Lahaina, Maui?

Going for the first time at end of the month...anyone have some stellar recommendations? (Did a search, but was not much there)...

Spectacular fresh Island caught fish at Mama's Fish House. This is a must visit any time I am on Maui. They're open for lunch and dinner every day. Don't forget to call for reservations because it is a (deservedly) very popular place...plus you'll need directions to find the place.

Mama's Fish House
799 Poho Place
Paia, HI
808-579-8488

www.yelp.com

Found stellar recommendations for many hidden treasures for our trip to Maui last Oct; I've included some of my own reviews.

Definitely try Roy's (see the threads re: Hawaii Roy's vs mainland), Okazuya & Deli and the assorted poke from Foodland (local supermarket) - best poke you'll find on the islands - makes a great picnic lunch, particularly if you're going on the Hana Highway scenic drive. Although the view at Aloha Mixed Plate is great, you're not allowed to drink by the beachside patio, the service is atrocious and the portions "small" in relative terms.

Non-Lahaina recom's include Eskimo Candy Seafood Market & Deli (great fried fish plate lunches and a decent kalbi & BBQ chicken plate lunch) as well as Roy's Kihei (the best service) and Da Kitchen (local surfer hangout for decent plate lunches). They also have a BaLe there in the same shopping center as Roy's Kihei; The classic Vietnamese fare is not so good and overpriced, however the bahn-mi are excellent. Add the bahn-mi to the poke from Foodland and you've got an excellent picnic; We bought a bag of bahn-mi for our flight home since they don't serve food anymore (buy 5 get 1 free deal makes it all the sweeter). If you're a Costco lover, a visit to the local Costco is a must (pickup some inexpensive blue marlin to sear or eat sashimi-style) - Also don't miss out on the Hawaiian-made Hawaiian sweetbread (interestingly enough they don't carry King's Hawaiian bread in Hawaii). When you're on the islands try the ono (wahoo), opah, all 3 types of marlin (shutome, naraiga & kajiki), hawaiian ahi, opakapaka and onaga.

When I'm on the islands, I try to only eat things I can't really find here on the mainland or won't prepare. I LOAD UP on the poke.

P.S. Another classic is the guri-guri... lot of history involved in that one.

Another vote for Roy's Kihei. It was the best meal we had on the island.

I'm a big fan of a sunset dinner at Pacific'o. For cheaper fare, the plate lunch place by the Old Lahaina Luau is solid. For that matter, the Old Lahaina Luau itself is a fun experience.

A bit further north at Kaanapali, I really like the Hula Grill. There's also a good breakfast/lunch place in a strip mall right along there.

I'm blanking on names, but I'll poke back through my travel guides in the next day or two and come up with some more suggestions. There's lots of fabulous food to be had on Maui.

I'm jealous. Have fun.

I second the Pacific'o recommendation. It's a very, very nice spot right on the beach. We were there for our honeymoon several years ago and still talk about the dinner that we had there.

I also recommend David Paul's Lahaina Grill. It is a bit more upscale than many of the Lahaina/Front Street choices, and we actually liked it so much that we ate there twice.

Finally, I highly recommend an excellent seafood/sushi/Japanese restaurant called Sansei. We ate at the one in Kapalua, but I believe that there now is one in Lahaina.

Thanks everyone...leaving Thursday...will try to get to all of these!

We were on Maui last March and enjoyed many delicious meals. The whole trip was great. We'll definitely go back, in no small part because of the food. Anyway, here's where we ate that I would recommend (it's a long list):

The Banyan Tree. This is the main restaurant at the Ritz Carlton. It's very expensive, as are most of the nice restaurants on Maui, but the food was terrific. The Ritz is in Kapalua, about 20 minutes north of Lahaina. The food was fantastic. There's a lot of fresh seafood with asian influences to the preparation. My main course was grilled tuna with seared foie gras on top. It was unbelievable. The tuna was quite lean and the super fatty foie gras complemented it perfectly.

David Paul's Lahaina Grill. Very good, as already mentioned. One tip: we had a hard time getting a reservation there but had no trouble finding two seats at the bar at about 8 o'clock.

Gerard's. This is in Lahaina, part of The Plantation Inn, a couple of blocks off of Front Street. Classic french cuisine, with a bit more seafood than in mainland french restaurants (naturally). Absolutely perfect service. We ate on the veranda.

Mala. This on Front Street in Lahaina, but a bit north of the main drag. It's small plate food, but done in some interesting ways. Casual. Beautiful setting right on the water. Lots of good beer on tap (including a couple of local brews).

If you are starving when you get off the plane because American Airlines ran out of food on the flight (!) and you really need to eat something right away (like we were), I recommend this sandwich shop called Ba-Le in the Maui Marketplace Mall near the airport. The pork sandwich there was great. It might have saved my life.

There's a poolside restaurant called Maui Onion in a hotel (I forget which one) in Wailea. The onion rings there were unbelievable. They use local maui onions, which are kind of sweet. (The burger was just okay.) We had a tasty and fatty lunch there and then went down the road to Makena Beach for the afternoon.

A good casual option is Penne Pasta Cafe in Lahaina. The food is pretty good and the prices are low.

One place we tried but didn't like: Longhi's in Lahaina. The food was mediocre at best and was very overpriced.

Have a great time in Hawaii.

-Dan

DanInLakeview wrote:The Banyan Tree. This is the main restaurant at the Ritz Carlton. It's very expensive, as are most of the nice restaurants on Maui, but the food was terrific.

Interesting...When we stayed at the Ritz Carlton several years ago, the Banyan Tree (detached restaurant near the pool) had good food but was a relatively casual place. There was a different "flagship" restaurant in the main hotel building (can't recall the name offhand -- we made a reservation, but then cancelled because it just looked a little over the top and way too expensive). Sounds like they have improved things.

I also agree that Longhi's is overrated.

Finally, Sansei restaurant/sushi actually is in Kapalua still (not Lahaina as I mentioned in my earlier post), and recently was renovated and reopened. If you're going to be up near Kapalua, I definitely recommend it -- it's worth going out of your way for.

If you're not yet on the plane, I'll second the recommendation of Sansei, and add that my lunch at Mama's Fish House, albeit a good drive from Lahaina, was simply the best meal of my life.

Ron A. wrote:Finally, Sansei restaurant/sushi actually is in Kapalua still (not Lahaina as I mentioned in my earlier post), and recently was renovated and reopened. If you're going to be up near Kapalua, I definitely recommend it -- it's worth going out of your way for.

Second or third this idea. Make sure to get reservations or go late, Sansei is open somewhat late. We showed up 45 minutes before they opened and got one of the last tables open, a couple that was a bit behind us still had not been seated 1.5 hours later even though they showed up 30minutes before the restaurant opened. Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar phone: 808-669-6286 located @ 115 Bay Drive in Kapalua

Not too crazy about Mama's, I know alot of folks are but it has just never done it for us.

Aloha Mixed Plate @ 1285 Front Street in Lahaina serves a great plate lunch and has a wonderful beachside open air seating area.

Ate at the Saigon Cafe (Vietnamese) @ 1792 Main Street in Wailuku. Not outstanding but certainly good.

One of the best meals one can have on any of the Hawaiian islands IMO is to go to a local market, get some various kinds of poke and watch the sunset from a beach!

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