22 North, Kauai, HI - AOL Travel

22 North

3-2087 Kaumualii Highway, Lihue, HI 96766Map

Kilohana Plantation

+1 808 245 9593

email: 22north.info@gmail.com

Neighborhood: Lihue / Airport

Cuisine: Seafood

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Overview

Formally called Gaylord, 22 North is a beautiful restaurant and venue. Although it's one of the top wedding locations on Kauai, this place is equally popular with people who aren't currently (or ever) thinking of matrimonial bliss. Just about anyone can find something to enjoy, whether it's the comfortable plantation decor, the fresh seafood or the impressive wine list. Signature items include Seafood Rhapsody and Chicken Kauai.

Traveler ReviewsWrite a Review

By Bob | Posted 04/01/11

If you enjoy paying fine dining prices for excellent service and atmosphere with food you wouldn't feed your dog, 22 north is the place to go on Kaua'i. We had initially gone to 22 north for a nice meal out while we were on the island, and based on their online menu it seemed like it would be a hit. Upon arriving at the restaurant we found that the menu had changed from the appealing online offering to a selection where every dish was just a bit off, however we proceeded to order from their bites, starters and entree selection. I chose the Prixe fixe option, which was the only one which did not have something a bit off about it (tomatoe salad which they swapped for soup for me), an "Organic" country fried steak, and a chocolate volcano cake which I declined after trying the soup and steak. I also ordered some sweet and sour meatballs from the starter menu. I am highly suspect that any of my food that evening did not come directly from a package in the freezer of the kitchen. The soup was widely agreed by our dinner party to be some variant of Campbell's vegetable soup. The meatballs were clearly made using sauce from a can and meatballs from the freezer (to be fair, the plating on these was at least acceptable, if slightly messy). The steak was the most impressively bad portion of my meal on the menu, so tough that I had to exert significant effort to cut a single bite off of it, and chewing was nearly out of the question (when the rest of the people at your table are wondering why you are still chewing there is something seriously wrong). Not only was this steak impossible to chew, it was bland and flavorless, with the "Local" mushroom sauce tasting like some sort of disgusting but bland white sauce found in a can. I managed to choke down everything but the steak because I was quite hungry, but I had to send the steak in after a few bites as it was simply impossible to eat. The dessert I declined as I was simply too afraid of trying it after the prior experiences, I imagine it was something along the lines of a box cake soaking in cream. One thing I will say in their favor is that both the staff and atmosphere were excellent, our waitress handled the abysmal food gracefully, and the management comped the 4 out of 7 meals which we had to send back due to their failures. The atmosphere was quite lovely as well, with tables set out under an awning surrounding a grassy courtyard with gas fire pits set about. If you could come here and bring in food from one of the local farmers markets even it would be lovely. What really got my goat about this restaurant was that the motto of the restaurant is "Food should come from a field, not a freezer", and a freezer seems to be exactly where my food came from. Now it may be that the all of the food is as they claim, and that it comes from a farm near the restaurant. If that is the case then its even more incredible that the food was as bad as it was.... Read More

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By Magnus | Posted 11/24/10

22 North is located in Kilohana plantation which also offers train rides. We took a train ride and during the ride got a sales speech about big variety of organic food ... Read More

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