Shrimp. Crab. Lobster. Finned fish.

Dining in Maui is all about the seafood – right?

Not necessarily.

In Maui we like alternating between fixing our own dinners and eating out. Our goal in dining out is to always mix in some favorite dining spots from previous trips with some new restaurants that we have not tried previously. Besides using web searches – I have found Maui Magazine to be a really helpful resource.

Just to get it out of the way early – dining out in Maui is expensive – but so is virtually everything else in Hawaii.

Our dining philosophy is often to split items so that we can try more things. This also helps us not to over indulge compared to our more normal eat at home meals.

For this visit – we went out to an old favorite – Dukes Beach House Maui ([] https://www.dukesmaui.com )and two new places for us – The Pour House Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar ( [] https://www.thepourhousekapalua.com )and Honu Oceanside ( [] https://www.honuoceanside.com ).

Dukes Beach House Maui

Dukes is located about 100 yards from our condo area – so it is always our “go-to” on our first evening after arriving in Maui. We get checked into our room, unpack things, and take our jet-lagged selves on a short walk to this ocean-side restaurant.

Noel and I both enjoy a lot of the fruity tropical drinks – so we started dinner with a Mai Tai for Kirk and a POG Slushee (with vodka) for Noel.

I should mention that it was absolutely pouring rain during our meal – with a thunderstorm going on – so the restaurant staff was worried about the power going out.

We never lost power while we were dining – but if you have to lose power having a delicious Mai Tai in hand is not a bad way to deal with an outage.

We decided that the appetizers looked great – and elected to forgo any main entrees. After careful consideration – and a sip or two of our drinks – we went with three different appetizers – Crab & Macadamia Nut Wontons, Korean Sticky Ribs and Crispy Coconut Shrimp.

The best is saved for last – and one of the big reasons we enjoy Dukes is the amazing Kimo’s Original Hula Pie.

When it came to the table we boldly declared that “we were pretty full” and did not think we could finish it all.

As always we were up for the challenge and the server took away a clean plate!

The food is always good and the location is super convenient for us. The Hula pie is amazing and is part of a nice dining experience for us each year.

The Pour House Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar

This was a new restaurant for us – and it certainly did not disappoint.

We were seated by the owner – Mauricio – who then proceeded to come by the table several times during our meal to visit with us and discuss food and wine options.

Per usual – we both started with hand crafted cocktails. I had a shaken limoncello martini and Noel went with red wine sangria. Both drinks had a characteristic Campari taste – so were unique and delicious with an Italian flair.

We started our meal with The Pour House Salad – which came with the house speciality burrata – and which was large sized and easy to split for two.

For our entree – we elected to split the spaghetti carbonara which was excellent and plenty for two people.

Overall – our dining experience at the Pour House was outstanding. The food was some of the best we have had in Maui and the personal touch of the owner interacting with the diners was a nice aspect of the evening.

This is certainly on our “come back here next time” list – and provided a nice alternative to seafood every night.

Honu Oceanside

This restaurant is on the legendary Front Street in Lahaina – and was not burned during the devastating fire which destroyed much of old Lahaina in 2023.

Our table was literally right on the water – so we were able to enjoy a beautiful ocean side table for dinner. The weather was perfect with a gentle breeze – an ideal location for a delicious meal.

We started off with two excellent hand crafted cocktails – I went with the Ultimate Mai Tai and Noel had the Bees Knees. It was the best Mai Tai I have ever had!

I had not had any Ahi Tuna yet – so I snagged a single piece of the Ahi Bruschetta as an appetizer. Noel doesn’t like any finned fish – but she still enjoyed a bite of the fish/crustini/tomato combo. It was yummy!

For our next course, Noel went with a locally sourced mushroom soup and I went with the Chopped Caesar with white anchovies.

Finally, we split the Crab Mac & Cheese made with huge pieces of Dungeness crab. We were both hungry – so we had already eaten about half the dish when I remembered to grab a picture.

This was an excellent dining experience – and is also on the “return here next time” list.

Overall our restaurant dining in Maui has been really outstanding – we have enjoyed the creativity of the chefs and strong focus on locally sourced ingredients.

Until next time – happy dining wherever you might be!

Aloha.