Vince N.
Yelp
Maui. Always late to the game when it comes to restaurant choices, finally has its first "seafood in a bag" spot in the Maui Mall. The location of this restaurant is somewhat cursed as past businesses never lasted long. Dominos, gone. Taco Del Mar opened up twice, gone twice. Tortugas, gone. Hmm...
ATMOSPHERE:
Its a simple set up of indoor tables, with my favorite genre, country music, playing overhead. Oddly there was no sink, let alone restrooms in the restaurant to wash your hands. Instead, you have to trek to the middle of the mall to use theirs.
MENU:
Calamari, chicken wings, catfish, fries, shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, mussels, oysters, prime rib (Friday's only), desserts. Side dishes are corn on the cob, sausage, potatoes, and rice. Their printed and online menus state "market price" on most of the selections, but I've taken a pic of their market price board so you can get an idea of the cost.
Flavors available are garlic butter, cajun, lemon pepper, or all 3 combined. Spice levels are mild, medium, and hot.
BEVERAGE:
They don't sell alcohol but they allow you to BYO beer. The house rule is two 12-oz. cans or bottles per person, but they didn't inspect our cooler. Another table had a bottle of wine which was okay too. However, you must show your ID to your server. Just don't act like idiots and you'll be fine.
FOOD:
Fried Calamari - $10. The breaded rings and tentacles had a good flavor without being super oily, and came over a bed of crispy, slightly spicy Cajun fries. The dipping sauces were cocktail and an orange-colored sweet/fruity concoction which I didn't care for. More appropriate sauces would've been marinara and tartar.
Fried Catfish - $10. A friend ordered this which was an app but the portion was big enough to be a meal in itself. The two good-sized filets were breaded, deep-fried golden brown, and moist & flaky inside, all over a bed of Cajun fries. The bite I had was absolutely delish and worlds better than my entree.
Dungeness Crab - $29.95 market price, no sides included. My crab was old as some of the meat smelled of ammonia, and it was missing 3 legs. I got it done in garlic butter which didn't add much flavor to the crab meat aside from coating the shell in an oil slick. The amount of garlic used was minimal to none, so I'd advise adding on another flavor in addition to this to give it some sort of life, or ask for drawn butter for dipping.
SERVICE:
I called to check if they take reservations and they said no. I then asked about the BYOB policy which was explained. The phone call ended with them asking what time we'd be coming in, and they "took my name down" which was an informal reservation. The place has died down a lot as there were a lot of open tables at prime time 7pm, but slowly filled up soon after, but not with a line.
Heidi was our server. She was friendly and patient, but brought our check to the table without asking if we were done, in which we weren't as some of us wanted desserts.
TIP:
Despite their check splitting rule stating a 3-way max, she offered to split our check 5 ways. Nice, and thank you! Very much appreciated.
OVERALL:
After my last seafood-in-a-bag meal at Hot & Juicy Crawfish in DC, I swore I'd never eat this type of cuisine again, but I had to give these guys a try. Nice effort and fair pricing. I'd eat here again to try more things but will pass on the bagged items, especially the Dungeness crab.