Don’t Miss the 15 Best Restaurants in Wailea & Kihei (by category!)
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When you’re visiting Maui and you have limited vacation time, you want to make every meal count. While there are a lot of spectacular restaurants on Maui, there are also a lot that offer mediocre,
Whether you’re looking for the best restaurant to celebrate a special occasion or you’re on the hunt for the best loco moco, we have you covered with our list of the best restaurants in Wailea. Fine dining to food trucks, we cover it all here.
Map of the Best Restaurants in Wailea & Kihei
Check out more of our Maui restaurant recommendations:
Private dining and beachfront restaurants on Maui
Upcountry Maui restaurants you won’t want to miss
1. Best for dinner with a view: Gather in Maui
When you’re looking for that special spot for dinner with that killer view, Gather in Maui is your spot. Perched on the stunning Wailea Gold and Emerald Golf Courses in Wailea, this Maui restaurant offers breathtaking panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, Haleakalā, and Molokini Crater.
Gather in Maui offers a happy ambiance, an upscale vibe, outdoor dining, and a contemporary menu using fresh, Hawaii ingredients. You’ll find a mix of both seafood and meat dishes, a full lunch menu, a full dinner menu, and happy hour. Plus, live music makes this a place you’ll want to put at the top of your Wailea wish list.
2. Best for coffee: Akamai coffee
When I find a coffee shop that I love, I become a devoted customer. And I am truly a devoted customer of Akamai Coffee. The design and décor of the café is beautiful and the food is good, but the coffee really steals the show. The lattes and smooth and the cold brews are refreshing. And if you are there when they have live music, the vibe is just right.
3. Best food truck: Kitoko
What if your favorite restaurant was a food truck? That’s the question Kitoko poses in their marketing and I have to say that one of my favorite restaurants on the island is a food truck. Kitoko isn’t just your average food truck: it’s a gourmet food truck where the food is unbelievably fresh and everything is made with care.
Kitoko is located in South Maui Garden, a hidden oasis in Kihei. Grab a meal and take a seat in the garden where you can often find live music to accompany your meal. And if they have their lobster benedict on the menu, don’t hesitate to order it.
And don’t forget to check out our full Maui Food Truck Guide.
4. Best for breakfast: Nalu’s South Shore Grill
Get out of the resorts and head to Nalu’s where you’ll find a big menu, generous portions, and good prices. You can get classic breakfast favorites like pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Or you can tuck into a local favorite like loco moco or an acai bowl. They also offer a great happy hour and live music every night.
There is usually a line but things move quickly, so don’t get discouraged.
We don’t just know restaurants. We’ve carefully curated a list of our favorite tours & activities in Wailea and all of Maui. If you’re looking for snorkeling tours, whale watching tours, Haleakala sunrise tours, we have you covered. Check out our full tours & activities database.
5. Best Happy Hour: Monkeypod
There are so many great places to stop in for a drink in Wailea, but I’m naming Monkeypod the best happy hour spot in Wailea. Sure, there’s no view and it’s in a shopping center. But the mai tai’s more than make up for it. The signature lilikoi foam topping the drink is what you’ll hear everyone rave about.
But we also love the restaurant for the live music, laid back vibe, and happy hour menu with discounts on appetizers and pizza. Plus if you have kids, butter noodles are free for any keiki (kids) under the age of 3.
6. Best Romantic Meal: The Restaurant at Hotel Wailea
If you’re looking for a quiet restaurant for a romantic meal away from the main strip of resorts in Wailea, The Restaurant at Hotel Wailea really delivers. They offer a three course pre fixe menu along with panoramic views and impeccable service.
Start with a drink at the birdcage bar and then head to your table to eat and watch the sunset. If you’re looking for a private dining experience, you can enjoy that in the treehouse.
Note: Hotel Wailea is an adults only resort, but the restaurant is not adults only.
7. Best Resort Restaurant: Humble Market Kitchin
Wailea has excellent resorts but the restaurants at the resorts can be hit or miss. To us, Humble Market Kitchen stands out. Located in the Wailea Beach Resort, the restaurant is the work of acclaimed chef and James Beard award winner, Roy Yamaguchi. The views from the restaurant are spectacular and we appreciate that they offer children a free appetizer (cheese quesadilla with vegetable sticks). Book a table for sunset and enjoy a leisurely meal.
8. Best Vegetarian Options: Wailea Kitchen
If you are looking for a restaurant that can provide a flexible menu, this is the place. Wailea Kitchen is not strictly vegetarian, vegan, or gluten free, but they offer menu items and modifications to fit your dietary needs. So if you’re dining with meat eaters and plant based people, everyone can find what they need. The service can be hit or miss, but the food is excellent!
Plus, the restaurant heavily focuses on locally sourcing as many menu items as possible. As the menu states, “This Menu Survives if the Boats Stop Coming to Hawaii.”
9. Best Local Food: Da Kitchen
This local favorite is back and everyone — visitors and residents — are thankful. During COVID the restaurant closed, but luckily for us all, the closure wasn’t permanent. Da Kitchen serves us local favorite grindz like loco moco and plate lunches with rice and mac salad. But they also serve these up with a twist. Why have regular spam musubi when you can have deep fried spam musubi?
10. Best Italian: Matteo’s Osteria
You’re probably not coming to Maui to have Italian food, but if you’re in the mood for pasta (and more), head to Matteo’s Osteria. With good food, a great atmosphere, and excellent wine pairings, this place will offer you an excellent dining experience. They offer generous portions of some classic Italian dishes and everything we have had has been excellent. While it’s in Wailea, it still feels like a bit of a hidden gem in the Wailea Town Center.
11. Best for Families: Maui Brew Co
Whenever we find ourself in South Maui in need of a meal with our son in tow, we head for Maui Brew Co. This open-air restaurant has a large patio and a lawn with plenty of space for kids to roam around. Play cornhole in between trying to get your preschooler to take a bite of food. The food menu is limited but it’s actually good (which isn’t always the case at a brewery) and you can choose from options like fish tacos, salads, or pizza.
Everything is casual, laid back, and a lot of fun.
Want to get the need-to-know info on Maui without reading a 200-page guidebook? Our Maui Guide has you covered with important information like geography, the best things to do, and how to find the best beaches.
12. Best for Poke: South Maui Fish Company
Featured in Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, South Maui Fish Company serves up fresh, Maui fish daily. Enjoy poke by the pound and fish tacos.
Fresh, never frozen. Come early though as he is notorious for selling out. They are located in the Aloha Open Marketplace on South Kihei Road.
13. Best Shave Ice: Ululani
With locations all over Maui, Ululani has become the most popular and in-demand shave ice spots on the island. And while we tried to resist, we bought into the hype. If you’re in search of shave ice, head here. They only have one location in south Maui, in Kihei. The ice is fluffy, there is a wide variety of flavors, and an added scoop of ice cream is always a good idea.
14. Best luau food: Te Au Moana
A consistent complaint about luaus is the quality of the food for the price that you pay. And that makes sense: it’s difficult to cook a meal for hundreds of people and serve it away from the kitchen. Not to mention, there are so many excellent restaurants that in comparison, luau food can be a little disappointing.
With that caveat, if you’re looking for a luau with the best food in Wailea, head to Te Au Moana at the Wailea Beach Resort. The three-course menu is served family style and includes items like kalua pork, mahi mahi, and Hawaiian style poke. With the great show and good food, it makes our list for our top five luaus on Maui.
If you’re looking for a place to stay in Wailea, check out our full review of the Wailea Beach Resort.
15. Best Take Out: Havens
Havens is one of those restaurants that I will drive out of my way for. Smash burgers, noodles, or a fish burger, everything I’ve ordered has been excellent. There’s a reason that when Havens first opened, they would routinely sell out before the afternoon was over.
Located next to a gas station in Kihei, the location isn’t quite what you expect for food this good. But this is really a takeout restaurant, with very limited seating available for you to eat there. Order your food online, pick it up, and then enjoy it anywhere in the area.
Your Dream Maui Vacation, Planned
We know more than just the best restaurants. We’ve spent years exploring the island, testing tour operators, and figuring out how to make a Maui vacation experience as amazing as possible. And we share this all with you in our island itineraries. But don’t just take our word for it! We received the nicest review from someone on Instagram:
Planning Maui was OVERWHELMING so I stumbled onto the Hawaii Vacation Guide Youtube page and ordered the Wayfinder itinerary. It was not expensive at all! I thought ok well I hope this helps. WOW! It planned out every day perfect down to finding free parking with what to pack and what to expect. We got to see almost all of the island and hit spots we would have never known about despite buying two books on Maui. The food recommendations alone were well worth it! Everyday we got up and I read hey this what we pack today and we got in the car and I pulled up the interactive itinerary and would click the google map link and head to that first stop.
@tarafromtiktok
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