duke
TUG Member
We are going to Princeville Kauai. Please advise on best activities AND best places to eat. We would love your favorites......THANKS!
Thanks, we enjoy relaxing and dining. Dining can be easy, cheap, or ocean view. Appreciate you asking.Give me some info on who is traveling and what activities you enjoy and I'll post some recommendations; we visit 2 times per year for the last 15 years. Know that there aren't very many restaurants on the north shore and most (other than Nanea at the Westin resort) are closed Sundays and Mondays. There is only one restaurant on the entire north shore that is truly oceanfront: Opakapaka at the Hanalei Colony Resort, about a 15 minute drive west of Princeville. Plenty of good dining, just not oceanfront (and very few with an ocean view).
Only ocean view dining in Princeville would be Happy Talk Lounge at the Hanalei Bay Resort (sports bar with super cold draft beer and a pub menu; not open until 3) or 1Hotel Hanalei Bay at the end of Ka Haku Road (high-end, expensive hotel, but food and view are great). If you want cheap with a view, your best bet is to grab poke or sushi at Foodland market at the Princeville Center or bbq from Chicken in a Barrel at the Ching Young Center in Hanalei and take a picnic out to the beach at Hanalei pier for sunset; this is our favorite way to enjoy an ocean view sunset on the north shore! Dolphin is the first restaurant you'll see as you drive from Princeville to Hanalei. It's on the Hanalei River and offers both fresh fish and sushi. Reasonably priced, but not cheap (almost nothing on Kauai is cheap). Tahiti Nui in Hanalei hands down has the best Mai Tais and a varied menu; super casual. Other good options in Hanalei are BarAcuda (small plates, expensive but excellent), their sister restaurant Ama (ramen) and Postcards. Other than Opakapaka which I mentioned in my first reply, there are no restaurants west of Hanalei, just a general store with sandwiches and a coffee/juice bar in Wainiha. I can highly recommend making a reservation (only way you'll get a parking space) for Limahuli Gardens and preserve almost to the end of the highway right before Ke'e Beach. The gardens are magnificent and you hike up an additional couple hundred feet in elevation for an amazing ocean view. Another easy hike is the Wai Koa Loop Trail near Kilauea (enter the trail from the Kalihiwai dog park). 3 mile loop with a beautiful stone dam waterfall. Enjoy! There's no better place to relax on earth than Kauai's north shore.Thanks, we enjoy relaxing and dining. Dining can be easy, cheap, or ocean view. Appreciate you asking.
Yes. True for both. We have been there a couple of times recently. The pool bar has been closed since Covid, and no one seems to think it’s coming back. I think the no breakfast is fairly recent, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t come back either. Good excuse to go to the Kilauea bakery and in a pinch, the sundry store opens early and has coffee, pastries, and breakfast food.Is it really true the pool bar is still shuttered? Also I’m reading there is no seated breakfast either. Disappointing,
I second Kilauea Bakery... Breakfast Stromboli is a mustYes. True for both. We have been there a couple of times recently. The pool bar has been closed since Covid, and no one seems to think it’s coming back. I think the no breakfast is fairly recent, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t come back either. Good excuse to go to the Kilauea bakery and in a pinch, the sundry store opens early and has coffee, pastries, and breakfast food.
MVC apparently decided that any amenity that doesn’t make them lots of money isn’t worth having, and apparently their contracts with the various HOAs don’t require them to operate the restaurants and bars. They do so only if they want to, and in several cases across the portfolio, they don’t want to any more.Yes. True for both. We have been there a couple of times recently. The pool bar has been closed since Covid, and no one seems to think it’s coming back. I think the no breakfast is fairly recent, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t come back either. Good excuse to go to the Kilauea bakery and in a pinch, the sundry store opens early and has coffee, pastries, and breakfast food.
To be honest, I can see why they don’t reopen the pool bar. The pool never seems to be packed and when I’m there, at various times of the day, And it’s very easy to walk into the bar and get something to take back to your chair with you. They may even have people walking around, I’m not sure about that. This isn’t a swim up bar remind you. Depending on where you are sitting, it could take longer to walk over there than right into the restaurant. A lot of people are just drinking less And drinks for the part area are not hard to come by.MVC apparently decided that any amenity that doesn’t make them lots of money isn’t worth having, and apparently their contracts with the various HOAs don’t require them to operate the restaurants and bars. They do so only if they want to, and in several cases across the portfolio, they don’t want to any more.
It's too bad the HOA contracts don’t require some level of basic resort services that includes things like the pool bar, but apparently they don’t (and we probably aren’t privy to the terms of those agreements.)
If I were a direct owner at WPORV, I’d be emailing the HOA board members regularly to complain about the F&B cutbacks.
If the HOA "owned" F&B and marketplace and Spa facilities then the costs would be in the maint fees. I'm sure the management company would love to cream off another 10-15% for that, and that owners would not appreciate the cost increase. I'm happy they aren't included as I bought self catering accomodation on purpose and don't generally use on-site food outlets. Others do use them so its great to have the choice as long as they cover their costs.It's too bad the HOA contracts don’t require some level of basic resort services that includes things like the pool bar, but apparently they don’t (and we probably aren’t privy to the terms of those agreements.)