Mahi ‘ai Table — Restaurant in Oʻahu

Lilikoi Lava Cake is LIFE🌋🍰

Apart from waiting almost an hour for our food, everything was great. I went with my family and as soon as I came in with reservations, you’re invited with amazing live music and a crowded room full of happy faces. Two of my family members did come hungry so they weren’t too happy about the wait. However our waitress, Shelby, was such a pleasure and super pleasant with us considering it was our first time and that half of us were hungry. Shelby gave us suggestions and would even check us in on what was going on in the kitchen. Three of us had the hibiscus lemonade and I had the lychee lemonade. VERY refreshing! Shelby had recommended the Pineapple IPA local beer for one of us…”it was delish”, lol!

THE FOOD! For our Pupu orders we got:

1. Fresh shucked oysters: I’ve never ate oysters before, but I thought they were pretty refreshing. I loved the lemon slice that came on top of them. Only comes with three though, but luckily one of us didn’t want any, lol.
2. Sticky ribs: ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! The ribs literally slide off the bone so smoothly!!! It was almost like sweet, smokey glaze just sitting on my tongue. Two of us had them and we loved them!!! 3)Hand- cut fries: All of us were eternally fighting to finish these up!! Pretty great bowl for a party of four. Loved the white sauce that it came with!!
3. Ali’i Mushrooms Pizza: Two people in my party tore up the slices. The sizing is like a personal pan pizza. Light, airy and cheesy.

Plate orders:

1. Small Kine Farm Mushrooms Sando: A great veggie burger but still with no patty. Just straight, thick portobello mushrooms with an amazing sauce that brought the burger to life. My company that got this wished it just came with another sauce (they don’t like ketchup, lol)
2. Spicy Garlic Noodle: Totally didn’t expect this to taste soooo good! After reading the menu, I assumed it would be a delicious bowl of soba noodles, but instead I got a cool modern bowl of thick Okinawan soba noodles with no base, beautiful, colorful spices, with the perfect cooked golden yellow yolk egg and lemon slice on the side. AMAZING!! 10/10
3. Mahi’ai Cobb Salad: 10/10! Salmon was amazing. The greens were refreshing and exactly what my party was looking for.

Because our wait was long, the manager Bob came by and apologized repeatedly explaining the current graduation season and not expecting the restaurant to be so packed. To further show his apologies, he gave us two free desserts to try!! Super kind of him!! He even gave us a little background of what Mahi’ ai means (farm) and that because ALL ingredients are locally grown/made, it takes a while to make.

Lastly the desserts:

1. Rocky Road Pie: I thought it was a good s’mores pie! Very crunchy, the ice cream that was in top was so savory. Surprisingly it wasn’t too overpowering with chocolate and small enough to fulfill the end of the meal
2. ✨Lilikoi Lava Cake✨: Probably the best thing in the menu! I mean it was giving warmth, lava insides, puff, sweet!!! SHE WAS GIVING EVERYTHING THAT IT NEEDED TO GIVE! So good can’t even explain, gotta go and try! This was also recommend by Shelby!!...

The food and prices were decent. My favorite menu item that we ordered was the fish and chips. The server said it was Marlin today so I assume they use whatever is fresh. The batter was crunchy and the fish was tender and juicy. The mushroom pizza was tasty and had a truffle oil taste to it. The veggies were crunchy and the cheese was delicious. The pizza size is pretty small and you can probably eat it as an appetizer. It’s shareable if both people are not too hungry. The Cobb salad was delicious as well. My favorite part of the salad was the furikake salmon. It rested on a bed of shredded raw Brussels sprouts which was an interesting touch. It made a bite of the salad a little chewy because of the fibrous Brussels sprouts. Overall we enjoyed the taste of each item we ordered.

A lot of the reviews you read tout the great service and friendly staff. While the staff was indeed friendly, our service was slow. There was only one other couple in the restaurant so it was not busy at all. The server gave us our menus and then proceeded to talk story with another waiter for 10 min before coming back to us. After we ordered our drinks and food, the server went to another coworker and talked story for another 10 min before getting our drinks. We didn’t get our drinks until another server asked how we were doing. By that time we had been in the restaurant for 20 min with no waters or drinks. By the time our drinks finally came, all of our food came out right after. It’s funny because I always notice that when restaurants are not busy the service is always slower. Anyway, other than that I would recommend trying this place if you want something fresh...

My previous update is after this. This is my current visit. Congratulations on a fantastic job. The staff is super nice. Food is really excellent. Thank you for the changes and stepping up in service! Previous post:So better than my last visit. Hostess was a lot nicer. Last time I couldn't even sit at the bar to wait for my friends. I found that quite offensive. Especially since it was a really hot day and I just wanted to drink an iced tea in a cool place. However, I was told that because the people I was meeting weren't there I couldn't come in and I had to wait outside. Something else was said about another incident (that had nothing to do with me) that they wouldn't allow people in until the people I was meeting were there. She was nice enough to get me a cup of iced water to go. The young man who was also there to greet customers directed me to a place outside that had overhead fans and chairs. Still I found it quite off putting that because of others bad behaviors I was subjected to sitting outside. Needless to say that I no longer want to meet anyone at this restaurant. If I do go it's because I can go in for myself and not meet anyone. It's quite disappointing when I thought this would be a nice place to meet up with friends and family. I'm sure they had their reasons and I can respect that. It just is something that turns me off. They do have nice staff and the food is good and I do recommend the breakfast menu. Quite delicious. On a positive note I did leave an appreciation tip for the cold water I was given. I don't want the girl to think that I didn't appreciate the gesture. I'm sure this place will...