Northside Grill Sushi - HANALEI

We have been on the island for four days and this was definitely the food highlight of the trips.Our waitress, Jaden was incredibly friendly. So fantastic.We ordered each of the five specialty sushi rolls and coconut shrimp. All were phenomenal. We ordered the Stay In Hanalei cocktail as well, very good.Great views of the mountains side with waterfalls running down them. There was a warm breeze which was pleasant while we were seated next to the open windows.We will definitely be back on our next trip to Kauai!

Great food, great view and the service provided by Evans was great. My wife and I arrived at about 6:15 on a Wednesday evening and were seated immediately. 10 minutes later our order was in and first round of drinks were on the table. Service continued to be excellent and we had a great dinner. A little pricy as is everything on Kauai, but not outrageous either. Hopefully we will have a future vacation here on our favorite of the Hawaiian islands and will have dinner here again.

My one star rating is due to the lack of transparency of their prices of their posted specials. Most of the meals on their menu are in the $30.00 range. What you would expect to pay in Hawaii. Two specials listed last night were the poke bowl and chirashi bowl. The latter, which didn’t have a posted description, was described by the server as a bowl that had “more variety of fish” than the poke bowl. Great we thought. When we received the bill this bowl was staggering $68.00, almost 3x anything else on the menu. I wouldn’t have had a problem with the price if I had known or agreed to it before ordering. If you are going to charge almost 3x what other entrees cost then either post that price somewhere in plain sight or have the server let the customer know the cost up front. It is a common business practice for most restaurants (ex. The main lobster tonight is 1lb and costs $75, etc. . When I questioned our server about the cost after receiving the bill she was rude and gave some story about how all their “premium” sushi costs this much. We didn’t order any sushi! We didn’t even see the sushi menu.. Our server we felt was deceptive in pushing this costly dish over a regular poke bowl knowing it was 3x the cost of most every other entree on the menu. Further, when I asked if I could speak to a manager about my concerns regarding this restaurants business practices I was told he wouldn’t see me. The server stated the fish used was “of such high quality we have to charge this much” and that “no one has ever questioned the price”. This line of BS was really insulting and we felt taken advantage of big time. This bowl was ordered by our teenage son. Never would be intentionally order an almost $70 entree. Not much aloha going on at this place. There are so many good restaurants in Hanalei, so I’d recommend steering clear of this one. This problem could have easily been remedied had the manager come out personally to discuss. There was hardly anyone dining when we were there, a clear sign to run away given how crowded every other restaurant in the area was the same night.Update to my review above after reading the owner's response:It is clear to me the psychology of this owner is to minimize customer complaints and poor reviews to make himself look righteous and the consumer look stupid or ignorant. The idea that this Chirashi bowl was designed for two people is preposterous. 1. It was negligibly bigger than the poke bowl and 2. No where was it posted that it was a dish to be shared by two people...nor did the server suggest that it was. I'll own my part in not asking the price. Lesson learned. The point I was making was that when you are going to jack up the price on a special, it would be courteous to let the consumer know. As for the last comment you made about me being silly. I don't think there was anything silly about my comments. A gracious owner would simply apologize and say they will try and do a better job rather than make the consumer be at fault for any complaint raised. Doing so, would make any reasonable person consider coming back. In this case, I will never come back nor would I recommend this restaurant to anyone else to patronize. Remember the golden rule....S/he who has the gold rules. I'll take my business elsewhere.

We got the very last free table of the night and Aquila was the absolute best server!!! The sushi is fresh and delicious!!! Don’t skip the Grasshopper dessert too.

The avocado pesto linguine was amazing and so was the sushi and shrimp. We loved the background and we could not stop saying look how beautiful this is. We would suggest for you to come here. It’s amazing and Aquila is an amazing server. Kid-friendliness: Very accommodating for kids!