Special Places to Eat on Maui

Aloha to all from Maui! I wanted to share with each of you a couple of special places that we like to eat whenever we are on Maui. Perhaps our favorite place to have breakfast is the 'Gazebo', located in Napili. It is on the grounds of the resort area called Napili Shores. Park in the parking lot and walk through the complex down to the ocean and the restaurant is right out on the rocks overlooking the magnificent Pacific ocean. It's built like a Gazebo...hence the name. They only serve breakfast and lunch, but you can get either whenever they are open. My favorite to get there are the Macadamia nut pancakes, with coconut syrup...absolutely to die for delicious! Of course I also have to have the traditional bacon and eggs to go along with the pancakes, and by the time I am done, I am absolutely stuffed as full as I can get!

Although the food is good there, the charm and ambiance of the Gazebo are what make it such a special place. Part of the restaurant is behind louvered windows, but other parts are just wide open to the most beautiful view of the island of Moloka'i that you will ever have. Some days the ocean is calm and the deepest blue you can inagine, but on other days, and especially in the winter months, the ocean is terribly angry and the waves will crash onto the rocks with and unbelievable fury. Napili is located on the northwest part of Maui and this is Oahu's equalivient of the North Shore. The waves don't get quite as big here, but this is where all the best surfers come to catch the big waves. This is also a great place to watch the whales when they come back to Maui in the winter months, and from the Gazebo you can see many of them as they swim, breach and shoot great spouts of water and mist into the air.

The man who owns the place (Jerry), has instigated a few pranks to keep people amused while they eat and enjoy the food. Used to be when all of the camera's had film in them, Jerry would walk up and offer to take your picture. He would pick up your camera off the table and look like he was focusing and composing the picture, and hidden in his hand was a roll of 35 mm film that had been pulled out of the canister, and he would drop the film and canister so it looked like it had fallen out of the camera in his hand. You could see and feel the panic in the poor people who thought the film had fallen out of their camera!

If you ever visit Maui, plan on going there and I guarantee that your experience there will be one that you will treasure forever.

Another place we like to go for lunch or dinner...especially for dinner is the Hula Grill located in Whalers Village, in the heart of Kaanapali Beach. Hula Grill is only one of several good restaurants in Whalers Village. What we like about it is there is and indoor part of the restaurant and an outdoor part. We always go to the outdoor part and when they take you to your table, you will step off the stone walkway and right onto the beach sands of Kaanapali Beach! The tables are actually sitting in the sand and are covered by large palm frond umbrellas to keep the sun off in the daytime, but add to the beach atmosphere at any time. We always make sure we are wearing flip-flops or sandals so we can take them off and push our toes and feet into the sand while we are eating our meal.

Starting late in the afternoon they provide live entertainment that goes into the evening hours until they close. It is always a Hawaiian group, sometimes with hula dancers and sometimes without.

As like all the places on Maui, the food is on the expensive side, but the atmosphere and the fact that you are eating right out with your feet in the sand makes it all worthwhile!

Mahalo for reading...hope it is enjoyable and will be entertaining and useful for you for when you plan your trip to Maui!

Take care,

Ron, the Plant Man