Maui report May 2010
Hi all,
Just came back from Maui and decided to write up a amateur reivew of the places I went. My original plan was to try more places but we had a gorgeous condo with incredible views in Kapalua. We couldn't really tear ourselves away from view so we ended up having a more relaxing trip and enjoying our breakfasts and couple of dinner on the patio.
Honolua Store-Kapalua
This is a market/cafe/deli/gift store. Groceries and deli here are quite reasonable. The deli serves up delicious hot meals for breakfast and lunch. We came here a couple mornings.
Aloha Mixed Plate-Lahaina
This place is located on behind the Cannery Mall on Front St. It’s a very casual place like what you would get at the beach/park concession stand except they have servers that bring your drinks and meals to your table. It’s right on the beach so you do have a great view of the water. We happened to be there during sunset and the view was absolutely amazing. Very busy and limited parking.
Now onto the food, the food was good. I had the mahi mahi fish sandwich and I can say it’s the best I’ve had. The fish was nice and crunchy. Hubs had the kalua pork sandwich that was quite tender and tasty. I found it a bit salty but that’s me. Best part of the meal was their garlic fries. Overall the experience here was nice for our first dinner in Maui. Nothing fancy but a good relaxing atmosphere. Budget friendly.
Da Kitchen-Lahaina
We really wanted to try their deep fried spam musubi and it was worth the visit. It was the best musubi we had in Maui. The rice was seasoned well and two weeks later, hubs is still talking about it. We tried their hawaiian mixed plate and it was really delicious, about 5-6 items on the plate and it was huge. Very good home style cooking. Budget friendly.
Cane and Taro-Kaanapali
We had heard good things about this place and wanted to give it a try. The dishes here expensive but to be fair, they’re quite large and perfect to sharing. The highlight was their ahi tuna sashimi, however, they butchered the slices so some were thick and others were paper thin. Why was it the highlight? Well, basically because we were surprised at the freshness of the fish. Also order their dynamite shrimp, crab roll, fringos, fried calamari. They were okay, nothing to rave about.
We didn’t go during their special discount hour but they have weekday specials with savings of 25-50% off if you arrive and order before 6pm but there’s a mandatory 18% grats calculated before the discount price which I find misleading.
Kai Sushi-Wailea
I’m not sure if this location is related to the one at the Ritz in Kapalua. We went here for lunch. Very limited selection as they don’t have a sushi chef during the day due to cutbacks??? Had the poke, spicy tuna roll and teriyaki chicken. The fish were both tasty and fresh. Teriyaki, poorly executed and not normally what we’d order but as I mentioned, lunch menu was very limited. Price wise, expensive for lunch.
Mama’s Fish House-Paia
Our first visit was lunch and it was so good we had to come back again on our last day for dinner. The view is amazing here and the food is definitely good.
Highlights were the mac crusted crab cake and the manchong stuffed with crab, shrimp and lobster. Both these orders were so delicious, I still dream about it. Both days we had the ahi tuna seared. Lunch was with a soy ginger glaze and kalua pork rice and the dinner was served with a rich mushroom sauce with sweet potato mash. At first I thought it was a strange combo with the mushroom sauce and mash but it did pair very nicely. Also tried the yellow tail ceviche, very tasty and the lobster guacamole. The only thing I probably wouldn’t order again is the lobster guacamole, tasty but not blown away like the other dishes. For desert, the infamous black pearl. This is for chocolate lovers, so rich and creamy. We also had the tahitian vanilla gelato. It was nice but I’ve had better.
Ululani Shaved Ice-Lahaina
The shaved ice here was so good. Very snowy and fluffy like. The flavours were tasty too. Had the root beer float flavour one day and the second visit was mango, passion fruit with li hing fruit. I wanted to try it with the mochi balls but unfortunately it was unavailable to us. If you like shave ice, this is the place.
Ono Gelato-Lahaina
Had the Mac Crunch Coffee Toffee, so good !! Hubs had the mocha, it was shadowed by the Mac Crunch.
Ali'i Lavendar Farm
Came here for the lavendar tour. They have a patio which you can enjoy their lavender inspired treats. Had their infamous scones. The scones itself was okay but pair them with their preserves and honey, now we're talking. The ice lavendar tea was so so, the lemonade on the other hand was great. Wanted to try their hot lavender tea but it was too warm out. We also tried the lavendar shortbread and that too was very tasty.
Maui Fish Market-Kaanapali/Napili
You can eat in but it's more of a take out and that's what we did. We tried their crab cakes and poke. Both were incredibly fresh and very reasonable. They had some local grown mangoes there as well, $0.50 each and they were uber sweet. The best we had on the island.
I was surprised how hard it was to find good fruit in Maui. Yes there are markets that sell them but they were pretty disappointing. In the end we did find some local stands in more isolated areas and yes they were good.
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reading your reviews brings back fond memories of Maui. I can't believe I went to about 80-90% of the same restaurants! Shaved ice is the best! So much better than here. I think the ice is just flakier and softer. Didn't have the same feelings for Aloha Mixed Plate. Went there for a drink and some snacks before the Lahaina Luau and was disappointed. Anyway, thanks for bringing back some awesome memories!
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Aloha Mixed Plate
1285 Front St, Lahaina, HI 96761
