. The beef was also a little tough. Our server was rather brusque, but the food came out at an acceptable pace. Overall, not terribly bad, but I might have opted for somewhere with better food and prices.

First off, the whole reason for the 2 stars is because of what happened the next day after we were there.
We ate there on a monday night. we were staying in princeville, and it was later at night and the bistro was the closest thing to us that was open. upon arriving we were sat right away. it was not crowded at all but we also arrived shortly before the kitchen closed. our waitress — a blonde female was very nice. our drinks arrived fast, pretty much right after we ordered them. for food we asked to see the vegan menu because on their website it listed vegan/​gluten free options. we decided not to order anything off the vegan/​gluten free menu. after she took our order she asked us if we were sure that we didnt want anything of the separate menu. we are sometimes vegan/​vegetarian, but not that night!
the food arrived promply as well. i ordered the beet salad, and lamb sliders, and my bf ordered the prawn risotto. the food was good. although i prob shouldve ordered something more, but i wasnt that hungry at the time. the service was good, she kept checking in on us to see how we were doing.
after we were done, we paid half cash, and rest on card (it was my card) normally we have no problem doing so. another thing to mention is that for 1 iced tea, 1 cocktail, and the 3 food items the bill came to $ 60. where as the previous night we went to kauai beer co and got so much more for way less and the whole experience was much better. anyways, i signed the receipt for my card and we left. i dont usually take my receipts with me, idk why i just never do. i shouldve taken it that night!
fast forward to 2 nights later. we were out to dinner the night before we had to fly back to honolulu. i got an email from my bank saying i was in the negative. i checked my account only to find out the waitress charged me for both the cash transaction and my card transaction :(my bf who is a server at a restaurant, told me what he thinks happened is she prob accidentally rang up the cash as card, cancelled it and just thought she could get away with not saying anything. i will also add that the amount he paid with cash had gone through, but my amount was pending. she literally said nothing when she brought it back for me to sign. i was livid!!!
i called the next day (day we were leaving) and talked to a mgr. i dont remember his name but he was pretty much defending her and saying that this mistake shouldnt have put me in the negative. he took my info including the amount that was charged wrong and said the owner would call me back. the wrong amount has disappeared from my account, but he still never did call.
this is why im giving 2 stars. who knows, maybe she pocketed the money. she didnt seem like the type but you never know. and a phone call wouldve been nice to apologize for this mishap. the food wasnt that great that we prob wouldnt be back anyways.
the moral of the story folks is: ALWAYS CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS BEFORE YOU LEAVE!!! i wish we wouldve caught her in the act. lol.

Une adresse vraiment sympa en dehors de la eone ultra touristique de Princeville et Hanalei
Des plats simples et bien cuisinés
Nous avons particulièrement apprécié mrs
Plats a partir de Ahi, le thon hawaien: cuisson medium rare: juste parfait
Une mention spéciale pour le dessert moelleux au chocolat chaud Decadence

I remember reading about this place four years ago on our last stay. However, we were over in Poipu at the time. Luckily, we stayed in Princeville and was able to visit. Nice open air restaurant, although the occasional fly may come and visit. Friendly greeting when we came in.
They have a nice wine list, but we were going to be driving, so I opted for a refreshing signature drink. The partner had a couple glasses of wine. We started with the Kalua springs rolls which were really tasty! We both ordered the Kauai Burger which was juicy and flavorful. Overall it was a very enjoyable lunch.
My only issue was that our friendly server was really busy and people were starting to come in. So it took a while for us to get the check and for her to run it. Other than that, this place is great! I do wish we could’ve came back for dinner. That would have to wait for next time!