Hawaii - Day 1 Visited 5/18/2013 3 Forks
Ahhh - Hawaii. How I love thee. It's seriously one of the most beautiful and relaxing places in the world. Of all the times I've been there, I've actually never been to a traditional luau. I've always thought that they were kind of touristy and pricey. And you know what? They are totally touristy and pricey but you should check it out at least once in your life. Luckily, Deanna's company paid for and organized the whole thing, which was great because they were able to get us seats right up front so that we could see everything. The back drop of the luau is beautiful as it's on the beach behind the Marriott and you could see the gorgeous sunset as you were enjoying your drinks (open bar was included in the price of admission).
The luau starts with kind of a sad appetizer. They give you this plastic plate with a half pineapple and some cold coconut shrimp with sweet and sour sauce. I was a bit underwhelmed and was hoping this wasn't a sign of things to come. Well, let's be honest, luau food is a bit like wedding food in that it's really hard to make food for hundreds of people and make it taste good. You're really there for the experience and to say that you went and not necessarily for the quality of food. Before the show started, they announced that they would be unearthing the suckling pig that had been underground for the past day baking. I thought it was going to be a full pig that they pull out, but it turned out that it was large chunks of cut up pork already, so that was a bit disappointing (although for shock factor they do have the head in there). I've seen full pig roasts in the Dominican Republic and in Asia before so it wasn't a huge deal that I didn't see it.
Afterwards, you are led to the buffet portion of the night. Honestly, it's your typical buffet with lots of green salad options (pretty fresh veggies), mayo based salads (think pasta and potato salad), teriyaki chicken (pretty dry), purple potato, fried rice, grilled vegetables, and the pork that they unearthed. All of it was just kind of eh. The best thing that I did eat was the poke (which was my favorite traditional Hawaiian food on the trip) but it was interesting that they hid it on another table away from all the other food. I would have never found it if I didn't keep walking around the buffet area. Poke is essentially cubes of raw tuna marinated in soy, ginger, garlic and other herbs. It's refreshing and amazing and it's all I wanted to eat on the whole trip. After we ate, they started the luau show and it was as expected. Lots of hip shaking, hula dancing, yelling, and fire twirlling. While the food didn't knock me over, the overall experience was worth 3 forks because it really is very Hawaiian and you know what? I am a tourist, so why not do touristy things every once in a while? The cost was covered by Savo but I read somewhere they it's about $100/pp - so definitely pricey and I probably wouldn't have paid that much for it knowing how mediocre the food is, but if you can get a better deal than that, then it might be worth it.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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