Japanese Grandma's Cafe

From the moment we walked through the door, my wife and I were blown away by the extremely welcoming and friendly service staff. Our server gave us a tasting to help us choose the right sake, and was very knowledgeable in all the sakes offered. We got the ahi tuna poke tacos for a starter and we're amazed by the flavor, presentation, and quality of ingredients. We got a few sushi rolls to round out our meal and can honestly say without a doubt that it was THE BEST spicy tuna we have ever eaten, and that is saying something, having been to Tokyo and numerous sushi restaurants around the world. Highly recommend a stop at this wonderful establishment when on Kauai, you will not be disappointed!

Beware! Japanese-style sushi is not available on Mondays and Tuesdays!

Great little restaurant serving great food right in historic Hanapepe! It is literally a stone's throw from the historic and iconic swinging bridge.

The sushi that we had was American style as you can see from my photos and there was no sashimi or nigiri. This is because the Japanese sushi chef, who is the only one authorized to make Japanese style sushi or sashimi, need some days off - which is totally reasonable. When we were there he wasn't in on Mondays or Tuesdays. Just beware that when you go on Mondays and Tuesdays you can only get California rolls and spider rolls and American-style things like that.

one of the more interesting menu items that we had was the yuzu gelato for dessert. It was interesting, but I'm not going to say it was good. The sharp taste of the yuzu mixed with the richness of gelato was pretty confusing, but I recommend trying it if you like yuzu. It really tastes like yuzu and it's a really good example of why you probably shouldn't mix that kind of flavor in gelato. But I don't know maybe you'll like it.

Small restaurant with incredibly fresh ingredients. The best poke tacos on the island!

The soy sauce is made in house. Everything that we had was top notch, down to the smallest detail. Parking was easy, service was friendly, and place was clean!

Delicious sushi. Fresh. Atmosphere is so adorable and seats are out back in nature. Sometimes live music too.

Excellent sashimi; we’ll prepared and presented. The cucumber salad with octopus was refreshing. The green salad had an amazing homemade sesame dressing, and the miso soup was simple and delicious, but considering the presentation of the sashimi, the soup, and everything else on the table, I was terribly surprised to see the salad come in a compostable bowl.
The hot tea was palatable, but without much body and too weak for my tastes. If you’re going to order hot tea at a Japanese restaurant in a hot humid place, you’d expect it to be more substantiative.
The only disappointment (made particularly confusing by the shear amazing quality and presentation of most of the rest of the meal) was the “special of the day”, their pan seared teriyaki salmon with “vegetables”. The sauce was overly salty; the salmon was good, but seemed like the sort you could buy in the frozen aisle at a Whole Foods on the mainland, and the two pieces of store bought baby carrots (the pre-peeled packaged kind) and two stems of broccoli look like they had died a horrible death somewhere long ago. Lesson learned - stick to the main menu here, and die blissfully in sushi heaven.

Had the soba noodles with tempura and the shrimp bento box. Everything was fresh and delicious, great flavors. The special drinks for the day were really creative and fun and tasted great. A good place for a fresh and healthier lunch, portions were reasonable.

Small place in historic Hanapepe. It shares a space with an expensive little souvenir shop. My husband and I enjoyed our experience here. We spend over $80 and had two larger rolls ($20 each for the Eel Bomb and caterpillar rolls). We got bowls of miso soup ($3 each) and I ordered a natto roll and hand roll (which was amazing and I had never seen anything like it before!!) ($6 each). The fish was fresh, and it was tasty.

High quality food in a cute setting. Gets busy. My wife said best shrimp tempura ever. Poke bowl was delicious

I'm amazed at such quality Japanese food in such a small town such as hanapepe! Legit Japanese cuisine served and made by legit Japanese people. Prices are a little steep, but I think it's worth it considering the quality (and support a local business!). Nigiri were fantastic with all of them being fresh and buttery. The seasonal whitefish at the time was so good. Spicy tuna rolls weren't loaded with mayonnaise (which is what I prefer) and the spice was just right. The soba noodles were so tasty and perfectly aldente. Pair those with the included tempura and you have perfection. The tempura was crisp, not too oily, and the flavor of the original ingredient shined through instead of the tempura batter. Definitely check this place out if you're passing through!

We loved this place. The staff were friendly and super quick. The food was amazing (the shrimps were huge and tasted amazing) and the size of the portion was perfect. The restaurant was clean and the art work looked neat, they were able to accommodate us both quickly. It is joined to another store but that wasn't a problem at all.