West Maui Trip Report with school-age kids

Hi all,

First of all, a big MAHALO to you Chowhounders for your recommendations. We definitely had some great eats on this trip!

We spent 1 week in west Maui (Kahana) and then 12 days in Oahu (trip report for Oahu to be posted separately). Our kids are pretty adventurous so we hit quite a few different places (mostly lunch or dinner as we had brekkie in the condo). Their new favourite snack is spam musubi! I don't think we will be finding that in our Canadian city! My one regret is we never made it to Star Noodle (closed exceptionally for a staff Xmas party the one day we tried to go which was also our last day!).

Honokowai

Honokowai Okazuya & Deli
• good for take-out for the condo or to take across the street to the Honokowai beach park for a picnic and swim

Farmers' market every M,W,F a.m. Got good fruits, local jams, banana bread, fresh coconut water, etc. A bit $$.

Lahaina

Ululani's Shave Ice
• fave shave ice on Maui (note second location next door to Sure Thing Burgers)

Sure Thing Burger
• best burger I can remember eating ever!

Ba-Le
• inexpensive Vietnamese lunch at Lahaina Cannery Mall before the keiki hula show (bahn mi, noodles, thai iced coffee was good)

Kapalua

Merriman’s
• Our BEST meal on Maui but pricey
• Note that it is very kid friendly – they even have toys for the kids to play with! The wok-charred ahi was amazing.

Sansei Sushi
• enjoyed our rolls (some kind of ahi tempural roll) and the miso-glazed butterfish. We went at 5:15 for the happy hour pricing -- note that rolls are cut quite thinly so you end up ordering more than you would normally. The kids liked the maui tempura onion rings
• Tip: we made a reservation for 515 and walked right in. There was a loooooong line of people waiting without reservations although they were seated quickly enough

Upcountry Maui

• Did the O'o Farm tour which was lots of fun and delicious too (kids enjoyed picking their veggies and salad as well as feeding the chickens!)
• Stopped at Ali'i Kuli Lavender farm for kids treasure hunt, gifts and yummy lavender iced tea
• Stopped at Kula Farms roadside stand for fruit for condo (great kula strawberries, apple bananas and mangoes)
• Stopped in Makawao at T. Komoda General Store for malasadas

MISCELLANEOUS

• We booked the Royal Lahaina luau knowing the food would just be so-so (it was the least expensive one -- booked through expedia and kids were free). Hubby and I have been to more authentic/upscale luaus on previous trips. Food was average but show was quite good - okay value for money considering….
• Brought kids for picnic dinner to watch torch lighting ceremony at Black Rock (picked up spam musubi and poke from Foodland). Tip: if you buy something at the Sheraton (got a glass of wine to go with my picnic dinner on the beach) they will validate your stub and valet parking is only $5.
• We had one disappointing breakfast at Java Jazz (very expensive and food so-so). The coffee was really good though. I bought some vanilla macadamia nut coffee for the condo.
• Also, it was not fancy but our first night we stopped at L&L BBQ and brought our food across the street to Honokowai beach park for a picnic. The saimin and garlic shrimp and macaroni side salad was actually pretty good!
• One other random meal was the Iron Imu BBQ truck that came to our condo. We enjoyed the southern-style BBQ