Taverna — Restaurant in Maui

Taverna Review - August 2024

I would not recommend this place. While it has some positives, the overall experience was deeply disappointing.

Positives: Location: Taverna is situated in a cool spot up in Kapalua, offering great views. Ambiance: The restaurant is set up nicely with a good vibe. It wasn’t too loud, and it wasn’t overly busy—something I now understand all too well.

The Experience: We had a reservation and were seated immediately (party of six). However, it took about 10 minutes before our waiter appeared. He poured a couple of glasses of water and rattled off the specials but didn’t bother to ask if we wanted drinks. After another 15 minutes, he finally came back to take our drink orders. We ordered basic drinks, including an old-fashioned, which was served in a half-filled glass and was disappointing, especially given the price.

After waiting another 15-20 minutes, we finally flagged the waiter down to place our food order: two lasagnas, two pizzas, and two pasta dishes. The food arrived relatively quickly, but not from our waiter—another server dropped the dishes on the table without even attempting to give them to the right people.

The Food: Pizzas: We ordered the carnivore pizzas, which were supposed to be loaded with meat. What we got were pizzas with maybe three pieces of pepperoni, a couple of small sausage slices, and barely any cheese. They were thin, overcooked, and frankly, I’ve had better pizzas from Domino’s. Lasagna: The lasagna was atrocious. It was served in a shallow dish, essentially a pile of beef with some cheese and tomato sauce, with very little pasta involved. I’ve had better lasagna at Olive Garden. Pasta: The pasta dishes were tiny, especially given the price. The spaghetti was bland and uninspiring.

Service: To top it all off, the service was woeful. Despite being okay with a gratuity added for large parties, I was surprised to see a 22% tip included—much higher than the standard 18%. After paying the bill, the waiter pushed for an additional tip, offering options of 3%, 5%, or 8% on top of the already high gratuity. When I declined, he stormed off in a huff, further souring the experience.

Bottom Line: Save your money and time. This place is all ambiance and no substance. You’d have a far better experience at Olive Garden or even a local food truck....

Food was incredible. Customer service and policies need TREMENDOUS improvement.

1. On Sunday, we stopped by to make a reservation for Monday, only to learn they charge a $25/PER PERSON cancellation fee, if you cancel within 24 hours. (Not a fee for a no show, but a fee for even cancelling!)
2. Same person said Monday at 5pm looked very open and should be no problem for seating.
3. Showed up on Monday at 5:02; husband was told no problem - a seat by the window is fine.
4. Turns out they are booked until 7:30 unless we'd like to have full meal service at the bar. I ask if we can sit at a high top in the bar and I'm told they are short staffed and won't be seating those hightops tonight. (2 high tops were seated and filled while we sat at the bar...)
5. The couple behind us that also didn't have a reservation, was seated at a table.
6. We order an appetizer and 2 meals.
7. Appetizer is served (took about 10 minutes to get it) and 1 minute later, my meal was served. No "sorry this is back to back", "can I keep your dinner warm until you have finished", nothing - just 2 plates in front of me = both hot.
8. I eat and am ready for a "to go" box, and husband is still waiting for meal. He finally flags the bartender - who hadn't even noticed only one of us was eating, and realized he hadn't ordered my husband's meal. A muttered apology and halfhearted offer of a drink but didn't mention it would be comped - just "do you want a drink"?
9. Once we received the bill, there was a SPLIT CHARGE for the appetizer. Who splits appetizers? Aren't they usually in the center of the table and folks share them? I have never had an appetizer split (ours was served on 2 plates - so they clearly have done this before). But the server should have said "there will be an up charge if we split the appetizer on 2 plates" - which we didn't even want to do, so a moot point. They removed the split charge.
10. Upon further examination of the bill, my dinner was charged $3 more than written on the menu. When I brought it to management's attention (server was nowhere to be found), they said "you are correct". New POS system and still working out the bugs. Any one or two of these things, would have been ok. All of them just highlight poor service and/or training. But again, the food was...

My husband and I dined here August 10th. We made our reservations in April I believe. We were really excited to get some italian in Maui. The restaurant is beautiful and the hostess were very kind and communicative. However, our waitress could use some re-training.

It took about 15 minutes for her to greet us, which isn’t the end of the world since everywhere is short staffed. I went to order the secret garden mock tail. My husband and I drank a little too much at the pool that day so we felt it wise to skip alcohol at dinner. I inquired if the secret garden was hot or iced.

She replied “iced” and I said “great! I’ll take it!” Her response? “You know it doesn’t have alcohol in it right?” I replied “Erm, yes?” (It was listed under mocktails and I pointed at it? Pretty certain I can infer mock tail under cocktails means no alcohol lol!)

My husband ordered a sprite. Well, after that we were third class citizens. She never checked on us. Only came to take our order and bring our check (after making eye contact about half a dozen times and waiting close to 20 minutes between the end of our meal and getting the check). I watched her flit between the three tables around me, retrieving bottles of wine, pouring a taste and then serving the table before placing the bottle in the holder by the table. It never dawned on me how ignored and poorly treated those who don’t drink are.

She also sold us the bread and olives without telling us it was an appetizer. She asked if we wanted it like it was complimentary bread as she turned away from the table. Was surprised to see a $9 charge….

The whole experience left a sour taste in my mouth. Two appetizers, two higher priced entrees, a soda and an $8 mock tail wasn’t a ‘cheap’ bill. She also missed a prime opportunity to upset us a dessert. I can’t possibly wrap my head around her treatment of us. She has dark hair, probably late 30s, early 40s. Anyways, she needs some training.

If you don’t get her as a waitress then you’ll probably have a lovely experience as the food and mock...