Makahiki — Restaurant in Oʻahu

MAKAHIKI PRO TIPS: Aloha! It's time for a return trip for dinner. We originally visited this restaurant 10 years ago -- pre CV19 era, back when their buffet was offered & Aulani Resort first opened. Today Makahiki, they offer character breakfast dining at $45/person OR 3 course dinner choices known as "Prix Fixe" at $68/person. Non resort guests can reserve dinner but days of the week to reserve may be limited. IMPORTANT: you must pay to park here but they do validate for 2.5hours. that's the perfect amount of time to eat (1.3hours) then walk around the grounds, SHOP at the Boutique, or visit the lagoon beach. DONT WANT TO PAY TO PARK:: there is a free parking lot next to marriot vacation club, near their lagoon then just walk the 8-10mins to Aulani Resort. NOTE: The service and quality have improved GREATLY over a decade+ at MAKAHIKI. It's now very polished compared to 10 years ago. Wait staff is faster, more attentive, responsive, more knowledgeable on the menu... yet for some guests ...their expectations may be very high when you see the dinner price of $68/person and how modern dining has changed... The menu is super restrictive for just 3 course options. Therefore WHEN you read other reviews, you will read the good & bad based on people's tastes, palettes, and preference (vegan, vegetarian, meat lovers, etc.) The meal options for kids give you a nice depth of choices with fruit offered, veggie options or dive right into a $28+/small child's pizza!!!! The corn soup was so smooth and flavors were blended to perfection. The taste and flavorings of the main dinner entree options are all over the place with some tastes being PERFECT (THE steak) HOWEVER other options were overly salted, intense garlic flavor, not enough pepper or in our case the steak sauce options did not impress our palettes. The salad options may be a miss for you with few vegan or vegetarian options (depending on your definition). Deserts for kids and adults are on the flavor elevator to a suite of AMAZING TASTES- so overall it's a great spot to celebrate BUT we may return in another 10 years to see if other changes have occurred. thank you to our wait staff for helping us celebrate our sons birthday .. Disney staff made it super special....

My wife and I ate here during our honeymoon stay at Aulani for both a 3-course dinner and the Character Breakfast. Both times were amazing! Post-covid, it is no longer a buffet style dining but you will not leave hungry! The portions were plentiful and the food was delicious for both occasions.

Character Breakfast: Food first.... We started each with the fresh juice, kona coffee, malasadas, and parfait. The parfait was really good! The malasadas were a little bit of a miss. While they were good, they were not as good as a fresh Leonard's malasada. They tasted more like a traditional american yeast sugar doughnut, which is still tasty. We then shared the Kalua Pig omelet and the Sweet bread french toast. Both were delicious and very much enjoyed! Now for the characters... We were greeted first with a photo op with Mickey and the pictures came out great! It was $35 for the digital package, which we didn't hesitate to get. The nice thing is that they had a cast member there to take pictures with your phone and those came out great to, so the purchase was not a requirement. We then also got to meet Minnie on the way to our table, and at the table we met Chip, Dale, and Aunty. Each allow a photo op with your phones. High recommend this experience even if you aren't staying at the resort.

Dinner: The 3-course meal was more food then we could eat, and very tasty! We shared everything; Roasted tomato soup, wedge salad, chicken & mushroom pasta (sub fettucine instead of spaghetti), 8oz filter mignon, kona coffee cheesecake, and pineapple cobbler. All amazing, all highly recommended.

How does this compare to Ama Ama's 4 course dinner? Well, try not to compare as they are very different experiences. Ama Ama is a fine dining experience. Yes you are paying twice as much and yes you are getting smaller portions, but the ingredients used at Ama Ama are more premium/higher quality ingredients along with a higher level of plating and amazing views of the sunset over the ocean. Do both of the dining options, or do the one that fits the vibe you are looking for. You can't go wrong...

D I S N E Y A U L A N I - M A K A H I K I

The Character Breakfast is always a reservation we book, (set your calendar reminder for a month out). This year our boys were 9 & 10, and last time they were 4 & 5. Our boys have severe food allergies which is why we make this a regular breakfast on our vacations; we feel safe ordering food for the kids here.

🤩 The staff live up to ever customer service expectation you can think of. Willing to help, pleasant to talk to, smiling and welcoming. Most importantly, we cannot thank Disney enough for the training the staff have when it comes to food allergies. The allergies are capture at the host stand, with our server and in our first visit the chef came to our table to talk to us! The character breakfast is always a plus however, my 10 yr old wasn’t having it. My youngest still wanted the autographs and photos and it really made his day. Our server was so kind and we have no complaints.

🥞🍍 The food is amazing. First for the kids with food allergies- there were gluten free brownies that were substituted for the basket of muffins and pastries. The boys both used to be able to get the waffles, but this visit only one child (allergies: egg & tree nut) could have them. My other son was able to have steamed rice, bacon and ham which he reported was delicious! Both boys received different fruit bowls based on their allergies as well. For the adults, the breakfast was really good. The Punaluu sweet bread French toast was amazing, but I heard amazing reports about the Loco Moco. My wife got the waffles but preferred my French toast.

🥃 it was 5 o’clock somewhere but we stuck with orange juice and coffee, which was good.

Overall, the experience has always been amazing. The characters interacted with everyone, the food was great and our kids could eat without worrying about cross contamination. Thank you Disney, please continue to serve families this way!

My only recommendation to Makahiki is to go back to using the rice flour you had on our first trip so both boys could have the waffles 🙏🏽

✅ if this was helpful, please 👍🏼, and...