Pulehu, An Italian Grill — Restaurant in Maui

The restaurant had it's highs and lows. It strives to be an elegant Italian restaurant, but it looks like every other modern restaurant you've been in in the last 5 years.

The bartender makes fantastic mixed drinks. Truly. I used to be a professional bartender, and their mojito and White Russian were some of the best I've had.

Due to my wife's seafood allergy we were pretty limited as to the dishes she could try, but our waitress was very helpful and communicated this with the kitchen, who suggested avoiding the arancini due to possible fryer cross-contamination with their coconut shrimp. Thumbs up!

The wine selection is good, with amusingly-named categories and something from most corners of the world.

We shared the charcuterie board ($25), which was fantastic. The lineup changes regularly, but he honey-drizzled Roquefort and sheeps milk cheeses were heavenly.

We split an arugula salad which was fine, but uninspired.

My wife got the house special lasagna ($30), which was also fine but underwhelming. I'll admit to being a bit of a foodie, but some additional garlic and salt would go a long way. I'm sad to say I've had a number of better lasagnas.

I ordered the boneless ribeye steak ($46) which comes with roasted potatoes and a small caprese salad. The burrata and tomatoes were good, but completely unseasoned. The potatoes were roasted well, but unseasoned. Ok, surely they got the steak right, right?

My medium-rare steak was definitely rare (which doesn't bother me enough to send it back) but he day wasn't rendered, the steak was not seasoned whatsoever. No salt. No pepper, no herbs, flavor, or sauce. Just a piece of meat that kissed the grill. It's a shame too, because it was an EXCELLENT cut of meat, very tender. I mentioned the lack of seasoning to our server, who brought us the staff salt and pepper grinders, since there were no salt and pepper shakers on the table.

After a minute or two of grinding, I managed to get enough salt on my steak to give it some flavor, but I was still bummed. A good chef can make a cheap cut of meat taste great, but a bad one can take the best ribeye on Earth and ruin it.

I've cooked a lot of steaks, and a lot of different cuts, but love has to always be the first ingredient. The lack of care from the kitchen showed, I see no compelling...

We recently had our wedding reception dinner by the coy pond, and I can honestly say it was magical. Firstly, I would like to recognize Brandon Maeda The Director of Food and Beverage for the Westin Kaanapali. He was outstanding. He made sure that everything was taken care of from start to finish. Very professional and always followed up with us to make sure that everything we discussed was what we had planned. He was there on the evening to make sure we were all taken care of. The food was amazing. The servers were outstanding as well. All our guests commented that it was their best meal while in Maui. We had family style dinner. Unlimited Caesar salad and Arugula salad to start followed by lasagna and prime sirloin with fresh island asparagus and Gorgonzola mashed potatoes. Dessert was outstanding yummy budinos. Again the food was so delicious. My husband and I went back on our last night alone to enjoy another meal. We also want to send a huge shout out to the musicians that Brandon organized for us Eddie Tanaka and Jack Stone. You guys rock !!!!We had asked him about hiring someone to play for an hour at the dinner. Again he went above and beyond to find someone to accommodate our request. Thank you Thank you Thank you. We are home now and already miss Maui. We will be back again. Rosemary...

Just finished with dinner moments ago, after having gone two nights ago. What a different experience!

The night before last, it could not have been better. Upscale, great food, awesome atmosphere, and terrific wait staff. Easily 5 stars, no question. Tonight, however, I'm hard-pressed to give Pulehu even 2 stars. Somewhere between 3 and 4 lies the average, depending on your roll of the dice.

Tonight I ordered the 109 pizza, which should be fairly trivial, and according to the menu has spicy coppa with Calabrian chile. The spicy coppa was not to be as they apparently ran out and decided to go with straight-up ham but didn't mention it. The Calabrian chile was apparently a drizzle rather than actual peppers, and it was non-existent. This is supposed to be a spicy and intriguing pizza, not a ham and cheese sandwich. You can get a DiGiorno's from the market in the lobby that is significantly better.

The only reason it gets 4 stars overall from me is because of the Somme, Lauren, who is just completely top shelf. Incredibly knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly, she carries the place!

I hope your roll of the dice lands you on a high note. Good luck - best to go with low expectations, at least the wine...