Alaia — Restaurant in Oʻahu

My wife and I are staying at the Turtle Bay on our honeymoon and decided to check out Alaia for our first honeymoon dinner. Without looking up reviews beforehand, we were uncertain of what to expect.

We quickly knew we were in great hands after being greeted by the staff. Our server Conor brought great pleasantries with him as he introduced himself and walked us through the menu. He was extremely kind and informative, which made the dinner that much easier and enjoyable, especially after coming off of a 12+ hour trek from New Jersey. He was just as excited to be a part in making our first honey moon dinner special as we were to be there!

The courses were precedented with some soft bread and delicious (albeit slightly salty) butter which paired well with the signature cocktail, “Don’t Touch the Turtles” (an exquisite combination of Elyx Vodka, Lilikoi, Cane Sugar, and Mint presented in a stylish and epic copper turtle “cup”). The other cocktails were also delicious, as when we came back later in the week I tried the “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” which was equally as tasteful. My wife had Prosecco (boring!), we’re not wine connoisseurs but had wine while touring vineyards in Tuscany, so it was good enough for us.

Having dined at Alaia twice for dinner (and gratefully having Conor as our server each time) we were able to try various dishes.

We started with the Hawaiian Ahi Poke and Kuilima Salanova. As a Poke Newbie there were no real expectations so obviously they were far exceeded after trying. The dish is served with fresh avocado which compliments it incredibly. The Kuilima Salanova had perfect proportions. My one issue with most salads is that they typically end up either too dry or over dressed, luckily that was not an issue here.

Finally our main courses roll around and my wife (both times) ordered the Aliʻi Mushroom Tagliatelle with prawns added. Now I don’t care for mushrooms or truffle oil, so my opinion on the dish isn’t worth much. But as an Italian, I know that the Tagliatelle was cooked to (my idea of) perfection. Even more importantly, my wife (who is highly critical of her food) cleaned her plate!

As for myself, I’ve ordered the catch of the day, Mahi Mahi, which was perfect for me as I prefer a “not fishy” fish. I’d say it was fine, again I’m not a food critic. For the second time around I had the Bone-in Pork Chop which was cooked well and came off the bone without much of a fight. Maybe it was a teeny tiny bit dry? Good flavor and paired well with a side of rice.

As we head into our final course, Conor highly recommended the Mile High Turtle Bay Pie. I can’t find the description online but it was a cheesecake with Caramel, pecans, an Oreo cookie type crust and maybe some other delicious sweet topping. Now I don’t really care for cheesecake at all usually, but this was awesome. Big enough to share between two people. A little secret just between my wife and I (and everyone reading this), we ate this on 3 separate occasions.. yes, do the math.. we had dinner twice but Turtle Bay Pie 3 times? We came back one night just for dessert, sue us! But it was too good to resist.

Enough about the food, I’m not a food critic. But I’m a vibe, good times, and one hell of a judge of character. What you never know to expect when dining in a restaurant is the service you’ll get. It simply cannot be stated enough how great Conor is at providing care for his guests. The second time we came no server came to our table for at least 15 minutes… super odd, clearly just some communication issue going on. This was quickly cleared up when our assistant server who was helping with the dishes and beverages came by and asked if we’d been served yet. We were then assigned Conor (I think we were supposed to have a different server before the mixup), and everything ended up great. We’re easy going so no issue, but I could see how someone could get annoyed.

All in, good service, good food, good vibes. Conor is top tier and should be acknowledged. Karma or luck but each dinner was superb...

We attended dinner here on Thanksgiving and had a very bad experience. We got there at like 5:30 so it wasn’t too busy yet when we got there.

To start, they dropped off only a small leaflet for a menu that had a 5 course pre-fix so we ordered off that thinking that was all they were doing for Thanksgiving. We could’ve asked for a regular menu, but thought this would also be quicker and easier. They never explained it and the waiter clearly hadn’t read it before.

Next we ordered drinks. We ordered two “dad’s day off”. One came out purple and one came out yellow. The waiter noticed and says one must have had the blackberries muddled and they other didn’t. Additional, we had ordered one of the non-alcoholic drinks, but they brought the wrong one.

Our first course was soup. We waited an hour and it still hadn’t come. We asked about it and they said the kitchen was backed up and brought us some bread. Another 30 minutes later, we hadn’t gotten soup still and one of the four in our party decided to call it and went to bed. The waiter came and asked if “she wasn’t feeling well” and we said “no she just gave up on waiting.” They comped her meal.

Our soup came after about 1.5 hours. About 20 minutes after we finished, they brought out a tuna app for us to comp us for waiting because the salads still weren’t ready. After another 15-20 minutes our salads came.

While we were eating our salads, they brought our 2 of the 4 side dishes we had ordered (sweet potatoes with marshmallows). We hadn’t gotten our mains yet.

We finished the salads and our mains came about 15 minutes later. Almost immediately (like as soon as we STARTED eating our mains), they brought out dessert and started putting it on the table. We had to ask them if they could bring the desserts back after the mains. At this point, we still hadn’t gotten the other 2 sides we had ordered and the first 2 sides had been on the table for 20 minutes before the mains.

The waiter came apologize and we asked if they could just pack up anything they hadn’t given us yet because we were ready to go. The waiter gave us a discount, but this meal still cost $350 after the discount at a $1000 / night hotel so we expected much better. Overall, it was very dysfunctional, bad experience at a relatively high price point even after...

You're definitely going to pay a premium for this place but the food is really lovely and I have no major complaints aside from pricing. The view is insanely gorgeous, staff is attentive enough but could probably stand to be a little more attentive (not rude, if anything they just sort of chill and ignore you). You may like or dislike that.

Sustainability is a huge focus here and it shows. The menu shifts with seasons and offers incredible meat, seafood, vegetables, and some really odd inventive drinks. The 6 pound copper turtle full of alcohol is a big hit at dinner time. I find this... pretty gimmicky, but it's no doubt people seem to be enjoying it!

Every dish we had was really well prepared and showed great care in execution, without being slow to appear. Brunch/breakfast are also expensive but delightfully tasty and executed well enough for satisfaction. There are some very small missteps with a few minor or component items, but not enough to shake off 5 stars. People chow down so hard at brunch it can be hard to sneak in and get all the food you want before it disappears. Pastries are soft and flaky, eggs are nothing to write home about. Ignore the loco moco, it's mediocre. Fruit is super fresh and delicious, local where possible.

This is the spot to dine at Turtle Bay along with Beach House....