Review of Pizzetta's Pizza in Kauai, Hawaii

Being a self-declared foodie, as well as having won cooking contests and having had my own recipes published, I could hardly wait to try "Hawaiian Cuisine". Sorry to say that on the island of Kauai we were somewhat disappointed. That's certainly not to say we didn't have some good meals-Lappert's Ice Cream and Coffee, The Shrimp Station, Java Jai had wonderful shaved ice, The Beach House was memorable and Roy's while over-priced were all quite good.

However, the concierge at our hotel told us we had to try Pizzetta's for the best pizza and salad's on the island. Now either she went to a totally different place and confused the name, or boy did we go on a bad night! We actually decided to go around four in the afternoon, as we were quite tired from our day of site-seeing.

I have a dairy allergy to products made with cow's milk, so obviously pizza for me is out. I'm more of a salad person, regardless. But my husband loves pizza, so he was looking forward to this meal.

We were greeted by a young woman who sat us at a table right by the kitchen door. Now most places, from what we observed, in Kauai are rather what we on the mainland would describe as "holes-in-the-walls". But there was only one other party in the place, so I doubt we had to be put in that spot. Our waitress had only been working at her position for two weeks, but still didn't seem to know anything about the menu or the availability of the items on it.

The broccoli salad with mixed greens, cranberries and macademia nuts sprinkled with sheep's milk feta cheese and balsamic vinegarette sounded like just the dish for me. My husband went for the pineapple and ham pizza. Within moments our newbie waitress came back and said I'd have to re-select, seems they were out of broccoli. They opened at 11 a.m., the place had been empty for the last hour we had been in this area-how could they have already run out of anything?

I reselected the Greek salad. Typical ingredients, almost the same as my original choice, just without the broccoli. My salad came wilted, warm and looked totally unappetizing. The dressing was cruets of oil and red wine vinegar. And the vinegar smelled spoiled. I mentioned it to our server, she never removed it or brought over a fresh one. I even tried the hostess. Neither ever apologized or made amends. Needless to say-I didn't enjoy my meal in the least. They didn't even serve any bread with it.

My husband's pizza came. Ever smell pizza? With the sauce, the garlic, the veggies and meat-it can make you drool, even if you don't like the dish. This looked okay, but there was absolutely no discernable aroma! No wonderful pineapple scent, couldn't sniff any garlic wafting in the air. The taste? According to my darlng, it was just okay. He said it was on par with some chain restaurants back in California.

We really wanted to enjoy Pizzetta's, especially since we had had so much to enjoy just a couple of hours before in Lappert's Ice Cream and Coffee store a few doors away, but alas, we did not.