I think Craig would be a travel food taste-tester if he could. He loves going on vacation and eating at as many restaurants as he can. We went out once a day at the beginning of our trip, but it was more like twice a day by the end. Ha!
There are so many good places to eat on Maui. We’ve dialed in our favorite that we go back to time and time again, but I know there are many other restaurants that are also phenomenal!
The first night we arrived in Maui, it was my birthday, and I requested we celebrate at Cool Cat Cafe (or Cool Cats), which is known for their burgers. They have been rated as the #1 burger on the island several years in a row, and I would definitely agree. (And I’m not even a burger person.)
The restaurant has balcony, outdoor seating overlooking Front Street in Lahaina, which is pretty common for many of the best restaurants in Lahaina. We almost always ate outside wherever we went–how could you not in such a warm, tropical place?!
I ordered the Luna Burger, which had bacon, avocado, cheese, and all the fixings, and this is a picture of Craig’s Big Bopper, which was a double burger with all the fixings. They were ginormous!
There were two restaurants we hit up twice while on the island. The first being Maui Brewing Company. The last time we were on the island in 2014, they only had a restaurant in Kaanapali, but this time they had expanded and now have a location in Kihei. It was a really nice restaurant with open-door seating, great ambiance, and modern decor.
I actually ordered the same thing both times I went to Maui Brewing Company because I loved both things so much. The first was this Avocado Toast appetizer. The avocado was mixed with macadamia nuts and topped with fresh vegetables and cilantro. Then there was a sriracha salt to sprinkle on top, which took the flavor to another level.
The second thing I ordered twice was this kale salad. It was really good with shaved cheese, avocado, and onions. However, the part of the salad that was so good was the toasted quinoa. The bits of crunchy quinoa were amazing and set it apart from other kale salads I’ve had in the past.
The second place we ate twice at was Aloha Mixed Plate. This is easily our favorite lunch spot. It sits right on the beach, the food comes out quickly, and is always good.
This must be their take on Spam as the dish was called Spamp. (Thankfully it didn’t taste like Spam!) The House Made Spamp Musubi which included nori, furikake-shiitake rice, and house made spamp that you wrap up. It was surprisingly really good!
This was a fun variation of sliced meat sandwich as the beef was breaded in panko bread crumbs on this Breaded Teri Beef Sandwich.
We loved all of the toppings on this Imu Beet Salad with Cambozola cheese, tomato, radish, cucumber, Waipoli mixed greens, and a house vinaigrette.
Our finest dining experience was at Fleetwood’s on Front St, owned by Mick Fleetwood.
We ate on the rooftop because the enclosed downstairs didn’t have openings for a couple of hours. (Definitely make reservations ahead of time if you want to eat here!) I love the rooftop anyhow, so I was excited to eat there, however, it was incredibly windy that night!
I did take a picture of my phenomenal Watermelon & Prosciutto salad that was out of this world. I have liked arugula salads in the past, but it is tricky to do them well. This arugula wasn’t nearly as spicy, and the flavor combinations was spot-on!
Craig had the steak, my sister had the risotto, my brother-in-law had the mahi mahi, and it was all incredible!
Other restaurants we went to that I would also highly recommend:
Choice Health Bar – All vegan food that is so good!
Leilani’s On the Beach – Great food with an amazing view of the ocean. Make sure to be there for the sunset.
Hawaii Gelato – I had a waffle cone with some coffee, chocolately, carmely goodness.
Local Boys Shave Ice – Shave ice + ice cream. . . how could you go wrong?!
For our lodging, we once again stayed at the Aina Nalu resort located in Lahaina, but I booked our two bedroom condo through VRBO. We stayed at this same resort in 2012 as well as 2014. We absolutely love the amenities and the convenience of being able to walk place. There are many excursions that leave from the Lahaina Harbor, so it is very easy to walk the few blocks to the harbor from our resort. Front Street also has some of the best dining and shopping on West Maui, so each night for dinner, we walked down to Front Street, and then perused through the shops if we felt like it.
I had intentions of taking pictures of our resort, but I kept forgetting, so I am taking these pictures from the previous blog posts I wrote during our two other trips. (FYI – Everything at the resort looks the same.)
To see more photos of our resort, go to THIS blog post from 2012 and THIS post from our 2014 trip.
There are two pools, a hot tub, cabanas, grills, and a large gazebo outside for all the guests to use.
Inside the condos, the rooms are modern with nice bathrooms, a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, and our specific condo had beach toys and beach chairs as well as a TV in each room and plenty of kitchen utensils.
We are still dreaming about our trip, and Cullen asks daily if we can go back!
On the plus side, our snow has been melting this week, which helps! I hope this isn’t a fluke and we get dumped on again, which is entirely possible!
