05 February 2009

KwikPick: Lunch at Hula Grill, Maui

So here I am in Maui for a conference. ‘Sure,’ I can hear you say. ‘Get a lot of work done there?’ Actually, yes. If you can believe it, we have breakfast meetings scheduled at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow and 7 a.m. the next day. Then the sessions go all day until 5 p.m. Since I didn’t come early, and I’m not staying later, there won’t be much time in the Hawaiian sun for me.

Not much opportunity to try the local cuisine, either. Other than lunch today, all of my meals will be group meals at the hotel. So for lunch, I strolled along the beach looking for a likely place to have my one restaurant meal of the trip. I settled on the Hula Grill.

Food: 3

Service: 2

Ambiance: 3.5

Value: 2

So just in case you don’t believe me that I was working, please note the conference materials on the table in the photo that I was reading at lunch. I had a fish sandwich. It was a piece of fish on a very good multi-grain bun. It was served with a jalapeño aioli and macadamia nut coleslaw. When I ordered the fish, the server asked how I wanted it cooked. Honestly, I was a little surprised because I figured with a fish sandwich, it wouldn’t matter how it was cooked. But since he asked, I specified medium rare. Well, it was served cooked through. It was still very moist and tender, and it was very tasty. But it seemed to me that if you’re going to ask how to have it cooked, it ought to be served that way.

I rated the service as below average. The server was friendly enough. But the slow service was not just the island pace of life. The ambiance was very nice – beautiful beach with the ocean and the other islands in the distance, people walking by on the ocean walk.

The lunch wasn’t terribly expensive; $12.50 for the sandwich and $5.75 for a glass of beer. But I can’t really say it was a good value.

Recommendation: Not bad but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back.

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