Restaurants near Kaunolu

Service was excellent, and the food was excellent. You can choose a number of plates to share depending on how hungry you are and what your budget is. The vibe is trendy and upscale. The pork steamed buns and the "bacon and eggs" was amazing. I personally didn't care for the Lahaina Fried Soup - the Fatt Chow Fun noodles were so thick they were more like dumplings, which I'm not a fan of. But we still really enjoyed our evening here. Reservations are a must.

We have been visitors to Maui for years, but this was our first visit to Mala Ocean Tavern. We didn't know what we were missing! We were seated promptly on the 'lanai' overlooking the ocean. The sun was bright and the waves were breaking just beyond the railing (hence, "not quiet"). We had an appetizer of coconut shrimp, which was delicious with the aioli dip. We ordered a glass of pinot noir with dinner. My Valentine ordered roasted pork shank which was the best she had eaten in a long time! Plus, it was a massive piece of meat and has served for a couple of additional meals. I was a bit more adventuresome and ordered the 1.5 lb whole opakapaka on a bed of Molokai mashed sweet potato and vegetables. It was exquisite! My 'speed-eating' was also slowed down to be sure I avoided any small bones There was plenty of food there to satisfy my appetite, but it was so delicious I cleaned it to the bone! Unfortunately, we were so full that we weren't able to sample dessert, so that will have to wait for another time. Bottom line is this was the best meal in a great location that we have had on Maui in years. We will definitely be back - Mala Ocean Tavern moves to the top of our list!

Service staff was great as well as the ambiance of the restaurant! The burrata sampler is definitely something to try there because it came with this luscious buttery bread. From the staff to the restaurant vibe, everything was great till the entrees started coming out. The burrata sampler was the only good dinner choice that came out of that restaurant for us. After that, it just seemed like someone either forgot to taste the food before taking it out to the table or the cook just has a high tolerance for salt because majority of the dishes were salty. The salad, ahi crudo, and octopus were the 2nd things that came out for us, thinking we would start off with something light, instead we got an overdressed salad which was salty, but the ahi dish was quite refreshing and the octopus was tender. Unfortunately we decided to return the salad dish and hoped the pastas will be better. My partner and I love pasta and we love our pasta al dente because of that bite it gives, but sadly 3 of the 3 pasta dishes that we ordered were overly salted and very very al dente. We contemplated on returning the pasta dishes but it would’ve been too much dishes to send back, soo we just took home a lot of leftovers. We have never been more sad to lose our money here only to have been served salty hard dishes. Our server mentioned that the restaurant will be going under some renovations and will be adding a burrata/mozzarella bar. If we ever do come back, we will probably just be back for the burrata and bread and maybeee the ahi.

I love the menu. So many unique and yummy dishes with all sorts of flavors.