Kitoko Maui — Restaurant in Maui

Buckle up because I have a lot of praise to give for Kitoko! And for good reason.

My first visit to Maui was in 1993. I’ve since brought my family & friends back time & time again. Kihei is our favorite place in all the islands with the kindest humans on the planet, the most unique & amazing small businesses of all kinds, rich history, & the most beautiful beaches so we spend the majority of our time there. I point this out for a reason. In all my visits to Maui & Big Island, I can honestly say this is the best restaurant I’ve been to!

I used to work fine dining in Seattle & my husband is still in the business. The food, presentation, & freshness of ingredients at Kitoko is on par with any high end restaurant I’ve been to on island or on mainland but is reasonably priced (plates in the $20 range) and is located in a beautiful garden setting next to a hula show among several other small food trucks & vendors. What a find!

I had my first experience at Kitoko while attending the South Maui Gardens Hula Show (I’ll do a separate review for that!) with a few friends from home while visiting friends on island. A Hula show is different from a full luau, because it doesn’t include the buffet traditional luau shows do, so we arrived to find a whole variety of food options instead, via little shops & food trucks! I’m so glad that we chose Kitoko to enjoy with our show but I have to admit that, as truly amazing as the hula show was, once our plates were in front of us, I was locked in on these dishes & I may have missed a bit of the show! Lol!

The presentation was stunning with vibrant colors in every dish that were intrinsic to the recipe & not just garnish. Not a single item on any of our 4 plates was ancillary or decorative. Every item on the plate worked with the other ingredients. Not to sound corny, but it was very Hawaiian as that’s how the people of Hawaii work within their communities. Everyone comes together to create beauty in whatever they’re doing. I know most people don’t think that deep about their dinner but this trip was in November after the August fires & this is what the world witnessed, especially in those first few days, from the Hawaiian people. Locals came together instantly to take care of their communities & make everything work as best as possible. So the dishes at Kitoko felt like a beautiful representation of the Hawaiian spirit in that way.

We enjoyed dishes with classic island options like taro, mahi-mahi, poke, & prawns of course but we also indulged in the most delicious venison (not sure if it’s sourced on island but Maui IS the only island with deer that were brought in at some point as they’re obviously not native)! I wouldn’t be able to explain the beauty of these dishes so I had to take photos. All of the flavors were rich, unique, well balanced and tasted CLEAN & fresh. This was such a treat because when you travel, eating out more often than you’re used to can often leave you feeling heavy. So finding a menu that was filling, affordable, but also felt light & fresh was such a treat!

My only regret was not trying their desert menu!!! We’re returning in July to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary with our friends on island as well as friends & family from abroad & I’m already planning to take my kids to the hula show so I can go back to Kitoko & they can choose what they’d like from the other food trucks. We have a variety of diets with our kids (one is autistic, one is pescatarian, & one has gastritis) so having several options all in one place is heaven! Hopefully they’ll get adventurous & want to try the beautiful dishes at Kitoko but it’s nice to have more familiar food options so they get what they want & me & hubby will be able to enjoy an elegant, delicious meal WE like 🥰 Maybe this time I’ll order desert FIRST! I may even have to come back to try their brunch! If you’ve read this far, you MUST make Kitoko a stop during your next trip to Maui! I promise you...

We went to Kitoko for dinner based on all their amazing pictures online and the rave reviews. Unfortunately, it just didn't hit the mark for us.

We got the braised loco moco and the grilled Kauai shrimp for our mains. The loco moco was good, albeit unconventional as it doesn't use the usual hamburger steak. It's closer to that of a braised short rib or chuck roast. The fried egg and rice cake in particular were quite good. Although the Kauai shrimp were large and fresh, we found them a bit mushy, likely as a result of cooking them with heads on for slightly too long.

It's really the dessert that was frankly a bit unpleasant. We got the lilikoi meringue tart to share. There was an odd bitterness and astringency to the tart, both in the crust base and in the lilikoi custard, which we suspect to be related to excessive baking soda. In fact, we tried cutting the tart in half with a disposable knife which proved to be impossible. It actually broke the knife in a bit of a comical fashion. Perhaps this was a mistake in the mixing process? The meringue was a bit grainy as well. It's quite unfortunate as we were really looking forward to their deserts.

I think that had we come a bit earlier, as we visited around an hour before closing, that we would be able to explain our concerns more clearly. I do understand that their dessert lines are being made in collaboration with another group and so perhaps they are still...

Wow, I feel grateful that Kitoko is open and serving food while also running a catering business. Everything they serve is made from scratch and you can taste it. I believe that Blue Door Bread company is owned by the same company at Kitoko. We ordered the lobster loko moco from Kitoko and pizza from the bread company and it was the best things we ate since being in Maui. It’s the best thing I’ve eaten in a while now (from Seattle)…1. Because it tasted SO GOOD!!! And everhing was so FRESH but 2. Because you can tell that this business cares about food and what they are serving you. I said it earlier, but they make everything from scratch and you can taste it. The best part about the pizza was the pizza dough. If you think about what that takes in Hawaii/Maui….from keeping it local where you can and also sourcing the things you can’t get locally to deliver pizza and lobster loco moco. I hope it can taste even better for you imagining the lengths that they are going to deliver this level of quality and freshness. I’ve eaten fresh lobster many times in my life, but not fresh lobster from Hawaii….$38 for half of a lobster with loco moco and papaya salad, this beautifully executed is a steal!! Take time to notice all the details and pick up that even their hot sauce is made from scratch.

Love this spot, it’s a gem and I want them to be appropriately appreciated. If you are visiting, slow down...