The good: Seating right on the window overlooking the street. Very open, nice attentive service. The meh: Chickens run the restaurant so does their poo. Wild chickens all over the island so you really don't notice they're indoors with you. The bad: Prices and food. Watery enchiladas with a side of corn and rice. 3 margaritas and enchilada dish was $54. read more

Had the Mariachi omelette. This place is delicious with fresh fruits and veggies added. The service was friendly. Quality to price ratio on this expensive island is excellent. Highly recommend. read more

Food was nothing special needed flavor, service was good, they claim to have the best margaritas they don't, and menu is over priced.

I Only gave a 2 because service was decent. Food is terrible...I guess that's what I should expect with Mexican food in Hawaii. I ordered a carne asada tostada. The beef was tough and flavorless. The portions are tiny, and really not good. We were looking for a restaurant recommended in the area, but it was closed because of Covid. Seriously don't settle for this. read more

Service was prompt and friendly and the food was so yummy! It was fun to sit by the open air windows and watch the busy little town. read more

Mariachi's Authentic Mexican Restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Kapaa, Hawaii

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Extremely rude staff. We asked them a question and they said "don't ask stupid questions ". We didn't pick Kauai as our vacation destination, to be treated like that. Very disheartening. read more

Two signs outside say "best happy hour", but the servers weren't even convinced of that fact. Halfway decent drinks. Poor service.

Been craving a loco moco since we got here and this place did not disappoint. Drinks were ok but happy hour is reasonable

The service was too notch, however the food was okay. I ordered the shrimp tacos which had some flavor but not much. I was trying to catch a quick meal before heading out and this was acceptable. Food was expensive for what we ordered. read more

I hate leaving one star reviews but the service was so horrible that eventually we just decided to leave. We had ordered two pitchers of margaritas and they charged us $70! They were not only insanely expensive but probably the worst margaritas I've ever had. It tasted like really awful lemonade with zero alch. read more

Prices are a bit high for the food. Our server wasn't very friendly but other servers were. Kind of on the plain side. There is live music. read more

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Mediocre service. Mediocre food. Margaritas are watered down. Nachos are soggy, nearly soupy. Other than $3 happy hour I'd say avoid this place. Plenty of places that actually care about their customers and put effort into their food. This is not one of them. read more

Mariachi's gets a solid four stars in my book, because: 1) they are open till 9 pm when many places close by 7 pm, 2) we were seated immediately, 3) service was excellent, and 4) the vegetable fajitas came with tasty rice, beans, and guacamole, which hit the spot after a long day of hiking. Don't come here for a gourmet experience - come here for some solid grub and chill vibes after a day of exploring the island! read more

Service is awful. Check ur recipe cuz they will add their own tip. KPD told me it wasn't the first time.

Found this little gem because of their happy hour sign! But besides the drinks, the food here is amazing. For starters the chips and salsa are complementary and absolutely what you expect for crunchy chips and some authentic salsa. Everything we ordered was great, I had the cali burrito and chili verde. Both were tasty and great portions, enough to take home or share for two. The staff was very accommodating to our large party and to our special orders! read more

it's a little pricey. but honestly the food was pretty good, good service & had a lot of good games on

This place is rude. We waited forever for someone to come take our drink order. There was one other customer. Not willing to make my pregnant wife something virgin. And no straws on soft drinks read more

What a great find. Doing a driving tour on the Shaka App and just happened to pass this place. Great Margaritas and the food was delicious. Service was attentive and genuine. read more

The worst restaurant I can remember eating at the past 10 years. And ridiculously overpriced. They're waiting for stupid, gullible tourists LIKE YOU to stumble in because of the central Kapaa location. Sorry. I usually write mostly positive yelps, to HELP businesses, because I know how bad reviews can adversely affect a business. But, Mariachi's in Kapaa is a special case. Avoid it! And tell your friends!!! Let's do our best to close this restaurant so I new owner can come in with food again. While we were waiting, I heard two women complaining about some dish they'd gotten that didn't taste like fish, and they felt like it had some meat of some kind in it. The waiter just argued... "no. That's what it was." He didn't go out of his way to recognize that they were unhappy and bring them something different. Reading YW's review... looks like this happens regularly.... argue with the customer and leave them wondering. Upon reflection.... we must have ordered the same thing. It was a chile relleno with mariscos... only thing is... IF there was any seafood in it at all, it was maybe from some fish sauce or something canned, because there was NO FISH substance of any kind and I'm pretty sure whatever that meaty thing I ate inside (was it chicken? table scraps?) was not fish either. We weren't in the mood to tell them how bad it was there.... we just simmered and tried to bear the bad choice we had made. Please don't make the same mistake we did !!! Just terrible. Terrible. My green chili pork was tasteless, and served up to look like dog food. Really... such a bad presentation... it was sad to look at. Little flavor... really. To the point where, I SERIOUSLY, very seriously wonder if the cook was in the kitchen with friends, laughing, serving up the dog food waiting to see if anyone noticed. Could be have been on some reality show 2 nights ago??? Ugly, dirty looking dishes... To be honest..... I feel like I might have been satisfied if I were served this on the street in Mexico for $1. That's about the standard this meets. My dish came with 2 tortillas, served warm in a typical tortilla warmer... but greasy. I haven't been served tortillas of such low quality and oily consistency.... I needed 3 or 4 if I were to eat that amount of meat. But because the tortillas were so bad, I didn't bother to ask for more. I ate the rest of the meat on the chips that came before the meal. Both of our dishes were over $16 or $19.... just terrible. But at this price... deserves this very harsh yelp review!! NEVER COME HERE!!!!!!!! Maybe it was the cook's day off. I hope so. Maybe the cook was playing pranks on a bet. The beer was $5.50 for a small bottle. Not cheap. It should be less for such a place with such terrible food. I just have nothing positive to say about this place. Don't go!!!! Service was... so so. It wasn't terrible. Sort of a feel of inexperienced servers, thinking only about their tips and not about the service. Not terrible... I still tipped 20% because... well, I can't blame the servers for the bad food. Oh... I thought of something positive to say !!! Much to our surprise.... we didn't get sick. We thought we would... sort of that feeling of... 'omg... what did we just eat?' But we didn't get sick. That's 'positive' considering the taste. And.... the chips and salsa weren't bad. Nicely warmed, not too thick, not to thin, not greasy chips. Yes. That's a positive thing! The salsa wasn't bad. That's positive! I knew I could find something, with some effort! But ultimately.... long story short.... the worst restaurant I've been to in a very, very long time. If this place had prices in the $8 range, perhaps I wouldn't have been so critical. If the prices were around $10 or so.... I might not have written this terrible review. But at $16 and $19... these are probably the worst dishes I've ever had to eat at these prices. Congratulations El Mariachi! You're number one! The worst meal for the price I've had in the past 10 or 20 years. read more

HORRIBLE. .... stay clear Save yourself.... Trust me Horrible service and food. Should have kept driving. Taco Bell would embarrass this place. Worst Mexican food ever. read more

My Ranchero plate was very good. The food was very fresh. I heard that this place and Paco's Tacos are related families that run them. But I liked this place a lot better than Pacos. read more

went yesterday with my family. everyone loved it! being from los ángeles and mexico, when it comes to eating mexican food at a restaurant .. we are quite picky. the food here tasted very authentic. it tasted like the food we make at home - just in Hawaii Drinks are decent priced too. Service was great. Staff very friendly. between the great food, drinks, and friendly staff.. we will be back again read more

Had carnitas burrito...the meat was dry as the desert. My wife had chicken burrito that was ok but red sauce tasted right out of the can. Honestly, don't eat here...go to Mermaid's across the street! Amazing food at Mermaid's!!! read more

Mariachi's Authentic Mexican Restaurant - Mermaids is in the center of pic. - Mexican Near Me - Kapaa, Hawaii

Do not order anything with fish. It is so overcooked it's is chewy! Service is fine but for $30 a plate you'd expect better quality food.

I'm not really sure why I understand all these scathing reviews. My boyfriend and I tried this place for a quick lunch and it was fine. It wasn't anything outstanding, but we had a solid meal with plenty of food. I can understand the people complaining about it being overpriced, but we split an order of fajitas and it was more than enough for a filling lunch. I definitely could not do a whole entree to myself. As for the service, we had a nice waitress and the owner was really nice, too. Nothing like the experience anyone below is having. If you're just looking for a quick bite to eat this is a good place. I probably would come back. read more

Not sure what happened to the other people who came here,but I'm glad I didn't listen to the reviews... We had a party of 6... Everyone enjoyed their food... Burritos (surf & turf - carne asada), quesadillas, tamales and chicken enchiladas... So I guess I'm saying, just try it... And the service was really good... So try it read more

We went here for happy hour recently and ordered two pitchers of mango margaritas. By the time we were finished, we weren't even buzzed, just full from drinking so much liquid. For $70 we thought we'd at least get a little tipsy. By the way, it was just two of us. Also, their nachos have celery in them so...kind of odd. read more

"The best mexican food" more like the worst service ever! 1. Took forever to take our drink order. 2. Took forever to take our order. 3. Never got our cup of water refilled. 4. Their Mai Tais suck 5. Waited 10 min for our check and had to go to the bar to tell my waiter that I wanted to leave and I wanted to sign already if they wanted to get paid. Should've walked out. read more

Me and my fiancé are on vacation and we decided for dinner we wanted Mexican, we looked up this place and checked the reviews even though it had very little stars we decided to try it out let me just say I am very happy that we did the food was absolutely delicious and the service was extremely friendly I would totally recommend this place whenever on vacation in Kauai. read more

I've been here a few times over he pst couple years and have nothing but great things to say about the food and service! It really is the best Mexican food on the island! My usual go to is the shrimp enchiladas for lunch with a side of guacamole. They also seem to cook the shrimp just right! The staff is great and super friendly, also a warm welcome every time to step inside. I highly recommend this place for breakfast, there's a lot of options right around if for breakfast and brunch, but this place easily has some of the best food and by the best prices. Pro tip- If you like hot sauce, make sure to ask for the homemade hot sauce they keep in the back. SO GOOD! read more

This place overall was lacking. What surprised me most was that the plates had no rice or beans or any side dish for that matter. The food was highly overpriced for just a quesadilla or burrito. The food itself was bland and to be honest it was a big disappointment. The salsa tasted like it came straight out of the jar and wasn't at all flavorful. When you claim to have the best Mexican food on Kaua'i I have high expectations. The servers themselves were slow and it was noticeable that the staff wasn't properly trained. Our waiter hardly came to check on us (on an empty day) and a different waitress just tossed the dessert menu on our table without explaining anything. This place has a lot of work to do if they plan on staying in business. I myself am Mexican and I grew up eating this kind of food my whole life so I know good Mexican food when I taste it and this was definitely not good. I'll most likely never come back to Mariachi's. I suggest trying another Mexican food place on the island! read more

The best part is sitting by the window and being in the middle of Kapaa. Service was below average. I asked 3 different wait staff for my margarita. We ordered the fish tacos and chicken/beef fajitas. Food was average. Our bill comes and they charged us for the Mahi Mahi tacos so we told the Manager/waitress that I had the "fish tacos" not with Mahi Mahi. Her attitude was that she couldn't have been wrong because she remembers very clearly telling the chef (same waitress that forgot my drink order) and she picked the fish for me instead of coming back and asking. No apologies. It is too bad because we were hoping for better food and definitely better service. read more

So glad we decided to eat here! After reading the reviews we were a bit skeptical about going. However one of our tour guides during our vacation said we should go. So glad we did! We both got taco salads (one pastor and one chili verde) and both were very good. Drinks were also very good (and strong). Would definitely recommend if you want good mexican food. read more

Well I broke my rule... Never go for Mexican food in a place where few Mexicans live. Bad idea to come here. The food had no flavor whatsoever. We came here expecting the pizza place downstairs to be open per their website and settled for this when we found it closed. We should have just picked up rotisserie chicken at Safeway or gone to Taco Bell and saved the money. They do have a nice view but nothing else to recommend it. The staff was okay but I am regretting wasting an opportunity to have a nice dinner while on vacation. I guess I will say it was memorable in so far as it was one of them worst restaurant meals I've ever had. I don't often badmouth a place in a review but feel compelled to warn others. Oh and BTW, they add a 3.75% surcharge on credit cards. read more

We ate here despite the bad reviews. Bad idea. Utterly tasteless chips and salsa started us off. Entrees were really, really bland. The location could be good, but the food was really disappointing. I'm beginning to wonder if they are trying to game the review system because they are either quite mediocre OR super-excited five!!!star!! over enthusiastic...and i suspect fake. Can't picture anyone coming back here if they like Mexican food. read more

It took me a long time to try this place because the reviews seemed so bad. I was very impressed! They have a great happy hour and the menu is very inclusive. I had a chicken taco and had beyond impressed with the flavor of the chicken. Chicken is not usually very interesting but this was very tasty. The ingredients tasted fresh and freshly prepared. The service was very good. Not super fast but that is the norm in Kauai. I will definitely return and will recommend it. read more

The service was friendly and quick. The chicken taquitos were delicious. They have Dos Equis Amber on tap, A++. read more

Mariachi's Authentic Mexican Restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Kapaa, Hawaii

"Best Mexican food on Kauai" = FALSE. Not even close to authentic. They had frozen veggies in the burritos. What Mexican restaurant puts green beans, peas, corn, carrots in their burritos? The meat was smaller then my peas, and it was dried out. Tasted like hamburger helper. Only great thing about this place was the atmosphere and the Free chips. read more

Mariachi's Authentic Mexican Cuisine, located smack dab in the middle of Kapa'a town on the main drag, is a nice and comfortable Mexican eatery. There is ample seating with a view of the Kapa'a main street, recorded Latin music playing in the background, and a typical Mexican decor, with remnants of the old sports bar still hanging on the walls(TVs) Now I must confess that I'm not a huge fan of Mexican restaurant food, but there is a reason for that... Many years ago while living in California, I was treated to dinner made by the grandmother of a friend, who obviously, is Mexican. That dinner is what I have compared EVERY Mexican meal against, and every meal has fallen short, so... ... I ordered the Chile Colorado plate and a Negra Modelo on tap, and my fiancé ordered the fish(mahi mahi) tacos and a margarita made with freshly squeezed limes. The food tasted good, not outstanding, or remarkable, but good! The portions were just right, and my plate had the expected fixings, with a choice of flour or corn tortillas, or a mix of both. The beer was served icy cold, and my fiancé's margarita was one of the better ones she's ever had. The service was fast and very friendly, with servers periodically checking in to see how we were doing(something I appreciate). The menu contained a good mix of Mexican fare, and the prices were a bit pricey, but decent. Overall it was an enjoyable dinner, and I will be returning for another meal. read more

When you walk into a restaurant in kauai labeled "Mexican food" you know you have an issue! We were sat down and waited a solid 10-15 min before we got any menus, waters or chips. I'm not sure if it's all nights, but we went on Saturday around 6pm and they had a DJ playing very loud techno music along with lasers and lights flashing everywhere that made it impossible to have a civil conversation without screaming across the table and pretty damn annoying. After we waited 15 min and contemplated moving elsewhere along with finally getting some chips, the DJ changed the song and we were literally screaming to each other, at that point, we said "screw this place" and left. Coming from Southern California doesn't help the case of Mexican food on kauai, maybe because I'm spoiled with good Mexican food? No, I've had great stuff all over the U.S. Went down the street and found probably the best meal I've had here on the island! read more