nyloS Restaurant — Restaurant in Maui

LOCATION: Nylos is located across the street from the Paia Post Office. Parking is street or in the paid lot of the post office (though it's not monitored). We didn't pay and didn't receive a citation.

ATMOSPHERE: The interior carries a mixed vibe of modern and old plantation with seating for 18-20 folks through a mix of low tops and a chef's table. It was a bit toasty inside regardless of the a/c being on. The jazz background music matched the ambiance and menu perfectly.

MENU: They only offer a three course menu that's available with pre-selected wine pairings. The menu changes nightly but don't expect the online info to be current. I was expecting surf & turf but didn't get the turf. All's good though!

FOOD: We were treated to a "surf & surf" menu which offered an amuse, two courses of fish and dessert. We added the wine progression which included three 5 oz. pours. If the presented wine doesn't please you, just ask as they'll totally accommodate your requested change!

AMUSE & SPARKLING: Our meal started out with an amuse, a French word meaning "a little bit of food" which is meant to stimulate your appetite. The plate was artistically decorated with a marinated toybox tomato, cucumber chunk, ball of soft cheese, tong-full of dressed greens, sliver of watermelon relish topped with enoki mushrooms and a drizzled ring of dressing. Very fresh ingredients and use of flavors. The sparkling was a glass of prosecco that went well with the dish.

Next came their outstanding house focaccia bread. I was a bit underwhelmed at the sound of the "f-word" as I dislike focaccia, but bite my tongue I did! OMG, it was simply divine! The exterior crunch, moist interior and out of this world garlic paprika herb salted butter made me moan with every bite, LOL.

FIRST COURSE: Local Line Caught Mahi The diminutive filet of mahi was nicely broiled and enhanced with a gentle celery root sauce. A roasted maitake mushroom, aromatic mixture of kaiware (daikon) and pea sprouts finished the filet. Very simple yet ingenious blend of flavors. A glass of rosé wine accompanied.

SECOND COURSE: Halibut and Mushrooms Thankfully the filet was considerably larger than the mahi as I was still hungry! Served hot off the pan, the flaky halibut was so delicate, like eating butterfish but without the bones. The sprig of toasted enoki mushrooms that crowned the fish added a delectable crunch while the roasted garlic cloves simply melted in my mouth. Dual sauces of green onion oil and a mirepoix puree, wilted spinach and Hamakua mushrooms complimented the fish perfectly. Beautiful! We enjoyed a glass of sauvignon blanc with this course.

THIRD COURSE: Profiterole I'm not a fan of cream puffs due to their texture, but he did a great job on it. There were plenty of sauces and flavors that enticed my tastebuds on this airy pastry - chantilly cream, bittersweet chocolate, blackberry syrup and mint sauce all worked well together. A topping of silver leaf was visually appealing. Our final wine was a glass of very sweet moscato.

SERVICE: Chef Jeremy & wife Paulina (the sole server) were very welcoming, friendly and professional. Due to the eatery's limited seating, you get excellent, personalized service.

TIPS: Reservations are required.

Call to confirm the night's menu.

OVERALL: Very well-executed menu...

Nylos Restaurant An intimate boutique restaurant with limited seating, reservations required. If you like pairing wine with each course of food, and enjoy meticulously crafted dishes that are like a work of art, you will enjoy Nylos. Wonderfully inventive flavors, using ingredients from local Maui farms as much as possible. The cuisine seems to be New American with touches of Asian and World flavors. Casual fine dining with a fixed three-course menu changes nightly. Cost about $100 per person and around $50 more for the wine pairing menu. Dinner only.(They will open the restaurant for lunch one day for a fast casual take away, but not sure of the timeline).

Not long after Nylos first opened, each time I walked by I could tell by the aromas wafting out of the kitchen that this was a chef who knew what he was doing, making complex flavors with clean, quality ingredients.(I grew up in a restauratuer’s family and produced food TV for NBC4-LA, CBS2-LA and KCAL9-LA, so my nose is attuned to quality cooking). Since I have children (and it’s not that kind of restaurant), my husband and I were not able to go until a special occasion, so on our 13th wedding anniversary, we got a 7:45ppm reservation booking it a few days in advance. It was a quiet night with a few other couples seemingly whispering and laughing over dinner in this casual, yet elegant white tablecloth contemporary setting. As we approached our table, the array of stemware on our table (lined up to pair a different wine with each course)told me that this is a place for connoisseurs with refined palates. And I knew I had made the right decision for our special occasion dinner. Because the restaurant wasn’t too busy, I had a chance to talk with the owners. Jeremy is the chef and his wife Paulina runs the front of the house. You might expect in such an foodie’s aficionados restaurant that there might be an air of ego and snobbery, but these two are the exact opposite— Humble, down to earth, friendly, genuine people, doing their craft, following their passion sometimes to the point where it may not even make business sense. I could feel that the greater motivation is for the art and the craft of creating something beautiful, unique, and an experience that will leave an imprint upon your senses. What makes Nylos so different from other restaurants, is a quality that will linger with you long after, a quality you don’t often experience in restaurants anymore. And that is, you feel the humanness, the consciousness and the care in every aspect of what they do. It’s not a slick, fast-moving militant-like trained staff kind of restaurant, instead, it’s the kind of mom and pop place with an old world devotion of yesteryear, with today’s farm to table chef-driven exquisite foodie experience. All that in Maui, Hawaii, a rarity for sure. Make a reservation if this kind of experience speaks to you. You’ll be glad you did....

I hate to write negative reviews for a family owned restaurants, but I thought it’s important to give constructive feedback for growth of the business.

My husband and I love tasting menus & course meals, and we were really excited to try this place as it seemed unique. I am not sure if we came on an off night in terms of menu items and selections, but we were quite disappointed with the food especially since we paid almost $900 for two of us.

While the ingredients used were high quality and good selection, the combination of flavors didn’t make sense at all.

For instance, one of the first course meal came with small sampler of snowcrab, bluefin toro, tobiko etc but it included a side of chili water shot which was extremely spicy and extremely potent and overpowered the rest of the items on the dish and didn’t make the dish enjoyable.

Another instance was the foie gras topped with Ikura and served with picked cucumber. I love foie gras and I love picked cucumber, but I hated this dish. The ikura made the foie gras taste super fishy and the pickled cucumber tasted like straight up super potent vinegar, again the super potent pickled cucumber overpowered the balance of the dish tasting extremely sour.

The dessert was the final dish where the flavor was too strong that it threw the dish out of balance. I love sour flavor in general and I actually did enjoy the dessert because it was really really really sour. But for the average person like my husband, the flavoring was too strong and out of balance.

While the ribeye was good , it was unnecessary to pair it with tuna belly, which makes it a confusing flavor combination. The cherry tomato, corn and green bean were also not cohesive together, not to mention the green bean was uncooked. Also at $300 course meal, I’d expect attention to detail, but they forgot to include the cherry tomato for my husband’s dish.

Out of all the courses, we enjoyed the sparkling wine, shrimp risotto and the focaccia with homemade garlic butter.

The overall experience took 3.5 hours which is too long in my opinion for 6 course meal (seems reasonable for 8 course), but I understand it was only the husband cooking hence why it took so long.

Overall rating: -Quality of Ingredients: 10/10 -Taste, Balance and Cohesiveness: 2/10 -Creativity: 6/10 -Service: 10/10 -Ambience: 9/10

Overall, I’d say this establishment did not meet expectations at all and it was the worse the course dinner I’ve had at this price point for the lack of cohesiveness and the lack of balance of the ingredients...