My girlfriend and I took the North Shore food tour with Tasting Kauai Food Tours last month. I had high hopes, as I was born and raised in Hawaii and wanted to share some of the local cuisine of my childhood with my girlfriend.
To be frank, the tour was a letdown. The food was fairly pedestrian and, from my perspective, not very representative of Hawaiian cuisine.
The first stop was fine. Poi with kalua pork and lomi lomi from the Hanalei Taro and Juice Food Truck. We also ordered a taro smoothie (not included with the tour) that was excellent. Unfortunately it was all downhill from there.
I won't cast aspersions toward any of the food business operators that we toured. All of the food was more than adequate. I was more disappointed in the selection of food items, The rest of the tour consisted of assorted cookies and baked goods, pizza and fried chicken, dried fruit, and some ribs with french fries. The food bore little relation to Hawaiian culture and the restauranteurs and tour operators were, for the most part, not locals. I didn't fly all the way across the Pacific Ocean for a pizza and fried chicken tasting.
I don't leave many negative Trip Advisor reviews. But I have taken dozens of food tours all over the world, and this is the first time I can recall being this disappointed. In the end, we were better off looking up local joints on our own through Yelp.