Nuka — Restaurant in Maui

I have been to NUKA a few times, it is always because some on read about it somewhere and they get FOMO (fear of missing out). There are many head scratching moments my anxiety kicks in just writing this review. Here is what you should expect.

PARKING: There is ample parking across the street or next to the post office, however please read the signs. park as close as possible the waiting area is outside.

NO RESERVATIONS: Nuka boasts a no reservation policy "because the place is small" says the spokesperson. You'll want to put your name on the list. The hostess has lost her aloha somewhere in between the kitchen and the hostess desk. Don't take it personal, she may also end up being your waitress.

DECOR: The decor inside is lovely it simple and gives me a vibe of industrial meets jamba juice. Exposed wood and long benches.

DINNING ROOM: The dining room is tiny and also packed. Here is where the anxiety really gets poppin'. I was sitting with a lover in a two top but I was sitting on a bench, next to me was a party of 6 with a child that was running laps around the table and up and down the bench. I think this is what they call "wine mommies", the waitress decided to put 6 people on a four top in an already crowded bench. It is uncomfortable.

THE FOOD:There is very little sushi here. The food here is more like WESTERN STYLE SUSHI meaning lots of cooked food and rolls and cuts that aren't sushi cuts. If you know the difference between Sashimi, Sushi, California Rolls this may be a let down.

THE SERVICE: I think this is where the restaurant loses me, although I can overlook the greedy seating arrangements and no HITACHINO in stock, the service here lacking, way lacking. The ALOHA spirit here is more like HA Ha HA.

OVERALL: I would recommend NUKA if you are coming as a family. They seem to be very kid friendly, so this is a good place if you have have to bring the kids. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant for a date night, or solo night, or quiet dinner mostly because of the service...

Before Nuka, this place used to be a Napa store and before that a mini market store.

ATMOSPHERE: They're located in a free-standing building on Haiku Road just across the street from the Haiku Cannery mall with lots of free parking. The Asian decor fits the restaurant perfect. It's a small open-air room that fits maybe 50 people max, with regular tables and sushi bar seating.

RESERVATIONS: They don't take reservations so be prepared to wait during peak dinner hours especially on the weekend.

FAVE FOODS: Karaage Chicken Very small portion but very really good. The chicken was very tender and the light karaage batter was delish.

Chicken Katsu Donburi I am a fan of this place after eating this dish! The rice is laced with a sweet/salty soy flavor, topped with a over-hard fried egg cooked in the same sauce, topped with deep fried & super tender chicken katsu strips and finished off with thinly sliced nori. DEELISH!

Tempura Shrimp Udon I simply love noodles, so this was an easy decision for my second time here. The broth is a bit sweet but very good (I am NOT a fan of sweet broths but this was an exception). Accompanied by a generous amount of shrimp, green bean, onion and mushroom tempura.

Ahi Katsu Donburi Delicious rice dish flavored with a sweet-soy seasoning which is topped with an over-hard fried egg, and chunks of breaded and seared ahi. I personally would've liked to have the ahi cooked all the way through which would make the dish more visually pleasing, though it's still very good overall. Portion size is perfect.

SERVICE: Everyone has been great all these years.

OVERALL: Maui's best...

I wanted to come here because I read a review that compared this place to sushi she had in Japan. I’ve been to Japan 3X and I was intrigued. When we got there it didn’t take long to get seated. It’s a small restaurant. Service was quick and friendly. I was hoping to order from the dinner menu but found out that only lunch menu was available. The server had a reason about keeping dinner sushi only for dinner but I didn’t understand why I can’t have dinner for lunch. Maybe it’s a portion thing. Anyways I started with miso soup to warm up my belly. It was a decent portion with yellow miso, good tasting seaweed and a hint of daishi. After that came the spicy tuna hand roll. I think it had pea shoots in it which was a weird flavor combo which I didn’t like. Then came the the sashimi sampler which had 3 pieces of everything. The everything was tuna(no taste), salmon (flavorful), hamachi also tasted good, and what looked like seared tuna (texture was rubbery). Finally the miso butter fish was the last dish which had the smokiness of a grill and saltiness of miso. That was the best dish which unfortunately didn’t sit well with my digestive system. I ended up with diarrhea not because the butterfish was bad but because I had a specific reaction to this type of fish which is also called escolar. Other than that I had thought the service was good and the food was decent. Was it like Japan? Unfortunately No. I had a lot sushi there and there’s no comparison. And it’s hard to compare with Japan though so by US standards it was decent sushi. Maybe my rating may have been different if we had dinner...