Hale Kai — Restaurant in Hawaii

So disappointing. The service was absolutely horrible, 5-6 servers standing around (where the 5-6 servers spent majority of their night). We sat our own party of 8 (no problem) for dinner. When we were ready to order drinks, I had to get up and walk over to ask our server to come over, after trying to waive him down did not work. Not friendly, what's so ever. Once we ordered and served our blended drinks (they were good, just not for me) I asked for a glass of wine instead, after 2 sips of my blended drink (my husband was going to drink mine). The server told me he would bring me a glass of wine once I drank 1/2 of my blended drink down first! WTH? He didnt even ask me if my drink was ok or if there was a problem with it. Then we ordered apps. The Chips/salsa was a joke, the smallest portion ive ever seen (cereal bowl size of chips for $20) and super small pieces of pita bred w/the hummus ($20). Definitely not worth the $. They had one specialty item not on the menu - 5 coconut crusted shrimp as an entre. Our server did not mention a a word about it being habanero 🔥 hot! After we told him and the manager, no offer to make it right. We had even asked for a sauce to go with the shrimp- he said the only thing they had or could give us was ranch or BBQ sauce. No follow up to order second drinks, or checking on the food or if we needed anything else. Food was ok...definitely not worth the money especially when they DO NOT throw any accompanying sides with it, like rice, chips, or coleslaw. They automatically added 18% gratuity because we were a party of 8, which is fine but made our server not have to work or put any effort into making our visit to the Fairmont and evening nice or...

I try not to eat at hotel restaurants as I love to venture out, but we were starving! Plus, the Ironman triathlon was taking place so the roads were a mess and I didn't want to deal with it, so here we were.

ATMOSPHERE: They're located poolside, oceanfront, and 100% outdoors. A towering, thatched-roof bar that would look right at home in the Bahamas sits up front. Regular table seating spills out onto a sand floor, something I'm not fond of. There were a few umbrellas for shade. Naturally there were a few flies & gnats pestering us but that's a given being that you're outdoors.

FOOD: Caesar Salad The dressing was really good; creamy and on the savory side.

Burger This was really good and worth the price. The patty was thick and juicy with a nice sear, and cooked perfectly to my medium liking. The two strips of bacon had a nice crunch. The natural cut fries were thick and salted with chunky sea salt crystals which gave it a great flavor and was visually appealing. Two yums up!

SERVICE: We were seated immediately as the place was empty on this Saturday afternoon around 3pm. Our server was friendly & professional, and checked on us often.

OVERALL: A bit pricey, great food, views,...

Had to wait and hour for our food. Ordered the mango chicken wrap which should be named a lettuce wrap because it was 95% lettuce and one or two 1cm cubes of avocado mango and tomato and the tiniest bit of chicken that lasted 2 bites. I couldn't believe it. $17!! Such a joke. Told the waitress who stood there with a blank look on her face and no response. After an awkward silence we said "just wanted to let you know.." and she said "ok" and walked off. Later a man came over (possibly the manager) and said he spoke to the chef and they usually put 2 pieces of chicken in the wrap and that's what they did. No apology. Just an excuse. 2 pieces of chicken that are miniscule doesn't make a chicken wrap. And my brothers wrap only had 1 tiny bit of chicken anyway so that's no even true. It's just a joke for $17. Refused to go back there the rest of our stay at the Fairmont orchid, until I met people there one afternoon. Didn't want to order food so asked for a glass of water that they never gave me. As if I needed another reason for how bad that...