So tonight we decided to take our friends’ advice and go out to dinner while we can before the baby gets here!  We went shopping at Babies R us in Sausalito so we stopped in San Rafael on the way back.  We chose a place called Bay Thai because it was full and everyone seemed happy.  It’s a little hole-in-the-wall place that takes only cash.  They’d also won some sort of award from the Bohemian newspaper.

To start, we split a veggie soup – Tom Kha Pak.  The soup was OK, but quite spicy.  The veggies were crisp though, and there was a good variety of them.

Next up Ian had the duck curry and I had the tofu with vegetables in a garlic sauce.  The curry was extremely spicy (and this coming from the guy who found the food in India merely flavorful).  The duck itself was dried out and there was very little of it.  Wendy’s dinner had about 3 pieces of tofu and some very nice, crisp veggies.  Unfortunately it was swimming in a sauce that didn’t seem to have any flavor but was really spicy – even though I’d checked to make sure it was a mild meal.

The meal was reasonably priced – in total with 1 unspectacular Thai iced tea it came to $30.  The service wasn’t great either, though.  Our waiter never checked to see if we were okay.  He also never cleared our soup, even though we were really cramped in a tiny table.  The place is so small that a couple of groups wound up sharing a table.  There is take-out available as well.

Dead plant in patio of Shells Restaurant - they just don

We ate at Shells Restaurant for New Year’s Eve dinner, as well as for their breakfast buffet. The New Years buffet was expensive ($90 pp), but had all-you-can-eat oysters, crab, shrimp, sushi, ahi, champagne, etc. Although there was a lot of choice, none of the main meal options were vegetarian. We had called and inquired ahead of time and a front-desk manager had kindly arranged for a half-priced meal for Wendy given that she is vegetarian and also wasn’t going to be drinking.

When we arrived, the maitre d’ had the chef show us around the buffet and point out what was and wasn’t veggie. He arranged for them to roll some vegetarian sushi and prepare a plate of sauteed veggies (the regular ones had anchovies in the sauce). He was very attentive and helpful and we were very impressed with the level of service and care.

Unfortunately, our regular waiter was pretty terrible, he kept forgetting about us, couldn’t tell us which drinks were on the menu (we saw other tables with drink menus), and then never came by to see what we wanted for a second drink. (2 were included). He did drop the bill off and left without giving us a chance to stop him, and we were really confused about the 2 tickets we found inside. Finally, one of the hostesses tracked him down for us, and he explained that we could use those to get the drinks he hadn’t served/offered us.

Overall, the food was fine. There was a nice selection of cheeses, a wide variety of seafood, a salad bar, a sushi bar, several different kinds of meat, and some different desserts, including chocolate fondue.

We also ate at Shells Restaurant for their breakfast buffet a couple of times, and it was terrible. Sheraton gives you coupons for the buffet if you forego the daily maid service – one free buffet per skipped maid service – and this was the only reason we went. The buffet is convenient and has a beautiful view over the ocean. Some of the tables at Shells are actually out on a covered porch overlooking the beach. Unfortunately, the food and the service are both pretty bad. Despite the hot burners the food was on, it was universally cold. The scrambled eggs were a sloppy undercooked mess. The eggs florentine they had one morning were not only not hot, but the uncooked egg inside was actually still cold. The first time we were there the french toast was actually hot, but the second time it too was cold. There were a lot of different toppings – strawberry sauce, maple syrup, macadamia nuts, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce, coconut, etc. The idea was really nice, but the quality of the ingredients wasn’t what we would expect from the Sheraton – in fact, the chocolate chip pancakes at the Sunrise Cafe were MUCH better and they’re only $7.99 and served piping hot with ripe fruit garnish! The buffet at the Sheraton is $20. The service was poor, with the waitress forgetting our coffee altogether the first time. The fruit was okay, but not really ripe. The only tropical fruit was pineapple – but we were there in the winter – maybe in season in the summer there’s more selection? They did prepare well-done scrambled eggs when we requested them, and brought them to the table hot! There really wasn’t any of the food that we enjoyed and we would have been really upset to have paid for it! In fact, if we’d been there longer, we might have chosen the maid service just to keep her employed! Also, in keeping with some of the Sheraton’s other maintainance problems, one of the large plants they have out in the patio section was actually dead. It was there the entire week we stayed at the hotel. We’re not sure why someone didn’t at least remove it if not replace it – it sort of summed up the whole “we’ve given up” attitude at this Sheraton.

Deluxe Room at Sheraton Kauai

We spent one week at the Sheraton Kauai. It’s about a 25 minute drive from the airport to the Sheraton. At checkin, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that because of all the problems we’d had in Maui, we got a free upgrade from a partial oceanview (which as it turned out would have been across the road in the garden side, not even at the main building!) to a deluxe oceanfront. The room certainly earned its name – this was a beautiful room, with a fantastic view of sunsets every night. The decor was very nice, the bathroom was large, with a huge counter. The lanai, even though we were only first floor, had a great view of the ocean and the palms swaying in front. This is what we came here for!

Nice bathroom at the Sheraton Kauai

Unlike Maui – we had no problems with the room at all, except for a fridge that (3 fridges later) they swapped. We listened to the surf every night for a week as we fell asleep.

The grounds themsleves, were also quite in contrast with Maui’s. The pool was rather simple, although there was two levels and a waterslide, it was fairly basic. It needed to be redone – tiles were cracking everywhere. The loungers around the pool were the cheap plastic kind, and many of them were very dirty, even first thing in the morning – obviously they weren’t cleaning them. In general. the pool area was not being maintained properly. We even came down one morning to find beer cans littering the area around the whirlpool – obviously no one had cleaned it from the previous night. When Ian told the pool staff, their reaction was a flippant “Ok” instead of a “I’m so sorry Sir, we’ll take care of that right away” which is what we would expect from the Sheraton. The pool itself was also often dirty – again, even first thing in the morning we would find straws washed up on the sides. Sand was collecting on the bottom of the pool, as well as the whirlpool. After seeing how dirty the hot tub water was one night when the jets weren’t turned on, we decided not to go in it any more – but it was certainly concerning given the number of little kids we saw splashing around and dunking their head in the water.

Oceanfront View from our Lanai / Porch

The atmosphere around the pool was not always family friendly. The stretch of beach that the Sheraton sits on is one of the most popular beaches in Kauai. By law, all beaches are public, so there was many, many people not only on the beach, but around the pool who were not Sheraton guests. We heard a lot of language that was not family appropriate, and we a couple of pretty rowdy drunk groups in the whirlpool at night (while the barstaff were all too happy to keep serving up the Mai Tai’s).

The surf on the beach was very rough the whole week we were there. It was perfect for bodyboarding and boogieboarding, but this was not the place for families with little kids. It wasn’t safe. There was a small stretch at the end of the beach where the waves were breaking offshore, and that was much quieter – but it was rocky, not sandy. The beach was almost always packed – and even trying to take a relaxing stroll down the beach was difficult as you had to look out for the kids running out to hit the next big wave. We did find there are several neighbouring beaches that do have much quieter surf, as the waves were breaking offshore. (Poipu Beach itself, a 5 minute drive away, has a “baby pool”, which, while very shallow, is nice and sandy and has no waves whatsoever.)

Pool Slide at Sheraton Kauai

Sand in the pool - We never saw anyone cleaning anything. Ever.

Hot tub / Whirlpool - notice beer cans litter at corner. This is the sight we got when we first arrived one morning - they didn't even bother cleaning overnight.

We ordered delivery from China Bowl Restaurant. Ian had a shrimp dish, and Wendy had tofu with mixed vegetables.   The veggies were done perfectly – not overdone.  The temperature was good.  Both meals were quite good, and delivery to the Sheraton took about 45 minutes. The bill came to about $40 – certainly more than at home, but not outrageous considering Maui’s prices. The hotel doesn’t allow delivery direct to the room, I had to walk to the lobby to meet the driver.

It was very pleasant to eat on our lanai, watching the Sheraton’s luau in the distance. We didn’t regret our decision not to go – especially as it started raining on them and there was no cover available!

For Christmas dinner, we had a hard time finding a restaurant. A lot of restaurants were closed, others (like the Sheraton) were buffet only, which rarely works well for vegetarians. We ended up at Pioneer Inn, overlooking the harbour in Lahaina. The atmosphere was rather festive and casual, with some intersting Christmas carollling going on at the bar. Ian had some nice lamb, and Wendy had overcooked pasta in a creamy tomato sauce. It wasn’t cheap – but given the limited options we were happy with our meals. Service was excellent.  We paid about $80 for the meal.

Hula Grill, Kaanapali

Just a short walk down the boardwalk from the Sheraton is Hulu Grill, part of the Whalers Village Shopping Center. The restaurant has a “on the sand” section (called the Barefoot Bar) , with simpler snacks and plates, and a fancier indoors section, which is where we ate. Ian had some delicious ahi tuna, just seared on either side but otherwise raw. Wendy had Thai curry mixed vegetables with jasmine rice, which was mild and tasty. We finished off with a good dessert, but we’ve forgotten what it was. It was definitely one of the best meals we had on the trip.  The atmopshere was casual (even indoors), and crowded, and loud, but it was still very pleasant.  Service was good, friendly and fast.