Kauai Grill at St. Regis Princeville
Reviews
We made reservations for our 30th anniversary over 6 months in advance. I specifically asked for a window seat. 1st negative impression; we did not get our window seat, We were seated in the middle of the room. 2nd negative impression; the noise level was so high that we could not have a conversation unless we were right in each other's ear. 3rd negative impression; I ordered the octopus appetizer, it was overdone and very chewy. My wife's tomato soup was tasty but only on the warm side, not very hot. Why can't restaurants serve warm rolls or buns? It's not that hard. The rolls were not warm. My Ahi Tuna was crusted in pepper, but overly crusted. A slight dusting would have been better. The waiter was attentive, but busy with other tables. For the price, I would recommend someplace else.
Very disappointing. Was there to celebrate our Honeymoon and our experience was the worst I've had at a restaurant in a long time. Our server seemed uneducated, the service was rushed, the bread came after our entrees (??), and the lobster my wife ordered was not how the server initially described it and was chewy. Given how much the hotel staff talked up this restaurant, we were shocked with our experience. The manager, however; was very apologetic and handled the situation well. I would hope this was a rare occurrence considering the reputation of St. Regis, but I would encourage people to look at spending their money elsewhere.
The food was your typical fancy rich French style restaurant fare, on par with a good New York restaurant. The views are spectacular. Come for sunset.
In spite of the wonderful sense of cuisine that is expected at a Jean-Georges venue, this is an overwhelmingly over-rated restaurant. Yes, it does face one of the great tropical views, but the decor neither takes advantage of it (I was sat with my back to it), very poor design, nor is the environment pleasing on any level. I would say it is a down right ugly design with horrible lighting and acoustics. Poorly managed, the food came room temp.
There is no other place in the island chain with view as spectacular as at this location. You must eat here, and spend at least one sunset here before you die.
