The reviews crack me up - because it tells me a lot of entitled people come to eat here. The fish was absolutely excellent and the mai tai's were the best I've had on the north shore (and perhaps the entire island). Definitely get some rolls and the salmon belly nigiri. And lastly, I want to address the absolutely atrocious comments talking about the hostess - first of all, her name is Morgan. Second of all, she's a saint. Perhaps instead of saying she's an unkind person you should see the energy you reflect out. By the end of the night she and I were friends and we left with hugs. Do not listen to the lame reviews - come eat at the Dolphin! read more

We came here two nights in a row! Our first night our waiter was Amber and she was so sweet. We took her recommendations and they exceeded our expectations. Our second night out waiter Brant said "I dont work in sales I work in happiness" and he was right! Everything he recommended us was delicious! We ordered: Teriyaki ahi, Kamakan sushi and Chili hamachi. The staff has been amazing, the food delicious and the atmosphere was great! Highly recommend! read more

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The restaurant was really busy but the staff was fun and engaging. We sat at the sushi bar and watched them make sushi which was really interesting . We both ordered from the fresh fish menu. My hubby ordered the teriyaki Ahi with potato wedges and I ordered the Cajun swordfish with steamed veggies. They were amazing - we ate every last bite. Would love to come back again for the sushi and the chocolate brownie dessert. Great restaurant! read more

There's a reason why this place had a line right when they opened at 5. Our hotel recommended we eat here and they did not disappoint. Everything was so good and all the workers are so nice. I HIGHLY recommend this place!! read more

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Amazing food, great locataion with very friendly servers. I'd like to shout out Gaby and Mandy who were our servers and recommended excellent dishes and drinks. Started off with a mai tai and sake. Appetizer was a seafood chowder (excellent and highly recommend, it was my favorite). Then ordered 2 specialty rolls of Hanalei Ended off with the MACNUT CHOCOLATE BROWNIE. I did end up coming here one more time for another bowl of the seafood chowder before my flight home. If there is any way to ship this soup to California, please let me know! It really is that good! Amazing food, excellent service, and relaxed ambiance. read more

The Dolphin - Seafood Markets Near Me - Hanalei, Hawaii

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We were a party of 6. They don't have seating for 6 inside so we sat outside at the tables under an umbrella. It rained a couple of times, getting us wet, but it added to our Hawaiian experience. Two of us had Fish n Chips and it was delicious. 3 had various Poke Bowls and all enjoyed them very much. 1 had a chicken burger and he said it was very good. Onion rings were great. We order cocktails and loved them too. The service was great. Bill was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. Gave us some suggestions for places to visit. read more

The Dolphin - View from our table. - Seafood Markets Near Me - Hanalei, Hawaii

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Fabulous fresh fish, rapid and friendly service. The best meal we had on the island by a distance.

We loved our visit to The Dolphin. We had a few issues there with a drink and some long waits between service, but the server took care of everything with grace. We eat sushi and sashimi regularly and some of the sashimi I had was amazing! Seared swordfish was the daily special, and although we didn't necessarily need to order it (due to ordering sushi), I could not pass it up. It certainly didn't disappoint! We also love the open air ambience! Good cocktails! read more

Favorite restaurant in Hawaii. Every time we are in KAUAI, we have to go to the dolphin at least two times. Hanalei is my favorite spot on earth so I'm a little biased! read more

Wonderful warm, romantic ambiance by the river, good quick service, and delicious swordfish! We loved it. Will be back!

Great service! They accommodated us right away and were super friendly! The food itself is delicious and fresh (naturally). Highly recommend stopping by if you're on the island. The shade when it's warm/hot outside is very effective so it's never really uncomfortable here. read more

Good quality fish with a lot of variety. They have fair prices and the staff were friendly. read more

The Dolphin - Tako & Sesame Tuna Poke - Seafood Markets Near Me - Hanalei, Hawaii

Great drinks & awesome sushi! Would definitely recommend, family friendly and casual.

The food is below average here. Additionally the older brunette hostess could not be more rude, she yelled at me twice to get out of her way when she had plenty room to walk around me. I'm surprised she's not fired at this point. I watched her be incredibly rude to multiple people. I waited an 40 min for a plain avocado roll on top of that. The worst part was the hostess by far. Terrible woman. She also watched my kids shoe break and yelled at her for not having one shoe on - outside. read more

Food was good, waitress was nice but price was ridiculous. I got 2 cut rolls scallaop and yellowtail (8 pieces each) and a kids fish plate which was a small portion with rice. Came out to $91 with tax, tip and their credit card fee. Ive never paid that much for 2 cut rolls and a kids plate. Not worth it. The finest restaurants in los angeles dont even cost that much. Smh read more

Spicy ahi poke bowl is stupendous. Love seeming to be outdoors and beautiful scenery all around. Staff worked hard to make a pleasant dining experience. read more

The food was adequate and astronomically expensive. $24 for 6 tiny pieces of a fake crab California roll. The soup was cold. The food took 40 minutes to arrive. The staff thinks they are doing you a favor by letting you eat there. A total tourist trip. Save your money. read more

The food is very nice but the service was nothing short of terrible. We arrived at 445 and got a pager. Were seated around 510. Our waitress did it take our order until 530 though we tried to flag her down many times. We came with our well behaved children who were polite and entertained. It's 6:28 and we have still not received our entrees including our children's order. We received sushi and miso soup. Consistently had to physically flag down our waitress for drinks. For this price - just no. I know it's busy, the weekend, and popular tourist spot. But for the high prices, completely unacceptable and just rude. Our waitress had a snippy and poor attitude towards us. For what? Coming as paying customers to order dinner? As you can tell I'm extremely annoyed. Not returning during our two week stay in town. Pretty sad, we fell in LOVE with sushi here a decade ago read more

The Dolphin - Seafood Markets Near Me - Hanalei, Hawaii

Went last night with my wife and one other couple. The ambiance is so so. The service was okay; not friendly but not unfriendly. The martini I had ($20) was very diluted. My fiends rum was from Kentucky!! Not great. The maki rolls were average at best (get way better in Cleveland Ohio) and extremely expensive. The overall value is just not there. This was the first disappointment since being here. read more

Everybody was super cool! Kids got to see some fat tunas like they've never seen before! Fish was on point. Love the fresh sea asparagus they use in the rainbow and avocado. Fish getting cut right before your eyes and when you walk into most seafood joints on the mainland they smell like shit. This spot when you walk in you wouldn't even know. Crazy! Everybody was super cool service was on point! Thank you for the good times and good vibes! If any of you guys are in the Bay Area there's a plate of grub waiting for you at my place! read more

Island time service with extremely fresh food. Listen we didn't even take photos of the food. It was so good. No crazy sauces just delicious butter. I can't say much more! We loved it! The fresh catches were just perfectly cooked and seasoned. read more

Fish is always very fresh. Hard to beat the Hanalei beautiful atmosphere for a great dining experience. We go for the sushi. Cocktails are very expensive and often the bar can't keep up with the demand. I've had that experience more than my recent visit. Service has always been pleasant. Fish entrees are great as well. read more

Just the facts. Poke was excellent. Tried three varieties. The young man (short buzz cut) behind the counter interacted with us as though he could hardly stand it. Not outright rude but we could tell something was off. Our party consisted of two Asians. My friend noticed that this same young man behind the counter was quite friendly and laughing with the other White two tourists. Just the facts. read more

Well this has been our favorite restaurant and fish market on the island for more than 10 years. When we visit we stay 14-26 days on average once or twice a year and buy all fish from the market and have dinner minimum 2-3 times a trip. Their food is still great however the prices have gone. up really high. The Sushi rolls are more than double anything in the Bay Area. Average bill is $350 for four people on the low end. Understand everything is expensive but come on, your Ahi is more than it cost on the mainland and your local fishermen sell it to you daily at a fraction. Also, the older hostess that has worked there for a long time is an a--hole. Everytime we see her she is rude and condescending. Not what you'd expect for an almost $400 dinner. read more

80% rice, overpriced for the lack of fish they put in here. Very much a scam. $23 for a roll of rice. read more

The Dolphin - Dolphin Roll - Seafood Markets Near Me - Hanalei, Hawaii

We went to the fishmarket and this was so so good! The only reason im giving 4 stars is because I didn't love how big the fish pieces were in the poke. But don't let that stop you! The flavor is so good. I absolutely LOVED the snowcrab sushi roll and the clam chowder my mom got. Im lactose intolerant but by golly. I break for the clam chowder! Its worth the pain I swear! I highly recommend this place if you're in Hanalei! read more

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Would not recommend. The atmosphere is definitely not inviting. You buy the fish and have to go elsewhere to get it cooked... The two female cashiers were friendly but to that bald dude in the back, we heard what you said to your corowker. Mi gente latina, no coman aquí. read more

What a bummer. Drove 45 min to have lunch here- was greeted by an older white man that seemed very annoyed to be doing his job and didn't appreciate our request to sit in the shade as we were placed in the outdoor overflow seating. Our server, a tall young white man was not exactly rude, just busy and bored, but not even making eye contact when dropping off our food, and sometimes talking over our heads cemented the unwelcoming feeling of the experience. The food took 45 minutes to get to our table. The waiter also told us my dish would be $28 dollars when in fact he charged us $36, which made lunch for 2, no alcohol, over $100. Had eating here not entailed the extensive wait, the hosts' rudeness, and the waiter's indifference I wouldn't have felt bad about the cost. The kitchen staff is clearly skilled-the food was good. As it stands I feel so sad that this place has changed so much and what could have been one of the best memories turned into one of the worst. read more

Came to the fish market and got Poke bowls and rolls to go. Bowls are a little on the pricey side - but good size portions and came with a drink. The fish was delicious- tried several of the ahi options. Have their own lot so parking is very easy. Apparently they sell out fast so best to come on the earlier side. It's a small shop and the line was long but moved fast. Guys behind the counter were nice and helpful. read more

The hostess was very unfriendly and not focused on customer service. No smiles and not informative about the dinner serving time. When the server came, she was also glum and not friendly. She seemed angry. We ordered a veggie kabab and it came with five pieces of of squash and onions that were broken and not worth $8. read more

We went in for a cocktail and it was approaching the dinner Hour and wasn't anyone there. They didn't let us sit inside. After a nice tip he finally let us sit at a table. After 10 minutes they told us we had to leave. From the host, to the bar tender, to the waitress, not one of the were friendly. read more

Went to the fish market to get items to go. Talk about attitude! So rude and indifferent to us. I have been coming here for almost 20 years and the attitude of the employees seems to have gotten worse. If you don't like your job, find something else. I asked "do you have any soy sauce?" And the boy (he looked about 10) says "yah". I asked "can I have some?" He hands me a container that I thought was just soy sauce. It had wasabi mixed in which I am sensitive to. I love their food but so disappointed with the hiring decisions they have made. I'm sure it's difficult to find outstanding people on the island, but these kids should take pride in their work while they seem to be stuck here and hopefully get a better life eventually. Really sad experience. I was there after lunch in the mid afternoon. read more

Everything about this place is awesome. This has ambiance, delicious food and drinks. Great spot for pictures. Ask someone to take your picture! Appetizers should not be missed either! read more

The Dolphin - Delicious drinks! - Seafood Markets Near Me - Hanalei, Hawaii

PLEASE go to the to-go spot next door!! Hostess was immediately rude so we left the Dolphin. The sashimi, sushi, etc next door was ready right away and literally the best quality + value meal I've ever had. Got a block of ahi tuna sashimi + tako (octopus) poke + some sides all of this together was under $40. unreal. Take this to a park / beach and thank me later!! read more

This is the first time in my life that I have walked out of a restaurant before ordering food. The hostess was one of the rudest people I have ever encountered. While waiting for a table, we ordered $100 in drinks (we were in no hurry) In 15 mins we had three terrible conversations with her. She and a co-worker were joking about how rude she is to the clientele- joking with each other that she's like the soup nazi. It was quite ironic since she had "aloha" displayed on the front of her podium. We paid for our drinks and went elsewhere to eat. read more

Skip this restaurant! Terrible treatment of customers by the manager, Morgan! We were seated at 2:50 pm for lunch service. We were there until 4:20 when Morgan said we needed to leave. There was no one in the restaurant at that time. My 90 year old mother was finishing her 2nd drink and couldn't believe how she was being treated in such a negative way! Morgan lacks customer service experience and truly has no skills working with the public! Morgan should be replaced immediately due to her negative customer service with elderly patrons. I tried to discuss this with her and she said we needed to be gone by 3 pm. I recommend Kalypso Restaurant or Tahiti Nui as better alternatives to this poor establishment! read more

Food quality was above average but not consistent with the price. You can easily spend over $350 for 4 people without alcoholic drinks and leave hungry. We ended up buying fish in the sister fish market for "high" prices and cooked it ourselves. We made two awesome home cooked meals of blue marlin and swordfish for 4 for about 20% of the cost of one sushi meal at the Dolphin. read more

A disappointment. We tried 2 different appetizers. Both lacked any kind of seasonings. Very bland tasting. We ordered 4 entrees. 2 were fish, ordered Cajun style. We did not taste any seasonings. Slightly overcooked. Vegetables were definitely over cooked and mushy. Scallops were rated very good and chicken just ok. We waited a long time between appetizers and entrees. Overall not satisfied for the cost. I don't like giving bad reviews for restaurants but the majority of our meal was subpar at a high cost. read more

Take out only...while pricey, our fish that we took home with their seasoning was excellent. The server made the recommendation and I can't remember which fish it was! read more

We love this restaurant! The food is great, the service is amazing! It's located near a cute town so you can walk around afterwards. Anything you order will be great in my opinion! We make it a point to stop here every time we visit Kauai! read more

The Dolphin - Seafood Markets Near Me - Hanalei, Hawaii