Best Place You Ever Ate At In Hawaii

[alohabear]

Hawaii has many great places to eat and great food. HT ....What is the BEST food you ate and where( And I'm NOT talking about MOM's House or GRANDMA's)?

My favorite was the prime rib at Bull Shed (http://www.kauaimenu.com/htmlfolder/thebullshed.html) located in Kapaa, Kauai near Coconut Grove. It was so perfect and served w/ the RIB. I can't wait to get back there to eat it.

[scottsportshawaii]

Is price no object?

[alohabear]

Is price no object?
price is no object

[tutusue]

Six or 7 years ago I had Thanksgiving dinner at Diamond Head Grill (http://www.w-dhg.com/english/top.html) at the W Hotel on Kalakaua. It was a total party in the mouth! Unbelievably good.

[Miulang]

The best restaurant I ever ate in in Hawai'i was at A Pacific Cafe on Kauai. It's no longer in business, although there have been rumors for a couple of years that the owners were going to relocate somewhere else on the island. It had no view at all (it was in a strip mall), the prices were staggering, but the food and service were impeccable. The owner, Jean Marie Josselin, is one of the "founders" of Pacific Rim cuisine.

Miulang

[Mahi Waina]

Plantation House, Kapalua: The best sashimi I ever had. The sushi chef served them with mild sauces such as lime-cilantro. Why cover up such fresh and delicate fish with soy and wasabi?

[helen]

For prime rib, Flamingo Chuckwagon, but that was a long time ago.

[glossyp]

I thought about this question for awhile and decided that I would select the restaurant that I go to as often as possible because I love the food. It is Bac Nam, the Vietnamese restaurant on King St. They have dishes you don't see at other Vietnamese places here on Oahu. I really like this restaurant. I wrote this review (http://www.hawaiidiner.com/reviews/review.php?review=67) last August and have eaten there many times since then, often trying something different. Last week it was beef curry (ordered extra spicy) with French bread and the time before the stuffed squid. Tamarind shrimp is good too.

FYI, Miulang, JM Josselin has a restaurant called Cafe 808 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

Edited to correct spelling.

[pzarquon]

I also am more likely to answer with a place I love to eat, rather than a place where simply eating there is an "event." That's not to say I wouldn't love the budget and sophistication to eat at some of Hawaii's priciest, fanciest establishments... but if I could really eat anywhere, I doubt I'd choose any of them.

I might very well pick Ken's House of Pancakes in Hilo, in part for the food, and in part for everything else that goes with being there.

I really did enjoy my one visit to Sushi Sasabune. I'm sure that great sushi is wasted on a bumpkin like me, but I know enough to know it tasted good, and that I'd like to back.

[tutusue]

I also am more likely to answer with a place I love to eat, rather than a place where simply eating there is an "event." That's not to say I wouldn't love the budget and sophistication to eat at some of Hawaii's priciest, fanciest establishments... but if I could really eat anywhere, I doubt I'd choose any of them.

I might very well pick Ken's House of Pancakes in Hilo, in part for the food, and in part for everything else that goes with being there.

I really did enjoy my one visit to Sushi Sasabune. I'm sure that great sushi is wasted on a bumpkin like me, but I know enough to know it tasted good, and that I'd like to back.
Ken's got a good plug...or was it product placement :rolleyes:...on Dog the Bounty Hunter's show last week. Dog and his posse rendezvoused there prior to taking down another bad guy!

I tend to eat to live, rather than live to eat. Personally I don't think the "best place you ever ate at in Hawaii" has to mean pricy and fancy; rather, I read it to mean the best meal one's ever had regardless of price or ambiance. My all time favorite restaurant was Keo's when it was on Kapahulu...esp. his first, little hole in the wall site prior to the one where the Starbucks is now. I've been to the Waikiki restaurant a few times and still enjoyed the food but I miss that hole in the wall!!! Still...the best meal I've ever had was the one mentioned earlier in this thread altho' there are some close seconds!

[Pomai]

Then you have the timing/consistency issue:

Person "A" visits a popular restaurant and may have the dining experience of a lifetime. Then person "B" visits the same place 2 days later when the wait staff is having a bad day, half the kitchen staff called in sick and the fish is no longer fresh.

[1stwahine]

Black Angus

[helen]

I think Albert and I was the person "B" when we went to Marbella (http://www.hawaiistories.com/archives/005059.shtml) over two and half years ago. The food to me was okay but the service was pretty slow, granted it was only one person up front.

When I mentioned this experience to a couple of other people they was surprised at the service level. I tried Marbella's about a year later (and not during a holiday) during their lunch buffet which I found to be good.

[Miulang]

FYI, Miulang, JM Josselin has a restaurant called Cafe 808 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

Edited to correct spelling.
Ah, so that's where he landed. He had a branch of A Pacific Cafe on Maui too but that folded a few years back.

Thnks for the heads up. Next time I'm in Vegas I'll have to wander over to Caesar's and check his place out (after having a reuben sandwich at the Deli in the Forum!)

Miulang

[NoCal Boy]

This is nearly impossible to answer. When we go back to visit the family all we do is eat, and it's all good. If I had to pick one that stands out I guess I 'd have to say our wedding day dinner at John Dominis. After our 10am Waikiki ceremony and lunch reception, constantly surrounded by friends and family and all the hubbub, it was wonderful to slip away alone and enjoy a delicious meal alone with my new bride. (I still remember: Filet medallions and deep fried moi for me; 10 oz lobster tail for her.)

[Da Rolling Eye]

Including atmosphere and service?....Crouching Lion Inn and their Slavonic Steak. Been there many a time with or without a date. Always a very pleasant dining experience. Of course, this was about 15 to 20 years ago. I have no idea how it is now.

[LikaNui]

Crouching Lion Inn (...) Of course, this was about 15 to 20 years ago. I have no idea how it is now. For a long time it was the lunch stop for tour buses, so the food was pretty 'industrial'. However, there is a new owner as of a month or so ago.

[kimo55]

waihole poi factory

[sinjin]

ISLAND OF MAUI

LAHAINA

Avalon Restaurant and Bar
844 Front St.
Lahaina
808-667-5559
Lunch and dinner daily. All credit cards accepted.
Hawaii regional cuisine/Pacific Rim

Moderately Expensive. It's worth eating here just to watch Chef Mark Ellman cook. He's one of the originators of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. His lamb chops with ginger cream, wok-fried fish with spicy black bean sauce and ahi taro salad with caviar are legendary. Signature sundae: Caramel Miranda.

sinjin - Whole Opakapaka(my fav). The miranda is to die for. Macnut icecream with miniature Equadorian coconuts with raspberries, star fruit, etc. Yum!

[Da Rolling Eye]

For a long time it was the lunch stop for tour buses, so the food was pretty 'industrial'. However, there is a new owner as of a month or so ago.
Yeah, used to see busses all the time and thought the same, but their dinner menu was far from "industrial". I thought it could have rivaled some of the better restaurants in town back then, but probably didn't because they were located so far out of the way. If the new owner hasn't changed the dinner menu too much, it could probably still hold it's own.

Another place that throws diners off is Helemano Plantation right next to the Dole Pineapple stand. Lots of tourist activity, but for the price they actually offer a fairly decent Chinese buffet with local favorites, with small changes daily. Their "American" fare I would consider industrial. Bleeeecccch! It isn't much, but it's obvious they put much more in the Chinese dishes. American fare usually runs with spaghetti, chili or tacos and they all seem to share the same meat sauce. :p

[MadAzza]

I've never eaten "at." What is it? Some kinda local kine?

[lurkah]

I've never eaten "at." What is it? Some kinda local kine?
Kimo, does Maddie know that you're using her login?

[MadAzza]

Har!

I am sticking to safe topics now. Nothing controversial or provocative.

So I thought. :o

[scrivener]

Unlike Tutusue, who has a meaningful career, friends, and offspring, I live to eat because what the heck else have I got? :)

And the place that, for the past several years, has really done it for me is the Olive Tree in Kahala. I get downright emotional over my meals there, wishing I lived closer so that I could go there every day.

For certain other reasons, I really like Cafe Sistina, but turmoil in my personal life has meant that it's been a few years since I've been there. Eating alone at the Olive Tree is fine; eating alone at Sistina would kill me, I think!

[idvfilms]

And the place that, for the past several years, has really done it for me is the Olive Tree in Kahala. I get downright emotional over my meals there, wishing I lived closer so that I could go there every day.


Hmmm I think I'll pull take out there Hmmm the olive tree.

So many choices who can tell? Volcano shrimp out by the Hygenic store...The pink truck YUM :D

[tutusue]

Unlike Tutusue, who has a meaningful career, friends, and offspring, I live to eat because what the heck else have I got? :)

And the place that, for the past several years, has really done it for me is the Olive Tree in Kahala. I get downright emotional over my meals there, wishing I lived closer so that I could go there every day.

For certain other reasons, I really like Cafe Sistina, but turmoil in my personal life has meant that it's been a few years since I've been there. Eating alone at the Olive Tree is fine; eating alone at Sistina would kill me, I think!
We need to help you thru your Cafe Sistina challenge, Scriv! How 'bout an HT lunch or dinner there? ;)

Come to think of it, I've not eaten at either Olive Tree or Sistina! See, you most likely have more of a life than I do! :D

[Leo Lakio]

Har!

I am sticking to safe topics now. Nothing controversial or provocative.

So I thought. :o
Thanks for coming back; I'm sorry that I was a contributor to your departure.

(Holy crap - I just went over 1000 posts and didn't notice it.)

[MadAzza]

Thanks for coming back; I'm sorry that I was a contributor to your departure.

No apology needed! I get dramatic when I have PMS.

[kimo55]

Kimo, does Maddie know that you're using her login?
hell, I... don't even know!

[kimo55]

(Holy crap - I just went over 1000 posts and didn't notice it.)
no beeg ting braddah. once ya get into the rarified atmosphere of high numbers, ya don't notice what ya once ustah.

[SusieMisajon]

The double crust banana pie at the Sea View Inn, Haleiwa.

The Slavonic steak at the Sandbox restaurant, made by Jimmy Wong, the chef. (He gave me the recipe... grill a steak til medium rare, slice thinly, pile on a plate, one shake of garlic powder, a ladle of clarified butter, and a sprinkle of parsley.)

Fish and chips at the Elephant and Castle, by Pearl Harbour Park.

Shiro's saimin, I think it was number seven...the one with all the vegetables.

The chicken cacciatore at that little Italian restaurant at Ala Moana Center...On the makai side, between McDonald's and Liberty House, right up by Orange Julius, Pattie's and the cheese place.

Does Matsumoto Shave Ice count? Rainbow, with ice cream and beans.

The sour cream and cherry pancake...what WAS that place called?...just past the Dole cannery, past the Community College, right behind the Korean bar, at the end of the parking lot, in that little shopping center.