West Maui Dining Guide
Where we eat around Mahana
The best everyday eats are right around the corner in Honokōwai, and the famous beach restaurants are a short walk or drive down the coast. Here's how we'd eat your whole stay.
The best everyday eats are right around the corner in Honokōwai, and the famous beach restaurants are a short walk or drive down the coast. Here's how we'd eat your whole stay.
Because Mahana 418 sits at the quiet north end of Kāʻanapali in Honokōwai, our favorite everyday eats are right around the corner — and the famous beach restaurants are a scenic walk or short drive down the coast. With the condo's chef's kitchen, Vitamix, Nespresso and daily-cleaned grills, plenty of guests happily cook in, too.
The closest sit-down dinner to Mahana, and a great one — fresh island fish, the famous Hula Pie, and live Hawaiian music right on the sand at Honua Kai. An easy walk down the beach makes it the go-to for an unhurried sunset dinner without moving the car.
Just up Lower Honoapiʻilani Road, across from the Times Supermarket plaza, is a food-truck courtyard serving a rotating spread of Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, Hawaiian plate lunch, poke and more. Casual, local, and best in the evening when the trucks and picnic tables fill up.
A beloved Honokōwai hole-in-the-wall: a bakery in the morning and a pizzeria at night. It's a local pilgrimage for the "King David" cinnamon rolls — a three-day labor of love that sells out — and the wood-fired pizzas make a great casual dinner. Go early for the rolls.
The Times Supermarket plaza up the road is your everyday hub: Java Jazz for coffee and a laid-back breakfast or lunch, snorkel-gear shops, and the grocery store for stocking the kitchen.
A few minutes up the coast in Kahana are longtime West Maui staples worth the short drive: Maui Brewing Co. for craft beer and pub food, China Boat for what many locals call the island's best Chinese, Dollie's Pub & Café for stone-oven pizza and the game, and Miso Phat Sushi — the little spot that landed on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
At the south end of Kāʻanapali Beach, Whalers Village is home to the famous beachfront restaurants — reachable by a scenic 30-minute boardwalk walk or a quick drive. Hula Grill's Barefoot Bar sits literally on the sand: a mai tai and Hula Pie with live music, or the dining room for fresh fish and island classics.
Peter Merriman's buzzy, family-friendly spot for wood-fired pizzas, fresh fish, craft cocktails and that honey-lilikoʻi mai tai. Happy hour runs 2:30–5:00 p.m. daily — the best-value window in Kāʻanapali.
For a proper sunset splurge, Merriman's delivers refined Hawaii Regional cuisine with one of the finest views on the island — its sister Ulu Kitchen does a standout breakfast. Leilani's on the Beach is a lively beachfront staple for steaks and seafood, and Joey's Kitchen is the casual, family-owned pick. Reserve Merriman's well ahead.
A longtime West Maui favorite for oceanfront brunch and dinner, Māla has reopened and is again serving its Mediterranean-influenced island menu right over the water — a lovely, slightly special-occasion drive south.
Stock up at the Times Supermarket up the road, or the West Maui farmers' markets for local fruit, then fire up Mahana's daily-cleaned grills or blend sunset piña coladas in the Vitamix. Nespresso and drip coffee are waiting for your morning on the lanai — coffee with a turtle-and-whale view beats any café.
Maui's most celebrated restaurant, tucked into a palm grove on the north shore about an hour away. The menu names the fisherman and the spot each fish came from, and the setting is pure old-Hawaii romance — the definitive special-occasion dinner on the island. Pair it with a Road to Hana day or a north-shore afternoon in Pāʻia.
Worth the short drive south to Olowalu: a roadside bakery turning out irresistible handheld mini pies — chocolate haupia, banana cream, coconut, and lilikoʻi — alongside savory pot pies and sandwiches on house-baked bread. An easy stop on the way to or from Lahaina and the south shore.
Duke's Beach House at Honua Kai is about a 5-minute walk. Up Lower Honoapiʻilani Road in Honokōwai you can walk to the food truck park, Papi's Ohana, and Java Jazz coffee by the Times Supermarket plaza.
Whalers Village and the famous Kāʻanapali beach restaurants — Hula Grill, Monkeypod, Merriman's, Leilani's — are at the south end of the beach, roughly a 30-minute boardwalk walk or about a 5-minute drive from the north end where Mahana sits.
Duke's Beach House for a beachfront sunset a short walk away, or Merriman's at Whalers Village for a world-class view and fine dining a short drive south.
Partially. Several restaurants on the north end of Lahaina have reopened, including Honu Oceanside and Star Noodle, and Lahaina Cannery Mall is open, but much of Front Street is still rebuilding. Kāʻanapali, Honokōwai and Kahana dining is fully operating.