Incredible food, friendly service, and beautiful ambiance in the gardens. What a great night!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ben
The area in which this food truck is located is beautiful, plenty of spaced out seating amongst the trees and potted plants. The price is a bit steep for what you get. The plating and presentation are great, however the flavor(s) seem to be missing. I can't quite put my finger on it. The best I can summarize is that the flavors seemed fresh but very simple. Wife loved it, me, not so much.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Thien Nguyen
It's a food truck but the flavor, texture and quality 9/10 ? Crispy rice cube with sauce is something to come back. We had the braised beef and ahi plate... just really really well executed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Braised Beef
Amanda-Lynn Lowe
Best food Ive eaten on Maui... and Ive had a few $300 dinners already this week.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Chandrew Rajakumar
The portions are a bit meager for the price in the bento options. The food is tasty, has texture and visually pops, but there's something missing. The vibe is very cool and the outdoor shared dining area is wonderful.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Margaret Simon
Buckle up because I have a lot of praise to give for Kitoko! And for good reason.My first visit to Maui was in 1993. I’ve since brought my family & friends back time & time again. Kihei is our favorite place in all the islands with the kindest humans on the planet, the most unique & amazing small businesses of all kinds, rich history, & the most beautiful beaches so we spend the majority of our time there. I point this out for a reason. In all my visits to Maui & Big Island, I can honestly say this is the best restaurant I’ve been to!I used to work fine dining in Seattle & my husband is still in the business. The food, presentation, & freshness of ingredients at Kitoko is on par with any high end restaurant I’ve been to on island or on mainland but is reasonably priced (plates in the $20 range) and is located in a beautiful garden setting next to a hula show among several other small food trucks & vendors. What a find!I had my first experience at Kitoko while attending the South Maui Gardens Hula Show (I’ll do a separate review for that!) with a few friends from home while visiting friends on island. A Hula show is different from a full luau, because it doesn’t include the buffet traditional luau shows do, so we arrived to find a whole variety of food options instead, via little shops & food trucks! I’m so glad that we chose Kitoko to enjoy with our show but I have to admit that, as truly amazing as the hula show was, once our plates were in front of us, I was locked in on these dishes & I may have missed a bit of the show! Lol!The presentation was stunning with vibrant colors in every dish that were intrinsic to the recipe & not just garnish. Not a single item on any of our 4 plates was ancillary or decorative. Every item on the plate worked with the other ingredients. Not to sound corny, but it was very Hawaiian as that’s how the people of Hawaii work within their communities. Everyone comes together to create beauty in whatever they’re doing. I know most people don’t think that deep about their dinner but this trip was in November after the August fires & this is what the world witnessed, especially in those first few days, from the Hawaiian people. Locals came together instantly to take care of their communities & make everything work as best as possible. So the dishes at Kitoko felt like a beautiful representation of the Hawaiian spirit in that way.We enjoyed dishes with classic island options like taro, mahi-mahi, poke, & prawns of course but we also indulged in the most delicious venison (not sure if it’s sourced on island but Maui IS the only island with deer that were brought in at some point as they’re obviously not native)! I wouldn’t be able to explain the beauty of these dishes so I had to take photos. All of the flavors were rich, unique, well balanced and tasted CLEAN & fresh. This was such a treat because when you travel, eating out more often than you’re used to can often leave you feeling heavy. So finding a menu that was filling, affordable, but also felt light & fresh was such a treat!My only regret was not trying their desert menu!!! We’re returning in July to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary with our friends on island as well as friends & family from abroad & I’m already planning to take my kids to the hula show so I can go back to Kitoko & they can choose what they’d like from the other food trucks. We have a variety of diets with our kids (one is autistic, one is pescatarian, & one has gastritis) so having several options all in one place is heaven! Hopefully they’ll get adventurous & want to try the beautiful dishes at Kitoko but it’s nice to have more familiar food options so they get what they want & me & hubby will be able to enjoy an elegant, delicious meal WE like Maybe this time I’ll order desert FIRST! I may even have to come back to try their brunch! If you’ve read this far, you MUST make Kitoko a stop during your next trip to Maui! I promise you won’t regret it
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
David Baer
Fantastic. Go here. Sweet potato bento is unbelievable and the atmosphere is perfection.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Elise McCurley
Poke was amazing! Great atmosphere, the garden is lovely.
Jen Yip
That seafood platter is divine!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
nadeem marghoob
Everything was amazing. Great presentation and the taste was exceptional. The venison steak was the best piece of meat I’ve had in a long time, cooked perfectly. The poke was very good and the grilled shrimp were flavorful and delicious. Best food we had on our trip to Maui for sure!
Champion!!! Make me feel good by juicy tasty sauce and a fresh papaya salad That brownie sweet aww :) Mahalo Nui for your hard working Chefs.
Brian Houseman
Wonderful atmosphere in the gardens and great food. We had the Mahi Mahi bento with taro chips, and Ono poke. Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kevin Sundström
We were very unpleasantly surprised with how bland and testeless the food was. We only took a few bites then had to throw it away. Everything from the fish and rice to the veggies was all less than
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
Josseline Siguenza
I highly recommend trying their dishes, you won't be disappointed!
Incredible food, friendly service, and beautiful ambiance in the gardens. What a great night!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The area in which this food truck is located is beautiful, plenty of spaced out seating amongst the trees and potted plants. The price is a bit steep for what you get. The plating and presentation are great, however the flavor(s) seem to be missing. I can't quite put my finger on it. The best I can summarize is that the flavors seemed fresh but very simple. Wife loved it, me, not so much.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
It's a food truck but the flavor, texture and quality 9/10 ? Crispy rice cube with sauce is something to come back. We had the braised beef and ahi plate... just really really well executed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Braised Beef
Best food Ive eaten on Maui... and Ive had a few $300 dinners already this week.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The portions are a bit meager for the price in the bento options. The food is tasty, has texture and visually pops, but there's something missing. The vibe is very cool and the outdoor shared dining area is wonderful.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Buckle up because I have a lot of praise to give for Kitoko! And for good reason.My first visit to Maui was in 1993. I’ve since brought my family & friends back time & time again. Kihei is our favorite place in all the islands with the kindest humans on the planet, the most unique & amazing small businesses of all kinds, rich history, & the most beautiful beaches so we spend the majority of our time there. I point this out for a reason. In all my visits to Maui & Big Island, I can honestly say this is the best restaurant I’ve been to!I used to work fine dining in Seattle & my husband is still in the business. The food, presentation, & freshness of ingredients at Kitoko is on par with any high end restaurant I’ve been to on island or on mainland but is reasonably priced (plates in the $20 range) and is located in a beautiful garden setting next to a hula show among several other small food trucks & vendors. What a find!I had my first experience at Kitoko while attending the South Maui Gardens Hula Show (I’ll do a separate review for that!) with a few friends from home while visiting friends on island. A Hula show is different from a full luau, because it doesn’t include the buffet traditional luau shows do, so we arrived to find a whole variety of food options instead, via little shops & food trucks! I’m so glad that we chose Kitoko to enjoy with our show but I have to admit that, as truly amazing as the hula show was, once our plates were in front of us, I was locked in on these dishes & I may have missed a bit of the show! Lol!The presentation was stunning with vibrant colors in every dish that were intrinsic to the recipe & not just garnish. Not a single item on any of our 4 plates was ancillary or decorative. Every item on the plate worked with the other ingredients. Not to sound corny, but it was very Hawaiian as that’s how the people of Hawaii work within their communities. Everyone comes together to create beauty in whatever they’re doing. I know most people don’t think that deep about their dinner but this trip was in November after the August fires & this is what the world witnessed, especially in those first few days, from the Hawaiian people. Locals came together instantly to take care of their communities & make everything work as best as possible. So the dishes at Kitoko felt like a beautiful representation of the Hawaiian spirit in that way.We enjoyed dishes with classic island options like taro, mahi-mahi, poke, & prawns of course but we also indulged in the most delicious venison (not sure if it’s sourced on island but Maui IS the only island with deer that were brought in at some point as they’re obviously not native)! I wouldn’t be able to explain the beauty of these dishes so I had to take photos. All of the flavors were rich, unique, well balanced and tasted CLEAN & fresh. This was such a treat because when you travel, eating out more often than you’re used to can often leave you feeling heavy. So finding a menu that was filling, affordable, but also felt light & fresh was such a treat!My only regret was not trying their desert menu!!! We’re returning in July to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary with our friends on island as well as friends & family from abroad & I’m already planning to take my kids to the hula show so I can go back to Kitoko & they can choose what they’d like from the other food trucks. We have a variety of diets with our kids (one is autistic, one is pescatarian, & one has gastritis) so having several options all in one place is heaven! Hopefully they’ll get adventurous & want to try the beautiful dishes at Kitoko but it’s nice to have more familiar food options so they get what they want & me & hubby will be able to enjoy an elegant, delicious meal WE like Maybe this time I’ll order desert FIRST! I may even have to come back to try their brunch! If you’ve read this far, you MUST make Kitoko a stop during your next trip to Maui! I promise you won’t regret it
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Fantastic. Go here. Sweet potato bento is unbelievable and the atmosphere is perfection.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Poke was amazing! Great atmosphere, the garden is lovely.
That seafood platter is divine!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Everything was amazing. Great presentation and the taste was exceptional. The venison steak was the best piece of meat I’ve had in a long time, cooked perfectly. The poke was very good and the grilled shrimp were flavorful and delicious. Best food we had on our trip to Maui for sure!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Champion!!! Make me feel good by juicy tasty sauce and a fresh papaya salad That brownie sweet aww :) Mahalo Nui for your hard working Chefs.
Wonderful atmosphere in the gardens and great food. We had the Mahi Mahi bento with taro chips, and Ono poke. Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We were very unpleasantly surprised with how bland and testeless the food was. We only took a few bites then had to throw it away. Everything from the fish and rice to the veggies was all less than
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
I highly recommend trying their dishes, you won't be disappointed!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food truck but (good) restaurant quality stuff.
Food: 5