monkeypod kitchen by merriman

i'm a sucker for a good drink. loved the mai tai. really liked their approach to sustainability. fish was great (and i'm from the nw) . staff was friendly. a little pricey but you get what you pay for!

fantastic. hit the happy hour and save some cash while enjoying a great dinner. we ordered wings, garlic fries, lobster devilled eggs, the pizza and gnocchi with kale and pork. the gnocchi was the best - uniquely cooked with no real sauce but incredible flavour. pizza was excellent al forno, mostly thin-crust. fries were ho-hum, devilled eggs were pretty good (you get two eggs - 4 halves, and they were ok, though not rich in flavour. the wings were excellent with a unique rosemary-herbed skin. gnocchi was the best of our table. i was over the moon to see they had the belching beaver peanut butter milk stout. i hadn't had the beer for a year and had previously only seen it in san diego. i would definitely come to monkeypod again.

best fish tacos i've ever had and i try them every chance i get. my wife had their fish lunch special and she thought it was top-notch. definitely on my list of places to try again and again.

went for dinner and woke up in the middle of the night with severe flu like symptoms. food tasted not bad but i got really sick eating here. i don't want to say it was food poisoning for sure but it made me really sick for 3 days after eating here. almost half my vacation was spent in my resort room because i was so sick. also, when i was in the restroom, a kitchen staff member walked out of the bathroom stall and left the bathroom without washing his hands. another guy standing at the sink couldnt believe it and said he was going to tell a manager. i wouldn't recommend eating here.

p.s. i am not prone to getting sick from food. i've only ever been sick one other time in my life from a restaurant.

delicious food and good pies. good vegetarian options including salads, pastas and pizzas. the pizza with the roasted red pepper sauce and ricotta salata was crave-worthy.  the place can get noisy on a saturday night.

best. restaurant. ever.. we love this place! we are back in maui for the 2nd year in a row and plan to come back to monkeypod at least a few more times for lunch/dinner. we couldn't stop talking about it after last year. the food is so fresh and everything we've tried has been fantastic. i would highly recommend coming here!!

great spot for cocktails at sunset. perfect romantic spot to watch the sun dive into the water. appetizers are okay but entrees were rather deceiving.
we had the macadamia crusted mahi mahi and the kale mushroom gnocchi. both were rather ordinary. cocktails are great. terrasse and bar area are fun.

worth the wait excellent fo.... worth the wait
excellent food and atmosphere. we have tried both merriman's restaurants on the big island but this one is a fav. i had the fish tacos which were excellent and my wife had the brussel sprout pizza. i know what you're thinking..."she had a brussel sprout pizza? who would make that choice? does she have a cabbage "thing" and thought that maybe those little baby brussels would be super tender...like....like veal cabbage?" don't knock it until you try it - it was one of the finest thin crust pizzas we have ever had. we plan on going back before we leave, the steak entre looked excellent.

on the recommendation that this place had amazing dessert pies, we decided to go see what the fuss was about. i personally love the idea of eating what is normally a savoury food item as dessert. there was a place in newtown, sydney called the pie tin where i used to get late night oreo pie when the craving struck, and this was the first time since then i’d heard of somewhere known for its pies. i have no idea why, but every time i see this view – i think african safari, not hawaii. it was at least a mile’s walk from the resort, but i like to walk, especially with this view and knowing that i was walking towards my dinner. this is the road that leads into the wailea resort strip, and a lot of thought has obviously been put into the landscaping. the entire stretch of road is absolutely gorgeous and the weather was perfect. the road to monkeypod. maui florals. the place was packed when we got there, as it is most nights, but we got a table inside after a short wait.  it had a great vibe – most people were visiting maui so everybody was in high spirits. note: they make a killer maui papaya banana greek yoghurt smoothie. poke tacos and garlic truffle oil fries it is no mystery why every second yelp review on this restaurant raves about the truffle fries. i would come here for the appetizers alone, if not for the pie. the poke tacos are also one of their signature menu items if you’re a fan of raw fish. wood-fired hamakua wild mushroom pizza good crust and plenty of cheese, but pizza is pizza, and nothing has surpassed roberta’s and its four hour wait-time in brooklyn new york.i did really enjoy this one though. caramel/pecan and coconut cream pie the long-awaited pie. they have a daily special, and on that particular day it was caramel and pecan. yes, they were amazing. and yes, the three separate groups of people who had recommended this place were right. we ended up coming back to this place another night – i don’t usually go back to places when i’m travelling so i ca

msg, really?. we ate there last night and i was shocked to learn that they use msg. how can a restaurant, that prides itself on fresh and local food, use msg! it makes them seem like a bit of a joke. msg is known to cause seizure, in people who do not even have epilepsy, and other neological disorders.
based solely on the msg use, i would not recommend this place


-----08 nov, 2014-----

mgs, really!. we ate there last night and i was shocked to learn that they use msg. how can a restaurant, that prides itself on fresh and local food, use msg! it makes them seem like a bit of a joke. msg is known to cause seizure, in people who do not even have epilepsy, and other neological disorders.
based solely on the msg use, i would not recommend this place.

we dined here when it first opened and food and service were great. we went back the other night and won't be back for a while. the restsurant was very loud, the food was ok at best. we ordered the ravioli which were greasy, and the pizza was undercooked. to top it off the staff was going around with a swifter wiping the condensation off of the air vents right above diners heads. people at the tables were ducking and using their hands to cover their drinks and food. gross!!!

drove over an hour to this restaurant with a 7:45 reservation. we were told minimum 1/2 to 3/4 hour wait despite our reservation, because they were too busy. no attempt to accommodate us, no apology, no drink offered, no go. now at fabiani's pizza around the corner and treated like humans.

great organic fresh and exciting place to dine! highly recommend

nice casual restaurant with good menu and food quality. burgers are very good.

loud and oily. it wasn't as good as maui revealed made it out to be. my outdoor reservation wasn't ready and i was 3rd in line (not much of a reservation) so i was seated inside (loud!!!). the pumpkin ravioli was bland and unfortunately greasy due to being drowned in oil. the award winning mai tai's fruit is a foam so it's like drinking straight rum. the fish special was well cooked and flavorful, but once again was drowned in an oil. it was my least favorite meal during my maui trip, and all of the other restaurants were in the same price range. the bright spot is my server was sweet and personable.