Aulani restaurants...whats good to eat at the resort?

[jimmytammy]

Hey all
We are headed to Aulani in a few weeks and wondering which places we should make sure to eat at the resort. Do we need ressies?

 

[ludari]

I was at Aulani several years ago and I to be honest I was not impressed with the restaurants at the resort. I hope things have changed since my visit but they are so many other places to eat around the resort and other parts of the island that are much better. The only reservations I would say you would need are for the character breakfast.

 

[plunk meets world]

Hey all
We are headed to Aulani in a few weeks and wondering which places we should make sure to eat at the resort. Do we need ressies?

I can't speak from experience, but Pete on the podcast seemed to be very impressed with the food there recently. They have also added a few more restaurants in the last few years. Can't wait to go, hope you have a great time!

 

[Cinderpamela]

Well if your talking just specifically at the resort itself we loved Ama Ama for lunch (they have a dinner menu too, but we preferred lunch).... Ulu Café is their counter service and it had some good offerings. We also had a great cocktail and dessert at Olelo Lounge. I did make reservations for Ama Ama but not the others. Honestly though, I would recommend going out and about for some of your meals too.... there are many great options! Some of the off site places need reservations.... for example I made one for Roys, Town (in Waikiki), and Alan Wong.


If you haven't already check out these 2 threads on great places to eat and tips on Aulani:

Aulani and Oahu places to eat:http://www.disboards.com/threads/going-to-aulani-lets-list-places-to-eat.2858912/
Aulani the one thing you wish you knew: http://www.disboards.com/threads/aulani-whats-the-one-thing-you-wish-you-knew.3180904/

 

[Halle]

We were there three years ago, had lunch at Ama Ama, terrible service, therefore cancelled our dinner reservation. We went to Roy's twice and walked across the street to Monkey Pods three times, both excellent choices.

 

[Anal Annie]

When we went 2 summers ago we ate at the Ulu Cafe (counter service) about 3 times for dinner I think and then at Makahiki once (that's a buffet) and we enjoyed it - walked by in the afternoon and stopped in to get a res. for later that evening. It was typical Disney pricing for a buffet so not cheap but cheaper than AmaAma. We did not try AmaAma as it was too pricey for our wallet. We looked at the menu but nothing jumped out at us for the prices so we skipped it. (The only super expensive meal we did all week was at Roy's down the street - which we reserved on like Open Table the day before. I brought some Outback / Roy's gift cards to help cover that meal.) On site we had drinks from Olelo, hot dogs from Mama's Snack Shack, shave ice from Papalua's, one lunch from the place near the pool (Off the Hook) and also lunch one day from the place down on the beach, Little Opihi's Beachside Kiosk, which was a nice change. We had pizza one night across the street at Pizza Corner and ate at Monkey Pod once (do suggest grabbing a res at least on Open Table the day of to avoid a long wait). We really enjoyed Monkey Pod and probably should have tried to go again before we left but just got lazy and didn't. I made sandwiches in the room 2 days for lunch and brought them down to the pool to eat. Other off site dining included lunch at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck on the North Shore one day and lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Waikiki on another day. There are plenty of choices that don't need reservations or which can be reserved on the fly the day of or day before.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

Here is a great recent podcast from the DIS folks on dining at Aulani.

It is #2 of a four part series on Aulani.

 

[keaster]

We thought the offerings at the Ulu Cafe were good for breakfast and lunch. We only did Ama Ama for one dinner and did the character breakfast a Makahiki. We actually did quite a few meals in the room.

Also the other nice thing about Aulani is that there are some decent restaurants across the street and at other nearby hotels, so you don't have to feel like you are "trapped" on site to eat!

 

[crystal1313]

We just got back on July 18th. We LOVED Ama Ama for breakfast and dinner. The vanilla caramel macadamia nut pancakes were amazing and you cannot beat the view! We also really enjoyed Oleo room during happy hour. The sliders and nachos were really good and filled us up. We wanted to go to Roy's, but never made it there. We did try MonkeyPod across the street and really enjoyed it both times. They also have a great happy hour and food was really good. They also had great live music and it was at the perfect volume that you could still easily hold a conversation over it. =) Enjoy.