Pa’akai

The food was over priced and not very good. The fish was dry. The scallops appetizer was the only good thing. Service was so slow! We sat down just after 8pm and didn’t receive our main course until 9:30!!! I don’t recommend this restaurant

On a whim, we decided to come to Turtle Bay Resort on a Sunday for lunch. Interestingly, or luckily this place was open to celebrate Kamehameha Day! They offered a full service buffet brunch that included items such as prime rib, snow crab legs, lobster ravioli, potatoes au gratin, loco moco, a mixed greens salad, bread pudding, a full standard continental breakfast that included your typical pastry items & cereals. All of this paired with fresh squeezed juices or coffee.
We had never been here before, so this was our first experience. The dining area is not extremely big. for the buffet, the main level was the food location, the lower level/​lanai was the dining area. The view overlooks the resort’s pool and the beautiful beaches of the resort!
There was also live music during our brunch. A male/​female duet playing guitars together and singing beautiful Hawaiian songs. Seriously, these two were amazing!
As for the food, there were some hits and misses on the buffet. As expected though, not everything can be good when you have such a variety of foods. Our favorites were the smoked salmon, lobster ravioli, and of course the snow crab legs!
Overall, it was a nice experience… would we come again? I don’t know… maybe for an actual dining experience instead of buffet.

My family and I really enjoyed the King Kamehameha Day brunch buffet with live music. We really enjoy our #happyfamilytimes gathering to dine and enjoy each others company. This was a nice change from where we usually go.
My husband and I LOVE Turtle Bay Resort and stay here as often as we can. We’ve been trying to get his side of the family out this side and the crab legs at this buffet were the right incentive! The selection was great and everything I tasted was good. My only suggestion would be to label the different offerings. The service was on point friendly and overall attentive. We would definitely return if they made it a regular and most likely make it a weekend staycation, hint hint.
I give it 4 of 5 stars for the reasons above plus the amazing views. The food and service were excellent, just the deinks not so great and not everything was ready when we got there. But timing would improve if the buffet was done on a regular basis.
Thank you!

It’s a beautiful room and the service was very good. We ate there twice for dinner during our stay. The first time we shared a bone-​in ribeye steak. My piece was okay; but my husband’s was sinewy. At roughly $ 100/​per person, we expected better than that. The next time we tried dinner there, we had rack of lamb and that was very tender. Just wouldn’t have expected any tough meat there. Portions are rather large, so don’t over order too much food. Most of the entrees can be split like the whole fish Himachi. It is a fancier venue and would expect people to dress appropriately. Not so with everyone. Saw everything from a lovely white linen sport coat to a fellow in jeans with his visor cap on backwards. Class is on its way out I guess, but that’s not the restaurant’s fault.

I’ll start by saying all the other reviews are right on point. Service service service needs major help and a good new training program or better yet new management.
First we arrived on time for our reservation to celebrate our anniversary. We get to the hostess stand and there is no one to greet us for a good 10mins of just standing there feeling uncomfortable. What really got me was that there was the bartender and two waitresses 10 feet away laughing having a personal conversation. I know they all saw us waiting because I made eye contact with all three of them. We were just about to walk out and go to lei lei’s! Saved by the bell a nice waitress asked if we were helped. She had to hunt down the hostess for us.
Now on to dinner. Service was extremely slow as other reviewers said. Food mediocre at best. To top things off our waitress knew it was our anniversary and we did not get offered dessert or anything. I ordered one anyways and it didn’t even have happy anniversary written on it. For the price you pay you can write on the plate with heresy syrup.

Let me start by saying that I had to wait 15 minutes to be seated for my 745 reservation when I showed up at 7:46.
We ordered the salt block, which was good, yet uninspired. It was as simple as a few slabs of meat, some veggies and maybe a mushroom or two, slapped onto a block a salt and let there to sauté in front of us. All for 40 bucks… What a deal.
Next up was the main course. I ordered a ribeye steak while my girlfriend ordered the fillet mignon with the Prawns as the secondary portion.
All I can say is the ribeye was one of the worst I’ve ever had in my dining experience. It was overcooked, It was fatty (but not in the good way).
If I had to overall sum this place up, is they serve under quality beef, somewhere in the ballpark of USDA select and charge you USDA prime prices, plus resort fees on top of it. $ 57 does not buy a good steak in Turtlebay. $ 57 buys you a shitty steak that should be worth four dollars at a fucking Applebee’s

One of those places that makes it painful to write a review. Why? Because the food I did have was pretty good. Unfortunately, my experience here left me hungry and frankly wishing I had gone somewhere else. The hostess was pleasant. The view is nice. The wait service is slow, curtious but very slow. Their food service is equally as slow. The restaurant didn’t seem very busy while we were there. We sat down at 6:55 (yes, I looked at my watch). At 8:15 we (my wife and I, there were only 2 of us) left because we were tired of waiting for our dinner. We stopped by the hostess station to let them know we were leaving since our server wasn’t around.
With the menu being expensive as it is, the service be slow and lack luster I really can’t recommend this place to anyone until service improves.

Short on vegetarian options, but come for the iced seafood «appetizer». The ribeye was well seasoned flavorful, local (?) beef that rivals any steakhouse.

The food was excellent, the staff greeted us for our anniversary dinner. Seated us per our specification. My wife had the fish of the day, which was cooked excellently. I had the filet and lobster risotto which was also excellent. Don’t let the rating fool you 4 –4 ½ star for sure

This place was amazing! Everything was yummy, we had surf and turf and the filet. I also had a vanilla vodka drink that was scrumptious, I will be back. The place fills up quickly I recommend arriving early and making reservations.

This is the best restaurant on the North Shore — bar none.
We had an amazing waitress — Zara. Came back a second time in two days.
Scallops, lobster risotto, ahi, pork tenderloin. All first class.

Love Turtle Bay, it is our favorite place. I am sure this restaurant is OK but we had a very negative experience tonight. We are frequent resort travelers to high end resorts and Have never been to hotel restaurant that was so unaccommodating for kids meals.
Filet mignon or monchong with coconut cream sauce were the «kids options». Could we have rice and vegetables? No. We would have paid for the kids filet just wanted something he could eat. Really bad form considering we are one of this resorts best customers.

The food was decent, a little over salted, but the service is where this place failed. We waited 50 minutes for our appetizers to come out, all while watching tables sat after us receive their entrees. The server was almost non existent, we waited 20 minutes just to get bread and never did he come check on us in the 30 remaining minutes that we sat waiting.
The food itself was ok, but certainly not worth the price. As people who eat fine dining frequently, we were underwhelmed.
The best part of our experience was the host. She was pleasant and showed concern and actually was helpful.

This place is great! I visited here with my wife after I used to live in Hawaii for a decade. We started at the pool bar where my wife really got after the Mai Tais. She was drinking a lot but I encouraged it because I made reservations for my favorite restaurant in Hawaii– pa’akai.
I made them for two people, my former girlfriend and myself! My wife needed to be escorted back to the hotel room and the staff graciously helped with that. It worked out perfectly because meeting ex’s with your wife is awkward. We were promptly seated at 5 and had the most wonderful drinks by a handsome bartender, Martin. THE JALAPEÑO MATINI WAS OUT OF THIS AINA GOOD!!! The fish was to diiie for. The staff was hilarious. Martin had great stories about the wonderful, peaceful northshore! My wife and I visited Martin the next night and Martin was so wise he knew not to mention I was there the night before with My girlfriend! Talk about tact!!! This guy has it and more!
Bro and a bartender!

Pa’akai apparently means salt, which is interesting as that’s the main problem with this restaurant.
Food:
–The tomato soup was kind of bland, and could have benefited from some salt. But almost everything else was way too salty.
–The poke was mixed with chili water and sea salt. Even though we asked for it not too spicy, it was still pretty hot (and I can handle spice like a pro). But, the problem was that the flavors just didn’t work. It was too spicy, too salty, and the fish was kind of thready — the flavors just weren’t complementary. The result was just a poor dish that we struggled to get through.
–The salt plate with the seafood and vegetables was also just reallllly salty (I guess this is somewhat expected since it’s a salt plate), but with the dipping sauces, it was even more so. Without the sauce, most of it was tasty– but a few pieces here and there completely inundated our senses with salt.
–The ahi was not too bad. But not terribly memorable either.
Service:
–Everything seemed to take a really long time, and not in a Hawaiian lifestyle sort of way, but more in a «hey, why hasn’t the waitress been around to check on us in a really long time» kind of way.
Environment:
–The inside smelled kind of musty/​fishy, so we asked to be seated outside, which was nice for the first few minutes as the sun had just set, and after as we got to listen to the music from the bar down below and look out over the pool.
–BUT, our table was directly above the trash dumpster!!! Multiple times during the meal, we heard loud crashes of resort staff dumping stuff in the dumpster right below us. Throughout the whole meal I kept getting whiffs of what smelled like vomit, or maybe just garbage.
Overall disappointed. Has a lot of potential, but seemed to miss at each turn.

Let’s just say my experience here started terrible and worked its way up to average.
We had an 8:30 reservation on Valentines Day. I should also note that we had gotten engaged that afternoon so we were looking to top of the celebration was a nice meal. We hacked in early at 8:10 just because we were ready and they told us 20 minutes. Great! We were hungry. We didn’t get seated until 9:30. I’m pretty sure this is why you make reservations and I’m pretty sure the restaurant overbooked for the night which is why we were so delayed.
The hostesses were kind because a manager I believe gave us a ton of attitude when we said we were unhappy that our reservation was 45 minutes past. The hostesses apologized for her, if that tells you anything.
What made up for it was our waitress, who was very kinda and the pineapple and apple pie desert. Wow, it was huge! And so delicious!
Honestly, if I had the choice I would go to Lei Lei or somewhere local. It is the one dressy restaurant on the north shore but they just don’t see to have the logistics together.

It has been over 20 years since I stepped onto the grounds of The Turtle Bay Resort. So we decided to do an early Valentine’s dinner this past Saturday. The resort has had a multi million dollar renovation and it is quite different when we used to go there on a getaway weekend with the family.
I won’t go into reviewing the hotel since we didn’t actually stay there. But the restaurant experience starts when you step into the walkway to Pa’akai Restaurant. They have a beautiful display on the native Hawaiian subdivision of land to use the land the most efficient way possible. This is called the Ahupua’a. This display although small does a wonderful job of explaining this system that thrived in old Hawaii and still hold up today. This sets the tone for the dining experience at Pa’akai.
Being a beautiful Hawaiian evening with slight tropical breezes and a gorgeous view of the setting sun we opted to dine outside. However if you do done outside the outdoor bar does have live music and seems to be the happening place at Happy hour so it can get a bit loud.
I also always wonder if we opt for outside dining if we will end up being neglected. But the staff was on point very pleasant and attentive.
Ok finally the good stuff FOOD!
Appetizer — Since Pa’akai means salt we chose The Himalayan Salt block with the pesto shrimp and scallops also the mixed veggies eggplant zucchini, yellow squash, red onions, asparagus, mushrooms, and red peppers. This done yakiniku style… the heated salt block is brought out and a plate of the raw items and two dipping sauces. Soy chili and lemon butter. Both were good and it was a different dining experience. But use chopsticks the tongs they give are useless.
Dinner DH — Ribeye of course which was seasoned well and cooked perfectly with a lot of roasted veggies on the side.
Me– catch of the day (Monchong) I chose the coconut sauce over the tomato sauce it rested on a bed of sweet potato mashed potato and steamed boo choy. Presentation was gorgeous and fish was done so well a nice crisp on the out side but tender inside. Sauce was yummy not overpowering and the entire dish was well balanced.
Dessert– we should have only gotten one dessert but we got the checker board cake — yummy chocolate cake with Haupia ice cream intertwined in a checkerboard pattern AND the molten dark chocolate soufflé. Nice crusted chocolate cake on the outside with a rich pudding like texture in the middle with vanilla ice cream and an anglaise sauce! Tip make sure you don’t just dig into the molten cake cause it IS molten hot! Break it open and let it rest a bit. Then pair it with the ice cream.
Overall a very nice dining experience.
One more tip. If you don’t want to valet your car ignore signage that takes you to the front of the hotel and hang a right to the open parking lot.

The tofu was beyond amazing and the plain risotto they made me was delicious!!! Vegetarians dream!

Made a reservation for 530 I suggest early so you get outside seating it’s first come first serve even with a reservation… first order crusted scallops OMG highly suggest … Then table side fresh to order poke. It was good but I was expecting the sesame oil flavor still it was very fresh and flavorful !!! This place is fantastic! Even the hostesses very nice. our server ZARA FANTASTICO !!! For our entrée we ordered opaka opaka whole fish THE BEST it falls off the bone. This place is FANTASTIC I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. I would write more but I’m out of battery make sure you try this place…

I would skip it. GO TO LEI LEI’S!
This is a mediocre catering hall parading as a chef-​curated menu. Horrible experience from beginning to end. The staff was very awkward and inattentive and the food ranged from mediocre to inedible.
One of the things I looked forward to was the bread presentation as the pictures were cool. We never got bread or were even offered? Other tables had it around us. When our waiter came to take our drink order, my boyfriend ordered a soda and it never came.
Our appetizer was the himalayan salt block, which was the best thing that we ate here… but that had nothing to do with the restaurant as it was raw meat and vegetables searing on a stone with unremarkable dipping sauces.
I ordered the filet medium rare, it was almost well done. My boyfriend ordered the ribeye medium and it was almost raw. Not wanting to make a big deal, we traded… The most disappointing thing to me was that they were covered in thick almost-​gravy sauce. There is no reason that a $ 50 piece of meat should have sauce on it. The sear and flavor were completely muddled. My potatoes had some disgusting saccharin/​thick sauce on them as well. Reminded me of something you’d get at a wedding, mass produced ick.
We were having a good time, and let these things go. We ordered a bottle of champagne and looked forward to dessert. To their credit, the checkerboard cake was actually really delicious. The thing that really crossed the line for me was when we received a chocolate soufflé that was essentially chocolate batter soup! All in all, I was disappointed in this place from beginning to end. The service was weird and the outside area is strange. We were looking down at chairs in a fake lawn and into the window of the gym. What a view! Cardio equipment! We are not resort people to begin with, but do dine at high end establishments often. For a $ 200+ dinner, this did not deliver.
In response to the manager’s note below:
I don’t think that poorly cooked steaks, raw desserts and poor service are a «good fit» for anyone. I would almost feel better if you told me the food had all been prepared in advance and not to order. If this is the food your chef «takes great pride» in, then someone needs to be fired. Where was a manager that night? I could tell the soufflé was undercooked the second it was brought out. No one ever even said anything to us after we sent it back. We were both shocked at how wrong our steak temperatures were and almost insulted by the level of poor service at this establishment. We had just gotten engaged the night before and were going out to celebrate. This dinner was the only bad experience we had on our entire trip to Hawaii. You are correct, we will NEVER be back. I have relatives on the island and also spoke to locals about this restaurant after we dined there — Pa’akai does not have a good reputation. I just wish we had known that sooner.