5 Places to Eat in Maui and What to Skip
After 8 days in Maui, here’s a full roundup of all the food we tried. In true consultant form, in honor of the power of threes, I’ve split the list into three sections: must visit, if you have stomach-space, and skip.
Published in
6 min readJan 25, 2022
Food we loved — must visit:
- Mama’s Fish House ($$$, Paia) — By far the best food on the island. Yes, it’s on the pricier end but hey it’s vacation and you get what you pay for. And exquisite views and attentive service rounded out the whole experience. 10/10 would recommend everything we ordered — Braised baby octopus special appetizer of the day; Mahi Mahi stuffed with crab & lobster baked in a macadamia nut crust; Whole Maui Freshwater Trout. Ended the experience with a Polynesian Black Pearl chocolate mousse — the lilokoi sauce complemented the chocolate nicely. We booked months in advance since it came highly recommended by all our friends, and I’m glad we did because reservations filled quickly and walk-ins seemed hard to come by. Although some come for dinner I loved our 11:30am lunch res because the view of the beach was breathtaking.
- Tamura’s Fine Wine & Liquors ($$, located in Lahaina, Kihei, and Wailuku) — THE BEST POKE ON THE ISLAND don’t @ me. I revisited 4x during our trip, essentially trying all the different locations and ahi poke flavors. I’m partial toward the Tamura’s Special Ahi, Shoyu Ahi, and Ninja Ahi. Pro tip — if you can snag a bag of Ono Giant Shrimp Chips (from Costco or a local store like Haiku Market), use the chip as a vessel instead of ordering rice. The added layer of crunchy texture — chef’s kiss.
- Leoda’s Kitchen & Pie Shop ($, Lahaina) — Although I believe any pie can be a personal pie if you try hard enough, Leoda’s makes it easier by baking 6 inch pies. Made my life easier at least, since I basically wanted one of everything. Settled on the Key Lime Pie and the Apple Crumble Pie — both sublime. Banana Cream Pie also looked like a super popular option. Next time would love to try the Lilokoi Pie and Pineapple Mac Nut Pie.
- Komoda Store and Bakery ($, Haiku) — Amongst other fried and baked goods, you can find the famous guava malasadas here. Guava malasadas are essentially sugar-coated fried dough with guava filling. Perfect snack for $1.50 a pop. Perfect stop either before starting the road to Hana or after seeing the sunrise at Haleakalā.
- Choice Health Bar ($, located in Paia, Lahaina, Kaanapali) — Açaí bowls with a bit of oomph, and the most refreshing out of all the bowls we tried in Maui. We ordered the Om*Mango Açaí Bowl — blend of açai, mango, pineapple, strawberries, flax oil, seabuckthorn berry juice, and apple juice; and topped with a good ratio of granola, bananas, strawberries, coconut, and raw local honey 🥣
If you still have stomach-space/time:
- Geste Shrimp Truck (Kahului; close to the airport and across the street from Costco) — Spicy Pineapple Shrimp Bowl
- Flatbread Company (Paia) — Mopsy’s Kalua Pork Pie
- Island Fresh Cafe (Paia) — Açaí Bowl 🥣. Excellent aesthetic for the IG.
- Kihei Cafe (Kihei) — 2–2–2 (2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, 2 slices of French toast)
- Hawaiian Moons Natural Foods (Kihei) — Tropical Açai Bowl; Pitaya Green Bowl 🥣. Smoothie counter tucked inside a health food store.
- Island Vintage Coffee (Lahaina) — Haupia Moana Açaí Bowl; Waialua Moana Bowl 🥣. We’re not big coffee drinkers but heard the coffee is great here! And the salad/sandwich options too.
- Lappert’s Ice Cream (located in Lahaina, Wailea) — Caramel Cashew Turtle Cluster; Kaua’i Pie. We loved this while in Kauai a few years ago — pleased to find it in Maui too (although I miss the Nene Track flavor!). Would like to try Mauna Kea’s Secret next time (white chocolate ice cream, raspberry sorbet, fudge brownies, and chocolate chunks).
- Maui Empanada (Haiku @ the Upcountry Farmers Market) — Hana Empanada (chicken).
- Star Anise (Haiku @ the Upcountry Farmers Market) — Chicken Tikka Masala. If you’re craving Indian food, this truck hits the spot.
Overrated — would skip:
- Tin Roof (Kahului; close to the airport) — Mochiko Chicken with Garlic Noodles. Way too much mayonnaise — heavy.
- M’ono Açaí Truck (Kahului; close to the airport and across the street from Costco) — Original Bowl with all the toppings. Pre-mixed frozen.
- Paia Fish Market (located in Paia, Lahaina, and Kihei) — Blackened Mahi; Fish Tacos; Sautéed Snapper. Gave this place two chances, but the fish was over cooked both times and in all three preparation styles. Sad.
- Coconut’s Fish Cafe (Kihei) — Fish Tacos 🌮. This place came highly rated for their fish tacos, but not to my taste — very heavy handed with the slaw. Would ask them to add less next time or maybe try the Grilled Mahi Mahi on greens/rice.
- Maui Fish Co Truck Fresh Caught Fish & Poke Truck (Kihei) — Poke Bento (Traditional & Spicy). Good, but not as good as Tamura’s.
- Lineage ($$$, Wailea) — I made reservations and had looked forward to it for months. Unfortunately disappointed. Arguably a great, innovative menu however lacked in execution. Was the chef not in that particular night? The only saving grace was the Aji Tamago (soy-dashi marinated 6-minute egg, truffled mushroom duxelle, potato whip, furikake, chives). Crispy Shrimp & Scallop Toast — heavy, toast seemingly drenched in oil. Charred Tako & Crushed Local Potato — technically cooked well but came out cold. Wagyu Kalbi Short Rib — good tip to mix the marrow into the garlic rice, however the short rib itself was way too fatty.
