Restaurants, hotels, bars and wineries in Lihue from the En Primeur Club guide.
Accolades in Lihue
These places show the everyday side of Lihue, with plate lunches, poke, noodles and straightforward local cooking.
In Puhi, Mark's Place is known for massive Hawaiian plate lunches, including the Famous Mixed Plate with chicken katsu, teriyaki beef and beef stew. It also carries a James Beard Award Best Chefs (1992).
Konohiki Seafoods in Lihue is a takeout-only seafood restaurant popular with locals, drawing on the island's fishing culture and local fish. Its a la carte food includes Hawaiian plate lunches and fresh Hawaiian poke in 20+ varieties.
Hamura Saimin in Downtown Lihue is a Hawaiian saimin stand serving a la carte food for over 100 years. The restaurant has been part of the city's working-lunch culture for decades and serves saimin noodle soup with housemade noodles and lilikoi chiffon pie.
These rooms bring the clearest drinks programmes in Lihue, with wine lists, cocktails and oceanfront dining.
Cafe Portofino in Lihue pairs Northern Italian cooking and fresh seafood with an oceanfront setting over Nawiliwili Harbor and Kalapaki Beach. It has an extensive wine list and beer programme.
Duke's Kauai in Lihue sits on Kalapaki Beach with panoramic ocean views and live Hawaiian entertainment. Its drinks side includes craft cocktails and an extensive wine list, alongside Hawaiian regional seafood and steakhouse dishes.
The Royal Lanai in Kalapaki serves Japanese cuisine with local island flair in an open-air setting. It has a wine list and serves craft cocktails, with views over the state's largest pool and an a la carte menu.
Lihue has 11 venues in our guide. Kalapaki adds 2 more, while Puhi, Downtown Lihue, Kalapaki Beach, Lihue Industrial and Kilohana Plantation each appear with a single venue in the guide.
There are no Michelin-starred restaurants in our guide for Lihue. Mark's Place in Puhi holds a James Beard Award Best Chefs (1992). Timbers Kauai Ocean Club & Residences in Lihue has a Michelin 1 Key hotel award (2026).
Duke's Kauai has an extensive wine list. Cafe Portofino has an extensive wine list, while The Royal Lanai, Hualani's and The Plantation House by Gaylords have wine lists.
Cafe Portofino in Lihue serves Northern Italian cooking in an oceanfront setting. Its a la carte menu includes fresh seafood and hand-tossed pizza. The restaurant has an extensive wine list and a beer programme.
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
Lihue
Selected entries from the current guide for Lihue.
Lihue, United States
Mark's Place sits on Haleukana Street in Lihue, operating in a city where casual plate lunch counters and resort dining define most of the options. The address alone signals something local and deliberate rather than tourist-facing, placing it in a tier of Kauai dining that rewards residents and repeat visitors over first-timers on a packaged itinerary.
Lihue, United States
On the second floor of a Lihue shopping center, ALISA Sushi & Thai Bistro occupies a niche that Kauai's dining scene genuinely needs: a dual-format kitchen running sushi and Thai cooking under one roof. The address places it squarely in everyday Lihue rather than the resort corridor, which shapes both the crowd and the pricing. For visitors and locals willing to look past the mall setting, the combination format rewards the curious diner.
Lihue, United States
An Italian-named address in Lihue, Hawaii, Cafe Portofino sits within a dining scene shaped by the island's crosscurrents of local tradition and imported influences. The restaurant draws from the culinary thread connecting coastal Italian cooking to the Pacific's own seafood culture. For visitors working through Kauai's south-shore options, it represents a distinct register from the plate-lunch counters and surf-casual grills that dominate the area.
Lihue, United States
Duke's Kauai sits on the waterfront in Lihue, operating as one of Hawaii's most recognized casual dining addresses along the Kalapaki Beach shoreline. The menu draws heavily on Pacific Rim ingredients and fresh local fish, placing it within a dining tradition that prizes proximity to the ocean above all. For visitors planning a stop, the Lihue waterfront location makes it a natural anchor for an evening on Kauai's east side.
Lihue, United States
On Rice Street in Lihue, Garden Island BBQ & Chinese Restaurant occupies the practical, no-ceremony end of Kauai's dining scene, where the ritual is efficiency and the draw is direct Chinese-American barbecue in a town that values both. It sits in a category that locals rely on rather than celebrate, which on an island of this size amounts to something close to institutional standing.
Lihue, United States
Hamura Saimin has anchored Lihue's working-lunch culture for decades, serving the noodle soup that functions as Kauai's most legible comfort food. The address on Kress Street places it at the center of the island's most lived-in commercial district, a world apart from the resort corridors to the north. For context on the broader Lihue dining scene, see our full Lihue restaurants guide.
Lihue, United States
Happy Eats sits on Kuhio Highway in Lihue, the working commercial heart of Kauai, where the dining scene runs closer to plate lunch counters and family-run spots than resort-strip restaurants. With limited data in the public record, the draw here is context: a casual stop in a town that rewards visitors willing to eat where locals actually eat.
Lihue, United States
Hualani's occupies a quieter register in Lihue's dining scene, where the pacing and setting invite a slower, more deliberate meal than the beach-adjacent crowds tend to allow. Positioned at 3770 Alaaholi Way, it draws visitors looking to step away from the resort circuit and eat at something closer to neighborhood pace. The address places it within reach of Lihue's commercial core without the noise that comes with it.
Lihue, United States
Kikuchi's sits on Rice Street in Lihue, Kauai's working downtown, placing it among the island's locally oriented dining spots rather than the resort corridor. Compared to the waterfront draw of Duke's Kauai or the decades-long institution status of Hamura Saimin, Kikuchi's occupies a quieter position in the local dining fabric, worth seeking out by visitors willing to move beyond the obvious.
Lihue, United States
A seafood-focused stop on Kuhio Highway in Lihue, Konohiki Seafoods draws on Kauai's working fishing culture rather than its resort dining circuit. The format leans toward direct, ingredient-led preparation, the kind of approach that makes sense when the supply chain is short and the fish is local. For visitors who want to eat closer to the island's actual food economy, it sits in a different register than the beachfront operations nearby.
Lihue, United States
Kukui's on Kalapaki Beach sits on one of Kauai's most sheltered stretches of sand in Lihue, positioning it squarely within the island's casual waterfront dining tradition. The address on Rice Street places it close to Nawiliwili Harbor, where the Pacific's proximity shapes what ends up on the plate. For visitors working through Lihue's dining scene, it represents the beachside end of the local spectrum.
Lihue, United States
Lawai'a Fish Co operates out of a low-key commercial address on Peleke Street in Lihue, sitting within Kauai's working waterfront culture rather than its resort corridor. The name itself signals intent: lawai'a is Hawaiian for fisherman, and the focus stays on the island's seafood tradition. For visitors calibrated to Kauai's local dining circuit rather than its hotel restaurants, it represents a different register entirely.
Lihue, United States
Luau Kalamaku occupies a working sugarcane plantation in Lihue, framing traditional Hawaiian feast culture within a setting that connects the meal directly to Kauai's agricultural history. Where most luau formats lean toward resort-scale spectacle, this one positions ingredient provenance and island land use as the event's organizing logic. It sits in a distinct tier among Kauai's evening experiences.
Lihue, United States
Naupaka Terrace sits along Kauai Beach Drive in Lihue, placing it within reach of the island's eastern shore and the broader Coconut Coast dining corridor. As a hotel-adjacent terrace dining concept, it operates in a category where setting and accessibility matter as much as the plate. For visitors orienting around Lihue's restaurant scene, it serves as a reliable starting point before exploring the wider options the district offers.
Lihue, United States
On the west side of Lihue's Rice Street corridor, Pho Kauai fills a niche that most of Hawaii's resort dining ignores: the everyday Vietnamese bowl, served without ceremony in a setting that locals return to on habit rather than occasion. In a town where dining tends to split between beachfront Americana and plate-lunch counters, a dedicated pho kitchen represents a specific kind of culinary commitment.
Lihue, United States
Gaylord's Restaurant occupies a historic plantation estate on Kauai's south shore, placing it in a different register from Lihue's casual beachside options. The setting, a 1930s plantation manor with open-air courtyard dining, does much of the contextual work before a dish arrives. For travelers moving through the island's main hub, it represents one architecturally distinctive dining address in the area.
Lihue, United States
On Rice Street in Lihue, The Royal Lanai occupies a distinctive position in Kauai's dining scene, where open-air island character meets the practical realities of a working county seat. For visitors planning a meal here, understanding how it fits within Lihue's broader restaurant mix, from casual plate-lunch counters to waterfront dining rooms, shapes the decision considerably.
Lihue
Selected entries from the current guide for Lihue.
Lihue, United States
Sitting on 450 oceanfront acres within the Hōkūala resort outside Lihue, Timbers Kaua'i earned a Michelin Key in 2024 and positions itself in the residential-luxury tier: all accommodations are multi-bedroom residences, many with private plunge pools or lanais at the water's edge. A Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, farm-to-table dining at Hualani's, and a working on-site farm complete a property built for stays measured in weeks, not nights.
Lihue
Selected entries from the current guide for Lihue.
No venues found.
Lihue
Selected entries from the current guide for Lihue.
No venues found.
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