Miko’s Cuisine — Restaurant in Maui

Opened in 2017, Miko's Cuisine took over the former Asian Star spot in the Millyard industrial area.

ATMOSPHERE: They've done a much needed interior refreshening since taking over. Gone are the dreary white walls and tacky decor. Welcomed are warm, inviting colors and a bigger population of dining homo erectus, giving the place life again. Unfortunately (IMO), they offer karaoke during dining hours which was the only negative thing as it's super annoying. To make matters worse, the person attempting to sing refused to standup and sing so the microphone kept making that obnoxious feedback noise which he seemed to enjoy and kept on doing it. Come on!?

MENU: Mixed cuisine of apps, salads, sushi, local Hawaii fare, ramen, Korean dishes, Chinese dishes. Currently, only items highlighted with pen marks are available to order.

FOOD: Banchan These were on the house. Six small plates came neatly presented in the middle of our table. We received some kind of green vegetable that tasted like blanched broccolini done in sesame oil and sprinkled with cheese (?), two types of kim chee that looked spicy but were not, a savory green ocean salad-like veggie, chewy kim chee squid cut into sticks and my least favorite which were uncut kim chee-flavored green onions.

Gyoza About eight pieces came on the plate, all perfectly deep fried and stuffed full with a pork mixture. The dipping sauce was really good which was a soy-based sauce with chili notes but not spicy. Highly recommended!

Rainbow Roll My friend loves sushi so this was his order. This is basically a California roll but topped with fresh fish which were salmon, ahi and hamachi. He said it was "okay" so I guess it's not the best he's had.

Kim Chee Pancake The owner of Miko's knew one of my friends so this was on the house. I didn't see it listed on the menu but I'm sure they can make it any time. From how it was presented, I think they drizzle the kim chee pieces in actual pancake batter then throw it on the griddle, similar to a Japanese okonomiyaki. The taste was really good with savory notes while the bits of pancake batter added texture and held everything together.

Spicy Pork Ribs About eight or so spare ribs came sitting atop a bed of raw onions. I'm not a huge rib fan but I really liked it. The flavor was mildly sweet and salty, but there was no spice to them at all. A bit pricey for the portion size.

Nabeyaki Udon If you've read my reviews, you'll know that I am a total ramen/udon/noodle fanatic, so naturally I had to try their version. Instead of a traditional cast iron pot, they used a modern slate-colored steel pot that almost looked like plastic. It arrived hot but not searing like you'd get at Ichiban Kahului or Archie's. The broth was very mild, more savory with a hint of sweet. I added a swish of shoyu which helped a little, but didn't wow me at all. Toppings were a sunny side-up egg, shrimp tempura and an overkill of white onions. Meh.

Sam Sun Jjamppong If you like spice or a kick, this is for you! It's like a seafood noodle soup with a spicy red broth, chocked full of seafood like shrimp and mussels. It's a big bowl good enough for a table to share as an app.

DESSERT: Fresh Orange & Pineapple Someone here has a clever hand at carving! The orange was carved into a panda bear with its belly holding the hollowed out fruit, neatly diced and ready to be picked up via toothpicks. A sliver of pineapple was carved into what I believe was a bird with the pineapple top resembling tail feathers. I didn't see this on the menu but we received it at the end of our meal. Very unique!

SERVICE: All the servers were helping each other out, so we had excellent service and were checked up on A LOT. If you have a birthday, they crank up the karaoke system, the servers come to your table, one with tambourine in-hand and serenade you.

OVERALL: Great addition to the dead dining scene that is Wailuku town. Good food, great service. I will be back...

When I saw 4.4 stars and read some of the reviews, I really thought it was a good pick.

But overall we've been pretty disappointed.

First impression, very subjective, the music is terrible. It's asian karaoke running constantly. I'd like to share a sample here but I can't. It's some kind of cheap asian dance music.

Then what kind of asian restaurant has ketchup on its table?!

The menu is immense. Like a 100 items. Which is a proof they don't cook much on site. Which cuisine can manage to cook that many dishes?

We both took a salad for starters (they could have told us there was already some salad served with our main plate). My wife was served 10 minutes before me. Sure her salad was simpler to prepare, but I had to watch her eat. I don't understand how it's difficult to serve all guests from a table at the same time. But the salads were ok.

The icing on the cake was the beef teriyaki and chicken teriyaki. The beef was of mediocre quality. The chicken was barely better. The teriyaki sauce was some kind of paste squeezed out of a tube on top of the meat. Disgusting for me.

The bottom line is that if you have to come here for whatever reason, get sushis, they're hard to get wrong.

Despite all of this, I would have given 2 stars. But the tip is included in the bill (18%) but the waitress didn't tell us despite knowing we were tourists (we told her) and brought us the ticket with a field for how much tip I...

We were a party of 4. I ordered chirashi bowl, salmon amd hamachi nigiri. I was surprised with the chirashi bowl as the volume of rice was equal to the amount of fish! Most places have about 3x the rice.

Next person ordered the bbq beef plate and he was satisfied.

3rd person ordered the shrimp fried rice The shrimp was large and about 6 pieces, but6 said it lacked flavor. Was also the last dish served.

4th person got the combo ramen and when it got to the table, there was a very not so pleasant smell. She ate just a little and was done.

This restaurant is an eclectic mix of Japanese, Korean, Chinese food. I think Korean is their signature cuisine as they bring out the traditional dishes with Kim Chee, fish cake etc.

We got there at 6pm on a Monday. Walked in and was seated. We ordered quick as the waitress said the kitchen was gonna get busy. The whole time we were eating, people were standing inside and outside to eat. We left at 7:15.

They also have a bar and looks like you can sing Karaoke. I am guessing that is after...