Stacy S.
Yelp
I usually reserve one fine dining dinner when I go on vacation to Maui, and this time I chose Ka'ana Kitchen.
You can choose to do the Chef's Table Tasting Menu that comes with 6 courses (5 savory and 1 dessert) for $125 pp, or you can choose 3 items that you'd like for $85. I decided to go with the Chef's Table. You can also add their wine pairing with each course for an additional $125 pp, but I opted to just get 1 glass of wine since I had to drive back to my Airbnb.
I made reservations several weeks in advance and was able to get the day and time that I wanted. The restaurant is beautiful, as it's located inside the Andaz Wailea. Parking is valet only, but you can get your ticket validated and they will waive the $15 fee. The attire is dressy casual.
Upon arrival, I was impressed to find a personalized name plate in front of my place setting. Such a classy touch! I was immediately greeted by my server, who poured me a complimentary glass of rose. What a great first impression! The service continued to be superb throughout the evening, with various servers and managers checking on me to ensure that all was going well.
It's an open air kitchen and those who select the Chef's Table get to sit around the open air kitchen where the Cooks are preparing the meals. There are approximately 5 Cooks - each one assigned to a different station - pantry, grill, saute, etc, and different dishes. You get to see (and smell) all of the dishes that they are cooking.
The Cooks are personable and work very well together as a team. I got to sit in front of Brian, who made a lot of the fish and seafood dishes. In my opinion, that seat was the best one in the house!
The courses came out one at a time. There is supposed to be 6 courses total, and they even gave me a complimentary course! They also mentioned that if there was anything else that I wanted to try (in addition to the 6 courses), then to just let them know. I didn't take advantage of that because clearly there was already so much food, but it was a nice offer.
Here are the dishes that I tried (see my photos attached):
Watermelon Salad - goat cheese feta, li hing mui, candied walnuts
Ahi Tataki - zuhair tomatoes, fresh burrata, lilikoi
Wagyu Hanger - nuoc cham, green papaya, peanut AND Grilled Octopus - lemon oil, olive bread, Big Island chevre
Scallop Risotto - saiko miso, shiitake mushroom, shrimp XO
Fried Chicken - greens, butter mochi, HI spice jalapeño-lime
I cannot remember what this dish was! I was already in a major food coma.
Dessert Sampler - A) Ku'ia Estate Chocolate Mousse - Haleakala goat caramel, sweet potato & taro chips, black lava salt. B) Coconut Sundae - coconut ice cream, chocolate sauce, macadamia, coconut cake C) Caramelized Chocolate Cheesecake - white chocolate specks, pickled blueberries, cracked black pepper meringue
For $125, this meal was an extreme value for the amount of dishes you get to try. The portions are supposed to be tasting portions, but to me they were very generous in size. All of the dishes were delicious. I was full by the 4th dish, but I kept on going because I wanted to try them all! I would highly recommend this meal if you are celebrating a special occasion or just want to treat yourself to a wonderful evening.