Fork & Salad Kahului — Attraction in Maui

HISTORY: From the trio of chefs that brought us Three's Bar and Grill in Kihei, their first farm-to-table concept, Fork & Salad, opened in 2016 in the Azeka Shopping Center in Kihei. This second location opened on June 1, 2018 in the Puunene Shopping Center in Kahului, with plans already in the works to expand to the continent.

ATMOSPHERE: The inside is bright and airy with big windows that let in tons of light. I'd guesstimate seating is for around 30 people. The menu displays are big and easy to read. Parking is plentiful.

MENU: Set and customizable salads with lots of topping and protein options, grain bowls, sandwiches, soups, kids menu, juices, dessert, beer, wine, vodka.

FOOD: Build Your Own Salad I chose my greens, salad dressing and five toppings. Proteins like chicken, shrimp, tofu, quinoa, and fish are an additional charge. If you're taking it to go, you can have it tossed or with the dressing on the side. For my customizable salad, I chose romaine lettuce, creamy ranch dressing, chickpeas, raw corn, crimini mushrooms, raw beets and local sprouts. The creamy ranch dressing was tasty but I could've used more of it and I will ask next time. The portion size was very good and filled me up perfectly for dinner.

Ahi Melt I'm always thinking of my next meal when eating my current one, LOL. This was for my next day's lunch and let me tell you, it heated up well in the microwave! To my surprise, it was made with focaccia bread, my least favorite bread in the basket. But, I really like it here! The ahi used is the belly portion so while it looked like the texture of canned tuna, it was insanely tender and moist, flavorful and topped with melted cheddar cheese. A drizzle of pesto sauce coated one of the breads while a handful of vinaigrette-laced greens added even more flavor. I'm not keen on arugula so they happily substituted it with spinach. Highly recommended.

SERVICE: Everyone behind the counter were friendly. I purposely gave them a few days to settle in as I hate disorganization, and they were anything but. Food delivery was quick too even with a small line.

OVERALL: A great, healthy addition to the...

Never been disappointed with the quality of food and that is the reason for the 1 star. The customer service and the way they treat their coworkers is the reason for the lack thereof. I've gone to each the Kahului and Kihei location plenty of times and I have never been more disappointed in the way they treat a newly trained employee. Food is delicious and very fresh, but just witnessing them mistreat and exclude a new worker leaves a very bitter taste and dislike towards them.

Also, they aren't very excited to serve you or show passion about their locally sourced ingredients. It all tastes so good but I've witnessed several times customers ask the workers certain questions about some of the ingredients and they just seem annoyed you ask and sound like they just make something up to get the line moving.

Another thing that really set me off is the way the workers treat customers based off their RACE. Whether you are local or not, no one deserves to be treated less because of their SKIN COLOR or where they are from. Believe it or not, a majority of Maui's restaurants and other businesses THRIVE off tourists and the business that they provide us with. So rather than thinking that they are just a burden and treat them differently, check again who provides a good chunk of your paycheck. (keep in mind that I am a local that has grown up in Maui)

Lastly, GREAT service and meals at their Kihei location but I would NEVER recommend an individual, couple, or family to step foot into their Kahului location unless they had no...

Selling the perception of health food more so than anything else, and doing so with mediocrity.

Tried Fork & Salad shortly after landing in Kahului. I was excited to chow down into a big salad. The service here is very good. I found all of the staff to be super friendly and very accommodating. I ended up ordering the Buddha Bowl and a strawberry lemonade. The salad was confusing, borderline bland, and not even entirely organic. Big disappointment! I was told none of the meat here is organic and then found out a lot of their other ingredients aren’t either.

In terms of the Buddha Bowl being confusing and bland - why put wasabi peas in this? Please reconsider! They are so unbelievably hard compared to everything else in the salad it’s like an unwanted surprise in your mouth every time you get one. You get a fairly large salad that comes with a teeny tiny cup of dressing that doesn’t even cost half of the salad. They should really consider dressing their salads in a bowl before serving to ensure coverage. The whole salad just felt really confusing to me.

My biggest issue is this place gives off health food vibes from their marketing and atmosphere, but don’t back it up with their practices.

For all my vegans and plant based enthusiasts out there, this place does have vegan options but it’s a bit of an underwhelming...