Honey Walnut Shrimp
Battered shrimp in a honey glaze with candied walnuts on shredded greens, with a pineapple note most people do not expect. Order it first if you are only ordering once.
Chinese & Thai,
cooked to order in Princeville.
A counter window in Princeville Center, on the north shore of Kaua'i. You read the board, you say what you want, and twelve minutes later somebody calls your number. Takeout, and covered seating under the trees.
- Hours
- Open daily11:00 AM – 9:00 PM
- Where
- Princeville Center, C‑1015‑4280 Kūhiō Highway
- Service
- Takeout onlyOrder at the window or call
- Diets
- Vegetarian & veganTofu across the menu
What to order
Six dishes people name again and again. Prices include the plate but not rice, which is $1.75 for steam or $2.00 for brown.
Fresh Kaua'i Shrimp
Local shrimp in a garlic chili glaze. Served whole, shell on, heads and tails attached, which is worth knowing before it arrives.
Spicy Garlic Seabass
A seared fillet buried in sliced garlic and chili. The best fish on either board, and one of the two dishes reviewers pair with the cashew chicken.
Drunken Noodles
Wide rice noodles with Thai basil and chili. If the Pad Thai is too sweet for you, this is the plate you actually wanted.
Panang Curry
Thickest and sweetest of the four curries. The yellow and panang are the two most praised dishes on the whole menu. Ask for it hot, out loud, or it will arrive mild.
Szechuan String Beans
Blistered, dry-fried, salty and numbing. With tofu at $15.95 it is the best vegetarian plate on the printed menu, and a frequent second dish for the table.
Dishes are illustrated, not photographed. Nothing on this site is a stock photo of somebody else's food.
Chinese and Thai on Kaua'i's North Shore
Lotus Garden is in Princeville Center, a few minutes up the road from Hanalei, so it is the easy dinner for anyone staying in Princeville, Hanalei, 'Anini or out toward Hā'ena who wants Asian food without a reservation or the drive to Kapa'a.
It is also one of the few places on the island where half the table can order kung pao and the other half panang curry. Chinese and Thai come out of the same kitchen, and everything on both boards is cooked to order. Vegetarian and vegan versions run the length of the menu.
There are two boards
People miss half the menu because they only read one of them.
The printed menu
Permanent, on the wall at the window. Appetizers, chef specialties, the four Thai curries and Pad Thai, noodles, fried rice and the vegetable dishes.
See the full menu →
The specials board
Handwritten, on an easel, rewritten regularly. Rib eye, fresh Kaua'i shrimp, curry ono, seabass, kalua pork, drunken noodles and more. None of it appears on the printed menu.
See today's specials →
What people say
3.6 across 289 Tripadvisor reviews and 3.9 on Google, with service rated highest at 4.0.
★★★★★
Best Yellow Curry Ever
“The Yellow Curry was delicious. We also enjoyed the Gyoza, Won Ton Soup and Shrimp Fried Rice. But the star was the Shrimp Curry.”
★★★★★
Great Thai food, fair prices
“Service was friendly and fast, prices were fair. We had the Cashew Chicken and the Spicy Garlic Seabass, both were really good.”
★★★★★
Yummy Thai food, big fans
“We went here 3 times and love it. Penang Curry, Yellow Curry, Drunken Noodles, and Pad Thai. All of them were delicious.”
How it works
Call it in, or order at the window
Calling is the easier route. Phone (808) 826-9999, say what you want off the menu, and it is bagged and waiting when you arrive. No queue, no pager. Both boards are at the counter too if you would rather read them in person.
Say how spicy you want it
Thai dishes arrive milder than most visitors expect unless you ask plainly. This is the single most common complaint in the reviews, and it is entirely avoidable. Say it on the phone just as clearly as you would at the window.
Collect it, or take the beeper
Phone orders are waiting for you at the window. Order at the counter instead and you get a pager: ten to fifteen minutes, longer at dinner. Find a seat under the roof.
Clear your own table
If you eat there. The seating is shared with the other counters and nobody is coming to bus it.
There is no online ordering
The phone is the ordering system. Call it in and it will be bagged and waiting.