Buying tips on Kauai?

I'm going to try not to spend $1k on a "K" brand but I'm keeping an open mind. I've only been playing for about 9 months and already have 3 ukes, the nicest one (by a very long shot) is a Ko'olau tenor, which I bought with only a kamaka to compare it to. What I'm really looking for is a bit of an education. An opportunity to try a wide variety of ukes and possibly fall in love with something and take it home.

It would be great if I could find a souvenir more in the $500 range. Style-wise, based on pictures, Pono really does it for me but HMS is on a different island and they seem to be the main seller of those.

What I'm really wondering is, is there anywhere specific that I should go on Kauai? Any tours I could take, lesser-known brands that I should check out? So far I just have the names of a couple stores (Scotty's and Larry's)

Also, if anyone has any recommendations for real hawaiian food, that'd be great. I'll be staying with my parents and they'll be trying to take me to bubba gump shrimp and margaritaville or something similar.

My thought...... Inter island flights are fairly cheap. Take two days...go to Ohau and visit. HMS. . You willNEVER regret it. I stumbled on HMS while on holiday lamenting the facts that I didn't have a travel guitar. 30 years of playing guitar and after three three visits that week to HMS it changed me. I No longer pick up my giuitars. I now have four tenors. Purchased a Pono AT during my holiday. The people at HMS are all very nice and knowledgable folks. A year later purchased another tenor on-line with HMS........great place to visit in person if you can swing it.

There's also Larry's Music/Kamoa Ukulele Company: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kamoa-ukulele-company-kapaa-2?sort_by=date_desc

Thanks for the feedback. An inter-island trip is probably not in the cards. I won't be there very long and I'll be visiting family with my 3-year old in tow. Maybe next year I'll convince my parents to stay in Oahu.

I think there's a decent chance that I'll also end up with a Pono from Scotty's.

Mark's place looks like exactly what I was looking for, thank you. Love some plate lunch and it's not far from where we are staying.

Also, be sure to go to KMart in the morning and look for the little Malasada shack outside, they are the BEST.

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blodzoom said:

Also, if anyone has any recommendations for real hawaiian food, that'd be great. I'll be staying with my parents and they'll be trying to take me to bubba gump shrimp and margaritaville or something similar.

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Couple other places around the island in Kalaheo, Hanapepe, Lihue and Kapa'a

Fish Express
3343 Kuhio Hwy
Lihue, HI 96766

Tip Top Motel & Cafe
3173 Akahi St
Lihue, HI 96766

Mark's Place
1610 Haleukana St
Lihue, HI 96766

Hamura Saimin
2956 Kress St
Lihue, HI 96766

Kountry Kitchen
1485 Kuhio Hwy
Kapaa, HI 96746

Lappert's Hawaii (Island Ice Cream, gotta have it once)
4 Locations on Kauai
Hanapepe, Poipu, Kapa'a & Princeville

Pueo said:

I agree HMS is an excellent shop!
I bought my Pono at Scotty's Music and I am very happy with the deal I got.

Food on Kauai?
Keoki's paradise in Poipu is a great place, have a frozen Mai Tai.
Mark's Place - tough to find, but the food is REALLY good. It's like plate lunch / local food, but elevated quality. Trust me on this.
Also, be sure to go to KMart in the morning and look for the little Malasada shack outside, they are the BEST.
Koloa Fish Market for Poke.

I put in links for Mark's place and Scotty's Music. Good luck!

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Yep the malasada lady is gone...Staci reported to me.... I finally went to Agnes Bakery in Kailua...they got the best malasadas I think,i was surprised better than Leonard's..theirs are more crispy.....

I haven't been to the Kauai branch, but the Maui branch of Bounty Music had a good range of Ponos (and other brands) so I imagine the Kauai one would as well.

Pueo said:

I agree HMS is an excellent shop!
I bought my Pono at Scotty's Music and I am very happy with the deal I got.

Food on Kauai?
Keoki's paradise in Poipu is a great place, have a frozen Mai Tai.
Mark's Place - tough to find, but the food is REALLY good. It's like plate lunch / local food, but elevated quality. Trust me on this.
Also, be sure to go to KMart in the morning and look for the little Malasada shack outside, they are the BEST.
Koloa Fish Market for Poke.

I put in links for Mark's place and Scotty's Music. Good luck!

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Forget all that. Go see Aldrine play. He plays Wednesday and Friday if he is around.

WickedWahine??? You remember his schedule don't you? I believe it's Rob's one night and Oasis On The Beach another night. Have you ever seen him live? ***sigh***

blodzoom said:

Yelp is reporting this is closed.

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Oh no! It has been a while since I have been to Kauai. What a bummer. She was a real nice lady.

sukie said:

Forget all that. Go see Aldrine play. He plays Wednesday and Friday if he is around.

WickedWahine??? You remember his schedule don't you? I believe it's Rob's one night and Oasis On The Beach another night. Have you ever seen him live? ***sigh***

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DUH!
Of course you need to see Aldrine play!
It seems that every time I happen to be on Kauai, Aldrine is not playing so I forget. Yes definitely go see him play!

sukie said:

Forget all that. Go see Aldrine play. He plays Wednesday and Friday if he is around.

WickedWahine??? You remember his schedule don't you? I believe it's Rob's one night and Oasis On The Beach another night. Have you ever seen him live? ***sigh***

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I have, he is great! Last time I checked it was Wednesdays at Oasis and Friday at Rob's but OP call to be sure.

Okay, anyone who knows me knows my life is all about Kauai, what side are you staying? South, North or East? I know the South very well and East pretty well and can give a lot of recommendations if you tell me where you will be.

wickedwahine11 said:

Okay, anyone who knows me knows my life is all about Kauai, what side are you staying? South, North or East? I know the South very well and East pretty well and can give a lot of recommendations if you tell me where you will be.

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Awesome. I'm staying in Kapa'a. Would love to see Aldrine play if that's an option. I will definitely look into that.

blodzoom said:

Awesome. I'm staying in Kapa'a. Would love to see Aldrine play if that's an option. I will definitely look into that.

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Well if you are in Kapa'a then the place he has been playing on Wednesdays is there be sure to see if you can see him.

Okay for Kapa'a there is a new place called Lava Lava Beach Club - near the Coconut Marriott definitely worth a try. Great garlic bread, and it is right on the beach.

Best Korean BBQ kalbi I have ever had is at the Kauai Korean BBQ in Kinipopo Shopping Village. If you like Mexican, there is an okay (not by my CA standards but by Hawaii standards) place there called Monico's.

Terrific hamburgers a little north of you in Anahola at Duane's! Try the local boy, it is outstanding.

The pizza at Brick Oven is pretty good too, but I like their Kalaheo location better.

Not that many high end places in Kapa'a, you probably will have to go to South Shore or North Shore if you want fancier dining.

If you like rum, drive to Gaylord's Plantation for the Koloa Rum Company free rum tasting - it is done every half hour. Worth a stop if you end up going to Mark's Place.

For ukulele shopping there are really only a few shops. Larry's stocks mainly Kamoa as Sam owns the shop and Kamoa. For other brands try Scotty's - but their prices are only so-so. Their inventory is good though so play a bunch of brands and then order from Hawaii Music Supply for better prices. Or at least check the HMS price before buying at Scotty's.

If you want some South Shore recommendations let me know. Have a great time!

This is great, thanks WW11, a couple more questions if you don't mind...

Are there any activities that you strongly recommend? Maybe views that I shouldn't miss when i'm in the area? I can't do any major hiking since I'll have a 3-year old, but I want to get her out to show her cool stuff. that's not just a beach.

Also, I need one high-end restaraunt. If we have to drive a little, that's ok.

blodzoom said:

This is great, thanks WW11, a couple more questions if you don't mind...

Are there any activities that you strongly recommend? Maybe views that I shouldn't miss when i'm in the area? I can't do any major hiking since I'll have a 3-year old, but I want to get her out to show her cool stuff. that's not just a beach.

Also, I need one high-end restaraunt. If we have to drive a little, that's ok.

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I am happy to help in any way I can. My mom has five weeks of timeshares on Kauai so we go all the time.

The two most spectacular views on the island are the Na Pali Coast and Waimea Canyon. For Na Pali, you can hike it -- but it is a difficult hike, certainly too much for a kid. But you can take either a helicopter or boat ride to see it. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. We actually scattered my grandfather's ashes off Na Pali and my ukulele inlay is of Na Pali. It is my favorite spot on Earth and not to be missed if you can avoid it. For Waimea Canyon - think Grand Canyon only smaller but very vibrant reds and greens, I actually think while it is not as large, I think it is much prettier. Though I fully admit I am biased. That you can drive to, but it will be a bit of a drive from Kapa'a so be sure to get an early start.

As for a high-end restaurant, the one that is consistently ranked highest on the island in most reviews is the Beach House. They are not exorbitant, but are a bit pricey but the view alone is worth it. It is located in Poipu, on the South Shore. Perhaps if you go to Waimea Canyon you can time your return to do Beach House that afternoon or night so you don't have to drive that way twice.

As for other activities, there are a lot of outdoorsy things, like kayaking, stand up paddle board, snorkeling. The three year old might be good for Poipu Beach on the South side - it is very kid friendly. If you don't do the Beach House if/when you go to Waimea Canyon, stop by Poipu Beach on the way there or back. And right by that is Spouting Horn. Your daughter might get a kick out of the burst of water spouting up or at least the chickens in the parking lot.

Anything else don't hesitate to ask. Have fun!

Trip is over, in case anyone is interested, here's the recap of the uke-related bits:

Firstly, Aldrine was on tour... bummer. We saw his fill-in, who was good. Hard to be upset when you're having happy hour beers on a beach in hawaii watching live music.

I'm pretty sure that we hit every store on the island that carried ukes. My dad was looking for a tenor in the > $300 area. I was looking for anything that jumped out at me but most likely not a tenor 4-string because I'm pretty happy with mine and was hoping to find something different. My "official" (make my wife happy) budget was $500 but I was willing to push past that if I fell in love with something.

Scotty's: I read the reviews, and considered meeting Scotty to be part of the experience. He did not disappoint. He is definitely a character and will certainly rub some people the wrong way. When I told him that I was happy with my tenor and was interested in looking at other things, he just wanted to know what kind of tenor I already have (Ko'olau) and proceeded to tell me how much better his offerings were than what I had. He REALLY wanted to sell me a koa tenor and nothing else. He trash talked everything that wasn't the things that he carries, which just left a bad taste in my mouth especially since some things that he said were factually inaccurate. At one point, he literally pulled a uke out of my hands and said "that one's garbage, let me save you from yourself" and hung it back on the wall. To be fair, it was a cheapy little uke with some dust on it, but I thought it was kind of neat looking and wanted to see what it sounded like... oh well. If you want a Kamaka or Kanilea tenor and don't mind dealing with Scotty, you will get a great deal. I can not deny that the deal that he offered me was a good one, it was just more than I wanted to spend on a sort of niche uke (8-string kamaka).

Strings and Things: Really laid back atmosphere. The guy working there spent the whole time playing his guitar, which I kind of enjoyed but he didn't seem to know a ton about ukuleles. He let us play anything that we wanted, so we spent some time there, but didn't find anything very interesting. Mostly Kalas.

kalaheo music and strings: Another nice relaxing place to browse but not that helpful. I literally kept getting one word answers from the guy.
Me: "Who makes those ukuleles with 'Kauai' shaped sound holes?"
Him: "We do"
Me: "Are those solid Koa?"
Him: "Yeah"
Me: "Are they made here on the island?"
Him: "No"

We tried out a bunch of ukes and I bought a Fretboard Roadmaps book.

Larry's in Kapa'a: Mostly Kamoa but had a section of K brands and a few others. We were helped by Joe who was basically the polar opposite of Scotty. Extremely friendly, spent a long time with us. My dad bought a Kamoa that was really happy with. Joe spent about 30 minutes giving me an impromptu lesson and just talking ukes. I really liked the look of the kamoas and was starting to eye a red sunburst concert but didn't pull the trigger but it was about $600 which was over my budget and only about 250 less than a gorgeous kanilea concert that Scotty had (but didn't seem to want to sell me). My dad went back a couple days later to buy a hard case. I kind of think he just wanted to go back to see Joe and he liked that the case said Kamoa on it because he enjoyed the experience so much.

I think I held back a little because I've been eyeing a Pono MTD8, which I ended up ordering the other day from HMS. Was hoping to find one there or something else that I liked better.

Overall, it was great fun. Wish there were more ukes on Kauai though. Almost all of them are either hawaiian-made koa or cheap laminates.