Kauai Shave Ice: Rated
Updated: Nov 8, 2022
A ranking of the shave ice I tried while living on Kauai in Hawaii.
I like plain shave ice… Part of the reason I like shave ice with just a single syrup on it is because I can’t eat dairy so the decked out shave ice with snow caps, I can’t eat them. My favorite flavor is guava. I love guava everything! So most of the shave ice I eat has guava as the flavor, if that is one of the flavor options.
Ranking
#5 - Loco Coco Shaved Ice (Koloa)
This was by far the worst shaved ice I tried. It tasted rather bland and had a gross fuzzy slime on the outside of the ice. It was $7 for a small amount of shave ice. If you like unique and expensive things, maybe this would be for you. But I like simple and delicious and this definitely wasn’t it. I even forgot to take a picture of it.
#4 - Niheus Shave Ice (Old Town Hanapepe)
The shaved ice was so-so. It was $5 for a “large” ($4 for a small) and they had a good variety of flavors. I always get guava if they have it, so that’s what I got. Their shave ice was chunky and all the flavoring sunk to the bottom so the top part was like eating straight ice. There are definitely better shave ice places on the island.
#3 - Ono Ono Shaved Ice (Kapaa)
This was the first shaved ice I got on the island. It was pretty good and the guava flavoring was fantastic. They gave a good amount of shaved ice. It was one size for $3.50. The line to order wasn’t very long, but we had to wait about a half an hour to finally get our shave ice. It was good, but I don’t think any shave ice is worth such a ridiculously long wait.
#2 - Kauai's Best Shave Ice (Princeville)
The ice was nice and fluffy and the flavoring was perfection. It was $5 for a large and they gave a decent amount of shave ice. The only downside is that the location is on the opposite side of the island from where I live.
#1 - Uncle's Shave Ice (Lihue & Poipu)
Uncle’s is hands down the best place to get shave ice on the island. The ice is so fluffy, it’s like eating freshly fallen snow. The flavoring is rich and delicious. I probably went to Uncle’s at least 10 times during my stay in Kauai. Both locations are nice and the quality is the same at both places. Large shave ice is $5.50 and a small shave ice is $4.50 (tax is included in the price).
*The prices noted reflect the cost in June and July 2018
