By Chelsea Farr
For several months, I have been wanting to try Coconuts Fish Café, but it wasn’t until this previous week that I finally got that chance. Coconuts Fish Cafe in Kihei is a family-friendly walk-in restaurant with an enlightening local twist. The music was very local, but as I find it, that is appealing to the many tourists and even local people that come in and out of this restaurant every day. The walls were painted with a vibrant green and light brown trimming, filled with fun images of Hawaii. The seats and tables were designed as if they were surfboards and the restaurant was filled with natural lighting coming through the several windows and additional help from some ceiling lights.
Grilled mahi-mahi Caesar salad, served with two shrimp on the side.
It is a restaurant that welcomes people of all ages, tourists, locals and anyone who is wanting to chow down on some appetizing plate lunches. From the moment we entered, we were greeted by the friendly and abundant staff at the front counter. Something different about this restaurant is that you can either dine in or take it to go, no problem. However, this isn’t the biggest place and seats do fill up fast, so definitely make sure to get there early for lunch or even dinner.
For those of you who don’t like raw fish, no worries, Coconuts makes sure their fish is cooked all the way through and thoroughly. Coconuts Fish Cafe is known for their famous fish tacos. Don’t like fish tacos? No problem there either, because this restaurant has so much variety to choose from, with a healthy spin on their meals as well.
The menu is broken down into 11 different options, such as pupus, salads, soups, tacos, “on a bun,” “on brown rice,” and chips, pasta and baskets. There’s also a keiki menu.
Menu prices range anywhere from $5.49 to $17.99, with many options to choose from such as the several fresh fish, ahi, mahi-mahi, ono—and you could even choose to have poke if you please. After ordering from the front, if dining, you can simply just grab a seat if available and one of the staff members will be come over and deliver your food to you. I ordered the grilled mahi-mahi with salt and pepper on Caesar salad, along with the local style grilled ono, with salt and pepper on brown rice plate.
Local style grilled ono plate, served with coleslaw and tartar sauce.
With whatever fish you decide to get, you have the many choices: you can have it with lemon butter, blackened, Cajun, Asian flair, or simple served with just salt and pepper. After waiting for only about 10 minutes, the food was delivered by one of the many servers. Both dishes smelled so heavenly and the portions were very decent and generous. The mahi-mahi Caesar salad was filled with so much juice and flavor and the presentation was neat and beautiful. The ono on brown rice was also presented beautifully, served with coleslaw and a side tartar sauce, which added the right zest to this fish as it was a little dry, but one dip in the tartar and you’ll be set.
Coconuts Fish Cafe is located in the heart of Kihei at 1279 South Kihei Rd, #304. This is in the same area where the Fourth Friday event is held, at the Azeka Shopping center. Coconuts Fish Café’s hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. You can give them a call at (808) 875-9979 or visit www.Coconutsfishcafe.com.
