↑Best Sushi for your buck: SANSEI, Kihei
Located off the main strip in Kihei, this seafood and sushi restaurant is just as appetizing as any other sushi spot on island. This local hot spot offers an eclectic mix of sushi, from your basic spicy tuna roll to the Kapalua “Butterfry” Roll (Smoked salmon, crab, fresh shiromi and veggies in crispy panko batter, served with tangy ponzu sauce). Travel Tip: On Friday nights, enjoy half off all appetizers, sushi and cocktails/beers. At 10 p.m. on the dot, the restaurant clears out and a long line of locals who have waited outside for an hour will flood the restaurant. Beware: you must sit through mediocre karaoke while you dine. www.sanseihawaii.com. (image courtesy of SANSEI)
Best family style meal: Joe’s Bar and Grill, Wailea
If I had to imagine a quite dining spot that encompassed the epitome of the Hawaiian islands — you know, the kind you would see on the movies that only the locals know about — Joe’s would be it. Open to the outside overlooking the Wailea Tennis Club, the restaurant offers diners a grass hut-like atmosphere that glows with warm, dim lighting by night. Joe’s serves the freshest seafood (like almost all restaurants on the island do) with a mix of down-home comfort food.www.bevgannonrestaurants.com/joes/index.html. (Image courtesy of Bev Gannon Restaurants)
↑Best happy hour: LuLu’s, Kihei
This rustic beach bar offers $3 specials during happy hour that lasts from 2 p.m.-6 p.m. Serving local favorites from Mai Tais to margaritas, this local hot spot gives your wallet a much-needed spending break. The drinks are cheap, the food is good and the atmosphere is chill. Perfect to end a day at the beach, located just across the street.
↑Best Mai Tai: Four Seasons, Wailea
With the right blend of gold rum, dark rum, triple sec, lime juice and Orgeat juice, anyone can create the perfect Mai Tai. Right? Wrong. A quality polynesian-style cocktail — garnished with a fresh slice of pineapple, moschino cherry and that little pink umbrella — is hard to find. Good thing we spent 10 days looking for the perfect drink. The winner: Four Seasons.(Image courtesy of Hawaii Magazine)
↑Best pub: Mulligans, Wailea
If you’re in need of a break from the beach scene and seafood, this Irish pub is great for watching your favorite sports team while trying the local brews.Travel Tip: Mulligans hosts a New Years Eve party that includes live music, a buffet and a champagne toast at midnight for $50 per person. Compared to the other New Years parties hosted by the big resorts on the island (costing from $150-$350 per person), this New Years party seems like a steal. However, with an unimpressive presentation and unorganized, lackluster service, it might be worth your while to splurge on a party at a bigger resort. www.mulligansontheblue.com
Best island-brewed lager: Bikini Blonde
This light beer, brewed right on the island by Maui Brewing Co., is the go-to lager for locals. Maybe it was the smooth taste or the girly branding on the front, but almost every chance I got (that is if I were on a break from the Mai Tai) I chose the Bikini Blonde. I begin to understand what they mean when they say, “What sailors come to shore for.” www.mauibrewingco.com. (Image courtesy of Maui Brewing Co.)
