HāLani — Restaurant in Hawaii

Huge disappointment! It started with trying to make a reservation on Open Table, but there was nothing available. We live on the other side of the golf course, so we decided to just walk in. We were surprised to see the whole restaurant was empty, only four tables were occupied. I gave Halani two stars because the drinks were good, though $25 for a Margarita is kind of excessive. The food was nothing to brag about, just average, and while I understand it's a resort restaurant, $34 for three fish tacos, or $28 for a burger that was Big Mac quality, are kind of excessive for a poolside restaurant. We ordered six different dishes, they all were low quality for a resort restaurant. I have never heard of Huli Huli Chicken Wings before, but it was just deep fried wings. (BTW, Huli Huli Chicken is a trademark, is a rotating style of cooking, and obviously there is no way to rotate chicken wings.) I doubt we will go back there again, there are better choices in that resort area. I certainly expected a way higher and better quality at an Auberge Resort. UPDATE 11/25/2024 I guess I was right since they decided to rebrand the restaurant as a Greek Islands-themed restaurant. I love Greek food, so I had to try it. Well, what a disappointment and disaster! The only Greek items on the menu are Greek salad and Tzatziki. Whoever is in charge of the F&B there should know dozing Harissa on food doesn't make a restaurant Mediterranean. This restaurant is everything but Greek or Mediterranean. Don't waste your money going there. I sure won't go here again. It's disappointing that a well known high class resort like Auberge can mess up something like the HaLani Restaurant so bad. PS. There is no such a thing as Fish Gyro, it's not a Greek dish. Must be an...

Very expensive, but can't recommend this bar and restaurant enough! The restaurant is all open air so it feels like you are sitting outside but you are protected by the overhang and umbrellas. Gorgeous setting. We ate here for breakfast and dinner and the service and food were exceptional. We stayed at the resort and breakfast buffet was included with the room, otherwise the breakfast buffet would cost $55 per adult. They have made-to-order omelettes and waffles, acai bowls, yogurt parfaits, and a whole table of yummy foods from fresh fruit to fried rice, ahi poke, pancakes, and French toast. For those interested in lighter fare, they had pastries, English muffins, bagels, and oatmeal.

Dinner was delicious. The fried calamari appetizer was some of the best we have ever had. We ordered the shrimp pizza and beet salad for our entrees; the pizza was incredibly tasty (and so was the salad), but the beet salad had maybe 6 tiny beet pieces and some nice cheese for $22. It was a very tiny portion, so not worth it for the price. We got the PB & J mouse and cheesecake for dessert and they were out of this world. The PB mousse tasted richly of peanut butter and the cheesecake was incredibly smooth.

Drinks were so pricey--starting at $20. We did buy them a few times because it was our honeymoon, and they were the best drinks we have ever had. So if you are okay paying that price, definitely get them! The mai thai and martini were incredible!

All the bar tenders, hosts, and servers were super friendly and...

Property itself was beautiful but had a terrible experience during our last breakfast at the property. Multiple items at the buffet were mislabeled, for example, eggs were labeled as tofu scramble and tots with chorizo (pork) was labeled as vegetarian hash. I have never had meat in my life and upon asking the staff and the chef, if those items are vegetarian they confirmed multiple times that it is. After eating a bite of the “vegetarian hash”, I asked the staff for the 3rd time, which is when they confirmed the mislabeling and that it had chorizo in it. We then asked for tofu scramble to be made for us, and we were given scrambled egg w/tofu. When we went to hotel reception to complain, the associate there was apologetic and told us the manager will reach out - which didn’t happen. Upon stopping by the reception again we met the manager who apologized and said “we didn’t charge you for the breakfast” + we were given a $30 moisturizer for free - seems like the hotel tried to do the bare minimum to compensate for a pretty significant issue. Had I been vegan for religious reasons (which I am not) - the issue and the hotels reaction to make it right would’ve been considered extremely...