Makai Plantation — Restaurant in Honolulu

Normally I NEVER write reviews but my experience at this restaurant was just bad. We went here around 7 pm on a Sunday before catching a flight. We read the reviews beforehand and even though alot of them were negative we still decided to give this restaurant a try since there weren't a lot nearby. Our waitress was very impatient, she asked us if we were ready to order after 5 mins of walking in and we asked for a couple more minutes. When we told her we were ready to order she replied rudely with attitude, "Can't you see I'm busy" and rolled her eyes. While waiting for the food we saw another waitress and a customer arguing, overall the vibes of the restaurant were really sketchy. After waiting for 40 mins my family and I were wondering when the food would come as we had to board soon, so we asked if instead we could perhaps take out the food. Rudely the waitress told us "Why didn't you think beforehand that you need to take the food out? Maybe because we didn't think the food would take so long??? Anyways, after a couple more minutes, we asked if we could just leave since we were in a rush. And the waitress told us "yes you can leave, but you still have to pay for the food you ordered." She then asked her boss if we could leave without paying, and the boss agreed as they didn't even make our food yet. Wow, I wonder what they did for 40 minutes, there wasn't even alot of people dining. Overall, after this experience I completely agree with the negative reviews on...

I never expect airports to offer high quality food, but this wasn’t bad at all, especially considering how many vegetables they offered in some of their meals. I also liked their waitstaff and that you were able to either order with them for a full service experience, or through a QR code so you can order, pay and go at your leisure.

We ordered the teriyaki chicken rice bowl, which had lots of stir fried carrots, onions and green beans, along with some pickled radish. The chicken was juicy and there was a fair amount of it. We also had the furikake crusted ahi salad, which also featured the same vegetables along with a spring mix, and cherry tomatoes, though it needed more of them. The vegetables were surprisingly fresh, no wilted bits to be seen. However, the ahi tuna was very obviously prepared earlier and simply heated up because the middle was cold and the outside barely warm. It would have been great if they took a minute to flash sear it before serving again because the outside wasn’t crispy at all. You can honestly put the chicken on top of that salad and have a great combination since so many of the vegetables and salad dressing pair well together.

The lilikoi mango cheesecake was out of this world delicious! It punches you right in the mouth with tart and sweet and cream from the whipped cream all at once. I literally licked the...

I’d avoid if you’re looking for any semblance of niceties unless you know exactly what you want upon seating. I grabbed a few things at the grab and go and went to sit down and get situated against the back booth. Almost instantly when I sat down the server approached me and asked if I was going to be eating there. I pointed to their grab and go and said I had just purchased items and was told that I was in the wrong area turned tail and walked off. Not a problem at all I was thinking of grabbing a drink before my flight took off anyway. I went to scan the menu and while looking at the drinks the server came back and asked if I was going to order something. I turned my phone and said yes I’m looking at drinks. Mind you his establishment has online ordering so I’m not sure why she was so focused on me ordering immediately. At that point I changed my mind. Id only been there for 2-3 minutes too and felt gross about giving them my money. I did see to the manager and told her that her staff could be a bit more welcoming when someone sites down, but based on her smirk I’m sure she’s happy with their lack of customer service. Too bad. It’s a beautiful spot but not welcoming at all. I’ll be back in 3 months and will just enjoy the shops and...