Lahaina Grill (fka David Paul's Lahaina Grill) - Kihie, Maui

Rating:

In Brief: The staff acts like GF meals are a daily occurrence. They did have one misstep, and it was clear they didn't know everything about GF diets, but their misstep was remedied quickly and with a lot of class. It's clear that the chef and the waitstaff work as a team. We had a safe experience. Four stars only because the wait staff was a bit inexperienced with GF diets.

Previously this restaurant was named David Paul's Lahaina Grill. Its been in business since 1990. The name changed in December 2007, but the owner, Jurg Munch and the exceptional food and service are still the same. The exceptional service came through loud and clear for us.

The night we visited this fine restaurant we had two adults who require a GF diet. The wait staff was more than attentive and was quite knowledgeable however, he admitted that he didn't know everything about celiac and it was clear that he had more to learn. We did hear the classic "So, you can't eat potatoes, right?" and this did worry us a bit (and thus the four stars) however, it soon became clear that he was going to do whatever it took to make our dining experience as smooth as possible.

Our waiter showed the signs of someone who was very interested in our needs. He: 1) made a list of what looked good to us to double check with the chef, 2) offered suggestions that he felt would be safe, 3) knew for a FACT that the broth base was made on-site and contained only vegetables.

Appetizers, salad all came to us safe and GF. So what was the misstep? The fish my wife ordered came with blue cheese crumbles, she knew to ask that these be left off of the fish since blue cheese is often started with bread (I don't claim to be a cheese expert but she avoids blue cheese). The wait staff checked with the chef and assured us that it would be no problem to leave the blue cheese off of the fish and that there would be no cross contamination issues.

The meal arrived and, you guessed it, blue cheese on the fish. Now here's the interesting part. The waiter noticed this at the same time my wife did; he promptly grabbed the dish, apologized and made a mad dash to the kitchen. He returned in a few minutes apologizing for the blue cheese. Now, this is a great sign but it can also be worrisome. Anyone with celiac who's experienced this knows that one of two things are probably going on in the kitchen 1) they're making a brand new meal (no risk that way of cross contamination) or 2) they are quickly scraping the blue cheese off of the fish and will return in a few minutes with a unsafe non-GF meal.

I am happy to report that option 2 is how the Lahaina Grill handled the matter. And as an additional plus; the dish was on the house. We ended the meal being able to select from a number of GF desserts too.

Yes, I would recommend Lahaina Grill; and no, it's not because the dish was free... :) it's because they really worked to give us a GF experience. I'm sure with more experience they could quickly earn five stars. Oh, and the non-GF meal I had? I had the veal and it was out of this world!