The Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant

Excellent meal and service. We had 3 different types of meals fish & chips, swordfish, and steak - all were prepared well. Waitress was great.

Very Expensive. We each had a grilled fish (market price). For the side- I received a skewer of 6 very very small bite sized veggies. My wife had a baked potato - with cost an additional $12. So for 2 grilled fish and a baked potato- it was over $100. Server never even bothered to alert us to pricing or extra prices for potato. The fish I ordered was supposed to be blackened - cajun style and it was so mild I could hardly taste the cajun seasoning. There are a lot better places to eat without having to spend this kind of money! Disappointing! They did seem to have sushi -but we did not try any of this so I can't comment on these.

The sushi roll was about 90% rice with just a very small amount of fish. Tasted ok, but nothing special. Friendly service.

TripAdvisor better take a look at the price ratings for this restaurant, because we found it to be very expensive. I really dislike restaurants that label their dishes as "market rate", for heaven's sake, just set a price and stick to it. Sushi (California roll) had very little avocado, and "gluten free" salad had a few croutons in it.

Terrible service, overpriced food Would not recommend!!

Wow. Was excited to try The Dolphin for carryout sushi. We called once to get some info on what rolls are gluten free and got the RUDEST person. Nothing is notated gluten free on their menu so we had to ask, but apparently we were REALLY inconveniencing the employee who answered and he did not give us any answers. After pouring through all ingredients and making a few selections we called again and the girl who answered super rudely told us they don’t do carry out and they never have (despite it clearly saying on their website that they do). Would have loved to give them our business but we sure won’t now. Make sure you don’t inconvenience the staff by being a customer!

I’d love to give this 5 stars for the food but took a point off for ambiance. It was so loud and rowdy, it was difficult and almost distracting to have a nice dinner. Food was phenomenal but be prepared for very pricey dishes and drinks. Service was slow but it was also pretty crowded and they appeared to be short staffed for the long weekend so was trying to give some grace.

Did not eat at the restaurant, but took the advice from a gentleman who’d been around the island for two weeks and had eaten at the Dolphin Fish Market and was extremely satisfied. The fish was thick, dense, and flavorful. They did not skimp on anything. We couldn’t even finish our bowls and the sushi to accompany the poke was awesome as well. Whichever flavor you go with it will be great. Grab a poke bowl to go and hang out by the beach and enjoy fresh caught local fish that is carved up the best way I’ve ever had.

The service was great and there was no wait to get a seat but the food took forever. Once it arrived the food was quite good but the wait put a damper on everything. Overall if you’re willing to spend a couple pennies the food is worthwhile. But if you are in a rush don’t bother. If you get Amber you lucked out she was practically running from table to table but still managed to drop a joke here and there.

Brant was an excellent server! His recommendations were spot on. We had the flaming Hawaiian roll, and the fish of the day…Shutome, which was amazing. Capped off with the Brownie. Authentic Hanalei atmosphere. Loved it

All can say: you’ve got to be kidding. Zero pride-of-ownership here. Been coming to Hanalei/Princeville for 25 yrs & decided to try here. No way. Ordered seared sashimi of day (photo) on bed of arugula and chef couldn’t even take the extra 20-30 seconds to discard the beyond-wilted (read: spoiled) leaves??? Wife ordered “The Dolphin” special (spicy tuna roll) and it should be titled “The Super Rice Roll” — since there was only a morsel (read: half-crumb) of a biopsy tissue-sample of tuna buried in each rice roll (and if there was any so-called “spice” we would not be able to comment in it as it was saturated in rice). And there were only 3 occupied tables in the entire restaurant (you can “read into that”if you want) and they couldn’t take the time to ensure a properly prepared meal, particularly at their price point? And as reviewer before us said: definately 86 that hostess! We walked in and she looked at my wife and ubeupy said “Patio, bar or inside”. My wife paused to swivel her head to observe each area, but before she could even look, the hostess GRUFFLY repeated: “I said patio, bar or inside!!!!!”. My wife said “I’m trying to look”. Hostess has seen way too many tourists I guess and has over-stayed the food service business years ago. Put her to pasture. Do yourself a favor - dont walk from here. Run! I was in the food service biz all through H.S. And college and I would’ve been embarrassed to serve any of this (and if I had??!! My supervisor would’ve fired me if he ever caught me serving this)

Great food, nice people visiting, get the grilled fish and the steak Fries. Nice view in the river and some well made sushi However the hostess was the biggest surly c word I’ve had the misfortune to interact with in unite some time. Rest was a nice experience. A + except for the 🐴 as a hostess

The setting is perfect. the seafood is fresh. But two things bothered me. The sushi was prepared in front of us at the sushi bar by a very nice young man with poor knife skills. Second, the cost of the meal for two was sky high, $187 with tip. At that price level, I would expect better product created by well-versed sushi masters. Perhaps the high prices are why we were able to be seated immediately. There was no line when we arrived. So, sure, give it a try, but bring your Platinum Credit card with you to pay over time.

I cannot recommend this place and sorry we went-- very pricey (like everything in Kauai) but so disappointing... my husband got chicken and calamari "steak" I had sushi (so-so) and we both had the one thing people like--the seafood chowder..but it was like thick milk, no fish to speak of... I thought it was awful. All this being said--Princeville doesn't have any places to eat that match the glorious environment! Happy Talk was pretty good. I can see why the grocery store Foodland is highly rated!

Go to the bar and just order whatever Brent tells you too. Don't ask questions just get what he says. You won't be disappointed. We ate more than we intended because each dish was better than the last but each dish was amazing in its own right.