#Kaua’i: Eating Out in Kapaa

About a week and a half before we moved out of our house we found ourselves sick to death of microwave-heated processed food. The microwave needed to be sold anyway, it was obvious the oven door wasn’t going to be repaired before we moved out, and the stove top needed to be cleaned, so we decided the time had come to eat out until we got into the condo with its functional kitchen. It would also be a great time to try out a few new-to-us places and rate them for affordability and flavor (and/or see what we had or hadn’t been missing).

We started our dining adventures at Paco’s Tacos, a little restaurant located between the Bank of Hawaii and the Deja Vu surf shop in Old Town Kapaa. Paco’s Tacos has been one of YaYu’s favorite places for a long time, but Brett and I had never been before. Hawaii has a reputation for not having good Mexican restaurants, but Brett and I thought our dinners at Paco’s were very good and authentic. YaYu ordered a big carne asada quesadilla, Brett had an absolutely huge carnitas burrito, and I had the chili rellenos platter (chili rellenos are one of those things that if they’re on the menu, I have to order). Brett also ordered a Jarritos lime soda, and we got an order of churros to share for dessert. We were served a lot of food, spent less than we expected, and left happy and full. We all came home with leftovers too. We would go back, and give Paco’s Tacos four out of five stars for taste and affordability.

For our second night out we headed over to the Olympic Cafe, where YaYu is working this summer. The Olympic is located upstairs in one of the original Old Town Kapaa buildings, and there are several tables at the front of the restaurant that overlook the highway and shops. YaYu was working that evening so Brett and I decided to keep dinner simple: we shared a plate of coconut shrimp (one of their happy hour specials) and split a tuna melt. We came prepared though to indulge in the Olympic’s signature dessert: a slice of Kauai Pie (chocolate ice cream surrounded by coffee-macadamia-toasted coconut ice cream which is then surrounded by more chocolate ice cream, with the whole slice topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream). The shrimp and sandwich were both great, but our eyeballs popped out of our heads when we saw the piece of Kauai Pie. It was MASSIVE, probably more than a quart of ice cream. The pie was absolutely delicious though, and I’m almost ashamed to admit that Brett and I managed to finish it (but continued to feel full for most of the next day). We left the Olympic Cafe full and happy so we gave it all five stars!

We’d been wanting to check out the pizzas at the Scorpacciata food truck for a while because the truck is owned and operated by the parent of one of the girls’ swim team members, and it has also gotten good reviews for its made-to-order pizzas. Scorpacciata is also located in Old Town Kapaa, in a small vacant lot right next to the Wailua Shave Ice trailer. YaYu was dining with us this time so we ordered two pizzas: sausage & pepper and margherita (typically my favorite pizza). We thought the sausage pizza was quite good, but all of us thought the margherita was just “meh.” Still, there were no leftovers. We finished our meal with shave ice from Wailua, a mango-pineapple one for YaYu, and Brett and I shared a “lava flow” (strawberry and pineapple with a haupia foam topping). It was another affordable, relaxed evening out, and another place we would return to if we had the time. While both YaYu and I gave Scorpacciata four stars for taste and affordability (we deducted a star for the weak margherita pizza), Brett gave them only three – he said he wasn’t bowled over by either pizza. Wailua Shave Ice gets a solid five stars from all of us though!

We also ate at a couple of restaurants we’d eaten at before and wanted to try again (Sam’s Ocean View and Bubba’s Burgers) and tried two new-to-us Italian restaurants: Kauai Pasta and Bobby V’s. They were very different from each other, but both had good food – we especially liked the cannoli at Bobby V’s! All the restaurants we ate at fell within the “affordable dining” range in our opinion. Although I’m glad to be able to cook again, it was sort of fun eating out every day, trying new places and going back to old favorites, almost like we were on vacation versus trying to escape what was going on back at the house. If you’re ever visiting Kaua’i, any one of these restaurants (or food truck) is worth a stop, in our opinion. We are leaving Kaua’i happy that we had the chance to them all.