Make your dinner reservations now!

[NTP66]

I’d go for the blackened Ahi, but my wife and daughter wouldn’t. To each his own.

 

[Luanne]

I’d go for the blackened Ahi, but my wife and daughter wouldn’t. To each his own.

Do they like burgers? That's red meat, but still.

 

[Tamaradarann]

I’d go for the blackened Ahi, but my wife and daughter wouldn’t. To each his own.

The blackened Ahi looks good, but crusted catch would be my choice if you don't want fish that is not cooked. What about the Shrimp which is seafood not fish.

 

[Luanne]

I’d go for the blackened Ahi, but my wife and daughter wouldn’t. To each his own.

I'm just curious. I don't remember if you said you had been to Mama's or if you plan to go, but if so, what do your wife and daughter order there?

 

[NTP66]

I'm just curious. I don't remember if you said you had been to Mama's or if you plan to go, but if so, what do your wife and daughter order there?

Never been to Mama's before, but if we did go, there's a 99% chance that we'd all be ordering the prawns.

 

[artringwald]

If you go to Mama's Fish House, save room for the Polynesian Black Pearl dessert.

 

[Luanne]

If you go to Mama's Fish House, save room for the Polynesian Black Pearl dessert.

Well heck, if they don't really like fish, or beef, just go for the desserts.

 

[jackball]

We were recently in Maui and heard that many places had tables available if you walked in at 8:30. So may be worth a try if you don't mind a later dinner. We did not try this ourselves, so cannot vouch for accuracy.

 

[SHG]

So I have read most of these post. It piqued my curiosity since I will be going to Maui in Oct. I looked at the Menu and was surprised to find that Mama's would cost ~$100 per person. Is this a fair estimate? Is that what you guys are all excited to be paying??? This restaurant is booked solid with these kind of prices?? Am I naïve to what restaurant prices are in Maui?

 

[bnoble]

Mama's is a "destination" restaurant. Maui isn't cheap, but this may not be representative of prices.

 

[Luanne]

So I have read most of these post. It piqued my curiosity since I will be going to Maui in Oct. I looked at the Menu and was surprised to find that Mama's would cost ~$100 per person. Is this a fair estimate? Is that what you guys are all excited to be paying??? This restaurant is booked solid with these kind of prices?? Am I naïve to what restaurant prices are in Maui?

That sounds about right. That is one reason we have stopped going to Mama's. The other reason is that it's on the other side of the island from where we stay, and as we've gotten older we don't like making a drive after dark.

Mama's is probably the most expensive restaurant on Maui. If there are others that cost more, I'm just not aware of them.

 

[Luanne]

We were recently in Maui and heard that many places had tables available if you walked in at 8:30. So may be worth a try if you don't mind a later dinner. We did not try this ourselves, so cannot vouch for accuracy.

That's almost past my bedtime when we're on Maui. There are nights when I'm in bed by 9:00 p.m., but we get up really early. For some reason my internal clock doesn't seem to reset when we're there.

 

[JIMinNC]

So I have read most of these post. It piqued my curiosity since I will be going to Maui in Oct. I looked at the Menu and was surprised to find that Mama's would cost ~$100 per person. Is this a fair estimate? Is that what you guys are all excited to be paying??? This restaurant is booked solid with these kind of prices?? Am I naïve to what restaurant prices are in Maui?

I looked back at my credit card statements from February 2020 when we were in Maui last, and Mama's was not out of line with many of our other favorite dinner spots on Maui. Our wine choice can have a big bearing on the total cost, so these may not be fair comparisons of the relative food cost if we drank a less expensive bottle at one place or the other. I don't have a breakdown of the bill in detail. These are for a party of two:

Merriman's Kapalua - $348
Lahaina Grill - $307
Mama's Fish House - $265
Fleetwood's on Front - $220
Monkeypod at Whalers Village - $200
Kimo's - $150
Leilani's - $130

We'll be back in Hawaii this coming October, and as the OP says, we are already making dinner reservations. On Kauai, we already have The Beach House, Keokis Paradise, Duke's, Roy's Eating House 1849, and Capt Andy's Star Sunset Dinner Cruise reserved, and waiting on Merriman's Kauai to open up on OpenTable, I think 60 days out. On Maui, we've got Lahaina Grill, Kimo's, and Duke's booked and waiting on Merriman's Kapalua, Fleetwood's, and perhaps Roy's Kaanapali reservation windows to open. Also eagerly awaiting the opening of the new Longhi's at our Marriott's Maui Ocean Club. We sadly may not have room on the schedule for Hula Grill and Leilani's on this trip. We were hoping to eat lunch at Mama's before catching our late PM flight home, but they appear to be booked up until late October/early November. I've already got my calendar flagged to reserve dinner at Mama's prior to our late evening flight home for our next Maui trip in February 2022.

We have so many favorite Maui dining spots, looks like we'll need to go for two weeks in 2023 to hit them all.

 

[SHG]

Merriman's Kapalua - $348
Lahaina Grill - $307
Mama's Fish House - $265
Fleetwood's on Front - $220
Monkeypod at Whalers Village - $200
Kimo's - $150
Leilani's - $130

JIMinNC, I am VERY impressed!!! You spend my whole week food budget in one night! The whole point of timesharing is to take advantage of having a kitchen. Of course, we all want to eat out some, but you take it to a whole new level. I am in Maui in Oct as well, maybe we can meet for dinner and just add mine to your bill????

By the way, I have been fortunate enough to go to Merriman's Kapalua. We only went for happy hour to see the sunset. Patio seating at sunset there is a reason alone to go to Maui, AMAZING.

 

[Luanne]

JIMinNC, I am VERY impressed!!! You spend my whole week food budget in one night! The whole point of timesharing is to take advantage of having a kitchen. Of course, we all want to eat out some, but you take it to a whole new level. I am in Maui in Oct as well, maybe we can meet for dinner and just add mine to your bill????

By the way, I have been fortunate enough to go to Merriman's Kapalua. We only went for happy hour to see the sunset. Patio seating at sunset there is a reason alone to go to Maui, AMAZING.

Says who? The whole point of timesharing for us is to visit places without having to pay the price of a hotel (and get more room). We generally eat breakfast in, and then lunch or dinner out. And yes, this is on Maui. So we are eating out at least once each day, sometimes twice.

 

[SHG]

Says who? The whole point of timesharing for us is to visit places without having to pay the price of a hotel (and get more room). We generally eat breakfast in, and then lunch or dinner out. And yes, this is on Maui. So we are eating out at least once each day, sometimes twice.

So this brings up a interesting question that would make for a good poll. - How often do timeshare people eat out in a week ? For us, it would be ~5-6 times. 2-3 times for lunch and 2-3 times for dinner. Other than that, we prepare meals in the kitchen or on the grill. We then spend the time and money on activities and sightseeing. And never $100 per person on any meal!

 

[BJRSanDiego]

That sounds about right. That is one reason we have stopped going to Mama's. The other reason is that it's on the other side of the island from where we stay, and as we've gotten older we don't like making a drive after dark.

Mama's is probably the most expensive restaurant on Maui. If there are others that cost more, I'm just not aware of them.

I've eaten both lunch and dinner at Mama's. They do a great job on their food presentation, but their prices are substantial.

But for me the killer is the hour drive that it takes to get from the Kahana area to Paia, and driving the return trip in the dark. If I want a nice dinner, I'd rather choose a place less than 15 minutes away.

Both times we had an interior table with no view and the service was so-so. Plus we had another major issue that I won't go in to on this forum. So from a "value proposition", IMnsHO, it isn't worth the drive time or the $$$$.

 

[SHG]

I've eaten both lunch and dinner at Mama's. They do a great job on their food presentation, but their prices are substantial.

But for me the killer is the hour drive that it takes to get from the Kahana area to Paia, and driving the return trip in the dark. If I want a nice dinner, I'd rather choose a place less than 15 minutes away.

Both times we had an interior table with no view and the service was so-so. Plus we had another major issue that I won't go in to on this forum. So from a "value proposition", IMnsHO, it isn't worth the drive time or the $$$$.

For you, it would seem that Merrimac Kapalua would be a more ideal location. Have you ever been there?

 

[Luanne]

For you, it would seem that Merrimac Kapalua would be a more ideal location. Have you ever been there?

Another good Merriman's restaurant is the Monkey Pod. There is one in Kihei/Wailea and one in Kaanapali. Good food at a lesser price than Merriman's.

 

[Luanne]

So this brings up a interesting question that would make for a good poll. - How often do timeshare people eat out in a week ? For us, it would be ~5-6 times. 2-3 times for lunch and 2-3 times for dinner. Other than that, we prepare meals in the kitchen or on the grill. We then spend the time and money on activities and sightseeing. And never $100 per person on any meal!

In a week in a timeshare on Maui we eat out 7 to 12 times. We mostly eat breakfast in, but we do go out for breakfast a few times, mostly after our early morning whale watches. Then we eat out at least once the rest of the time. We've been to Maui many times so there are not a lot of activities we spend money on.....and never spend money on sightseeing. We do at least one or two whale watches per trip, but those are reasonable at about $25 per person. We get discounts since I belong to the Pacific Whale Foundation and we usually get one free whale watch tour when I renew membership each year.

We figure it's a vacation, so no one wants to do a lot of cooking, or cleaning up in the kitchen.

 

[artringwald]

When we stay at Wailea Ekahi Village, as we are next month, I go out every morning and pickup up a newspaper and an incredible cinnamon bun from The Cinnamon Roll Place in Kihei. By the time I get back, the coffee is ready, and I enjoy breakfast on the lanai.

I'm drooling already.

 

[Luanne]

When we stay at Wailea Ekahi Village, as we are next month, I go out every morning and pickup up a newspaper and an incredible cinnamon bun from The Cinnamon Roll Place in Kihei. By the time I get back, the coffee is ready, and I enjoy breakfast on the lanai.

I'm drooling already.

We walk by that cinnamon roll place every morning. We walk from our timeshare (Maui Hill) to the little coffee place that is in the same shopping center. We've been going to them for years. We usually manage to get a couple of free coffees by getting our card punched each time we go. The smell from those cinnamon buns is amazing.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

For you, it would seem that Merrimac Kapalua would be a more ideal location. Have you ever been there?

I think that you mean Merriman's.
No, I haven't been there but it is on my "to do list".
There are also a bunch of nice restaurants in Lahaina and Kaanapali that offer tremendous views, have great food and cost a bit less than Mama's.

 

[Luanne]

I think that you mean Merriman's.
No, I haven't been there but it is on my "to do list".
There are also a bunch of nice restaurants in Lahaina and Kaanapali that offer tremendous views, have great food and cost a bit less than Mama's.

We love Kimo's in Lahaina.

 

[JIMinNC]

JIMinNC, I am VERY impressed!!! You spend my whole week food budget in one night! The whole point of timesharing is to take advantage of having a kitchen. Of course, we all want to eat out some, but you take it to a whole new level. I am in Maui in Oct as well, maybe we can meet for dinner and just add mine to your bill????

By the way, I have been fortunate enough to go to Merriman's Kapalua. We only went for happy hour to see the sunset. Patio seating at sunset there is a reason alone to go to Maui, AMAZING.

So this brings up a interesting question that would make for a good poll. - How often do timeshare people eat out in a week ? For us, it would be ~5-6 times. 2-3 times for lunch and 2-3 times for dinner. Other than that, we prepare meals in the kitchen or on the grill. We then spend the time and money on activities and sightseeing. And never $100 per person on any meal!

We seem to be in the same camp as @Luanne in that we eat out for dinner almost every night wherever we travel. Eating at great restaurants and trying new wines is one of the reasons we travel in the first place, so why cook? We will generally only use the kitchen for breakfast and snacks and only rarely do we eat much lunch. We watch our calories and save them for dinner! Also, why should my wife have to cook? It's her vacation too.

Even at home, we tend to eat out more often than a lot of people do, and being able to regularly eat at the great local restaurants in Hilton Head is one of the main things that drew us to that island and led it to become the location of our vacation home. The thing we missed most last year with the pandemic was restaurants being closed or limited to outdoors only.