Reviews of Merriman's Fish House (Fish Shop)

Bailey Pratt

It was so nice they even have real candles on the tables

Nathan Hanks

If you are looking for a Kauai fine dining experience where you eat a great meal in shorts and flip flops, this is it. The ambiance, being upstairs so you can enjoy the tradewinds and get great views of Poipu and the Kukui' Ula valley, is as good as it gets on Kauai. The other great thing I like about this place is the abundance of great vegetables that they include with their plates/dinners. On our most recent visit we had the fixed price shared dinner and it was amazing. The portions were so generous that it was easily enough for 5-6 people (we were a group of 4) and we had 2 big protein eaters at our table. Will most likely choose this option from now on.

Stan Hakes

Excellent

jeremy W

Just about one of the best burgers I've ever had in my life also the fries were to die for. My wife loves the veggie tacos.

Doug Campbell

Great restaurant in a great part of Kauai: we couldn't really ask for more from the food and service we got, all at a great price too. I had a delicious burger and fries!

Sean Anderson

I live on the Big Island, and have eaten at Merriman's in Waimea/Kamuela.. This restaurant is incredible. A bit pricey, but it was delicious.. I will definitely be eating here the next time I'm on Kauai.

Jonathan Orleck

Absolutely loved the happy hour with the sun setting through the open plantation style windows. Attentive staff and well made drinks. I highly recommend the half lobster and the talk escargot style. Rich and delicious.

녀대표이사

낮에는 위층은 문을 안열어서 밑에서 먹었어요. 캐쥬얼한 분위기이고 피자나 샌드위치와 맥주한잔 하기 좋은곳. 맛은 입맛에 아주 맞지는 않았어요.

Aman Haile

The food here is delicious. Had the ahi Ginger poke to start which was amazing.

Dustin Vogel

Food was very good, had the lamb and was some of the best I'd ever had, seared tuna was very good as well with great seasoning and a nice smoky taste. My wife's filet was ordered rare and was delivered on the medium side. Service was good, but not up to par with the price tag, but none the less, a very good meal and experience.

Marlene Cipriani

Wonderful meal, attentive staff, and allergen friendly menu.

SKD

Great food and wonderful service!

Vanessa Falgout Heilbrun

6 months after (Seemingly) solidifying our wedding dinner plans with another restaurant, and about 1 month before our wedding, we found out that our plans were no longer viable and we had to find a new restaurant to host our wedding dinner. After many frantic phone calls and email inquiries, Jerri-Lynn, the event coordinator of Merriman's Kaua'i, came to the rescue. She set our worries at ease, made the planning process super easy, and we felt like we were in kind, genuine, good hands. Thank you so much to Jerri-Lynn, the Merriman's kitchen staff, and the amazing waitstaff for making our wedding dinner memorable, perfect, and super delicious. Our guests are still talking about how amazing the filet was! If you're looking for an event spot, or a place to host an intimate wedding dinner, DEFINITELY inquire to Merriman's Kaua'i. We cannot wait to come back on a future anniversary trip to celebrate over a delicious meal. Thank you so much, again and again. Merriman's Kaua'i will forever be a part of our memories of such a huge moment.

Karen Diebold

Excellent food but pricey.

John Whitlow

Very good food.

christopher oxendine

Delicious food

Thomas M. Sturges Jr.

Great food and even better service! Our waitress, Jessica, was fantastic! Very upbeat, friendly and knowledgeable of all the items on the menu. She made our experience absolutely enjoyable. We'll be back indeed thanks to her..... And the food! ~Mahalo

Tanya Wendling

We love this place for lunch or simple supper of salads, pizza, fish tacos. Fresh ingredients, well-prepared; pleasant casual setting.

Brian Hotovec

Fantastic. Thank you for making our night so special.

Gary M

Excellent food!!! Definitely go for the sunset views!!!

Chantel Mitchell

The food was phenomenal, but my favorite was the lilikoi Mai Tai!

Anita

Amazing, incredible food! Make a reservation

Brett Benke

Phenomenal food, phenomenal service. Justin has been our culinary guide for a few years now. Just cant say enough about the whole experience.

Moriah Lovett

Incredible views, food, cocktails, and service. The shrimp and fish were fresh and tasty. The Mai Tai was the best I've ever had. Great place to celebrate our anniversary AND the live music was a huge bonus. Get the mashed potatoes.

BRYCE WILLEY ON THE TRACK

This is the place stomach nightmares are made. Avoid the agonizing stomach pains, or ask your waiter or waitress if they have a small side of pepto before you leave.

Katie Hopkins

Best meal I had on Kauai!

Rick

Great food. Great service.

Matthew Reddoch

Went to the upstairs area around sunset. Great tasting food; somewhat expensive but not unreasonable. Biggest gripe is that my wife's margarita was a bit weak. Otherwise great place, great food, great staff, and great ocean views!

Randy Bartlett

Excellent locally sourced food and service with Aloha!-)

Kathy Britton

Felt rushed and not special for the price

Danny Wheat

A dinning experience! Service was exceptional. Jared went beyond his call of duty from recommendations that spanned from wine selection to the desert finally. Five stars..... No doubt we will return.

D. Collins

Fresh ingredients

Jason Maschmeyer

Justin was a great server and answered all our questions so that we could make excellent choices on food. Caesar salad, main entrees and cocktails suggested by Justin tasted fantastic!

Jorge Garduño

Good food

Regina Bradshaw

Great views, food and service. Must try lilikoi mai tai. Happy Hour specials cannot be beat!

Sean M

In voice Sam Jackson(pulp fiction) that was a tasty burger. I had the turkey burger I can't say anything more than that was the best turkey burger I have ever had in my life. Every bite was juice and flavorful. Two thumbs up we sat on the patio nice breeze blowing through wait staff was

mike rivera

Good food good drinks! Nice sunset view

bulazz

Great service , great atmosphere , and absolutly great food and drinks !!! The Kampachi was to die for !!! And one of the best Mai Thai I’ve ever had

Carlos Manso

Food was just ok and the restaurant is boring

Paul Shelton

Nice lunch & dinner place on Kauai.

Carol Green

Food was good but a table of foul mouthed loud men behind us meant we couldnt even carry on a conversation with family at our table.

Zenny Velasco-Cabagbag

Great food and enjoyed the live music.

Benjamin Wagner

Great food, great atmosphere, and great service. This place has it all.

Keaton Russell

Favorite Restraunt on the island. Great service and amazing food. Would eat here every night of vacation if I could.

Tina Ringle

Yummy food great service

Richard Dow

The $69 shared ta sting menu was just superb and a good value. It made a bunch of foodie from San Francisco Very Very happy. Very minor complaints-- the tomato avocado salad needed salt and the steak needed more chimchuri and would have benefit from some heat.

Christopher

Merriman's is ok, the food we ordered was good but overpriced. Service was good.

Curtis Deegan

Way to expensive for the food and service. I would not recommend this to anyone. The decor is awful also.

Ashley Martin

Went to the downstairs portion for burgers tonight. What a disappointment ☹️ The burgers didn’t come as ordered, te buns were stale, and it seemed like the waitress was overwhelmed and over worked. Would not recommend.

Mary Mac Murray

Fantastic dishes and drinks. Sunset to die for. Superb service.

Chad Enns

Best restaurant in Kauai

Cristina Patrizio

Amazing mahi mahi, and get the pork quesadilla as an appetizer!

Steven Hines

Food was excellent. Service friendly and attentive. Would definitely go back, highly recommended.

Katie Ludwig

Beautiful sunset views, incredible service, and delicious food!

Wuji Fei

I spent 5 days on the big island and 4 days on Kauai. I am going to say that this is the best restaurant and meal I have had in a 9 day period. The location of this restaurant is amazing. The view from the table on the sides are great for viewing sunset. They even provide a small patio to take pictures of the sunset with family. The service is nice, friendly and fast. I ordered 1 app, 3 entries and 1 dessert. Everything was cooked to perfection and tasted great. I couldn't recommend this place enough to others who wants a great dinner experience. Great for family and romantic dinner.

Osaurus G

Very fresh and delicious food. Big fan of tasting menus and this one is superb

eric foster

Good service, and tasty fresh custom pizzas and gourmet burgers.

Kim Hoang

Excellent service. Fish over cooked. Unimpressed.

Daniel McClung

Fantastic as usual. Consistently good everytime.

Chris Iannuccilli

Really pricy, not nearly as good as the kona original.

Jim McNulty

Arrive early for the awesome sunset views. Great meals, presentation was wonderful.

Richard Standeford

Fantastic. A must while on Kaua'i. It was a wonderful experience.

Michael Smiley

Best food on the Island Period! Been here 5 weeks, nothing even close.

Mark Kostick

Good burgers and fries

Ukulele Rob

Best Mai Tai's on Kauai!

Éric Hardy

Excellent fish. Nice surroundings.

James

Exceptional

Markus Schwarz

We went here for a cozy and delicious dinner... and were not disappointed. We came here spontaneously and were lucky to get a table, so I'd recommend to place a reservation, just to be sure. The staff was very friendly and attentive, we were seated on the balcony and were able to view a fantastic sunrise from there. The food we ordered was fantastic: we ordered the Sautéed Kauai Shrimp for starters and it was delicious. I loved the spices used. Our entrees were ahi (from the pan) and lobster. The food was amazing. Fresh, perfectly spiced, and presented in a very nice way. The lobster was completely taken out of its shell so we didn't have to mess around cracking it ourselves. The overall experience was fantastic. The place is not really cheap, but given the quality of the food, the prices were ok. All staff we met were very friendly, the place is upscale and cozy.

Chris Summers

First off, the food was fantastic, from the local kale salad to the seared Ahi, Mahi Mahi, and Ono, to the Chocolate Purse. However, this restaurant only deserves three stars because of some of the worst service I've ever experienced in fine dining. My family made a reservation for 7:15 and when we arrived, our table wasn't ready. We waited approximately five more minutes before being seated. The hostess also gave us two menus for their "large party" dinners, meaning the server had to go back for different ones, which ended up in us all sharing the one proper menu we'd been seated with because he took so long (theme developing). At the time of our order, we ordered wine, only to discover thirty minutes later they didn't have it, after we'd already finished our appetizers. Our server was nowhere to be found at the delivery of our entrees and came by to check on them when they were nearly gone. He never came back to top off the wine we ended up with, either. All in all, Merriman's was still a positive experience, but they need quite a bit of work on their service, right from the moment you walk in.

Rachel Webster

Burgers and pizza were delicious!!

Judie DiPonio

We throughly enjoyed our experience at Merrimans. We were celebrating a special occasion and Eric, our waiter, made it very special. The service was fantastic and personal and the food was definitely 5 star. Thank you for making our evening truly memorable.

Jennifer Giordano

Terrific seafood and steaks in Poipu,Kauai!!!We enjoyed the ambiance and service at Merriman's Fish House,there was good mix of locals and tourists, gave it a great vibe,didn't feel like a tourist trap.The prices were fair and quality was excellent. A recommended spot for anyone that wants fresh seafood paired with awesome views

Stephanie Higgins

Delicious food, good wine, good service.

Anne Eliason

Best restaurant on Kauai!

Kirk Moldstad

Great food and nice staff

Waves FiftySix

Our server was a delight and our seat was great. Wine by the glass selection excellent. The cocktails and food did not live up to the hype. Their acclaimed Mai tai was sickeningly sweet and left your teeth feeling like they were wearing fuzzy sweaters. Our salad was below average. The ingredients (kale, beets, citrus) were ubiquitous and overplayed in other salads offered on the island and the dressing was sadly unbalanced. Way too much vinegar. Made you cringe. Their signature blackened ahi tuna was terrible. The tuna slices had the consistency of 12 hour old pancakes and the "blackened" taste was overpowering. Tasted like someone rubbed play-doh in cigarette soot. Not worth the money. At all.

Mike and Liz C

Overrated! High priced average to above average food. Very, very pretentious staff. Several others in the same shopping center are a much better value.

Bruce P

Fantastic "Hawaii Regional Cuisine" seafood dinners. "Farm to Table" concept serves only the freshest products, at least 90% of which are locally grown or caught, using only sustainable methods.

Claudio Ramirez

Crusted ono with red pepper/cayenne aioli. Must have!!!

Tran T

We had reservation for 6pm but we were famished from our hike ended earlier in the day. We showed up early and requested seat by the window to watch the sunset. We were seated in about 5 minutes. Our waiter came greeted us promptly and took our drink order. He came back with a couple glasses of champagne, complimentary because it was our anniversary. We were delighted! Free just taste better!

Stephen Bressi

As we entered the restaurant, we were greeted with a view of the sea and the farm-land - which is fitting, considering the restaurant's theme of local, fresh food from the land and sea. The white linen tablecloths and the excellent singer added to the ambiance. We each started with the strawberrry Arugula salad and the fresh catch of the day - which was the Onaga (Red Tail Snapper). My girlfriend closed the meal with the coconut cream brulee. The restauarant was somewhat pricey (even by Kauai standards) but the food was excellent! Eric, our server and the staff assisting him also did an excellent job. The one odd thing is that the restaurant adds a 2 percent "kitchen surcharge" that goes to the kitchen staff. I found this to be odd. Why not just build the 2 percent in the price? The meal as described was about $144 before tax and gratuity.

Marc Girouard

The food was great. We popped in on a whim for appetizers and drinks and lucked out on a table near the live music. When our waiter realized we weren't going all out we were given pretty subpar service. Literally everything, but the strange attitude from our waiter, was amazing. The host, the musician, the young kid refilling our water, the ambience, the food are all five stars.

Tammy Van Dyck

Loved the food and the wine. Good service

Kenton Meehan

A nice place to enjoy happy hour and watch the sunset. The food is average for a tourist area and the price is high but expected in a vacation spot like this. They have some of the best Mai Tais around and a wonderful view from the upstairs bar. The staff is very attentive and welcoming.

Jack Davison

been here 4 times. i was happy with every thing except, one of the salads. great service, and would definitely reccomend

Brett Jacobson

Food was very good (bit pricey though) and our waiter was incredibly nice! The view at sunset was absolutely surreal!

Francis Teran

Laa ensaladas super frescas. Buena atencion. A veces un musico tocando o cantando música local. La comida es exquisita. Se recomienda reservar.

Corey Ivey

Best meal I have ever had!!!!! It was delicious.

Tammie Collom

It's way over priced for the atmosphere and service

Michael Campbell

A good place to eat. The desert was crazily good.

Bobbi Stanley

Love this place. Perfect view of the sunset. Service is superb. Food is delicious. Two thumbs up!!

Michael Stahl

This is our 9th visit to Kauai but our first visit to Merriman’s. It’s become an unfortunate trend on this trip that so many of our “go-to” restaurants have taken a step backwards or in a couple cases lost their mojo entirely. It was for this reason we stopped for a late lunch at Merriman’s on Saturday, Jan 19. We were seated quickly and shortly thereafter our server, Jordan, introduced himself and from that moment forward he cared for us in stellar fashion. He steered us to a couple beers that were fantastic and the one small mistake Jordan made had a happy ending. He had recommended one of two possible “hoppy” beers for my wife and she chose one of the two only to discover that Jordan brought her the “other” beer that she did not select. No matter - even tho Jordan apologized for the mistake the incorrect beer served to my wife was spectacular and there were absolutely no complains on our part. As for menu items I chose the Teriyaki Burger and my wife the Turkey Burger. My wife is a turkey burger aficionado and picks them every time we go out for sandwiches so it was gratifying to hear her declare the Merriman’s Turkey Burger as the Best She’s Ever Had (yes I wrote that with caps). There were a combination of cheeses and mayonnaise and other ingredients that complimented each other perfectly. My teriyaki burger was purely fantastic. The teriyaki sauce is made in-house and it had the perfect combination of sweet and salty with a delightful little burn that let your taste buds know that this is not some off-the-shelf teriyaki sauce. Like my wife and her turkey burgers, I typically order teriyaki burgers from restaurants that offer them and I, too, declare this to be the best TB I’ve ever had. And then there were the fries. So many restaurants mail it in when it comes to French fries but the Merriman examples were crunchy on the outside and hot and potato-y on the inside. Bottom line is that after too many indifferently prepared meals from places that we used to love it’s gratifying to encounter a place like Merriman’s that still brings their “A” game. Merriman’s now replaces that other Kukui’ula restaurant on our “go-to” list. Great experience. Thanks, Jordan.

Shawn Harden

How can my favorite restaurant group get it so wrong? Food was good, but not great and the service left a lot to be desired. We had to wait for nearly 15 minutes for our drinks, then our food took forever. We had to ask for refills and didn't always get them on sodas and water. When our desert came out our server watched blankly while our desert was served and didn't offer forks or spoons (we had to finally hunt down the hostess for them). We watched multiple other diners come in and get ignored, or get a drink and say they'd pay for the drink and just leave. I love Monkey Pod and Moku, but this place just left me unimpressed. Maybe better luck back on Oahu.

Valerie Moore

Chowder was fair.

Mike Miller

Amazing food and view. Worth every penny.

Elizabeth Simao

Enjoy the food everythime

Heather Zipp

Food was great. We sat on the back deck and had a beautiful sunset, but Brenden was an outstanding server and made our entire evening spectacular! Give that man a raise! Thanks for the great service and coffee!

Ernest Adams

Food was not all that good and overpriced. Typical tourist rip off joint. Insist that you tip for poor service. Thumbs Down on this place!

Jessica Hubbs

Beautiful views, solid food, try the passion fruit dessert

francesca Tornaghi

Food is really good, very professional service and amazing sunset view. Would go there everyday

Josh Miller

Great service. Fantastic local musicians. Food is mediocre, and cocktails are quite bad.

Bill Patrizio

A great evening at Peter Merriman’s Kauai location. The Ahi and Mahi were delicious and the service terrific.

Peter Kollins

Merrimans is usually great as we've gone to other restaurants they run on other islands. I ordered the lamb, literally the first bite had something strange... a hair! I was so grossed out that i did not want another meal. We brought it to our server's attention. He did a great job and was very personable. He brought it to the managers attention. The manager apologized but did nothing else other than take it off the bill. She should of at least offered to take a drink off the bill or the dessert. The server was excellent however, thus the 2 stars instead of 1.

Ann Dohan

Food was terri le cold and over priced

Adam Schwarz

Excellent food. Great service. Wine flights put it over the top.

Dean Duffy

Food great, ambiance very nice, service average. We sought out server most of the evening. Likely a scheduling issue vs employee. Biggest issue: wine pricing-service-gratuity. Wines were significantly overpriced for a customer who has quality wine dealing experience. There was no Som to advise, server was not very knowledgeable, we had questions on year, etc. requiring several bottles brought to table to assess. Although it was table of 5 and fact Im the only one Merrimans dealt with at our table for wine ordering, they charged "obligatory gratuity" for service I provided myself. We were prepared to pay more on dinner gratuity, until then. After payment completed, advised the server, and wrote a note w/ contact info on guest card. After 5 weeks, no response.

jarod powell

Lovely view of the Southside , fantastic food ! Great service . The passion fruit foam on the Mai Tai is delicious . Highly recommended

Roger Ang

Our server was fantastic! The food was overrated. Expensive!

Yariv Dolio Kafri

Exceptional fish.

Larry Ellerton

Exceptional service and food quality. Views from the outside patio were amazing.

JOHN BROCKMAN

Food was well below par. Selection was very limited. Server was arrogant.

Francia Neisen

When you want to enjoy good food and service this is the place.

Jennifer Morrell

Excellent food and service! You get what you pay for!

Kathleen Smaluk-nix

Good food. Pleasant atmosphere.

Danny Levy

This rating is related to the dining service and not the food. I hate to give negative reviews like this but its hard not to share the experience when it's painstakingly uncomfortable. I placed an 8 pm reservation on open table with special notes regarding an evening planned to commemorate my girlfriend and my love. After being ignored by the hostess upon our arrival, we were seated 45 minutes late. She seated 3 sets of other patrons before acknowledging us. When we were finally seated, they placed us in the worst seat in the house and denied to seat us in a booth. By the time we got to ordering the staff was cleaning up the restaurant to close out for the night... They didn't even serve us the complimentary bread that was at every other table. Our server did her job, and the food was exceptional. I would typically expect that the hostess would say something to the server or manager about our rough start to the evening to make sure things transitioned smoothly. I felt rushed and it totally distracted the fact this was supposed to be a romantic and special evening. Not worth the hassle. This type of thing should not happen!!

John Darvish

Food tasted great, service was not so good. Hygiene is a major issue. Part of our dinner was served in 15 minutes. The rest was delivered 35 minutes after we had already finished. Portions are small, I considered ordering another item but considering the delay I changed my mind. Another turn off, Since you can see into the kitchen, I noticed one of the servers reaching into the bowl of fries and grabbing some with bare hand and eating it in front of us. Not once but twice. I had an awkward eye contact with the server then he tried to hide by going to a corner where I couldn't see him!! Not the dinner I had hoped for.

Paige Powers

Was a great place to eat. We had the catch of the day and it was excellent. The server recommended the perfect bottle of wine for us, and the dessert cocktails were the best either me or my husband have ever had. The service in general was excellent.

Eric Dyer

Very nice place and food was great. They have excellent thin crust gourmet pizza. The service was great and we didn't have to wait long for the food either!

Kevin Alsop

Really good food. Fun environment. Got rained on while eating on the porch, yet still a great time. You're going to spend some money eating here though.

Graham Brown

great service. great food. great atmosphere.

Bobby Patterson

Amazing views. I don’t eat seafood but my girl said it was amazing seafood. The atmosphere is awesome too.

Andrew Clyne

Best restaurant in Kauai can't wait to come back to the island

Brooks Duggan

Good food, just a little slow on service! Great Happy Hour deals (25% off entire menu, and discount on drinks)! Really delicious food, I had the fish sandwich and it was VERY savory. I would recommend this place, and I just think the service was a little slow due to a lack on staff.

Vikas Mittal

Probably one of the best meals that I have ever had!!! Would strongly recommend it to EVERYONE!!! Great service and great food!

Josh Hartley

Fantastic fish....this is THE place place for a romantic dinner on the island.

Richard Rinvelt

Service was ok but not great. Food was ok.

Nikhil Sunder

Fantastic, lobster is great, civiche is great

darryl lewis

Outstanding quality and presentation of the food. Staff is friendly and helpful. Sunset views from covered balcony are spectacular.

Zack Ward

The best service we had in Kauai! Not that anything else was bad but the host, our server (Aubrey), and the manager (owner?) were all gracious and thoughtful and the food was great. Thanks for a great night!

Dave Riendeau

Good bar, local discounts and happy hour. High end tourist food.

Tim Wampler

Great location to view a sunset. Food and atmosphere were awesome and the local musician added a nice ambiance.

Chris Butler

excellent atmosphere, incredible food and view, and our experience was enhanced with great service from Eric- he really set the stage from the beginning for a great night.

Kathy Osborn

Excellent all the way around! Service was fantastic, and the views were so awesome.

Julia Nakamura

Very pleasant venue, nice staff and delicious food. Had a lovely dinner there at their varanda.

Nathan Hystad

An amazing dinner. Great service, and catch of the day was spectacular.

Katie OMara

We had such a great experience at Merrimans this evening. They accommodated our relatively last minute reservation for a party of 6. We were seated at the perfect corner table allowing us to enjoy the view off the balcony and the live music. The food was excellent. Presentation was beautiful and it was perfectly prepared. Service by Camille was excellent, she was very knowledgeable about the menu and gave great recommendations. All in all great experience. We left very satisfied, happy, and full.

Marcus Niiranen

Very pretty views of the mountains in the sunset. The mai tail is probably one of the best you can find around here. Good appetizer menu during the happy hour 530-630, pretty good prices on draft beer and wines by the glass too.

Doug Makishima

Great high-end surf and turf. Locally sourced ingredients. Nice views. Great wine list.

Douglas Winter

Meh

Mike Macfarlane

We had the most delicious meal of our entire trip here!

Alan Dennis

One of the best restaurants on the island

Caroline

Food was so delicious and the service and atmosphere was wonderful. Best meal we had in Kauai.

Ressina Windish

Lovely ambiance, wonderful food, and great service.

Bill Quarre

Delicious fish and nice service.

Dulce Garcia

Ambiance us spectacular, food is of the highest quality and delicious and drinks are perfect! Service is always amazing! We visit each time we go to Kauai!

Ray Ewing

Dinner was phenomenal! The food, the service, the view and the live music. Can't say enough! Wonderful dinner with a beautiful sunset to enjoy!