We checked into the Hapuna Beach Prince in the early evening and after we were settled we decided to get dinner. We were kind of tired from travel and just wanted to eat at the resort. I looked into our dining options and saw that there were two restaurants open – Ocean Terrace and Coast Grille. Both menus looked good, atmosphere seemed good, both required “resort attire.” I made the executive decision to go to Coast Grille, which was a bit more pricey than Ocean Terrace. I was just in the mood to have a really nice, quiet dinner together since it was the first time we were on our own since the wedding. Heck, the first time in 12 days, probably. And since we were going to be spending upcoming days with friends, it was our only night to have a nice quiet dinner. Plus, we had our fists full of wedding money!
We were not really sure what “resort attire” was. Dallas wore a nice aloha shirt, shorts and leather slippers. I wore a nice shirt and a skirt. When we got there, we seemed a little under dressed, a feeling I never felt before in Hawaii! We didn’t really care, though, and neither did the restaurant. I just think it is funny that Dallas basically wore what he wore to our wedding and he was under dressed. Ha.
The hostess said she’d have to check on a seat for us and I was afraid that it was going to be a long wait, but within 10 minutes we were seated. We were on a terrace, which I think overlooks the ocean, but honestly, it was so dark we couldn’t see anything. I liked that we were at the end of the terrace near a server stand and in an area that was not very trafficked by anyone except our server, so it was nice and quiet.
Our waitress introduced herself. She was a cute older lady that you just wanted to call Aunty! She was very helpful and curteous and I liked that she didn’t stick around and get in our way. We really just wanted to eat a quiet meal in peace. The lighting of the restaurant was really dark out there, but I didn’t mind. I just wanted to sit there and listen to the ocean!
I had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and Dallas had a Kona Brewing Big Wave. Dallas might have had 2 beers, I only had one glass of wine. I think that the vacation was starting to take it’s toll! We had been drinking every day for about 12 days at that point, so we had to lay off!
First off, we were served bread in a bread basket. I had to remind myself not to fill up on bread becuase there was a really good olive loaf in there that I could have wolfed down. It was so salty and yummy with the slightly sweet butter. But, I was really psyched for good seafood, so I laid off!
For pupus, Dallas and I split the Seasonal Oysters in the half shell. I can’t remember where they were from, but they were not local (Sidenote: Do Hawaiian oysters even exist?). Maybe it was the ocean breeze or 12 days of drinking, but even though these oysters were not local, they were the best I ever had, I swear! We also split the Ahi Poke Tempura Roll, which was like maki with poke in the middle, then the whole roll was battered and fried. Good too. Not as good as the oysters.
Dallas and I each got a salad, the same salad, the Kamuela Spinach Salad. Kamuela is a town about 12 miles up the road, so if this spinach was from there, it could not have been more local. The salad also had red onion, goat cheese made on the Big Island, house-made bacon, and a warm mustard vinaigrette. This salad was soooo good. The tanginess of the cheese, saltiness of the bacon, creaminess of the cheese, crispness of the spinach. So good.
For an entree Dallas had the Pan Roasted Kurobuta Pork Chops. I don’t have much info on how this was prepared because it was a special that night, but Dallas seemed to really like it. The Prince is owned by a Japanese company and they have a lot of Japanese guests. The table next to us got a completely different menu than we did, all in Japanese. Anyway, we’re thinking the Kurobuta was served because it is a Japanese name for a certain quality of pork.
I had the Coast Grille Seafood Trio, which was three Hawaiian fish – Mahi, Ahi, and Ono – cooked however the chef wanted with a side of coconut rice. This was really delicious and exactly what I was in the mood for. The fish pieces were on the small side, but there were three of them, so in the end it was just the right size.
Bad lighting, brand new rings
We had a look at the dessert menu, but nothing stood out. Plus, we were rather full, so we decided to skip it. All-in-all it was a great, quiet, romantic dinner.
