Had a great week here with our family and friends. The pool was so fun for the kids. The grill was…read moreawesome. The beach is super close! The hosts were super easy to work with. Looking forward to visiting again!

This was supposed to be a week long stay during Labor Day Weekend (Sept 2025). We booked this…read moreproperty for our wedding guests and we paid a PREMIUM, like for the price we paid we should've just went for the Ritz or the Four Seasons, and it turned into a nightmare. I am begging you, if you have this booked, cancel it immediately. It is completely a scam listing and needs to be taken down, and the owner prosecuted. The house was filthy and neglected - dead cockroaches everywhere, dust and grime throughout, and even old clothing and slippers left behind from past guests. Clearly it hadn't been properly cleaned in a long time. The listing promised organic hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, and body soap in every room, but not a single bathroom or bedroom had these amenities. And linens and towels were dirty or super old/thin. We had to go out and buy basic amenities like soap, towels, and linens. Many things were broken or non-functional: two AC units didn't work, kitchen cabinets and handles were falling apart, lights in some rooms wouldn't turn on properly, and several TVs were broken. It looked like an old abandoned house and the only saving grace was the beautiful pool and landscape/scenery. When I raised these issues, the owner (Chris) initially said he would "make it right" by bringing fans to replace the broken ACs and providing more soap, but those promises were never fulfilled and he ended up ghosting me. After two days of silence, I sent a sterner message, at which point the he became hostile, kicked us out, and refused to refund us. He also had the audacity to say I knew all these issues existed and I was begging for him to let me stay there. Why on earth would I pay a small fortune to stay in dump??? Why would I subject myself to unnecessary stress?? Make it make sense!!! I had to file a claim with VRBO and they would just refund us for the unused nights, which is fair, but wouldn't refund us for the taxes/fees. which makes NO SENSE! When they didn't do anything to help, I had to file a claim with my credit card to get my money back (which was approved easily with all the evidence we had), and still book rooms at a hotel for my wedding guests. Not something you want to worry about 3 days before your wedding. Communication was poor from the very beginning. I asked questions 6 months before check-in and never received a single reply until just 1 month prior. I should have taken that as a red flag. Learn from my mistake and cancel now. This host is dishonest, unprofessional, and completely untrustworthy. I deeply regret trusting them with such an important stay for our wedding. I've used VRBO many times before, and this was by far the worst experience I've ever had. Do yourself a favor and avoid this property and this host at all costs.

Great venue! Rusty was a pleasure to deal with when booking. Lots of parking and overflow is across…read morethe street and free! It was almost perfect! The bar is a plus because we didn't have to bring alcoholic drinks, and everyone was happy with the good prices! Four stars because we did not care for the bartendress. She was the only staff on hand and could improve on her people skills. She may have been a good bartendress... I do not know! Mahalo, Rusty! This won't stop us from coming back.

We've attended as well as hosted parties at SideBar and it has to be one of the best places to hold…read morea party that has 75-150 people. Personally I think 100 people is the perfect count for this place - not too crowded but not empty. Rusty who is the POC for hosting parties there is always responsive, flexible and kind. The staff is also very accommodating and helpful. The first time we booked was back in 2023 and it was when they were first opening up as a venue. Prices were super reasonable in 2023. We booked another party in 2025 and prices were still very reasonable. We decided to cater through them for our party. I was a tad skeptical but was proven wrong. For a party of roughly 75, we ordered just one pan of each thing and it was more than enough. We had the fried noodles, fried rice, short rib, smoke meat, chicken wings., lumpia and fried ahi. The food was Ono!! It was so good that we thought about catering from them even if we don't have a party there. I think his name was Clyde or Klein who cooks the food - bolohead guy. I think the only take away is that you have to keep the doors closed for AC which makes sense but if you have a jumper outside it's hard to see and the kids will keep going in and out. Overall, a super great venue to hold parties with great staff.

As a local resident and pass holder I will provide the ups and downs from my personal experiences…read moreincluding those with disabilities. Negative: 1) A few months ago we got to the ticket booth, we're annual pass holders and always purchased together but the cashier said one pass expired the day prior, I asked "how's that possible?" she said, "leave, go buy a pass because you're not getting in" instead of being polite and looking into it (purchase in the gift shop). Some of us were going to go in because the kid so then she asks for my 4 yr olds ID, I said "excuse me, a 4 yr olds?" We said "never mind" and we left without buying renewals. I didn't get her name but had never seen her before as we knew everyone, She was low tone and big and the only personnel without a smile on their face. *Please keep in mind this is the only negative instance out of the years and hundreds of visits. 2) The waterfall can be overcrowded, so your photos will have lots of people in life vests in them. 3) A lot of tourist have no idea when it comes to parking. A man knocked on my window and said he's tired of waiting on me. So they need a parking attendant directing within the lots. 4) Main front restrooms need updating. Positive: 1) I'm an annual holder because this is where I work out. A walk, a skip, small hikes, and a swim, stopping halfway sitting in the grass under a tree surrounded by nature on ancient land with a cold drink in my hand before another round or two. it's an amazing experience and I learn something new each time. 2) Everyone who works here (other than up top) truly wants to be there and are incredibly smart. Disabilities: 1) My son is neurodivergent and the moment we arrive these precious people greet him, hug him, high five, and tell him how amazing he is, they even help when he's having a meltdown. His speech is delayed, he's overwhelmed, but want him to have a safe and open area to run outside, he seems free and notices everything from the sky to the smallest ant. It's also a perfect place to sneak in exercise for him too. 2) I am a parent with controlled epilepsy, it's scary whether I'm with my son or when I come alone because there's always a chance I could have a seizure, but this allows me that outdoor Hawaii experience knowing plenty of people and personnel are there so this is another reason why I choose to visit so often. *There are many accessible options for those who have disabilities. One of the biggest complaints are the price and too many tourist, I see that. But a place that has so many working, volunteering, able to keep the land clean, care for families who need the extra help seeing something beautiful without traveling a long distance as other gardens and waterfalls may not be as accessible, or having the safety of others around. We have to pay for that care.

My first botanical garden experience, and it was awesome because there was an easy hike to the…read morewaterfall and you can swim in it as well. It does get crowded, and photos by the waterfall can be a bit difficult, but loved how there were changing rooms, shops, and such in between. A life vest is mandatory to get in, and those are free to use. I got through the entrance as part of a tour group and walked up the path to the waterfall. Swam in there and floated around for a bit, got out, returned the life vest, and explored the gardens. It's divided up into various categories and we saw some birds, lizards, and other critters in addition to various plants. Pretty! Plenty of photo ops throughout. There's a food area here as well. I tried some coffee and some local plates. All pretty good.

If I could give Tradewinds Ranch 10 stars I would! What an amazing place to have a wedding! I…read morehighly recommend this venue. Nestled in the mountains and surrounded by a beautiful farm, this oasis is a perfect place that's away from the hustle and bustle of Honolulu! We live in Hawaii but wanted a quiet and secluded venue and this was a perfect place!!! The owners of the ranch are so sweet and accommodating and their wedding coordinator was helpful and amazing! Thank you for your hospitality!!! We even had a mascot! Shotgun the horse greeted all the guests!

We are locals, born & raised on Oahu. We will be getting married here at Tradewinds in a few months…read more& we could not be happier with it! When I first came across Tradewinds Ranch, there were a few negative reviews from a few years ago circulating around Yelp as well as a few other wedding venue pages. I was RELIEVED to find that Tradewinds Ranch is under NEW MANAGEMENT & the lady mentioned in all of the reviews is no more! Rest assured, the new owners, Joyce & Dave are absolutely amazing! They understand the stressful process of planning a wedding (or any event, for that matter) & have been wonderful from the moment I met them! I'm a bit of an obsessive planner, & Joyce has been available every step of the way to answer any questions I have. This past weekend, we brought our families along to do a pre-wedding tour of the ranch & it was a HIT! I couldn't help it, I just had to show off! The property is gorgeous & PERFECT for anyone in search of a rustic, country themed venue. Complete with a barn, 3 bedroom "barn-dominium" with a full size bar, as well as a 3-bedroom ranch house, the possibilities are endless. This is definitely a one-of-a-kind venue! There is nothing like it here on Oahu (trust me, I spent months searching). As a woman & a huge country music fan, I have been dreaming about the perfect rustic wedding my entire life. With Tradewinds Ranch, my dreams are coming true! Joyce & Dave, I cannot thank you folks enough for making this a wonderful experience for us & our families! Please stay tuned for pics of our special day!

Organic fruits and veggies for a sustainable North Shore! Waihuena Farm grows everything using…read morestrict organic practices, but is too small scale for the expensive organic certification process. You can speak to the farm owner and workers and even tour the place to see this for yourself. Farm stand is open on site Mondays 2-5pm and CSA subscriptions are available for weekly and bi-weekly pickups. There is a paypal feature for pre-ordering at Waihuenafarm.com/csa-farm-baskets. Cash accepted on site on Mondays 2-5. Also some produce is sold at the Sunset Beach Elementary Farmers' Market Saturday mornings. CSA shares for $25 are the absolute best deal you can get on same day harvested organic food out here. Eggs too!

Excellent fruits and vegetables fresh from the garden. If you can get bananas, they are the best I…read morehave had in my life! Super friendly service too!

Loulu Palm is an absolutely beautiful wedding venue. It's intimate and has an authentic Hawaii feel…read morewithout the atmosphere of a traditional hotel or resort wedding. The oceanfront location, open lawn and North Shore scenery create an incredible backdrop for photos. Our guests absolutely loved the property and were blown away by how beautiful it was. One of the best things about Loulu Palm is how customizable the space is. There are so many options for arranging the different areas depending on the look and flow you want for your wedding. They also have a large selection of furniture and decorations to choose from, which makes it easy to personalize the space and bring your vision to life. Our day-of-coordinator Ashley was amazing and made sure everything ran smoothly throughout the day. It was so nice having someone there who knew the venue and could keep everything on track. The entire property has such an upscale, tropical feel and is even more beautiful in person. Loulu Palm is a truly special place and an amazing choice for anyone looking for an oceanfront wedding on Oahu.

Don't do it. Yes, it rains in Hawaii, and yes, this location is not set up to handle it…read more So far this year there have been 3 significant rains leading to flooding in the North Shore. And while other venues have decided to upgrade and put down hardscape patios (Polo Club) or artificial turf (Kualoa Ranch), this place has stuck with grass and absolutely no grading or drainage that prevents a compete mud pit situation where they set up the tents. Are you willing to gamble one of the most important days of your life to a place that can't handle it? Do you want to pay a ton of money to have the bottom half of your wedding dress brown, and all of your guests with ruined shoes and pant bottoms? Not to mention that they will shove everything under the tent (tables, dance floor and DJ set up) so there is absolutely no where to move around. And when this happens to you, they won't open up the overhead coverings on the lanai to give your guests some extra space to move or for the happy hour, so everyone is just stuck at their table. And then when it's time to go to the bathroom, get ready for a walk across the mud, around the back of the house and into an unlit parking lot to finally get to the portable toilets you're allowed to use (no signs telling you how to get there either). But hey, maybe you'll get lucky and the only thing you'll have to deal with is the dirty beach and the homeless encampment set up 20 yards away. No that is not a joke. Also, they will tell you that you can buy insurance so that you can change the date of your wedding. But if you're not local, what good does that do? Everyone has already flown out there and they are staying in nonrefundable accommodations. Are you supposed to cancel and have everyone fly out again, six months later? I seriously don't know how the Hawaii tourism industry allows this venue to operate like this. They should be required to have some sort of plan to mitigate flooding on the lawn. Last but not least, when you rent things from them like the linens and plates, that doesn't even come with set up. So you pay a rental fee and then they expect you to pay an additional fee to put them on the tables. I've never seen an event venue operate like this.

We had a wonderful experience with sunset ranch. We got a chance to tour the venue and immediately…read morehit it off with Jonah, one of the coordinators that works there. Upon fully deciding we wanted to pursue Sunset Ranch, they kindly let us request to have Jonah as our coordinator because we liked her so much. She really made the process as seamless and stress free as possible for us. She was always quick to answer, understanding, and really picked up on our personalities and catered our working relationship based on that without even having to talk about it. She was really the shining star of the whole process as she got us connected to all the vendors and broke the process down for us in a way that was understandable to people who have no idea how weddings work. She was VERY organized and had a whole collaborative folder for our specific wedding that contained every single detail and resource we would ever need in order to streamline the planning. I was not familiar with how weddings worked at all and decided to trust her with a lot of things and gave her creative freedom. Boy, did she show up. The venue is gorgeous and the people are very kind. Our actual wedding day was completely seamless and I don't think we had one thing go wrong. If you're asking whether this is a review for sunset ranch or Jonah, our coordinator, my answer is that it is a review of sunset ranch but Jonah was the highlight. I HIGHLY recommend the venue and the staff that works hard to keep it going. They made my day anxiety free and the singular best day of my life!

It's an amazing venue at the North Shore with beautiful sunset. I just attended a wedding here and…read moreit was perfect. Note: road construction in the high way, so expect lots of delay through July 2026

If you're planning to stay big or small, Avoid. Horrible…read moreExperience and I finally give up dealing with them after 5 years. We didnt even get to stay here because the owners are back and fourth on policy's Booked in for Dec 2020 during covid. My family contracted Covid days away from trip. We were definitely well within the Covid guidelines of a return policy, but they wouldn't give one so we agreed to just using the credit at a later. After that they more than able to cancel it and tried to reschedule us for the spring . Their availability went away every time. Every few months we would attempt to make a booking, but they were always full. (interesting right ?) Next thing you know two years plus go by. Now she says she's unable to give us any compensation or credit because we're past the two years. It's not our fault they did not have availability. Don't book your stay here. The owners have every intention to get money out of you and lack any type of customer service. Worst customer service and just the worst selfish people. Greed: greed /rēd/ noun 1. intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.

We booked this stay for April 2020, which obviously we had to rebook. After some negotiation, we…read morewere given full credit to rebook a year later. It seemed to be a perfect destination for our honeymoon- beach front, quiet, no crowds. However, upon our arrival, we were greeted with three children screaming next door and loud music playing. The beach front rental we booked does have a privacy screen on the patio but it's pretty much a shard patio. No matter- we will just lounge on the beach and enjoy our homemade beverages. Unfortunately, the hurricane like wind prevented that. It was so windy that we didn't even use the lounge chairs or picnic table outside. The waves on the beach were too intense due to the weather, so we attempted to find calmer beaches...no luck on the north side. Rip currents were everywhere. Okay, how about a nice dinner? Nope- your only option is roadside shrimp or a taqueria, which was fine, but not what we had anticipated. McDonald's had coffee since our place wasn't furnished with any. There are grocery stores nearby, so that's where we got some food. Everything shuts down around 9. The management was responsive to the complaints we had of the children, but you're pretty much at the mercy of whomever is staying next to you since it's an intimate setting and thin walls. Oh, and I hope you like roosters being raised in a dilapidated house next door. After another day of failing to find a beach we could swim in, we came home to find a giant sewer cockroach in the bathroom. That was the final straw. We headed to Waikiki and enjoyed sunshine, calm warm waters, and a wonderful dinner out. Yes, it was crowded, but the water made everything better. The windward side is very authentic...very windy and rainy when the other side is not, and sparse as far as eateries go. It just wasn't the honeymoon we imagined. We asked for at least a night refund (we left two nights early) but didn't get a response to that at all.