TIP Top Motel

The hotel started 1916. Location near to Lihue airport is a plus. Condition is run down in the exterior but makes up for it with newly fixed up rooms. Clean.

First impression..server was curt. Not friendly. With her bad vibes, my bento order was unpleasant. Noodles was cold, wunton burnt roast pork was tough, with dings under cooked. And they charge for hot water The servers should have hospitality training. They'Ll get their tips no matter what. We go to tiptop because of quality of food. So allow me to enjoy the atmosphere..laid back. So we don't this kind of treatment..like we're in a food line and must hippity hop hop.

We stayed one night when we arrived. Cockroaches running all over the bathroom floor and walls. No help after office closed so left the lights on to try to sleep but hard. Then at checkout told them and they said they would put us in a different building when we returned in a week. We had a booking in Princeville. Come back and yes different building but still had cockroaches! So asked for refund to go to another hotel but NO REFUND! So left here. The lady had called the owner but he just did not care.

Cockroaches everywhere! We asked to change rooms and they put us in the other building and again too many cockroaches. At night when just the bedroom light was on they were all over in the bathroom so kept the light on in there. But in the night woke up to see them in the bedroom too! It WILL RUIN YOUR VACATION to deal with them. Owner could care less he would not take our call. We asked for a refund for the remaining nights but he told the desk person to tell us to leave. We said no we need a refund. We went back to the room and waited. Then someone showed up banging the door telling us we had to get out! Never have we been treated so rudely. We did nothing wrong but seems cockroaches are no big deal they think. HORRIBLE PLACE. Stay away! There are better looked after inexpensive motels/hotels there. We had no issues at Motel Lani and staff there were great.

We went here twice for breakfasts during our stay in Kauai........can't beat the food, service or prices! Both times we were seated immediately even though the restaurant was very busy. My French Toast and Sausage was good (ordered it twice!).....they were out of the sweet bread that was supposed to be the main ingredient, but all was fine with the usual white bread. My spouse tried their pancakes and omelets........both with Spam as his side dish..and he enjoyed both. The servers use carts to set the tables/deliver food/clean tables........VERY quick & efficient! Definitely a very popular spot for locals!!!!!!!

We stayed 2 nights at this hotel. Although it is an extremely small room, we THOUGHT it was clean. The first night was ok but the second evening we came back to the room and there were tiny bugs on the furniture. We called and left a message detailing the bug problem with our room number. NO ONE EVER bothered to even return our phone call. We got our luggage off the floor because we were concerned that the bugs would get in our luggage. We didn't sleep all night afraid that the bugs would get on us while we slept. We have no idea what they were but they were extremely tiny. The next morning they were also in the bathroom. Thank goodness we were supposed to check out that morning. Would not have stayed another day! We did eat in the restaurant twice while we were on the island and the food was very good and quick service. We were a little disappointed that it says it is also a bakery, which it is NOT. There are NO baked goods here.

Sadly I report this local institution has gotten progressively worse over time for breakfast. We used to eagerly look forward to their macadamia nut pancakes and home made jam no longer remotely the same. One pancake plain is $8.00 mac nuts extra and not baked in and no guava jam. Hash browns are pre-made likely from a vendor, coffee is so so and service while still efficient no longer warm and friendly. Prices up, quality down. We have scratched them from our list of Kauai favorites and don’t plan to return. That said I am guessing their Ox Tail soup is still excellent so not all is lost. Lots of bakeries, coffee shops and breakfast options on Kauai, skip the Tip Top.

We were planning on having breakfast at Kountry Kitchen but they were closed. Stumbled upon this place instead. I’m so glad that happened! This is a local spot, I’m sure we were the only tourists in there. It doesn’t look like much but don’t let that fool you. Usually the “hole in the wall” places at home have the best food and I guess that’s true in Kauai as well. I got 2 eggs over easy, spam and a hash brown. Best breakfast I had all week and we ate at all of the recommended places that I had researched before our trip. My husband got the bento and it was sooo much food, great variety, and cooked to perfection. We were seated right away even though they were quite busy. Staff was friendly and efficient. We’re going back for lunch sometime this week, it’s that good. The prices were fantastic as most places are very expensive on the island. Highly recommend!