Restaurant Review: The Beach House on Poipu Beach in Kauai, Hawaii

We were in Kauai. The occasion wasn't just a vacation, but our 26th wedding anniversary. This trip had been in the works for 18 months. Friends had told us to celebrate the evening at the Tidepools restaurant in the Grand Hyatt Hotel. We were staying down the road a bit at the Sheraton. Our concierge, Mickie Diamont, said that while our friends were right, that we'd probably enjoy eating at The Beach House much more-she assured us that the food was better and that she'd make sure that we had a ringside seat for a first hand viewing of the sunset with our meal. We did go to the Grand Hyatt and see the grounds there-even if you don't eat on the property, it's worth considering it as a side trip just to look around.

What can I say? She was so right! We arrived at our destination with enough time to browse in the jewelry/art gallery that's attached to the restaurant. Before we went in, my husband wanted us to take pictures by the sign. Everyone is friendly on the island, so as soon as one of the valets saw what we were trying to do, he offered to take a picture of us. A very nice waitress did the same for us inside using the sunset as a backdrop. The art gallery was a bevy of beautiful items. The owner and her husband work hand in hand. He's a gemologist and picks the stones and she's the designer.

As promised, we were seated right on the first tier by the massive open windows (no walls to deflect your view here!). The restaurant let the ocean be it's decor. Inside is done in simple beige tones. Our waiter greeted us with "Happy Anniversary". I explained to him about my dairy allergy and he deftly told me what my best choices were. I chose the vegan dish. Grilled asparagus with wild mushroom and sundried tomato risotto cakes with bok choy in the middle. Most people may have not even considered this, but since I'm practically a vegan at heart-this was so perfect! The two cakes were creamy on the inside and chewy on the out. The wild mushroom cake had a very smoky, meaty flavor. The bok choy was grilled and added the perfect balance for the crisp asparagus and rice.

My husband chose a pasta dish that was filled with ono (an area white fish), scallops and prawns in a garlic cream sauce. He enjoyed every bite. Although he felt the chef coud have been a bit more generous with the penne. He also enjoyed the appetizer of fried calamari with mango sauce. I tried a few pieces (waiter made sure it was safe), they were tender and were tasty even without the dipping sauce. But the dipping sauce was so good, that I wish that they had bottled it and offered it for sale, rather than the tee-shirts and caps!

As we were eating the crowd was growing at the beach. It seems this was "the spot" to watch the coming sunset. You could hear the silence as everyone both in and out of the restaurant saw the sun going down. It was amazing. No one ate, no one talked. We all just watched the enfolding beauty. The blue turning to reds, pinks, purples, the clouds with just a rim of yellow light round them. The palm tree silhouettes. Breath-taking.

Another fun thing happened during this meal-seems this is also quite the whale watching point. A mother whale and her calf were having quite the play time with each other. It provided our lovely meal with yet another wonderful moment.

As the sunset finished, so did our meal-but definitely not the memories.