The beauty of the restaurant was not enough to overcome the poor service and the quality of the food. My wife had great memories of Postcards, and we had a fantastic experience there in 2022, but that was erased after our recent visit.
First, I ordered a Bleeker Old Fashioned, which was undrinkably bitter. I returned it and received a new cocktail that was only marginally better. Our pasta was boring and bland; I couldn't add enough red pepper to make it enjoyable.
However, what truly ruined the experience was the service. Our server was outright rude and even made an underhanded comment due to our indecision over our order as she walked away from the table. We were with my brother and his wife, who were visiting from Massachusetts. We had an 8pm reservations and finished our meal around 9:30 PM. For the last half hour, I wathed a different server casting dirty looks toward us as she sat at a table nearby. When paying a bill that topped $350, you would expect to feel more welcomed. Instead, we felt the opposite, and consequently will never give this establishment our business again. To make matters worse, we were charged for the returned undrinkable Old Fashioned. Overall, I would rate this experience a D-.
Get it together Postcards and train your servers about service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 1
Scott F
Food was delicious and service was great. The risotto was the best.
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jim Paull
Dish was just ok. Lovely place though
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Tali Schulman
Fun, fresh, unique meal. Very much worth a visit!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Brian Finerman
Always a wonderful experience and wonderful food and service
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Dan Hernandez
Tldr: Don't book your wedding reception here.
Yeah, they lowkey ruined our wedding reception. We really wanted to love it, but had such a bad experience on the night I can not recommend for a formal dinner. Half of the menu was unavailable and we had a tremendously difficult time booking for a group of 12.
The bad: Super difficult to book: -Over 9 weeks we tried 6 phone calls, 8 emails (to 2 different emails) and eventually had to ask our photographer and celebrant to go in person as we had no confirmation from them that we had a booking and hadnt received any setails about what the deal was with private functions. A week later we finally heard back via email.
Very pricey for a private function: -Once we finally heard back, booking the private area that would leave little room to spare foe.the 12 of us was $2200 for the evening (530 to 930) which included a dedicated server and the ability to control the music but would not cover any food or drink.
And now we're on to the real issue of the evening.
The REALLY bad:
Half the menu unavailable on the night: -on arrival, we were presented with a full menu barring one entree that was out and one main that was down to one left. We asked them to hold that for us. By the time we ordered drinks and came to order mains 15- 20 minutes later- 3 of the 7 main dishes were unavailable, including what we had asked them to hold. We had no lamb, beef, and only 1 scallop dish which we gave to the bride. All that was left was a vegetarian pasta, vegetarian risotto and a fish dish. That left 6 of our party of 12 out of their preferred dish.
The good:
Service was lovely: -Honestly, the only thing that kept the night alive was Alexis our server who kept her calm and apologised profusely as each hurdle came up. You're a star and we're really grateful we had you on the night x
Cocktails were good: -one of the best pina coladas I've had
Recognition of the poor experience we had: -they kindly offered 25% off our bill for our poor experience
The neutral:
The food that was available wasn't bad -Some interesting combinations on the menu. But to be honest, the dinners we had at other restaurants in the region before and after our reception were far more delicious, although less high end fare.
At the end of the day though, this was meant to be our once in a lifetime dinner and they really, really let us down. Maybe go for a nice dinner for 2 or 4, but from our experience I'd say look elsewhere for a formal or larger dinner. Learn from our mistake.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 4
Jose Solis Legarreta
Food was good, the hostess was nice and friendly, but the waiter completely ruined our experience. He was rude and disrespectful, throwing the utensils on our table. Next time I'll order take out.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 1
Brian Steffes
Awesome food, awesome drinks. Great dinner to celebrate our 10th anniversary. The taradine app and arugula salad were exceptional. We split the brussels and short rib for our main and both were excellent. Never had brussels with Mac nuts but wow were they awesome!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Lucas B
Enjoyed our food and server. Appreciate the vegan options!
Our server was great. We heard great things but to be honest we felt it was trying a little too hard to be out of the box. The sauces were just a flat salty without dimension. I know its hard to get good beef in Kauai but the waguy was inedible in my opinion although I did see others enjoying the food and the pace was small but busy. I normally never leave a negative comment but this needs to be said in hopes that maybe it will be constructive.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
David Wright
Best food by far we had in/near Hanalei. We turned up around 7:30, 6 of us no reservation, seated within 20 minutes. Only bum note was the fat wasn’t rendered on our $54 lamb (still delicious though). The Mai Tais were better and cheaper than Tahiti Nui.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Mark Claffee
This was our third visit to Postcards and it will continue to be a required stop on any future Kauai trips. We first came for our honeymoon 16 years ago and this time brought our kids. Food was excellent as always and the small environment is a pleasure to experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lia MacDonald
The best menu item and honestly the only thing I thought was exceptional here was the wasabi crusted ahi - which they have removed from the menu. Why?
The building is an old house which doesn’t have any view or particularly pleasant ambiance. It’s kind of stuffy - they need more air flow.
I won’t be back unless they return the wasabi ahi to the menu.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 4
Jennifer Giefer
Wow-completely amazed…did we just eat a meal in Kauai? Not surprised at all by the fresh ingredients but the way that they made the flavors blend and pop. Really beautiful restaurant. Everything here can be spendy. This place earns the cost even though we didn’t think it was so bad. Definitely will be back!
Delicious food and date night type vibes
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The beauty of the restaurant was not enough to overcome the poor service and the quality of the food. My wife had great memories of Postcards, and we had a fantastic experience there in 2022, but that was erased after our recent visit.
First, I ordered a Bleeker Old Fashioned, which was undrinkably bitter. I returned it and received a new cocktail that was only marginally better. Our pasta was boring and bland; I couldn't add enough red pepper to make it enjoyable.
However, what truly ruined the experience was the service. Our server was outright rude and even made an underhanded comment due to our indecision over our order as she walked away from the table. We were with my brother and his wife, who were visiting from Massachusetts. We had an 8pm reservations and finished our meal around 9:30 PM. For the last half hour, I wathed a different server casting dirty looks toward us as she sat at a table nearby. When paying a bill that topped $350, you would expect to feel more welcomed. Instead, we felt the opposite, and consequently will never give this establishment our business again. To make matters worse, we were charged for the returned undrinkable Old Fashioned. Overall, I would rate this experience a D-.
Get it together Postcards and train your servers about service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 1
Food was delicious and service was great. The risotto was the best.
Food: 5
Service: 5
Dish was just ok. Lovely place though
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Fun, fresh, unique meal. Very much worth a visit!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Always a wonderful experience and wonderful food and service
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tldr: Don't book your wedding reception here.
Yeah, they lowkey ruined our wedding reception. We really wanted to love it, but had such a bad experience on the night I can not recommend for a formal dinner. Half of the menu was unavailable and we had a tremendously difficult time booking for a group of 12.
The bad:
Super difficult to book:
-Over 9 weeks we tried 6 phone calls, 8 emails (to 2 different emails) and eventually had to ask our photographer and celebrant to go in person as we had no confirmation from them that we had a booking and hadnt received any setails about what the deal was with private functions. A week later we finally heard back via email.
Very pricey for a private function:
-Once we finally heard back, booking the private area that would leave little room to spare foe.the 12 of us was $2200 for the evening (530 to 930) which included a dedicated server and the ability to control the music but would not cover any food or drink.
And now we're on to the real issue of the evening.
The REALLY bad:
Half the menu unavailable on the night:
-on arrival, we were presented with a full menu barring one entree that was out and one main that was down to one left. We asked them to hold that for us. By the time we ordered drinks and came to order mains 15- 20 minutes later- 3 of the 7 main dishes were unavailable, including what we had asked them to hold. We had no lamb, beef, and only 1 scallop dish which we gave to the bride. All that was left was a vegetarian pasta, vegetarian risotto and a fish dish. That left 6 of our party of 12 out of their preferred dish.
The good:
Service was lovely:
-Honestly, the only thing that kept the night alive was Alexis our server who kept her calm and apologised profusely as each hurdle came up. You're a star and we're really grateful we had you on the night x
Cocktails were good:
-one of the best pina coladas I've had
Recognition of the poor experience we had:
-they kindly offered 25% off our bill for our poor experience
The neutral:
The food that was available wasn't bad
-Some interesting combinations on the menu. But to be honest, the dinners we had at other restaurants in the region before and after our reception were far more delicious, although less high end fare.
At the end of the day though, this was meant to be our once in a lifetime dinner and they really, really let us down. Maybe go for a nice dinner for 2 or 4, but from our experience I'd say look elsewhere for a formal or larger dinner. Learn from our mistake.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 4
Food was good, the hostess was nice and friendly, but the waiter completely ruined our experience. He was rude and disrespectful, throwing the utensils on our table. Next time I'll order take out.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 1
Awesome food, awesome drinks. Great dinner to celebrate our 10th anniversary. The taradine app and arugula salad were exceptional. We split the brussels and short rib for our main and both were excellent. Never had brussels with Mac nuts but wow were they awesome!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Enjoyed our food and server. Appreciate the vegan options!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Our server was great. We heard great things but to be honest we felt it was trying a little too hard to be out of the box. The sauces were just a flat salty without dimension. I know its hard to get good beef in Kauai but the waguy was inedible in my opinion although I did see others enjoying the food and the pace was small but busy. I normally never leave a negative comment but this needs to be said in hopes that maybe it will be constructive.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
Best food by far we had in/near Hanalei. We turned up around 7:30, 6 of us no reservation, seated within 20 minutes. Only bum note was the fat wasn’t rendered on our $54 lamb (still delicious though). The Mai Tais were better and cheaper than Tahiti Nui.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
This was our third visit to Postcards and it will continue to be a required stop on any future Kauai trips. We first came for our honeymoon 16 years ago and this time brought our kids. Food was excellent as always and the small environment is a pleasure to experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The best menu item and honestly the only thing I thought was exceptional here was the wasabi crusted ahi - which they have removed from the menu. Why?
The building is an old house which doesn’t have any view or particularly pleasant ambiance. It’s kind of stuffy - they need more air flow.
I won’t be back unless they return the wasabi ahi to the menu.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 4
Wow-completely amazed…did we just eat a meal in Kauai? Not surprised at all by the fresh ingredients but the way that they made the flavors blend and pop. Really beautiful restaurant. Everything here can be spendy. This place earns the cost even though we didn’t think it was so bad. Definitely will be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Coriander Crusted Ahi
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