To get our gourmand fix in, we booked ‘Ama’Ama as our fine dining Disney Aulani reservation. The price for this four course tasting was $125 per person. The menu offers contemporary island cuisine, which has many local flavors. The restaurant iself was designed to resemble a beachside house, and it’s located next to the Waikolohe Valley pool area, just a few steps from the beach. The whole restaurant has a very nice open and chill vibe. We were seated literally right next to the grass that was on the other side of the beach, where we had a straight, unobstructed view into the ocean and the sunset.
Ambiance & Service
As mentioned above, we had the 5 PM reservation, and the host sat us in an area that has a direct view into the sunset. It was quite serene and relaxing to just sit through the night. The tables are lit by those touch-based lamps, and there’s traditional Hawaiian fish baskets with light fixtures in it.
Food
The Ode to Mango ($15 - top) came with citrus vodka delicately balanced with a soft fragrance of mango on the nose while the palate is adorned with a taste of fresh lemon juice. The mango fragrance was non-existent, so my partner felt misled. I thought the drink was just OK for me.
The Leaves for Warmth ($15 - right) came with Kuaua’i made rum diversified herbaceous tones with a delightful nuance of house-made basil sour and local pineapple juice. If you drink this right away, it tastes pretty strong. But once you let the ice blend a bit, it tastes a bit more balanced.
The Night Fell on Ube ($15 - bottom) came with Woodford Reserve Old Fashion, a touch of ube syrup and intricately executed ube ice cube joined with a touch of orange bitters. I ordered this, and at first, I thought it was a mistake. After I let the drink sit for a few minutes and let the ice melt, the flavors of this really came out. The ice cube is a little sweet and tasted like ube throughout. It complemented well with the Woodford Reserve bourbon!
The starter was a chilled potato and bacon soup. This was pretty good.
The complimentary bread made several rounds. We had a choice of sourdough, multigrain wheat, and a hard cracker. They all tasted pretty good with the butter.
The Kabocha Squash was a starter and came with deep sea shrimp, coconut, shallot, palm sugar, and brussel sprouts. The squash soup was sweet with a very nice medley mix of flavors.
The Kiawe Smoked Fish was a starter and came with espelette, smoked trout roe, chervil, dill, and taro. The fish was actually pretty good, and on the far side of the dish, there were taro chips that you could use to dip this. The taro chips did not taste like taro much.
The He’e was an appetizer and came with octopus, miso and parmesan risotto, lemon, herbs, and hon shimeji. I did not have any of this, but the person who ordered this loved it.
The Pork Belly was an appetizer and came with scanlan sauce, onion, Kiawe honey, and Okinawa sweet potato. The pork belly was pretty delicious. The sweet potato puree was similar to the one they served at the luau.
The Cranberry Ball ($9 - right) came with house-made fruit punch amassed with local pineapple juice. This was pretty good, albeit sweeter than desired.
The Ika Ink Doppio Ravioli was an entree and came with scallop + shrimp, pea + mint, lobster, smoked trout roe, and yuzu cream. The ravioli was pretty tasty and cooked perfectly al dente. They actually gave a lot of lobster, and everything else on the dish was a nice complement. The dish itself was overall balanced and appropriately light.
The Scallops was an entree and came with bacon, cauliflower, salsa verde, brussel sprouts, and Kahuku sweet corn. My partner ordered this, and the scallops were perfectly seasoned and cooked.
The Citrus Bar was a dessert and came with liliko’i ganache, white chocolate-pistachio crunch, Kalamansi curd, and gingersnap tuile. As expected, this was pretty good with the passion fruit ganache.
The Coconut Flan was a dessert and came with tres leches cake, dulce de leche meringue, coconut shortbread, and fresh mango. This was a bit mild in sweetness for others, but I did enjoy this.
The Chocolate Mousse was a dessert and came with milk chocolate macadamia nut crunch, cinnamon whipped cream, and Kona coffee anglaise. I liked this the most of the 3 dessert courses we had because the chocolate was a nice balance of sweetness and bitters.
Final Verdict
‘Ama’Ama was a surprisingly pretty good fine dining restaurant at Disney Aulani. Compared to the other places we’ve been to in Honolulu, it was pretty good for the price point comparatively. The food itself was prepared pretty well, and it can hold its own somewhat compared to some of the NYC restaurants. The views itself added a lot of value to the food, so as a whole package, it was quite enjoyable.
Yelp Jabs
DO NOT GET THE WINE PAIRING. We didn’t get any wine for the first 15 minutes, and every wine we got was presented like it was nice but they were all $8 bottles of wine.
I asked the waiter what type of wines came with the courses. They replied it was those of Europe, and being from New York, I knew the wine pairing would not be a great idea. I ended up the cocktail route, which I thought was pretty good.
And finally, do not come here with children. $55 fixed pricing for a “3 course dinner” for kids over the age of 3… Plus the over all experience takes at least 2 hours so unless you have really patient and well behaved children, the experience at that price point is going to make you inevitably frustrated.
Considering this was a $125 tasting menu, that should have been a hint on what to expect for children. I think this Yelper just set the wrong expectations for themselves unfortunately.
Revisions
- Apr 29, 2023 - Initial revision.