Before we visited Maui, we asked around for recommendations on things to do. Quite unanimously, our friends suggested to visit Mama’s Fish House with a warning that it wasn’t meant for a vegetarian. After having visited there I can say that, it’s not completely true.

Mama’s Fish House is located in Paia which is a coastal town in the north-east of Maui, Hawaii at the beginning of the famous Road to Hana (it’s awesome, please do make the drive!). The restaurant is situated by the beach and has an inn that people can reserve to stay at. You also definitely need a reservation at the restaurant because the seats go away pretty quickly. We reserved about a month and a half in advance and picked up a spot that was later in the evening.

We decided to go over there a bit earlier than our reservation to catch the sunset by the beach. Like many other spots in Maui, the beach at Mama’s Fish house is absolutely beautiful. It is a really tiny private beach where typically you would find guests of restaurant enjoy a bit of private time. We decided to watch the sunset from here before our meal, and it was gorgeous. There are several spots where you can watch the sunset in Maui: Haleakala National Park being one, but Mama’s Fish House is a very close second in my opinion. It’s also great spot for pictures, so I would recommend getting there a bit early to check out their small lawn and the extension to the beach.

After watching the sunset, we proceeded to the bar since our reservation was much later. We treated ourselves to a Mai-Tai and a Pau-Hana.

The mai-tai was well made and served in a tiki glass. In Hawaii however, most mai-tai’s are made pretty well. This recipe didn’t bring anything unique in comparison to the others unfortunately. The Pau Hana felt unique however; I’ve never had a drink with guava in it and it was delicious! That being said I swore to myself to drink a lifetime’s supply worth of mai-tais while at Maui, so I tried to focus on the mai-tai mostly (haha! no more mai-tai’s please!)

We were seated at our table when it was time for our reservation, near one of the windows overlooking the beach. Quite in contrast to the usual conservative table design, the table was colorful with an indigo died table cloth that matched the ocean-y decor of the restaurant, something which I personally appreciated a lot! Mama’s Fish House is an open restaurant with lots of plants and greenery outside, so don’t be surprised if you find the occasional insect creeping into the restaurant.

We ordered a glass of red wine each. Our server mentioned that they had a vegetarian entree that was not featured on the menu but was well-received by vegetarians. I actually knew that because I looked it up before getting a reservation here! (you gotta be smart that way, yeah?) I wasn’t going to make it out here and be surprised after all! He mentioned that it was a banana curry with tofu and vegetables server over jasmine rice. I must say it was so delicious that I literally devoured it. I was so excited over the curry that I couldn’t stop myself from making detailed plans for how to reproduce it at home (I haven’t made it yet though!). My grandma makes this spicy mango based curry that has similar flavors to the banana curry, so I was constantly reminded of the same. Here is a picture of how satisfied I was:

They served the curry along with mango chutney and sambal. The sambal, felt  unnecessary because it just destroyed the flavors of the curry when you mixed it in. The mango chutney was prepared well, and was on the sweeter side. It was more of an after-thought which could have been a pre-cursor to the dessert, but I didn’t feel like mixing it in with the rest of the food. I dinged them a little bit for not doing so well on the presentation side of things. They left the curry in a bowl for me to pour over given that it could make things sloppy. A restaurant of this caliber could certainly pour the curry for me.

Aditya got the restaurant recommendation, which was the pan-seared Uku (Hawaiian snapper) with stuffed lobster and crab, which was recommended to us by our server. It was done well, but he felt that the fish itself didn’t have a punch to it. The crab and lobster stuffing along with coconut gave it the body it required, but it still could have used a more powerful ingredient like lemon or pepper or soy sauce. The Uku was presented well in comparison to the curry though.

For dessert, we went with the creme brulee. Their specialty however is the black pearl which really is just a fancy chocolate mousse. We heard some good things about the creme brulee from some folks around us and decided to get it. It was just fine! I felt that it was a bit too warm on the inside, and not bruleed enough, almost like it was torched significantly before it was served. It was delicious but the lack of finesse didn’t go unnoticed.

In retrospect, we felt that Mama’s Fish House is probably suitable for an occasion or on a weekend if you’re up for it. We thoroughly enjoyed the vibe and sensation. Although, we found the food tasty, light and satisfying, we felt that the price was a bit steep specially for the vegetarian entree. Agreed, that a major part of the cost is for the overall experience of the restaurant. As much as I loved the vegetarian option, unfortunately there really wasn’t any “variety” for vegetarians, and that prevents me from coming back to this place again.

I would say that Mama’s Fish House is a perfect one time experience. We thoroughly enjoyed our time here and loved the food, and if you can forgive the bang per buck aspect, you should totally go here!