It was hot with nowhere to go but crammin it in at the sidewalk cafe/ Mermaid cafe.. rumor had it that it was a local favorite.. I would agree with the other person that wrote about the AHI Tuna CILANTRO wrap... OOOOOOOH MY... Wonderful with the lemonade tea... A place that we had to visit twice because we liked it so much.. I had to take a star away for the crabby wait staff that gave me a lid that was too big for my cup and a 'whats your problem' attitude to go with it.. Fun to watch them working in that little kitchen! read more

This place became our favorite healthy food eatery since we've got on Kauai. Staff is friendly, there is a plenty of dishes to choose from and chicken curry plate became our favorite! 5 stars all the way! read more

Mermaids Cafe - Beautiful people eat here - Sandwiches Near Me - Kapaa, Hawaii

When you're on the Hawaiian Islands, you cannot be in a rush to get your food. If you are, there are plenty of fast food joints for tourists. In the case of Mermaids Cafe, the food is worth the wait. It's a very small place... just a window into a small kitchen with seating around the outside... and all the food is made fresh as you order, so there's no heat lamps involved. We visited the cafe on our way home from the North shore one rainy afternoon last week. The menu is nice and easy and they accommodated our requests for a few changes to make plates gluten-free. The coconut curry chicken bowl came out piping hot and it was so much food! Really fresh veggies and a tasty (yet very mild) coconut curry sauce. The chicken burrito (sans wrap) was also very good and a little on the spicy side (which I enjoy). It's a totally laid back kinda place and feels very local. The perfect place for lunch or an easy dinner! read more

OVERALL:4.1 FOOD:4 SERVICE:4.5 AMBIANCE:4 VALUE:4 Fast, fresh, friendly & flavorful. Great place to catch a quick bite on the way to/from the beach. Mostly shaded outdoor seating is good for Kapaa people-watching, catching the ocean breeze, and hanging out over some quality food. Steady stream of locals throughout the day, and that's as legit as it gets. Plus, they often have complimentary seasonal fruit (lychees!!) to nibble on. If you're looking for simplicity and don't need the blended bar drinks or TVs, skip Olympic Cafe for some mermaid action. *Fish Tacos: Ran outta seared ahi, so subbed in mahimahi: a bit tougher texture, but still delish, and still tasty. Slice of fresh papaya. *Thai Chicken Wrap: Yummy, tangy, peanutty sesame dressed chicken breast...verrry satisfying and amazingly snug wrapwork, considering the abundance of stuffing. read more

So we arrive at the island, pick up the car and then eight hours of travelling hit us across the back of the head like a lead baton. Time for food and bed. We had seen this place recommended in the guide book and it was on the way so decided to stop off for a bite to eat. The selections are small, maybe ten things to choose from, but the food itself is cooked in front of you and is so good you're stomach will thank you. The cilantro ahi wrap was huge; imagine a wrap the size of a super burrito stuffed full of seared tuna, spicy cucumber, herbs and spices. My partner had the satay chicken plate, which was so big it did her for a midnight snack as well. For around $9 a plate this was both excellent value and tasty too, and the Thai iced tea hit the spot perfectly. We're already planning on going back. read more

I stopped into this little spot before heading out of town on the recommendation from a local. Wow, what a fresh take on fish tacos! So tasty, served with perfectly cooked black beans and a very small (but delicious) side salad dressed with a fresh tomato salsa. I was really impressed. The blue corn tortillas were baked crispy (not fried) and the fish inside was in a light sauce. Really delicious, healthy and fresh. Oh, and the music they play seemed to come directly from my reggae collection including lesser known Marley hits and Sublime. Would definitely return. read more

Mermaids has a super laid back surfer vibe complete with a sweet and colorful mural. It's roadside in Kapa'a, so traffic passes by. The food is ono: I've had great breakfasts and lunches. In the morning, our order took a while (20+ minutes)--I think the cook had to prep everything and make our stuff. The hibiscus lemonade is very refreshing. read more

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this place is AWESOME! My husband and I stayed on the island 4 years ago for our honeymoon and still talk about this place in fact we're thinking about a special vacation just so we can eat here again! i wish i had a mermaid burrito right now ... ummm seared tuna with cilantro rice, creamy avo and wasabi mayo! Mouth Watering and Dreamy Delicious! read more

My favorite spot on Kauai. Ahi nori wrap almost every other day for me when I'm on Kauai. Great value. Fresh ingredients. Salads are huge. One trip I had ahi nori wraps for 5 straight days. No joke. read more

A classic spot in Kapaa town. This place closed for a while and that would be a tragic loss. It's good: but in my opinion it depends a lot on what you order. To my tastes, some of the food here is really good and some is not so much. For example - I really like the foccia sandwich with either ahi or chicken, but the ahi wrap that they make has too much brown rice on it for me. Their satay sauce is just all right, but their wasabi cream sauce and pesto are killer. Also the lemonade here is off-the-charts good. But add hibiscus tea at your own risk... Can get crowded between 12-2 and 6-8; so it's more enjoyable at non-peak times for sure. read more

red hibiscus tea-lemonade. yummy. I would be satisfied with just that. chicken foccacia sandwich...absolutely good everytime. completely way too much for me to finish. it makes a good meal, or three, for me. fresh ingredients, easy location, friendly service. what's not to like? read more

This spot was a surprising good find in Kauai. It's well priced and those corn tortilla (not the flour ones) fish tacos have made it to the top of my list of favorite fish tacos ever! So well flavored and fresh. Just delish! read more

Mermaids Cafe - Corn tortilla fish "Tropical Tacos" - Sandwiches Near Me - Kapaa, Hawaii

I had the Ahi Nori Wrap - tasty, flavorful and wonderfully fresh. We sat right against the windows to the kitchen and watched them prepare our food. Things were fresh, local, and no canned or pre-prepared stuff in the kitchen. The place is basic, just a little hole in the wall, but seems to be popular with locals and tourists alike. I wish we had gone back a second time during our trip so I could sample some more options. read more

Very fun, local food shack type of vibe. Only outdoor seating. I had the mahi mahi fish tacos and tried the nori wrap off my friend's plate. All delicious. read more

5 Star Mermuffin..... 3 Star establishement consistency. MERMUFFIN... with chevre is the best brekkie sandwich EVER. So... I sent some friends there last week and they were told that they don't serve breakfast any more, well maybe sometimes, but that it just depended because the owners were flaky. And that made me sad. So don't get excited. But if it's open for breakfast do get the mermuffin and let your mind get blown. read more

I dream of the Ahi Nori Wrap...one of the best things to do on Kauai is eat one. Spicy wasabi mayo doused on fresh beautiful ahi, and packed into a spinach tortilla with brown rice and crunchy cucumbers..,,It's decadent, but healthy.... I love it almost as much as the island itself. read more

Definitely Woohoo! As good as it gets I was just doing an airport pick-up and I stopped on the way to the visitors' destination to pick up " basic necessities" with the passengers. At 7:30 am, we got ahi-wraps! Awesome freshness and service! They didn't even ask for money! - We left $30.00 on the counter... read more

A MUST on Kauai! Everything on the menu is so good. We usually go back several times throughout our trip and never have been disappointed with anything ordered. Definitely deserving of 5 stars, portions are big and quality of food is fresh! The wraps are my favorite!! read more

Mermaids Cafe - Sandwiches Near Me - Kapaa, Hawaii

Offer a variety of foods! From some Mexican to vegetarian this is great! They have good service and use square to process your order (great system). My one gripe is that one night they were all out of fish, which caused us to visit another restaurant. Other than that I highly recommend this place!!! read more

Alright... so 3 stars for a good reason, I swear! If I could give it 3.5 stars, I would, but 3 stars it is... The Ahi Nori Wrap was good... a bit too much rice for me and not enough fish, but hey- who can complain for $9.95, right? They offer locally caught Ahi for $2 more, but I don't understand-- what else would they serve if not locally caught Ahi? I imagine it'd be more expensive to get the stuff flown in from elsewhere??? I asked and she said "oh it was caught a few days ago vs. frozen..." I don't know how accurate that is since fish eaten raw is frozen at certain temperatures/ certain # of days according to FDA recommended guidelines. Anyway, the wasabi cream sauce had a good balance... we ordered one locally caught ahi and one regular ahi-- couldn't taste the difference really (or at all). Next, we had the sandwich with pesto on foccacia bread. They ran out of avocado, and the bread was amazingly HARD- foccacia bread shouldn't be rock hard, but ok I'll give it 3 stars for good flavors (minus 1 for hard bread and minus 1 for no avocados). Next we come to the Cilantro Wrap-- same as the Ahi Nori one, but without the nori and wasabi sauce... it was BLAND AS SAND! Actually sand has salt, so nevermind, but you get the point... I was sorely disappointed in this one... I kept putting in dabs of soy sauce, salt, pepper, hot sauce... ANYTHING just to get some flavor, but ultimately it was pointless... The fish itself (we asked for seared) came medium/ fully cooked... and was VERY bland on all 4 dishes. We also got Hibiscus Tea and Mint LemonGrass Tea. My friend who got the Hibiscus said it was so sweet she chucked it and went for the free water. I had the Mint LemonGrass... and it tasted like a regular old Mint Tea bag with ICE. Anyone who has ever had lemongrass would know-- Lemongrass is strong-- it has a strong and distinct flavor, and I got ZERO hint of it in this drink. Lastly, we had the coconut rice pudding. It was cold, thick and had a lot of raisins in it. I like raisins, just not in this dish (the sheer # of raisins overpowered the coconut flavor, maybe with a lot less raisins, it would've been much better)... and it needed to be warm. We went up and asked if they had a microwave, and he answered "no, but that would taste a whole lot better warm huh?" YEAH, IT WOULD! (hint to you: warm it up!) All in all, we spent $60 and left feeling a bit middle of the road... the only good thing was the ahi nori wrap, and even that could have used a little tweaking... I will say that compared to other places in Kauai, the food here at Mermaid's Cafe was good, which isn't saying a whole lot really. read more

Their wasabi sauce in the ahi wrap is amazing! Ice tea is pretty typical, but still good

Really tasty wraps and an interesting selection of lunch options. We had the Tofu Satay Wrap and the Ahi Nori Wrap. The tofu was a little soggy, but well seared on one or two sides. The sauce was very peanutty and creamy. Brown rice made the texture really hearty. The satay wrap did fall apart quite catastrophically and required a fork. Not much seating, but we got a table on the sidewalk. Food came out fairly quickly - not super speedy, but not obnoxiously slow. One complaint: we ordered Thai iced tea with coconut milk and that was kind of gross. The milk just sort of sat on top and was kind of curdley. They offered it the usual way, too, with evaporated milk, but we thought coconut milk sounded good. Not good. But the tea, aside from the milk, was tasty. read more

The perfect spot for a quick bite to eat of fresh, made-to-order food. The chicken stir fry noodle was delicious and loaded with fresh vegetables and thick noodles. read more

The ahi nori wrap .... makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Mermaid's cafe can make things vegetarian with tofu and vegetables instead of meat but unfortunately we went on a day they ran out of tofu and peanut satay. I got the Tofu Noodle Plate except without the tofu ("extra vegetables" as a concession) since they were out. It was okay, but I suggest waiting until they have all the ingredients to go if you're a vegetarian like me. The $14.95 dish just wasn't filling enough without the tofu! read more

Mermaids is a really cute spot. I tried the fish tacos and my husband got the peanut satay. I think both could have used a good punch up in the flavor department but it all was healthy and decent. Prices are good and the service was friendly and fast. read more

This place looked cute from the outside but the ahi tacos had no flavor. It tasted like fresh ingredients but needed spice, like, salt, anything. read more

Ahi poke bowl is bomb and the tropical tacos are great! Definitely coming back to try others

We were walking down the street and stop cuz there were a lot of people standing out front. Thought it must be good if the line was like this. The Ahi Nori Warp was on point. Sat in the Little alleyway to the right. Got to see her make the food and there was a nice breeze. Also got the fresh lemonade which is really good and the coconut macaroon which is a great dessert. Do yourself favor and stop here for lunch! read more

Mermaids Cafe - Sandwiches Near Me - Kapaa, Hawaii

Cool little kitchen pumping reggae music and ahi tacos. Plenty of cilantro in a delicious sauce a browned/toasted flour tortillas were loaded up with that and cubes of tasty ahi. Good stuff. read more

Mermaids Cafe - Ahi tacos - Sandwiches Near Me - Kapaa, Hawaii

This little hole in the wall eatery is one of the best. After many years of driving past this place & feeling hesitant to try it, about 3 yrs ago I finally did. And, I don't regret it. The menu is limited, but everything on it is definitely worth trying. Prices aren't that bad either. I really love the focaccia sandwich & the ahi cilantro wrap. At first glance this place may seem a little sketchy, but trust me you won't be disappointed. Take it from someone who had that exact initial reaction! read more

great the person helping was so kind and the coconut was delicious would recommend to fruit lovers for fruits like a coconut if I could I would leave 10 stars would recommend If I ever go back to that area I may stop by read more

Fresh, great service, would definitely recommend! Passionate staff and healthy cuisine.

Our friends stopped by Mermaids on their last trip to Kauai and highly recommended it as a pit stop after a day at the beach. We were so happy that we stopped in! Everything is made fresh to-order, the portions are generous ... and you just can't beat their options for ahi. The wrap is delish ... I have no idea what they put in the Wasabi sauce, aside from Wasabi, but it is amazing. I wish they bottled it! Drink choices were inspired teas ... interesting, but limited. I was able to pop next door for an iced Kona coffee. The seating is limited as well, but if you snag a table, you get a great view of the beach traffic coming and going on the main drag. read more

I got the Ahi Nori Wrap and thai iced tea and I think you should too. I've never tasted anything like it. The ingredients were so fresh, i felt healthy eating it. No doubt I would eat here again and order the exact same thing. read more

I got the tofu satay plate here, the veggies and the sauce were pretty good. The tofu was kind of medium firm and fell apart a little. I am not really a fan of huge pieces of tofu (as they lack flavour and are gelatinous) but if you like tofu you will like this too. My husband got the tofu noodle plate and did not like it as much. It was REALLY oily and greasy, and he hates oily food, so he was quite disappointed. He would get the plate next time with rice instead. There's not a lot of great vegetarian options in Kapaa. There are some, but most of it is ok to good. We don't have high standards when going to Hawaii and looking for this fare. I think the food could be a little bit tastier if it wasn't so oily. I really hate having to wipe oil off of my lips and face when eating veggies. read more

A little pricey but well worth it since ingredients are local, everything is made on the spot, and portions are large. You can't go wrong with their tacos or the coconut curry plate. There's outside seating, but if it's full, you can always do what we did and drive a mile or so up north and eat it on the beach. Just watch out for the wandering chickens! read more

Made a stop here on our way to the airport from Princeville. The food was absolutely delicious and fresh. Staff was very friendly and quick. Watch for the scavenger chickens waiting for food to drop! read more

We made a special trip to Mermaids Cafe because we are vegetarians and I was really looking forward to having some (hopefully) well prepared tofu. Unfortunately, they were just out of tofu that day. I find that kind of bogus and it was a waste of time on my vacation. read more

This is a hole in the wall place in downtown Kapa'a. There's usually about a 20 minute wait to order and get your food since they usually only have about 2 people working there. You can call ahead with your order though and pick it up when you get there. I ordered the chicken satay dish and the stir fried noodle dish. Both were decent but nothing really extraordinary. The good thing is that they supposedly use organic ingredients. Entrees are about $10 each. You can sit at one of the outdoor tables or by a little tiny bar where you can watch them cook your food. read more