"Roy Yamaguchi's misoyaki butterfish has anchored this Kaanapali clubhouse since 1988 — book it for a Maui team dinner that needs no shushing."
The misoyaki butterfish lands the way it has since 1988: black cod marinated three days in sweet miso, broiled until it gives way at a fork's nudge, $48 and worth it. Roy Yamaguchi opened the first Roy's in Honolulu that year and won a James Beard Award in 1993, the first Hawaii chef to do so. The Kaanapali room sits in the golf clubhouse at 2290 Kaanapali Parkway, an open kitchen throwing flame while the dining floor fills with families in from the beach.
Roy Yamaguchi wrote the template for Hawaiian fusion, marrying French technique, Japanese precision and island fish, and Roy's Kaanapali runs it with the discipline of an operation that has not let standards slip. Yamaguchi took the James Beard Award for Best Chef Pacific Northwest in 1993, the first Hawaii-based chef to win one, and this kitchen still cooks his canon.
The dish to order is the misoyaki butterfish: black cod cured in miso and mirin, broiled, set over a dashi-soy beurre blanc, $48. The other non-negotiable is dessert, the melting hot chocolate souffle baked to order with a molten centre, which is why the floor asks for it when you sit down. Around them the menu reads Euro-Asian: blackened ahi with a soy-mustard butter, shoyu-braised short ribs, Szechuan-spiced baby back ribs, and a nightly catch off the Honolulu auction. Mains run roughly $45 to $60, and a full dinner with a starter and a glass lands near $90 to $110 a head. The sake and wine list is deeper than a resort clubhouse has any business carrying. For more of the island, see our best seafood restaurants worldwide.
Roy's occupies the clubhouse at the entrance to Kaanapali, glassed over the golf course rather than the water, so book it for the food and not a sunset. The open kitchen anchors the room and holds the noise at a steady hum, louder when full, never library-quiet. Tables are generously spaced, the lighting warms and drops after dusk, and the dress code is resort casual, with a collared shirt reading right at dinner and shorts fine at lunch. It seats well over a hundred across the main floor and a lanai, so a party of eight is no trouble. Service is quick and well-drilled.
Book Roy's for a team dinner for three reasons: the room absorbs a large, loud table without anyone shushing you, the menu carries a crowd-pleaser for every eater from the ahi to the ribs, and the kitchen turns a party of ten without falling behind. Family-style platters and a souffle-for-the-table finish keep the group together rather than splintered over a dozen separate cheques. Picture a sales offsite winding down over short ribs and a round of mai tais, the open kitchen flaring behind you. See our best team-dinner restaurants and the wider Maui dining guide.
Not for an oceanfront sunset. Roy's faces the golf course, not the water, so book Mama's Fish House if the view is the point of the night.
Yes, for consistent Hawaiian fusion from the chef who invented the genre. Roy Yamaguchi's misoyaki butterfish ($48) and the melting hot chocolate souffle alone justify the booking, and the cooking holds a line most resort restaurants drop. Expect about $90 to $110 a head with a drink. It is not cheap, but it is honest value on a stretch of Maui where worse rooms charge more.
Not hard with a little notice. Roy's takes reservations on OpenTable and by phone at 808-669-6999, and a weeknight table is usually open a few days out. Sunset slots between 6 and 7 and holiday weeks go first, so book a week ahead in peak season. The early-dining prix-fixe seatings before 5pm are the easiest tables to land and the best value.
Resort casual is the rule. A collared shirt and trousers or a sundress fit the dinner room, while shorts and sandals are fine at lunch and on the lanai. There is no jacket requirement, and beach cover-ups read as too casual after dark. The crowd mixes golfers off the course with families in from the beach. Comfort over formality, but a notch up at dinner.
Order the misoyaki butterfish; it is the signature and the reason regulars return, and request the melting hot chocolate souffle when you sit so it is ready for dessert. Before them, the blackened ahi with soy-mustard butter and the shoyu short ribs are the dishes to chase. Add a sake flight or a mai tai, and the nightly fresh catch if you prefer fish off the Honolulu auction.
Yes. The room seats large parties comfortably, the noise level lets a table of ten talk without shouting, and the menu has something for every eater. Family-style platters and a shared-souffle finish keep the group together. Book the lanai for a private-feeling corner. See our Maui team-dinner picks for more.
OpenTable · 2290 Kaanapali Pkwy
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Roy's Kaanapali is one of the surest large-party bookings on Maui. See where it lands among the island's best team-dinner tables.
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