I arrived and sat at the bar. The waiter/bartender comes over and tells me its going to be around 40 minutes because the kitchen was backed up. It didnt seem that busy and usually Mexican food comes out fast. I ordered a bottle of beer and the bartender walked away and started making a mixed drink for somebody else and forgot my beer. Two drunk dudes walked in and sat next to me at the bar and were obnoxious. My fun meter was pegged...and I had no beer, so left to have some of the worst sushi ever at Sushi Bushido. Tough night for dinner in Kapaa. read more

The sign outside says best happy hour 2-5pm. I honestly think this is accurate in terms of price $$$! BUT in terms of food... I was so disappointed. I got the shrimp ceviche. The shrimp was swimming in tomato juice with no fresh herbs or onions etc. the quesadilla with carne asada was so small only 2 pieces, my child could of made a better quesadilla.... the mojito was ok not bad not great. You get what you pay for. read more

Don't bother. Poor service, warm beer and the food is bland. Plus they got the order wrong.

Weak. The beef tostada looks and tastes like it came from a cheesy cafe, the basket of tortilla chips are like cardboard, with catsup-like salsa to cover up the boredom, and the house margarita $9 is small and predictably sad. Should've noticed that the store was nearly empty when I arrived. There are few-to-none Mexican restaurants in Kauai. This one's just a step above Taco Bell. At least the service was good. read more

The sign outside says best Mexican food on Kauai. If this is the best on Kauai I should move and open a Mexican restaurant. The food is a 2 star and the price brought it to a 3 star. It was good but not great. Was a little disappointed. If you want ok food and good price this is where you should go. Maybe I am being a little hard on them after all the other great food we found on Kauai. Then again why am I eating Mexican food in Hawaii. read more

I was lured in by the great location and vibrant outdoor decor. Once inside, I realized my mistake immediately. Our server was absolutely terrible; he was not only incedibly rude, but glaringly incompetent as well. Brought out the wrong order, miscalculated the bill, and didn't refill a single drink. I had the surf and turf burrito, which was edible. Salsa was incredibly salty. Margarita was weak. Prices were outrageous, considering the quality of the food and service. Will never go back. read more

I'm from Chicago and live in an area with many really good Mexican restaurants. This doesn't even come close! Service was very poor, food not very good at all. If you are expecting good authentic Mexican food, or good service, you won't find it here. read more

Poor service, messed up 2/3 of our orders. Ordered queso and it arrived lukewarm at best. Wouldn't come back here again

Meh. Food - a solid 5. Service - not bad if you feel like tracking down your server to place an order.

I don't usually have high expectations from little roadside restaurants on a remote island but this one kinda really disappointed me. Being the ONLY patron at the bar and hardly anyone in the sit down area I was really surprised by the lack of service from the waitstaff. Also for the price of the happy hour drinks and pupu's I was equally unimpressed compared to the surrounding restaurants. It will prob be a while before I make it back in to give them a second chance at redemption. read more

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

See all

OK, I should know better than to go for Mexican outside of Texas! This review is only for the margaritas, not the food. The house margaritas were $6.50 during Happy Hour and were sadly lacking. Very little tequila in the pre-made mix that was the worst I have ever had. Which says a lot since I have had many margaritas in the last 40 years! read more

I grew up in southern Mexico and this place reminded me of home with there amazing food and hand made tortillas I will eat here every chance I get :) read more

Great lunch. Massive burrito. Excellent quesadilla one of the best ever. Fantastic iced tea! Service was good, friendly and helpful. Had a nice table people watching. read more

We had tostadas for lunch. Husband had chili verde and I had vegetal. Delicious. The tortilla chips and dip immediately brought to our table were the perfect appetizer. Played Mexican music, which I liked. (Not live). Not too loud. Will go again when we come back to Kaua'i next year. read more

We were lucky enough to go on Taco Tuesday :-) We had great service,margarita's were excellent and the open concept is friendly. I would recommend!! read more

All these negative comments about this place sound ridiculous! The place, the waitresses, and the FOOD are beyond AMAZING! The food was so delicious that I came more than once while I was in Kauai. Our server, Rosy, was awesome and very down to earth! This place is a must go!! I highly encourage y'all to taste their delicious food!! read more

Wasn't impressed with the "authentic" food. My burrito didn't even have the beans in it. Not much taste. Setting was good. Taco salad was meh. Waitress was nice. Chips and salsa were good, probably the best of the meal. read more

We went to the Mariachi's in Lihue last night and it was amazing! Great service, food, drinks. Everything was perfect. But today when we went to the on in Kapaa and it was terrible. We sat at the bar and the service was terrible. He didn't ask us how we wanted out margaritas, didn't come and see how the food was. We pretty much had to flag him down to get another drink and our check. Food was okay. But don't sit at the bar if you ever want anything. He even looked at us like we were stupid when we told him we needed separate checks. I'm a waitress and I'm very lean lenient when it comes to service because I know sometimes you get in the weeds. But I am VERY disappointed with my time here. If I come back to Kapaa I will not be back. read more

Poor service. Open sign in and they say they are closed. Turned away 4 groups. If you are closed turn off the open sign and shut your doors

The food was good and the music entertainment was great. The service was horrible tho. The waiter seemed like he hated customers, and was not friendly. He messed up several items on our order and seemed annoyed when we asked to be corrected. Too bad the server was terrible cause the music and food were good, but because we felt like we were bothering the restaurant staff I wouldn't go back or recommend to anyone. read more

Happy Hour was a bit pricey and the margaritas were watered down. The food was good but the service was very slow.

Don't go for happy hour. A real screw. $6.00 Margarita with no booze. Had to order an extra shot to just to taste the Tequila. When we complained, they laughed at us! read more

I get resources are scarce on an island but dayum. Salsa was watery and flavorless. Torta was on chibata. Shrimp cocktail was too sweet yet somehow flavorless. It's in a good spot. Accessible and near a resort. Hopefully they step up their game. read more

This place is mediocre at best. Definitely not the best happy hour in Kauai. Make me happy margarita was just plain old house margarita.

I am surprised this place doesn't have more stars. I don't know what you're looking for but if it is a great happy hour and quality Mexican food (don't go to Tiki Taco) this is the place. Service good. All around good. We came to Mariachi's at least three times while we were here! And we will be back! Tequila! read more

The only negative I can say is the atmosphere is lacking. The food is excellent and the staff was very accommodating! Very fresh food, the tortillas are even made at time of order! We are traveling with a large party and have had good and bad experiences eating out in Kauai, this is definitely somewhere we would return! read more

We were looking forward to eating here. Our drinks were excellent and the view was amazing. However, that all came to an end when MY WIFE FOUND A BUG in her taco salad. When we notified the server, he laughed! Then when I asked to speak with the manager/owner, she looked up and said "speak to your waiter". I demanded she speak with me and when she finally did, she trivialized the situation and questioned us, even though I showed her the bug. The owner never apologized and made us feel like it was our fault for finding the bug. "Hawaii has a lot of bugs" she said. We are not as upset with finding the bug in our food because these things can happen. However, the response by the owner shows that she lacks professionalism and lacks pride in her restaurant. After all of this, we still had to pay a bill, which again, just shows poor customer service and lack of attention to detail. read more

Great exterior, terrible interior. Also terrible food and terrible service. The quesadillas are essentially pizza, covered with marinara sauce and cheese. The food came out in 5 minutes so clearly they hadn't spent much time on it.... The margaritas were syrupy sweet. The guacamole was actually good, but absurdly expensive in a place like Hawaii, where avocados are abundant and cheap. Also... the service was awful. The server was either stupid or stoned, not sure which. The guy wearing red seemed like he knew what he was doing, but he didn't intervene nearly often enough. Basically- avoid this restaurant. Looks like fun but it is not. read more

Edible food. Not very attentive staff. But beer was cold. I wouldn't say don't go here but would probably say just grab a cocktail and move on. read more

Two stars for the spinach enchiladas and no stars for the mango margaritas. The drinks were flavorless and expensive. Service was fine, no problems there but we should have noticed the empty restaurant and avoided it. The taco truck right outside looked like it would have been a better option... Get a beer and go there. read more

Hostess was nice and sat us as soon as we walked in, free chips and salsa, we ordered a carde asada quesadilla to split.. Without telling our waitress we were going to share, she brought us 2 smaller extra plates very nice.. Took awhile to refill waters.. Virgin piña coladas were $6.50 which were too expensive for me.. Nice atmosphere besides one loud truck blasting rap music on the road which isnt uncommon for kapaa town.. Overall good meal and will be coming back again read more

We have been on the island for almost a week and have been eating lots of Poke, Acai bowls, fish and Mai Tais. We have been kind of missing some Mexican food and Margaritas. Mariachis looked cool from the outside so we thought we would try it. I had the Sea Bass Ceviche on the appetizer menu for my dinner with chips and guacamole. My husband had the surf and turf burrito. We absolutely loved our food! We also had the house margaritas on the rocks. These were not that great. The waiter was great, working hard and eager to please. Not happy that they charged my husband $2 for a side of sour cream. Seriously? He ordered a burrito, give him some sour cream. Other than that, everything was great. read more

The food is OK. Not the best Mexican food on island. But I looooved their bloody Mary's.. has to be the best I've ever tried.

Mariachi's Kapaa town is the worst Restaurant I've been to on the island of Kauai. Margarita?...we ordered a pitcher of their house Margarita. Could have sworn the bartender forgot to add Tequila. We didn't even finish it because we felt like WHY??...empty calories. The food was horrible! Let's start with the flour tortillas. You could see the amount of oil on each tortilla. I had the Verde-disgusting! Pork was tough and the green Chile sauce flavor less, soupy-watered down. My boyfriend had Chile Colorado-let's start with the beef cubes-super tough and chewy. You could tell the beef was not cooked in the sauce. And again super watery and flavor less. Their add states bold flavors. NOT!!!! My honest suggestion please do NOT waste your money. It's just NOT worth it. The only positive comments I have is the server we had was friendly and smiley. Which helped us not be blunt about how disappointed we were. Because we've had great delicious meals and drinks at the Kalapaki location. Let's hope the people at Kalapaki can spend more time teaching these people how to cook and make drinks. read more

Stopped in for Happy Hour. No alcohol in the margaritas. Even the mix was watered down. My wife, who is a one drink person, felt nothing. Won't be back. To many other locations on this island with real drinks available. read more

Super slow service, waiter wasn't very attentive!!!!!!! Which is why I didn't rate a full 5 stars. However, carne asada burrito and taco were so good!!!! Very flavorful asada and good portion size. Would recommend getting taco during happy hour; only $3 for decent size taco!! read more

I don't know why everyone is bagging on this place. The atmosphere was cute, very colorful and happy. Our waiter was very nice and refilled our chips and salsa every time we asked. He even gave us an order of chips and salsa at no extra charge. Overall great service, and very good food! read more

Maybe I was expecting to much... margaritas on the beach? These guys have a really fun looking place with good music and open tables. Just not going to win me over on the margarita front. First off a large margarita cost us $17 which is kind of steep even for Kauai. So my bf and decided to split one. The portion was reasonable for a large, but there was almost no alcohol in it! I'm a light weight and did not feel it at all (the mai tais down the street had me at one to give you an idea). Just really disappointed! Glad we tried the drink before we ordered food so we could get out of there. read more

TOO BAD GUYS - Kauai really needs another good Mexican like restaurant, but you are doomed to fail if you keep your current mentality. We are local and should feel like old friends with our local businesses, but instead kinda feel cheated after this last time. Here are the issues: 1. Everyone working seemed like they didn't want to be there. 2. $2.00 for chips just because its happy hour????? Seriously cheap guys! Then the basket of chips was not even full....... 3. Food visually.... just ok. 4. 1st drink was well balanced...... 2nd drink was vacant of alcohol. You have to remember......If we enjoy our experience on a visit.... we are more likely to come back very soon and bring friends....... PURE PROFIT!! In our case, if there is parking in front, we might go. Otherwise its on to the next average restaurant. DO YOU WANT TO BE AVERAGE? Quit the nickel dime crap! read more

The taste and texture of these tacos were simply amazing. I would recommend these tacos to any taco fan. I then ordered a cadillac margarita on the rocks and it rocked my world. If you order one make sure and upgrade to good tequila not the well stuff (yuck) it should then be yummy.While looking at the other food coming out of the kitchen everything looked large portioned and yummy. We will be back for the tacos. read more