Oahu - Mahi ‘ai Table (Inside Foodland Farms - Kapolei)

Yes, trying to catch up on all my travel eating posts! Sheesh am I behind. Anyway, if you remember this post, well, we were "back home" in February. Since we spend so much time on the Leeward (that would be "west") side of Oahu these days, and were spending much more time there on this trip, I was on the lookout for new places to eat. Several years back, I had read about a new development near what we used to call "North-South Road" back in the day. I had heard that a hotel was coming up, which turned out to be a Hampton Inn. I had also read about a Foodland Farms opening in the shopping center. Now some of the folks I know scoff at the Foodland versus Foodland Farms thing, saying it's just a way of charging more, in other words, Hawaii's version of "Whole Paycheck". Though I will say that on our previous visit, we checked out FF in Pearl City and got some decent chicken wings and chicken skin there. 

I had also read about a restaurant named Mahi'ai' (which I think in this context means Farmer) Table opening within the FF located in Ka Makana Ali'i which is the name of that shopping complex in Kapolei. We had gotten in at a bit after 1pm, so I thought once we got settled, we could just head over, order takeout, and do a bit of shopping and easily have dinner.

The shopping center is huge, so many shops, everything from movie theatres to Macy's to Olive Garden to Reyn Spooner!

The Foodland Farms seemed quite bustling. The restaurant itself is located right as you enter into the market.

The woman working was very friendly and it looked like a nice big space.

But we would be doing take out. So, I placed my order and went to do some shopping.

There was still a short wait after finishing up our shopping. The drive back to the In-Laws was less than ten minutes, so this is quite a convenient location.

And so we had an early dinner; it was quite a bit of food.

The Blistered Shishito Peppers ($14) weren't very "blistered".

There was "puffed rice" on this which brought a bit of texture to the dish; but the peppers weren't "charred" enough and the "umami aioli" just made it seem greasy. This was very bland as well.

The Lechon Style Brussel Sprouts ($13), featured delicious tomatoes, but were a bit too undercooked and we like our brussels crunchy, but this was hard! The sauce used also seemed to add a layer of unpleasant greasiness to the sporuts.

We like vibrant flavors on our brussels and this was too bland. And I was thrilled to see that the dish included crispy pipikaula; but really, one slice. Kinda manini!

We got the Soy Habanero Wings ($17), which were more on the sweeter side.

The wings also didn't keep it's crispness during the ten minute drive back to the house. Meaty wings; the flats were decent but the drumettes quite dry. I thought the addition of bubu arare was quite interesting.

We loved the greens that came with the Crispy Confit Chicken ($23).

    Let's take a look at that chicken.  It's a huge piece but does it look "crispy" to you? Also, it was fairly tender, but quite dry for confit, making it somewhat bland; the supposed nuoc cham edged to the sweeter side of the scale. The fried garlic was fine; but the garlic rice was super hard and dry. It was like trying to eat barely cooked rice. Now come on, how can you mess up rice?

The Sticky Ribs ($19) was probably the best item we had.

The ribs came off the bone cleanly and were fairly moist. The sauce, while again on the sweeter side of things still had enough soy and salt which combined with the porkiness of the ribs worked well. The pickled onions and namasu helped to balance out things.

I was so excited to see Mochiko Crusted Ahi Belly ($19) on the menu. Man, ahi belly, one of my favorite things. And while I didn't expect this to be better than my favorite version, but this wasn't even close.

    Again the greens and tomato was outstanding. But take a look at that rice, it's the same as the "confit chicken" and the photo shows more clearly how hard and dry it was. Speaking of dry; you can add the ahi belly as well. It was dry, lacking in that rich, fatty, texture. It was also strangely fishy in flavor; the Missus had one bite and was done.

We were quite disappointed with this meal. Perhaps Mahi'ai Table is only for dining in; but I don't think it would matter in terms of dry and hard rice, fishy ahi belly, greasy brussel sprouts, and so forth. We did like the greens and tomatoes; so I guess if Bruddah is going to eat here again, it's going to be a salad? Not likely though.

I also had a good laugh in thinking that maybe all places named "Farmer's Table" has some kind of bachi?

It was kind of a bad start to our stay "back home".

Mahi ‘ai Table
91-5431 Kapolei Pkwy. Suite 1704 (Inside Foodland Farms)
Kapolei, HI 96707

Still, it was good to be back in the islands. And the meals would get better!

Stay Tuned!

Comments

[Peter]

Foodland FARMS? That's a new one on me. (Can you tell I haven't been over there for a few years?) I'll be sure to skip the restaurant and head straight to the poke!

[Sandy]

Bummer on the meal. As Peter says, I will be sticking with the poke!

[Kirk]

Hi Peter - They've converted the Ala Moana, Aina Haina, and Pearl City locations to that concept. I think they are supposed to be selling more local/organic/healthy, etc options.

Yes, this was disappointing Sandy!

[kat]

bummer

[Kirk]

It was Kat!