Aulani, Disney’s resort and spa in Ko Olina, Hawaii, is a tropical paradise that, of course, has a touch of Disney magic!

Not only is this resort beautiful, but it is also home to some delicious eats like Mickey Mouse-shaped shaved ice and Mickey Mouse-shaped Spam musubi. We recently stopped by Aulani’s family-friendly restaurant, Makahiki — The Bounty of the Islands, for dinner, and we are taking you along with us! Let’s get into it!

You can find Makahiki on the first floor of the main building of the resort, right next to the ‘Ōlelo Room. During breakfast, Makahiki is a character meal where you can meet Mickey and the gang! For dinner, though, the characters are out enjoying all that the resort has to offer, so if you want to enjoy a character meal, you will want to visit Makahiki for breakfast.

Atmosphere

Compared to breakfast, dinner at Makahiki is more upscale and has an elegant vibe. Makahiki is a seasonal celebration of the harvest, and it is reflected in the art on the walls as well as the fixtures on the ceiling. Reservations are not required, but they are recommended. Reservations can be made 30 days in advance.

The restaurant’s lighting is so beautiful at nighttime, and you can see the lighting fixtures and artwork that represent Makahiki.

There are tables outside that overlook the large Koi pond, as well as tables inside. We sat inside because it was dark out, but there were plenty of people who chose to eat outside. Regardless of where you choose to sit, it is still an open-air restaurant, so you can enjoy Hawaii’s gorgeous weather.

Menu

Dinner is a three-course prix-fixe meal that allows you to choose from multiple appetizers, entrees, and desserts. The dinner menu includes seafood, steak, and even plant-based options! Dinner is $77 for adults.

There is also a full bar along with specailty cocktails!

You can even get your cocktail served in a pineapple for an additional $12!

Drinks

We started off our meal by ordering the Mango Mojito, which has Old Lahania Rum, mango, mint, and house-made sweet-and-sour, topped off with soda water.

This drink was acidic, zingy, and nice and fruity. There was a lot of mango flavor, and it overpowered the mint. It was a lovely drink to sip on while we waited for our meal.

We also ordered the Longboard Lager, which you can find all over at Aulani. It is a crowd-pleasing beer as it is super light and has a few tropical notes to it.

Eats

For our starter course, we chose the Caesar Salad, which was a huge portion! It featured hearts of romaine, herbed croutons, house-made Caesar dressing, and Reggiano parmesan.

The salad was crisp, and the lettuce was cold. There was no shortage of dressing, yet we found the ratio of lettuce, croutons, and dressing to be just right!

We also tried the Roasted Tomato Soup, which had hamakua tomatoes, basil, EVOO, and sourdough fontina melts.

This was a huge portion once again, and it was more of a bowl rather than a cup! It was so creamy and savory, and we tasted a hint of basil. It also came with sourdough fontina melts, which is just a fancy way to say grilled cheese. This was truly like an entree-sized portion.

For our entree course, we ordered the House-Smoked Atlantic Salmon with applewood smoked bacon, marble potato salad, roasted asparagus, maitake mushrooms, and lemon-dill cream.

This was very rich and buttery. It was so well cooked that it melted in our mouths. The cream sauce added to the richness, which made it a bit hard to eat after having such a large soup and salad. It also came with a serving of potatoes. We would say that picky eaters may not like this since it has a mushroom taste. The asparagus, on the other hand, was just good, nothing special, just asparagus.

We also tried the Filet Mignon, which was 8oz and was served with whipped potatoes, broccolini, shallot confit, bordelaise sauce, and bleu cheese butter.

We ordered ours medium rare, but it was a tad bit overcooked. There was a bit in the middle that felt like it was cooked just right. However, it seemed that it was cooked too long. Due to this, it did not have the typical texture you would expect when you order Filet Mignon. The filet itself was super peppery, and the outside of it had a rub on it, which made it taste incredible. The broccolini was well-salted but a little stiff on the stem. We were let down by the mashed potatoes as they were not really mushy, and you could tell that they had been scooped out based on their shape; it was more of a potato paste.

There were three choices for dessert, and we were so lucky that our server comped us for one dessert so we could try all three! First up, we had the Roasted Pineapple Cobbler with macadamia nut cinnamon streusel and haupia gelato. You will definitely want to try this if you are an apple pie person. It was like a fruity pie with a scoop of ice cream on it. It was super sweet since pineapple is such a sweet and tart fruit.

To our surprise, the dessert we did not order turned out to be our favorite! The Warm Chocolate Toffe Brownie came with
brownie brittle and vanilla ice cream. It had lovely pieces of sugary toffee, and the chocolate was not overly rich. Our reporter who tried it is not really into chocolate, but would still recommend it even if you are not a chocolate person because the toffee is so good.

Finally, we tried the Kona Coffee Cheesecake with Oreo cookie crust, whipped cream, and toffee sauce. This dessert is super coffee-forward, and you are going to want to skip out on it if you are not a coffee person. This shot up our nose with coffee flavor, which was okay for us because we found this dish to be delicious and the cheesecake was super creamy.

The desserts were the real winner for us, and if you want to try them without having to have a prix-fixed meal, you can find all three of these desserts at The ‘Ōlelo Room.

Overall

The service here was incredible, but that is the case all over the resort, as all the Cast Members are super kind and very hospitable. Although this was a heavy three-course meal, you are able to pace it as you would like. It was a great dinner, but not necessarily a standout dinner. Instead, we would recommend dining at Makahiki for breakfast.

For $77, this meal was a bit on the pricey side. While the mood changes compared to breakfast, it is not a super fancy meal. It is comparable to eating at Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary in Disney World. If you are unable to dine at Aulani’s signature restaurant, ‘AMA‘AMA, this is a good alternative. But if you want something more upscale, you will want to dine there instead.

Nosh or Not

You will want to head to Makahiki for dinner if you…

• Want a family-friendly meal. The menu items here can appease an array of eaters with classic eats like tomato soup, grilled cheese, and steak.
• You did not make reservations but still want to eat out. Although reservations are recommended, there is plenty of seating to usually be able to accommodate walk-ups.

You may want to skip Makahiki for dinner if…

• Dining with characters is a must. If you want to meet Mickey and the gang, you will want to check out Makahiki for breakfast instead.
• Don’t like prix-fixe meals. While we did enjoy this meal, it was very filling and came with three courses.
• You are looking for a signature dining experience. If you want to have a more upscale dinner, you will want to check out Aulani’s signature restaurant, ‘AMA‘AMA.

We are checking out everything that Aulani has to offer, so make sure to stay tuned to the Disney Food Blog for more!

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Have you ever visited Aulani? Let us know in the comments!