5 Best Restaurants in The West Side, Kauai

Traditional methods for sushi, tempura, bento, and bowls meet fresh local ingredients to create delicious food in this modern outdoor café at the center of old Hanapepe. One of the few sit-down dining options in the area, Grandma's also brings in chefs for tasting menus. Enjoy sake or cold beer or slurp ramen in the riverbank garden, then browse the attached boutique, Blu Umi.

After testing out his cooking skills on family and friends for many years, Xavier Machado got serious about pizza: he studied online videos, got a proper oven, graduated high school, and opened up a kitchen window in blink-and-you'll-miss-it Kaumakani, where he rolls pies four days a week. The made-to-order, one-size pizzas and giant calzones have been earning praise from expat Brooklynites.

Folks love this roadside café—especially at breakfast and lunch, though it's good for dinner, too—for its casual neighborhood feel and lengthy menu with omelets, sandwiches, burgers, and plenty more. Lots of Kauai products are used here, including Anahola Granola, fruit for smoothies, fresh-caught fish, and coffee, which you can also buy by the pound. Takeout is an option. This is a solid choice, with vegetarian and gluten-free options, in an area with limited restaurants.

Wong's family-run, family-style restaurant has been serving up hearty portions of local favorites for decades. Specials change, but plate lunches are always available to go, complete with rice and mac salad (which Hawaii practically considers a "vegetable"). Save room for light lilikoi chiffon pie or desserts made with coconut and purple sweet potato. 

The reins have been handed over to the next generation at this family-run restaurant, where meats are grilled over kiawe wood for a smokey flavor. Steaks and burgers are made from from Rancher's Daughter's Reserve grass-fed Kauai beef, lettuce is grown nearby at Iwikua Farms, and there's usually a locally caught fish special. Denim-covered seating, decorative saddles, and a stagecoach in a loft transformed the old Ako General Store in Waimea into a comfortable Western-look steak house where you can eat on the front porch, on a deck out back, or in the old-fashioned wood-panel dining room. Live music is lined up nightly, and The Saddle Room saloon stays busy until 10 pm, thanks to a dozen appetizers, a decent selection of beers, and "fancy kine" cocktails. Time things right and you can enjoy a bite before a movie at the Waimea Theater across the street.