Category Archives: Wailea

Monkeypod Kitchen (Wailea)

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Let me start by saying that I am really not the target audience for a restaurant like Monkeypod. I’m not a big drinker, I don’t like super-loud places, and I don’t like to wait. No hate for anyone who disagrees with me, but just so you know where I’m coming from when I throw some shade on Monkeypod in Wailea.

This is a busy, bustling, loud affair of a restaurant, just up the hill from most of the Wailea hotels and resorts. It’s actually a nice walk if you’re staying down there.

Monkeypod has a big bar area with live music most nights, both indoor and outdoor seating and also bar seating, naturally. And if you want to eat there at any reasonable time, there’s also a wait. No reservations. If you like to hang out and wait with a drink, this is the right place. And the drinks might be the best part.

Monkeypod is justifiably famous for their Mai Tai. Besides the six or seven liquids in the drink (very strong) they top it with a lilikoi-honey foam. So, sure, a sweet drink with that pretty delectable passionfruit foam on top – what’s not to like? It really is tasty. And alcoholic. And probably caloric, but who knows. It’s a thing, and I agree it deserves recognition as a thing, so if you’re up there, just get one. Consider it a down-payment on dessert maybe.

Monkeypod Kitchen in Wailea’s Mai Tai with Lilikoi Honey Foam

OK – so here’s the bad news. It’s kinda downhill from the Mai Tai. So one option is, just get the Mai Tai! Short or no wait for the bar, great drink, and then bolt. I think that’s the right move. Just don’t drive after that! Walk. Or nap.

I don’t mean to say that the food here is bad, it’s just that it’s mediocre, and it’s expensive. I know, Wailea is expensive. But usually you get better food for you money. The pizzas are not well crafted. The salads aren’t really like a good healthy salad full of local veggies. The fish – and on Maui, how can the fish not be excellent? – is not excellent. Best bet is really the hamburger in my estimation.

I think you get the picture. Loud, raucous, food like from TGI Friday’s. And you get to wait and the overpay for the privilege. That is all.

Website: https://www.monkeypodkitchen.com/

Address:

10 Wailea Gateway Pl
Suite B-201
Kihei, HI 96753

+1 808 891-2322

Spoon and Key

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Spoon and Key is a newcomer to Wailea – it opened in 2024. And it’s a newcomer to my YCGW list!

Spoon and Key is a great breakfast and lunch option in Wailea – easily the best non-buffet option, and also probably better than most buffets. And two nights a week they serve a truly outstanding price-fixe dinner. They also serve a more casual dinner on Wednesdays that I haven’t yet tried. But I’ve had breakfast/lunch there twice and the set meal dinner there twice and I can affirmatively say that this place is truly fantastic! I highly recommend it.

Hamachi crudo
Tomato salad
Gnocchi with duck
Panna Cotta with dried Kula berries

Here’s the full menu from our most recent dinner there – the pictures above are some of the dishes that really stood out.

These dinners, available Friday and Saturday only, are made with primarily local Maui ingredients, and it shows in the freshness. I think the only major part of what we ate that wasn’t local was the scallops. We didn’t opt for the caviar or the steak, and we had more than enough food. Fresh, local, healthy, and scrumptious. Top that off with a nice atmosphere and very, very welcoming service that was educated but not over-the-top preachy. Pretty ideal evening.

I believe the breakfast and lunch menus are both served all day. There’s also an espresso machine, so any coffee drink you want pretty much is available. I’d still give a slight edge to the coffee at Akami in the same complex, but the coffee here was solid.

On the breakfast menu, I’m really taken by the Treehugger yogurt parfait for some reason.

But the best dish you can get here for lunch that I’ve had is easily the fish tacos. I know that’s a bold claim since they don’t seem like they’re in the wheelhouse given the rest of the menu, but the chef has really worked these carefully and with great results. The times I’ve had them, they’ve been made with seasoned and seared ahi – cooked pretty much all the way through. The fish is on a homemade flour and corn purple tortilla that alone is flaky and delicious. Then there is some pico de gallo and a little avocado and a flavorful crema, none of which are very spicy and all of which enhance each others flavors just a bit. Nothing is overwhelming – you can really taste each ingredient here. They thought this one through and tested, and these are just great.

Fish Tacos at Spoon and Key in Wailea

Finally, I’ll give a shout-out to the banh mi. I’ve eat a lot of banh mis in a lot of cities and I’ve definitely never seen one like this before. It was on two slices of sourdough bread instead of a baguette, and full mostly of ham. I’m not really the biggest fan of sliced ham, to be honest, so I was a little disconcerted when I pulled mine in half at the cut and saw all of that pink meat staring back at me. I was hoping for some more crispy pork belly, with maybe just one slice of ham standing in for pate. But then I took a bite and the bright mint and pickled veggies really took over and brought me back to banh mi land. I won’t say it was the best I’ve ever had, and I still think eliminating the ham and going all pork belly would be better, but this was really pretty good and I’d order it again.

I’m excited to have such a great restaurant in Wailea!

Spoon and Key

Address:
108 Wailea Ike Dr
Wailea, HI 96753

+1 808 879-2433

Website: Spoon and Key Market

Palauea Beach

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Palauea Beach is in that last little bit of Wailea on a stretch lined with $20M+ beachfront homes, just before the gorgeous coast line becomes Makena. How these lucky people managed to snag a piece of this amazing real estate, I don’t know, but the good news is, you can enjoy this quiet, beautiful beach also, and with really easy access.

You basically just park on Makena Road, either side, where you see the ubiquitous beach sign:

Then it’s a very short walk through a bit of woods, all on sand, onto the beautiful, hidden, and actually decently long beach. No fee for parking, but also no services at all.

This beach faces just a bit north of west, so your prime view is of Lanai. Very meditative.

If you want to just check out and kinda be alone, this is a great spot. Yes, you’ll see the .001%’s houses behind you, but they’re far enough back that they really aren’t in the way at all. The feeling is very much ‘peaceful co-existence’ here. Everything is airy and quiet and relaxed. No commerce. No noise. Just heaven.

Highly, highly recommended.

Lineage – Maybe the best food in Wailea

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Let me start by saying that I’m not really into hotel dining. Yes, I’ve had great meals at Morimoto (although that seems to be slipping) and yes, I enjoy a long meal with great wine and then a short slow walk back to a nice hotel room. But really, for the food itself, hotels just never really rank up there.

Lineage is right smack in the hotel zone of Wailea, just not in a hotel. It’s in the uber-fancy Shops at Wailea mall. But it’s not quite in the main mall – it’s just off to the north side abutting the Island Gourmet Markets, and upscale ABC store with the same ownership as Lineage – ABC Stores.

I think I’m making Lineage sound bad. It’s in Wailea. It’s in a mall. But not quite. And it’s owned by the parent company of ABC Stores. So even with all of that going against it, I’m going to tell you that Lineage is most definitely in my CGW (Can’t Go Wrong) club, which means that you can really truly order anything on the menu and you’ll be in at least very good shape, if not truly excellent shape.

The menu does change over time, but it was originally designed with Sheldon Simeon, a local Maui celebrity chef. And his touch is still evident in the food coming out of the kitchen.

I’d say highlights are the egg and croquette appetizers, and the fish of the day (generally offered steamed or fried – fried wins hands down, but steamed is still great), the mountain veggies over whatever crisp starched they’re serving, the fried chicken, and the noodles (usually two options – one with lobster and the other without). I will say that I kinda hate getting Maine lobster on Maui because Maine is more than 5,000 miles away and we’ve got everything you could want living in the water right here, but I get it. And it’s good.

Bottom line on the food though: get what looks good to you on the menu, and talk to your server about what they like. You will -not- be disappointed.

Further, their drink list is excellent, they usually have a fine and local beer selection, and their desserts are another surprise altogether.

Make reservations for this place pretty far ahead of time – it gets booked up weeks if not months in advance. And get a table outside. I don’t see any reason to sit inside here ever, frankly.

Lineage is heavenly.

Wailea Beach

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Yes, Wailea has a Wailea Beach. And yes, it’s a nice big beach – not huge, but sizable. But no, I don’t really recommend it. And here’s why: it’s effectively the beach for the Grand Wailea – the mega resort in the Hilton family that has almost 800 rooms.

So while it’s a nice beach, it’s just generally MUCH more crowded than other great beaches north and south of it.

On the other hand, if you like a crowded beach, this might be the place. You can rent equipment here, there are a coffee shop and plenty of restaurants open to the public right at the beach basically, and plenty more up in the enormous hotel complex.

But for my beach time, I generally avoid this beach. It’s just overrun.

A relatively quiet day at Wailea Beach

One note: the snorkeling here can be pretty decent if you swim north toward Turtle Cove. Much more info about that area on my Ulua Beach page.

And finally, there is a cute little extra beach here I call The Pocket. It’s at the sound end, just over a few steps of rocks, with just a bit of sand (conditions and tides permitting) and a scenic bridge behind it from the Wailea Beach Trail.

If you can get The Pocket alone, well, then maybe it’s worth visiting Wailea Beach.

Ulua Beach – It’s About the Snorkeling

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Ulua Beach from the south end

Ulua Beach is really one of those beaches that has almost everything – except waves. If you’re looking for boogie boarding, surfing, or body surfing, this usually won’t be the right beach.

What Ulua does have is nice sand, really, really fantastic snorkeling, plus parking and bathrooms and even a shower to rinse off the salt at the end of your visit.

The reef between Ulua and Mokapu Beaches, seen from the Ulua side

Let me tell you about the reef at the north end of the beach since that’s really what I think of when I think of this beach. The reef is fantastic for a few reasons. One is that it’s close to the parking lot, so you’ll see a lot of scuba divers here early in the morning on a good day. They like that they can drop off their equipment at the turn-around and then get right down to the water without having to carry everything too far.

Another feature that I love about this reef is that it’s relatively safe and easy to swim all of the way around it to Mokapu Beach. It’s a reef that basically sticks almost straight out from Maui, which means that you get two full sides to view. This is pretty important – often one side will be far better than the other either due to the clarity of the water (one side will be more sheltered from the current) and the angle of the sun will work differently when you are swimming on the north or south sides. So if one side doesn’t seem to have great visibility, soldier on! The other side could easily be better.

But enough about the geography – it’s the sea life! I almost always see multiple turtles here and probably half the time I see one or more eels. One day I saw two eels entwined together – fighting? Or making baby eels? They just kept winding around each other for at least 10 minutes. And then of course there is the whole panoply of Maui fish on display on the reef, and also just off the reef where you’ll see full schools of fish.

At the westernmost tip of the reef, a wall drops off. That’s where the scuba divers tend to congregate. But you can also free-dive down there for a few seconds to get some good views. Worth it.

And if you swim all the way around to the other end of the reef, you can walk back along the Wailea Beach Trail if you don’t want to swim back. Very, very short walk. And sometimes there’s enough sand to just walk back along the beach between the two under the shade trees.

Update! – I was recently back at Ulua beach to check out the rocky shoreline to the south end of the beach. And it was a great snorkeling success! A lot of kayakers and SUPers end up over here looking for turtles for good reason: there are lots of turtles. And of course you’ll see them much better when snorkeling. Further, there is a great and relatively undisturbed ecosystem down there full of fish and other wildlife too. And there are even two underwater arches for the adventures to free-dive through. I also feel like this is turning out to be a good octopus spotting area. I don’t know why, but I always feel like I won a prize when I find an octopus hiding in the depths, and I’ve had great luck here watching a brown blog slyly expose that magnificent eye and give me a wink.

I should note that there’s basically no easy way to get out of the water here other than swimming back to Ulua beach or continuing on to the beach at the Grand Wailea. It’s a rocky shoreline. So if there’s a current going south, just be careful to turn around at the appropriate time. Yes, worst case, you could swim down to Wailea Beach at the Grand Wailea and walk back along the beach path, but just keep within your swimming abilities here, especially if there’s a current. Maybe set your watch timer for 15 minutes, and at that point, turn around and work your way back. But any decent swimmer should be able to handle this, at least on days without too much swell or current.

After a few snorkels on this end of the beach, I whole-heartedly recommend it. It’s like the undisturbed relative of the reef at the other end of the beach. So plan a day here – and take a nice long snorkel at each!

Sunset at Ulua Beach