Dining in Maui, Summary and Review

If I could only choose one restaurant to eat in Maui, I would hands down choose Koiso.  I am surprised to say this, but I have found some of the freshest fish I have ever tasted here (this is coming from someone who works in San Francisco).  I would highly recommend eating as much fresh, raw fish as you possibly can while you are here.  Koiso is a really small mom and pop joint.  Make sure to make a reservation well in advance or the owner/sushi chef will straight up ignore you and not serve you.

That being said, here is my breakdown of the other restaurants we tried during our trip to Maui.

Appetizer

I would recommend Mama's Fish House.  Although the fish we had for our main course (at over $50 per plate) was overcooked and dry, their appetizers were amazing.  I would have been perfectly happy eating only their various appetizers as my meal.

Main Course

Hands down either Paia Fish Market or Lahaina Grill.  The fish was cooked perfectly, though the appetizers at Lahaina Grill were not up to our standards.  In fact, after eating at Mama's fish house, the appetizers at Lahaina Grill was frankly a bit of a let down.  Paia Fish Market is a local joint that serves good food for a reasonable price.  I would recommend ordering all of your dishes at Paia Fish Market a la carte.  The coleslaw, rice, and home fries side dishes were just fillers and you would be served better to just skip them to make more room for the fresh locally caught fish.

Dessert

Honestly, although many of the nicer restaurants we had the opportunity to eat took great length to impress with their dessert selection, I would not recommend spending your hard earned money on any of them.  In fact, nothing was quite as satisfying and refreshing as a simple $5 Uluani's Shave Ice.  Save the money you would have spent on dessert at those fancy restaurants and use it to buy more Uluani's Shave Ice!