Honeymoon Dinner in Ka'anapali

[Katie Nell]

I have a friend who is getting married in late September and they are honeymooning in Maui (I think it's in Maui... all the different names are confusing to me!) They are staying at ResortQuest Ka'anapali Shores, 3445 Lower Honoapiilani Rd., Lahaina, HI 96761. I'm hoping to find a nice place to get them a gift certificate too. I would like it to be somewhat regional, but probably not too unique... I think her fiance may be a little picky. Close by their hotel would be great! Also, if anyone has any suggestions, if you would let me know how soon in advance they need to make reservations, that would be great... that way I'll know if I need to give it to her early or not. Thanks in advance for any help!

[Katie Nell]

Just wanted to say thanks Chowhounds! My friend and her husband just got back from Maui and it sounds like they had a spectacular time! Here's what she had to say:

"Pineapple Grill was great! It was such a treat! I took pictures of the food. I had a lobster bisque, macadamia nut encrusted pork chop (with purple mashed sweet potatoes) and Drew had the Mahi Mahi with scalloped potatoes. They were great. Then for dessert (the best dessert I had there) it was a chocolate chip cookie, not fully baked with ice cream on top. It was gone quickly. Beside the food being good, we enjoyed the view, and the atmosphere. It was a great gift!"

Thanks again everyone! Couldn't of done without you!

[Katie Nell]

Update: I ended up picking Pineapple Grill, so I hope they like it! I found out that he wasn't as picky as I originally thought, so I think they should enjoy it. The hostess that I spoke to on the phone could not have been any nicer, which is rare to find, at least in my experience! They should be in Maui by now, so I will let you know how they liked it when they get back!

[dkawai]

We just came back from Maui last week and wish we were still there. I think ResortQuest is a little past Kaanapali and closer to Kahana (near Star Market center which has an Asian Fusion restaurant WM in it which is suppose to be pretty good). In Kahana Gateway (up the street) is Roys as well as a micro brew place which has some pretty decent local beers.

Kapalua has the high-end restaurants attached to each of the three golf courses. Plantation House (on the Plantation Course) has a great view.....if they choose this restaurant, make sure they book the 6:00 seating so they can make the most of the sun setting over lanai. Pineapple Grill (on the Bay Course) seems to have a menu similar to Plantation House w/o the view and Vinos (on the Village Course) is an Italian Tapas place owned by the same guys who own Sansei.

Sea House has a great view of Napili Bay (where we stayed for two weeks) but the food is rather bland. My suggestion here is cozy up to the bar and get a couple of Mai Tais and enjoy the incredible view of the entire bay.

BTW Napili Bay and Kapalua Bay are great snorkling areas. Sea Turtles are prevalent at the first and the reef is within 20 feet of the latter. Park in front of Napili Sunset Condos (on Hui Rd.) and walk right up to the beach. Sea House is on the right side of the bay.

[mander]

Couldn't agree more on the "rather bland" food at Sea House. I put it a bit more vaguely when I said "not out there". It is perfectly fine however and a place my parents, in their 70s, love.

[beachgirl]

This is one area that I can help you with. We have been vacationing on western Maui for a number of years. If your friends rent a car ( a real must on Maui) they will have their choice of some real good restaurants. The Plantation House is in Kapalua which is about 10 minutes away from their resort. Also, up in that region is the Pinapple Grill. (beautiful location and wonderful food.) If your friend's fiance is pickey than you might want to play it safe and choose The Sea House Restaurant. This restaurant has their menu on line if you want to check it out. We chose this place for our first meal on Maui. The food is great but not so outthere that you are hesitant to try a dish. Lot's of fish and beef. They advertise "Steak and Potatoes" as well as gourmet. But, what a magnificent setting. The restaurant is high on the cliff looking out at Napilli Bay. Lit torches and hawaiian music playing softly in the background makes a meal here memorable.

[mander]

I would also recommend Sea House as a not out there restaraunt. You are right on the water with a good view of the Bay. But I wouldn't describe it as high on a cliff. It is about 5 feet higher than the beach. It is located at Napili Kai Beach Resort. Maybe you are thinking of the restaraunt between Naplili and Kapalua that is out on the rocks?

[Katie Nell]

Thank you for the suggestions... I'll research them a little bit more today and see what I think. I also need to feel them out on whether they'll have a car or not, without giving too much away!

[torta basilica]

Kaanapali is the resort area outside of Lahaina, which is a getting bigger every day tourist town. There's not a whole lot of great restaurants. I think the Plantation House suggestion is the best, now that I believe, Sansei is closed for major resort renovations. They would need a car, though.

[kersie]

Katie,

There are a LOT of suggestions for the Lahaina area on this board if I recall correctly from when I was planning my honeymoon.

We stayed in the southern part of the island, so I do not have many recommendations for that area. I too am a picky eater, but LOVE good food.

One that gets a lot of "praise" but my husband and I were not totally psyched by is the Plantation House. The menu has some less avant garde selections, however. David Paul's is one that I wish we had tried but didn't. Outside of that area, I can't hesitate to recomend the Hali'imaile General Store. It's out of the way to pretty much everything but well-worth the drive!

[Katie Nell]

Thank you for the reply... I had searched a little bit, but was getting frustrated with not being able to hit back! Is Lahaina very big? I'm not sure if they'll have a car or not, but I checked out the Plantation House website, and it's pretty close to them, I think. Why is it that you weren't really psyched about it? (I had at first thought Ka'anapali was the town, so was confused when I was searching!)

[kersie]

The setting is beautiful, but it's not beautiful in the traditional way that we think of Hawaii as being beautiful -- it's set up above a golf course. They often have large parties in the restaurant (small wedding parties of 20 or so guests are common). On the night we were there, there were two weddings, and not surprisingly, our service really suffered. The views are only nice if you get a table at the edge of the restaurant, which they refuse to confirm when you call them on the phone. When the sun sets, everybody rushes over to the edge of the restaurant to take pictures, which is a very disorienting thing when you are trying to enjoy a romantic dinner. This, in my view, takes away from the advantage of getting a "good" table because you'll have people asking you to take pictures for the duration of the sunset.

The food was fine, but we had much better elsewhere in Hawaii. They also really rushed us through our meal, and were not psyched when we wanted to split an appetizer or dessert, something that always really gets to me. A restaurant with good food should encourage you to share so that you can taste MORE of their food in my book. I simply cannot eat an appetizer, main course, and dessert all on my own.

I may have been irritable because the traffic was really bad the night that we drove up here, but this wasn't the only restaurant we drove to for a while. It was, however, one of the least worthwhile experiences we had on our honeymoon.

[Katie Nell]

Thank you for letting me know... those are things that would certainly irritate me, especially on my honeymoon! And I certainly don't want to give them a gift certificate to somewhere where they don't end up having a good time... that wouldn't be a very memorable gift, at least not in a good way!