Makahiki is a buffet located in the Aulani resort. Makahiki is named after the annual Hawaiian harvest festival held in O’ahu. The buffet features local Hawaiian inspired foods, fresh seafood and some asian dishes.
The buffet itself is located inside which is nice because then there are no bugs flying around. The inside is really beautiful and full of dark wood furniture. On the wall of the dining room there is also a large Hawaiian mural.
The buffet changes sometimes but this was the menu that we had that evening. We were there on Valentines day so they had chilled crab legs on the special buffet.
I ordered a pineapple iced tea to drink with the meal because non alcoholic drinks are included. The iced tea was mild and refreshing and had a nice fresh pineapple taste to it.
The buffet started off with some Hawaiian classic dishes like ahi poke, poi, and lomi salmon. The ahi poke here was amazing and had such a great flavoured sauce with lots of onions in it. If you like seafood I would highly suggest trying this dish.
The chilled seafood section had some great stuff. They bring the food out in smaller portions so it isn’t sitting out for too long, which is good to know while you are eating seafood. All of the seafood was super fresh and delicious. The crab legs were delicious and meaty and we ate multiple full plates of them. The shrimp was plump and juicy and the oysters were also great. If you want to get your moneys worth out of a buffet this is a great way.
They also had a section of sushi rolls, sashimi and some charcuterie. The sushi rolls were only okay but the sashimi was excellent. The tuna sashimi melted like butter in your mouth. This was some of the best sashimi I’ve ever had.
They have a carving station that features different types of meat all the time. When we went, they were serving a coffee and dark chocolate rubbed roasted prime rib. The rub was flavourful and went well with the prime rib. The meat was very juicy but prime rib has a bit too much fat on it for my personal preference.
There were multiple tables of desserts and they had everything from fresh fruits, to macaroons and bread pudding. My favourite dessert of the night were the molten chocolate cake cups. These were rich and chocolately and very satisfying and the remained warm and gooey inside of their little cups.
There were many other dishes on this buffet and these pictures are just a select few from the evening. Almost every item I had I enjoyed and it was an overall great dining experience. If you are a really picky eater you probably won’t like the selections on this buffet because it focuses mostly on seafood and non-American dishes, however I thought the selections were great and were much more fun and unique than boring standard buffets.
Recommendation:
Yes, for a special and delicious Hawaiian buffet.
