Casa Di Amici

Apparently closed for good. Last day was October 31 2015 per message when you call.

I don’t write a ton of reviews but I had to for our experience here. I’ll start by by saying the food was decent. Service was terrible. After waiting about ten minutes to be addressed it was obvious our server was drunk. It was confirmed when I saw him pounding wine in the back when I was going to the bathroom. Then I heard him bad mouthing our table because my 85 year old grandmother got an appetizer for her dinner. Things got worse from there. I had to go to the bar and pick up our drinks that were sitting there for twenty minutes and my daughter’s dinner never arrived. I didn’t have a chance to ask for it as our server about it as the only time he returned was to drop off the check which he had added 20% gratuity. If your going to spend the money try a different place.

Unpleasant wait staff

Casa Di Amici is an excellent choice for locals and visitors alike who seek well-​prepared tasty meals with generous portions at a decent (for Kauai) price. Wife had the beef medallions, friends had the ravioli appetizer (large enough to serve as an entrée), chicken pecata and chicken gargonzola. Everything was prepared to order and tasty. My fettucine putanesca had generous portions of calamari, mussels, fish and shrimp. My only complaint is the anchovies listed as ingredients weren’t apparent, but then again I’m not wild about anchovies although I would have liked to explore the taste in this dish. However, if you are an anchovy aficionado make sure to verify that anchovies will be included because they are ingredients listed on the menu.
Desserts were generous portions of tiramisu and bread pudding served with VERY rich vanilla ice cream.
Casa Di Amici isn’t hard to find. It’s at the east end of Poipu Beach off Pee Road just up the hill. The restaurant offers an open-​air dining venue and was exceptionally clean. Overall, a pleasant dining experience. And I guess I should mention that the sunset was gorgeous.

I called just to ask if Randall & Joann was still there. When Randall answered, we knew where dinner would be. Who needs a menu when there’s Randall ready to make you drool over anything he tells you? The passion he has for each of his dishes are unbelievable. He continues to go above and beyond with new specials.
All time favorites: Calamari with butter capers; Chinese roast pork with Risotto; LASAGNA; Fettuccine Nero
New Favs: Ravioli with creamy Shiitake sauce; panko mussels
Ok… Everyone needs to try them out!!!

Delicious food and friendly staff. After dinner we talked to the owner, who is nicer than most. Will definitely return!

Truly a hidden gem in Kauai!
Cute homely atmosphere and friendly staff. I ordered the Fettuccine Nero which was delicious! The sauce and spicy sausage were very tasty on the noodles. My mom ordered the chicken piccata which she loved also, fresh flavorful vegetables and tangy lemon sauce with capers. Now the best part, for dessert we had the baked Hawaii. Vanilla ice cream covered in marshmallow with some yummy sweet sauce (pineapple and guava maybe) on the side all over a brownie. They lit the marshmallow paste on fire and it was beautiful and so tasty. Definitely try it, even if you are full!

This is the place to go! Far outweighs the fancy restaurants at Kukuiula, Poipu Shopping Center and the Beach House…
Uncle Clyde has the best customer service… EVER!
The food is phenomenal!
Best kept secret and it should be shared!

From starters through the main course to dessert, every dish was unique and delicious. The biggest challenge is picking an entrée, but the others are simpler: Hot Tom to start and Baked Hawaii to finish (the lilikoi sauce is a wonderfully tart counter point to the sweetness of the meringue). The one negative: it looks like this is Casa’s last year — retirement may take this wonderful little restaurant from the world after 26 years. Happy to have discovered it before then!

Unique blend of Hawaiian and Italian. I had the chinese roast pork on top of risotto — amazing! Finished with «Baked Hawaii” — unique blend of passion fruit + ice cream over a brownie and lit on fire. Super attentive service from the owner who wants to retire soon — get in here and try it before he does.

We made reservations here after looking around on Unilocal.The goal was something other than fish and Italian in nature. There were several non-​fish eaters in our group of 5.
This place fit the bill. Plates were between $ 28 and around $ 38. Wine was reasonably priced. It is at the end of a row of timeshares at the east side of Poipu beach. It’s nestled into a neighborhood and isn’t really obvious.
We arrived at 6:00 pm which is way before the dinner crowd. So obviously our service from Ray was excellent.
Their mixed drinks were not watered down.
The flavor intensity of the food varied by the plate. The Ahi was delicate and done perfectly (as in — just barely done) The salmon over curry rice was intense and flavorful. The lasagna was good, but not amazing. My daughter ordered the chicken alfredo (not the most adventurous) and it was chicken alfredo…:) Lastly the pork tenderloin with the Gorgonzola sauce was fantastic. I just happened to be the lucky guy to order it. The flavors were complex and intense without being overwhelming. Perfectly executed.
The straight evaluation is about 4 stars — but with the added value over the more expensive options in the area gives it a 5.

Here on a business trip and went here with 4 colleagues & spouses. Imagine this, every one in the group gave it top marks. That 10 people giving 9 or 10 out of 10.
Location is set back in a housing area but that is the only negative (hence ⁸⁄₁₀)
The service was top notch and the food. Wow! Why it’s classed as Italian seafood I don’t know because half the dishes are not either.
Anyway, the owner came out and described nearly all the dishes with such passion and gusto we were dribbling when he was done. The funny thing is the actual dishes were even better than described. Really the food was that good.
We had a fantastic meal and fully we recommend this restaurant.

This restaurant was AMAZING!
From the service to the food absolutely perfect. Don’t let the location fool you (located in the middle of a residential area).
My husband and I shared the calamari– crispy, great sized portion, and served on top of a great sauce.
I got the special: Salmon glazed with teriyaki and topped with sliced almonds on a bed of pumpkin risotto. It was heavenly.
My husband got the Chicken Marsala: The combinations of sides they came up with for this dish were so unique.
Nothing like this restaurant on the island. Definitely a must while on Kauai!

I stopped after my long trip to Kauai for a quick bite. Ordered a shrimp ceasar salad and wine. Both were very tasty. Move atmosphere. Very friendly staff

A hidden gem on the south side of Kauai. While in reality, it may be more 4 or 4.5 stars, compared to the other options in Poipu/​Koloa I give it a solid 5. The prices are comparable to any other dinner place in the area, yet the portions bigger, taste is always spot on and always consistent.
The Szechuan spiced pork belly w carbonara risotto is simply amazing. Thai lobster bisque is a nice twist on the original, with some lemongrass hints and nice spice. Paella, chile verde risotto appetizer and their in house spicy sausage w/​fettucine is amazing. Finish it with an atypical, but equally delicious and large tiramisu or baked hawaiian. Note. The baked hawaiian has a tart lilikoi/​pasion fruit flavor.
This place never dissapoints unlike many other of the restaurants in this area. I never leave feeling cheated out of my money. I Always leave full and with leftovers. Italian with an asian flair done right.

This is one of the most intimate, enjoyable & great restaurants i have ever been to. Our waiter, Joshua was fabulous, a great mix of personality and sense of humor and a great waiter on top of that. Even though they were shorthanded because somebody didn’t show up, he never missed a beat.
Now the food, OMG. We had the fettucini putenesca, which had calamari, shrimp, mussels and assorted fish and probably the best sauce (spicy, but GOOD) i’ve had. The dish was superb. My wife had the mahogany glazed salmon, that she said was cooked to perfection and tasted superb.
As you can see by all the superlatives, we LOVED this place.

Skip it!
All the bad reviews are spot on… except the service, the service was great.
Food was awful and the owner was obnoxious.
Food in Hawaii is expensive but this place is charging entrée prices at or a couple of dollars less than Roy’s. Overall you will spend maybe $ 16 dollars more, for a party of four, at another and much better restaurant. Do it.

This place was adorable. The service was slow but then again, it’s a local place in Hawaii so I shouldn’t expect my Silicon Valley type restaurant! The food and vibe was amazing. It was relaxed and when talking to the owner he seemed so genuinely interested in making good food for his customer! Such a pleasant experience overall! And close to the Grand Hyatt where we were staying, but be careful — it’s down a little road that feels like you’re not going to make it :)

Definitely a casual fancy restaurant. No one was in a hurry, but for a kid free date night, that was a good thing. The service was very friendly and the owner came and checked on us /​chatted with us to see how things were going. We are both vegetarian and though there are not really many vegetarian main courses on the menu both the woman who answered the phone when I called to inquire about reservations and our waiter offered lots of suggestions for ways they could accommodate us. We ended up having a salad followed by a selection of appetizers — sort of a small plates meal. We were so full we had to go for a walk down to the beach and come back for desert later :) The Baked Hawaii was really good.
We were lucky enough leave the kids with Grandma and Grandpa for the night, but I did ask about a kids menu. They do not have an official kids menu but the owner said they can do any of the pastas plain, with butter and parmesan, marinara, or a sort of Alfredo cream sauce, at kids prices. Not sure what they would consider kids prices. This was definitely pricy, but given the cost of food even at the grocery store here I don’t think it was too over priced for what it is.
I’d probably give Casa Di Amici 4.5 stars if that was an option… The sauces tended to be a bit salty and the brownie in the baked Alaska was good but could have been fresher, still overall I’m rounding up to 5 for a delicious evening.

I know I very rarely write negative reviews but this was a very strange dining experience for us. I do not recommend this restaurant unless a few crucial things change. Please be warned of the following issues. Hopefully, management and staff can resolve these major downfalls in the very near future… I really hope…
We walked in to the restaurant, excited to eat. But there was no one around to greet or help us. We stood around waiting for our seats for a few minutes. A couple people (someone in the kitchen and someone at the bar) noticed us and didn’t do anything. Ouch, ignored. Should we have Unilocaled out for help like hungry cats? I don’t know. We decided to just wait politely. It was really awkward and poorly managed. Once someone finally came around to acknowledge us, he was very aloof. We made a reservation but didn’t need to. The place was empty. Clearly, not busy or hectic at all.
We wanted to sit outside since we were in beautiful Kauai. But wow — there were so many spiderwebs and cobwebs everywhere. The nature channel is great and all but maybe not while eating food. However, we did get a free show before dinner. That’s right. A show of a spider eating its’ prey…
I know I know, all this is to be expected a bit, right? It is outside after all. However, it was just way too much — noticeably negligent and not simply a «that’s just nature» kind of thing. Nope. I thought to myself, «It isn’t that hard to dust all this away. It would literally take me 2 minutes right now with a broom.» Furthermore, I wiped down the table myself because there was STUFF on it. Who knows what it was… We already established that our host/​server clearly did not give an F.
While we were waiting for our food, the sweet smell of MJ wafted over to our table. I think it was coming from the house next to the restaurant. I’m down with this kind of smoking culture, just do you boo’, but it was really uninvited and did not pair well with the restaurant. I’m not entirely sure how the restaurant could control this, but maybe some awareness/​warning would have been helpful… Then again, this restaurant’s staff really lacks awareness as I’ve diligently established in this review. Take my notes as YOUR warning if you’re sensitive to these smells.
I ordered the sausage fettuccine which was surprisingly spicy. It was just OK. I felt like anyone could make this at home — at a much lower cost. Overpriced for sure. The pasta was undercooked. No, it was not al dente. I love al dente. This pasta was simply undercooked. Though, I will say that the sausage was plentiful and pretty flavorful. It’s just that the whole dish together was mediocre. Maybe they could pair it with rigatoni instead? And cut back on the bell peppers a bit. Too much of those in there.
I don’t know how the chicken piccata was but the BF didn’t seem too thrilled by it. He did not seem to enjoy it that much. Again, mediocrity at a high price.
We both had quite a bit left over on our plates. Sad, really. What a waste :(But woe is me, *whine whine* haha… I fully realize I’m complaining a lot. But we simply know the objective difference between what is good and what is bad in terms of food and service. That’s all that this is — simply distinguishing what is worth your money and time and what is not. This place is not worth my dollars or minutes.
When it came time to go, the check took too long to get to us. And once it did, there was no pen to sign the receipt with. Again, this wouldn’t normally be a problem but we had to wait an awkward amount of time for the server to come back so that we can ask for a pen. He was nowhere to be found. The BF eventually gets up and walks around to find someone. No one around anywhere. So weird… What are these people doing? It wasn’t busy at all so maybe everyone fell asleep from sheer boredom? I don’t know… haha.
Anyway…we finally got our damn pen and rushed out of there.