Johnwaron

I thought I posted this earlier today, but it seems to be lost. So here goes again.

I'm taking my family to Hawaii next August. Besides my wife and I, our two kids 15 & 18 will be with us.

Amoung the things we'd like to do is go to a luau when we're on Maui. I've heard of The Old Lahaina Luau and Feast At Lele. Who can compare and constrast the two?

Does one or the other have a better show? How's the food compare?

And - how far in advance should I call to make a reservation?

Melissa5

Johnwaron, we just returned from maui and my husband and I loved the Feast at Lele. Never saw the Lahaina Luau but we did a luau on Kaui several years ago and there's no comparison...Feast of Lele was lots better than the luau we saw on Kaui.

We got a $30 discount off each ticket for Feast at Lele as part of our Pleasant Hawaiian package. Food is absolutely outstanding and impressed my skeptical husband. Show was fun because the dancers do various dances including some dances from New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa, etc. Every table has a good view. Are your kids daughters or sons? I ask because if you have daughters they might enjoy the male dancers and some good-looking waiters were male!!!

Johnwaron

My daughter is the 15 year old. The 18 year old is my son.

Yeah, they're at that age - cute guys and girls attract their eye.

I've read of making reservations early. How early? Now for next August? Or just a couple of months?

thornphoenix

Hi John - I responded to your original post on this subject, but since you may not have seen it I'm copying/pasting my ressponse here:

Message: Hi John,

Hubby and I have been to both. Here are my personal opinions on both:
* Feast at Lele has higher quality food - more "sophisticated" than at Old Lahaina Luau. At Feast at Lele your food is served to you in various courses as opposed to a buffet like at Old Lahaina, however the Old Lahaina Luau food isn't bad - we liked it well enough for traditional Hawaiian food, but a lot of folks don't.
* We preferred the show at Feast at Lele because to be honest we're not into "shows" and we didn't feel overwhelmed with "too many acts" - we usually go to a Luau for the food, not for the show (I know that may be strange to some)...since we don't like live production performances we enjoyed Feast at Lele because there wasn't one long continuous show - there were shorter shows throughout the evening and I felt they had more enery than at the Old Lahaina Luau. The Old Lahaina Luau (if I remember correctly) doesn't start the show until after dinner, however I felt it dragged on too long.

Overall, both were pretty good, but again we go for the food, not for the show. We prefer Feast at Lele because it's a more intimate setting. I think the Feast at Lele caters more towards the adult crowd, whereas the Old Lahaina Luau is more geared towards families - at least based on our experiences.

Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with either, but since you're bringing teenagers I'd probably recommend the Old Lahaina Luau - they'll get to see the Imu pig ceremony and there are arts/crafts stations set up prior to the Luau starting.

Have fun!
Tracey

kimamom

I'll put in a plug here for the Old Lahaina Luau from my son's fiance's experience. She stayed two weeks in Maui for her HS graduation trip and raved about this. She was with a group of others around 18 and they all had a great time! ***kim***

suze

I would recommend Old Lahaina Luau because it is BIG, in a beautiful setting, food is a fine buffet and introduction of traditional foods, show is high caliber. Think it would be the best for a family (I went with mine).

Our hotel was next door near Feast at Lele, my impression although I did not attend is that this is more an adult dinner theater type experience.

My other strong recommendation for a show is a bit different kind, also in Lahaina, cirque-de-soile style at the Maui Myth & Magic Theatre, show called Ulalena (thanks to a fellow Fodor poster for giving me the correct name recently).

Lokelani

We really enjoyed Old Lahaina Luau last July. The food was excellent and all you can eat, with the desserts and drinks brought to the table. The dancing was awesome, especially if you want more authentic and traditional Hawaiian hula. We had a great time sitting on the ground seats located next to the stage, with the ocean in the background. I reserved the tables many months in advance - at least 6 months. In fact, our first date of choice had no seats left on the ground! You can "spread out" on the cushions, drink in hand and have a great view of the show. Much more relaxing than sitting in a chair.

TravelDiva

I can't speak from experience...yet... we're going ourselves to Feast at Lele, leaving for our trip in less than two weeks.

We chose Feast at Lele b/c of a lot of the reasons already mentioned, much better quality food (the chef/owner of the Feast of Lele also runs two of the best regarded restaurants on Maui - Pacific'O and I'O). Also the show itself...the Old Lahaina Luau bills itself as authentic Hawaiian, meaning no Tahitian or other Polynesian acts that can be very entertaining (fire eaters, etc.) that your teenagers would probably find cool.

Also, at FAL you get your food served to you. At OLL, it's buffet style (read: long line). The setting is also supposed to be spectacular at FAL since it's right on the beach at sunset. You should check out the web site if you haven't already (http://www.feastatlele.com) ...lots of great eye candy for your kids!