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For a place the size of Maui, there’s a lot going on when it comes to the dining scene, from ethnic holes-in-the-wall to stunningly appointed hotel dining rooms, and from seafood trucks to oceanfront fish houses with panoramic views. Much of the food is excellent, but some of it is overpriced and touristy. If you’re coming from a "food destination" city, you may have to adjust your expectations.
Follow the locavore trend, and at casual and fine-dining restaurants choose menu items made with products that are abundant on the island, like local fish, beef, venison, onions, avocados, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, hydroponic tomatoes, myriad herbs, salad greens, kalo (taro), bananas, papaya, guava, lilikoi (passion fruit), coconut, mangoes, strawberries, and Maui pineapple. You can also look for treats grown on neighboring islands, such as mushrooms, purple sweet potatoes, and watermelon.
"Local food," a specific and official cuisine designated as such in the 1920s, is an amalgam of foods brought by the ethnic groups that have come here since the mid-1800s and also blended with the foods native Hawaiians have enjoyed for centuries. Dishes to try include lomilomi salmon, laulau, poi, Portuguese bean soup, kalbi ribs, chicken katsu, chow fun, hamburger steak, and macaroni salad. For a food adventure, take a drive into Central Maui and have lunch or dinner at one of the "local" spots recommended here. Or get even more adventurous and take a drive around Wailuku or Kahului and find your own hidden gem—there are plenty out there.
Acclaimed chef Roger Stettler leans on his Italian heritage to create this award-winning menu. This rustic, open-air restaurant dishes hearty soups, salads, and sandwiches at lunchtime, and the house-made pastas are the highlight of the more upscale dinner service. Sunday brunch features both Italian and local-style items. Belly up to the lively bar or request an outdoor table to enjoy sweeping ocean and mountain views.
Sure it's in a shopping mall, but the care and expense that has gone into the interior—glittering Buddhist shrines, elaborate hardwood facades, fancy napkin folds, and matching blue china—also applies to the cuisine. Start with the coconut-ginger chicken soup, then continue with flavorful pad Thai and curries before finishing off this authentic meal with fried bananas and ice cream. There's a second location in Kahului's Maui Mall, a perfect choice before or after a movie at the megaplex.
Breakfast is the reason to seek out this restaurant located poolside at the Napili Shores Resort. The food is standard diner fare, but the portions are big, the prices are low, and many folks think the pancakes—with bananas, macadamia nuts, or white chocolate chips—are the best in West Maui. The ambience is a little funky but the oceanfront setting and views are spectacular—including the turtle, spinner dolphin, and, in winter, humpback-whale sightings. Expect a long line any day of the week.
For a little break from the Maui sun and fruity cocktails, spend an afternoon digging into elegant pub fare backed by an excellent, expert cocktail program with a focus on whiskey. It’s the perfect spot to recover from a sunburn or catch a game while still being social and enjoying what Maui has to offer. This is the type of place where you want to sit at the bar and bend the bartender’s ear (if they’re not busy).
The name of the restaurant comes from the three young chefs who each have a distinctive culinary style (Hawaiian, Southwestern, and Pacific Rim), but somehow it all works. The space is as big as the menu—there are salads, burgers, steaks, and fresh fish, as well as a raw bar with sushi and hand rolls—with three separate dining areas, plus an outdoor patio.
Executive chef Tom Muromoto is a local boy who loves to cook modern, upscale Hawaiian food, and he augments the various fresh fish dishes on his menu with items influenced by Hawaii's ethnic mix. This casual, open-air restaurant is the only place on Maui—maybe in Hawaii—where you can have a Native Hawaiian combination plate that is as healthful as it is authentic. Sunday brunch, complete with strolling Hawaiian musicians and hula dancers, is renowned here; and if you're around for any holiday, chow down at the amazing holiday brunch buffets.
Tokyo Tei is worth seeking out for local-style Japanese food. At lunch, you can rub elbows with bankers and construction workers, and at dinner, three generations might be celebrating tutu's (grandma's) birthday at the next table. Enjoy the freshest sashimi, feather-light crispy shrimp and vegetable tempura, and local-style bentos and plate lunches. They're open Monday to Saturday from 10:30 to 1:30 pm and 5:00 to 8:30 pm, and Sundays from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.
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