Ama Ama Restaurant — Restaurant in Oʻahu

It was my traveling partners 21st birthday. And we wanted to celebrate at AMA ama. So she ordered a cocktail and a waitress asked for her ID and once the righteous figured it out, she went on with taking our order. After a few a while, my drink came out, but hers did not. Instead, we have a visit from the Manager who apologized for the fact that there was a discrepancy in her ID that she was not able to fulfill my traveling partners request for a drink. now you have to understand in California they offer two sets of IDs one for minor and one for adult minors is profile versus an adult is landscape. I asked if that was what she was alluding to, and she made some reference to some manuals that she has from the Hawaii state board of alcohol license and because of that she couldn’t fulfill and I told her that if you looked at the birthdate birth year you could compute that my traveling partner is now over 21 and she go order a cocktail. The manager still stated that there was a “discrepancy“ so she couldn’t commit. That I asked her to take my drink away as well since I didn’t want to just have the cocktail by myself and she said OK and took my drink away after we had our first course I asked to see her the manager again, she came out and again I asked her what was the discrepancy and without so many words basically she was saying that the profile and the landscape was an issue? And I told her that is not required in California that once you hit majority age or just catch 21. You need to go get a new landscaped drivers license, as long as the permit to drive has not been expired. I was actually puzzled due to the fact that a lot of people from California must go there since Hawaii is just a one flight over. I asked Manager is there a way that she’s validate the ID such as a booklet that shows all the 50 state IDs and the water markings that they could see and she said that they do not utilize the fact that she contacted other managers within Ama ama to validate the ID. That made me more confused. Then the second course came, and he actually had the wrong food brought over to our table. Talk about adding insult to injury. You would think that since we had an issue with the drinks that they would be more careful as to what they bring to my table. then as a final blow when they brought the tab over the two drinks were still on the bill and I had to bring it to their attention that they need to take those off since one we couldn’t get my partner drink and two with the managers Approval, I sent my drink back. Subsequent did correct it but again you were thought that they were done some double checking. All in all the experience was very well spoiled by the managers decision. I feel that that whole staff including the managers need to be retrained as to offering excellent customer experience. again I would state that if anyone celebrating the birthday and you’re on that defense as far as minor to adult don’t go there because you’ll be declined from capping off...

My mom and I stopped by for last birthday dinner in Hawaii. The staff manning the receiption booth were friendly, professional and actually gave us a nice center view of the ocean. The waiter and waitstaff were great top up until the entree was served. Important details such as requests for hot water refill on the tea and unbussed empty dishes made the dinner frustrating considering we orderd over $360 worth of food. We also noticed other tables that weren't Asian were being serviced better than us. Initially, my mom and I thought it was because we weren't actual Disney hotel guests yet the two Japanese families next to us were given similar treatment.

In fact, when it came time for the Japanese couple next to us to pay, the female blonde waitstaff assumed they were not Disney hotel guests by asking if they were going to pay by Apple Pay when they were referring to charging to the room. To top it all off, when the desserts came, I was only given my prefix dessert instead of the Mickey Mouse birthday dessert with a candle. My mom and I are from Los Angeles where no matter which part of the Disney restaurants we go to, whether inside or outside in Downtown Disney, on special occasions we are given a complimentary Mickey Mouse dessert.

Mind you I would have been okay if they turned the prefixed dessert into a birthday kind but all they did was put a "Congratulations" chocolate on it without even a candle and some whip cream in the shape of Mickey's ears. When we asked the server about it, he only went to get a candle, stuck it in the prefix dessert flan, lit it and walked away. No Happy Birthday song or offer to take a picture of me with it. Instead, my mom and I had to awkwardly pretend we were okay with what the server did and did our own little Happy Birthday chant. When it came time to the check, we did see the familiar receipt line saying they recognized my Birthday and supposedly gave me my complimentary Mickey Mouse birthday dessert. When we asked the waiter about this, he claimed it was just a thing they added to recognize they gave me "compliments" for my birthday and giving me the token free Disney birthday pin.

Towards the end, the manager did come by and ensure my mom and I eventually got one of our repeated orders which was the tea refill and a pitcher of coffee. I wish we had mentioned to her our dissatisfaction with the waitstaff but my mom and I kept it to ourselves in hopes our waiter would come through at the end.

Overall, the host staff and the manager were the only best parts of our Birthday dinner experience. For over $360 worth (plus tip comes out to $425) at Disney, my mom and I certainly did not get the Disney experience we usually get at all other Disney parks...

Parking/Valet: We chose to do valet for this visit because we were unfamiliar with the area and we knew our bill would be more than the $50 required to park valet. The valets were very polite and quick to park and retrieve our vehicle. Our wait was no more than 5 mins for vehicle return.

Location: GPS will take you to the back of the hotel by the docks, take the right turn right where the Aulani sign is and park your vehicle or use the valet. Once you are in the hotel, turn left in the lobby, make your way down the stairs, go out the double doors on your left, and take the left pathway all the way down to Ama'ama. There will be signs to mark where you are and where you're going. Our reservation was at 8 p.m. and we werent' familiar with the area, so it was a little confusing to get to the restaurant.

Check-in: We made reservations a week in advance. The restaurant calls you a few days before to confirm reservations, and then a 20 mins or so before check in to ensure that you are on your way if you haven't arrived or checked in before then. When we arrived, we checked in, the hostesses were kind enough to take our family photo in front of their beautiful signs and then showed us to our table.

Atmosphere: It is very serene and calm. The view of the ocean while you are seated is very beautiful. There is music playing faintly in the background and conversations that are happening around you, but not so loud that you lose track of your own conversations.

Food/Price/Service: We were seated promptly so that was a plus. We informed the restaurant that we had our toddler with us, so they were very kind, receptive and friendly towards our toddler. They spoke to her when she pointed things out she was excited about. Our waiter, Scott made the whole evening enjoyable. He brought our toddler her juice, packed her food when she didn't finish it, spoke to her kindly, and he even did a makeshift 'bed' for her when she got tired and was trying to lie down. Really really appreciated our waiter Scott for that. The food was amazing! It is a 4 course meal at $130 per person and $57 for 3 years old and up. They explain all the courses as they bring them to the table. Scott brought my spouse a few lagers to try out and we really appreciated that as well. The food was delicious! But the desserts were amazing! Definitely worth the price! We left full & we happy. We would definitely come back here for another special occasion. We were here for my spouses birthday and he was very impressed and we both loved our experience here. Would definitely come back because of the amazing food, and great service....