Makahiki – The Bounty of the Islands

This place is pretty bad, I tried them for both dinner and the character breakfast. First the selection is pretty small, which is fine if they quality is there, but there is not a lot of quality. I also don’t expect a lot from buffets since it’s normally quantity over quality but even still this was pretty bad.
First the dinner was the only part that I some what enjoyed, half of the buffet was pretty good quality (roast beef, sashimi, poke) and the other half was bad, over cooked meat, over cooked fish, and pretty bad dessert. As for the breakfast the only thing that was good was the omelette making station, everything else was pretty bland, or over cooked.
The character part of the breakfast is pretty disappointing as well, Mickey first greets you before you get your table, and Goofy and Minnie go around mingling at the tables (they both came to us twice) and participate in the songs and activities with Aunty and the kids. Aunty and the characters are fantastic, but it’s kind of disappointing that there is only three characters working the breakfast and only two are mingling. All of the others that are at the resort are not typically at a meet and greet during the breakfast hours so they should be here, at the very least Donald should be there since he is one of the big characters at the resort.

Had breakfast here not too impressed. It’s buffet style Disney character dining and there are a lot of kids enjoying Mickey, Minnie & Goofy. There’s a large variety of foods, a lot of local fruits and an omelet made to order bar. Other than fruits and omelets, quality is meh — definitely not worth the expense $ 70 for 2. It’s loud, even sitting in the patio — comes with the kid factor. There are other places nearby that probably offer better value and food quality.

Meh. Just had dinner here. Everything was salty! We left feeling a little queasy from all the salt. Character breakfast (every morning) is better, although not by much. Glad they didn’t charge us for our kids (2.5 and 5) because they ate 2 pieces of pizza and a few bites of pasta. We let them know that our little one was allergic to shellfish and the chef came out to personally go over the selections and point out which dishes or sauces contained shellfish. He also reminded us that shrimp and vegetable tempura were fried in the same oil. Totally appreciated that, just wish that the food tasted better.

The prime rib was amazing. The server was attentive. There was a good variety of food and seafood. The dessert was lacking and the drinks were weak or I’d of given it a perfect score. The ambiance and décor and setting were perfect. Paradise. I wish they’d of had butter for the crab, but other than that we were happy. Both of our children fell asleep on their first plate. Paying for hem to eat nothing was upsetting, but we have a villa so from now on we will have to feed them in our villa. Not a big deal. It happens. If I could give a half star I would.

Warning: I visited on 12/​23/​2015 and the characters have changed. I am not sure if this is temporary or a permanent thing. Please inquire before making a reservation. This was my 6^th breakfast here so I expected what I experienced five times prior. Instead of Minnie and Goofy doing the rotations and show with Aunty, it was Chip and Dale. Then Stitch made a short appearance. I was quite disappointed because my daughter wanted to see Minnie for her birthday and she wasn’t able to. When we noticed Minnie wasn’t around I told my 5 year old to ask if Minnie would be coming to breakfast. She was politely told Minnie was busy today but that she could pick up a house phone and dial CHIP and we could find the schedule any characters on premise and be able to take pictures with them. Unfortunately, we didn’t plan for an extended stay hunting down Minnie and by the end of our breakfast my kids were ready for a nap so we left.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not one of those parents who allow my child to have silly fits over not being able to see a certain character. I told her it was ok! We will play with Chip and Dale today and explained how to noticed who was Chip and who was Dale (Chip has a black nose if you all didn’t know). She got over it fairly easily more so because I do not allow her to tantrum or fuss about things like this.
The best part of the breakfast was the Aunty! I wish I remembered her name! She was very patient with my hyper daughter and when she found out it was her birthday aunty went out of her way to get my daughter a birthday pin. Once our waitress found out it was Natalie’s birthday she brought a tiny cake out for her and sang her a song (I thought it was strange that she didn’t gather a few more waiters/​waitresses to hep her sing).
I also loved the energy of the workers who were working along side of Mickey during picture taking! My daughter drew pictures of her favorite characters for Mickey and put it in an envelope and Aulani bag and they graciously presented it to Mickey’s.
Another positive was that I was able to get my Mickey waffle fix!
Tips: I made my reservation in September online for my daughters 5^th birthday. It was way ahead but I figured I put the res in and if anything changed I would call and cancel. I suggest this if you are not staying on property because it is difficult to get a res at times.

I went to this restaurant twice: once for the character brunch and once for the buffet dinner these are my experiences:
Brunch–
We easily made a reservation and arrived there to be quickly seated. They had a good food variety with waffles, omelettes, and pastries. All the food was great. Also be sure to try to POG– papaya, orange and guava juice– it’s yummy. They also had wonderful singing and dancing by characters that made our family laugh. They also sang happy birthday to my baby even though her birthday was a month away. 5 stars.
Buffet dinner–
We easily made a reservation and had to wait to be seated. The food variety is lacking. Really they need to work on getting more food so truly satisfy your palette. The food was alright. The low point was the prime rib. They offer medium well but it was the driest, toughest piece of meat I ever tasted. They didn’t offer any entertainment and the servers weren’t as friendly as the breakfast crew. I would skip this place for dinner really because it’s overpriced and underwhelming. 3 stars
Overall they get 4 stars. Brunch is impressive while the dinner buffet will leave you dissatisfied.

The buffet had small varieties of choices. Mainly just ate the crab legs and ribeye. There were flies flying around the food too which kind of disgusted me on what to eat. They also charged a service charge pkg fee on me of 18% while using my cast member discount. That pretty much was the tip. Service was mediocre. I expected better. Might give it a try for breakfast instead of dinner and see how it goes.

Had the Disney Character Breakfast here to help celebrate my niece’s 5^th birthday. It was amazing! We had a 9:50am reservation & was seated at 10am. We were able to meet & take photos with Donald Duck before getting seated!
So many food to choose from but since my bun in the oven resent’s the smell of meat, I mostly grabbed from the kid’s buffet: P however, I’m sure it was deli because my family sure enjoyed it! Our server, Anastasia, had awesome customer server & always made sure our drinks were filled and we had everything we needed, even though she had to make a couple trips coming back to our table of 9 since some of us realized we needed something else. She even got my young son his own little red velvet birthday cake even though it was only my niece’s bday!
During our meal, we met Chip and Dale & Stitch. They were so friendly and took pictures with everyone. They also danced in a line with the kids. They must have different characters everyday or different times of the day. Would have been nice to see Mickey Mouse though. A lady was also singing and dancing around the tables to keep the kiddies entertained which I thought was nice. She has a nice voice too! Before I saw her singing, I thought it was just a CD playing or something!
After our brunch, we went to the gift shop to purchase our photos we took with Donald Duck. We got all of our 20 photos, plus 3 print outs, 1 complimentary print out (the preview), and a disc for $ 52-​something. Also got the kids some stuff and I believe whatever was in their shop that still had the date «2015» on it was some percentage off… I want to say 15%, but I could be wrong.
It was my family’s first time here & will not be our last!

I went here with a large group of friends for my friend’s daughter’s birthday party. We had an 11 AM reservation, so it was a little bit past the breakfast rush. For the food, I would have given 4 – 4.5 stars. They had a really great selection, including an omelet station, fruit station, and hot food station that had mini loco mocos, corned beef hash, Eggs benedict, bacon, scrambled eggs, white and fried rice, miso soup, chicken link sausage, pork sausage patty, biscuits and gravy, oatmeal, grits, and grilled fish (those are the things I can remember off the top of my head). They also had pancakes, waffles, and French toast. $ 35 was a bit expensive, but you are also paying for the «experience» of the Disney characters. When we went, there were Chip & Dale (rescue rangers, not the male strippers obvi), Lilo, and Donald Duck. I guess the characters rotate so you never know who will be working the day you go. The characters are always «in character» and walk around to take photos or play around with each other. There was also a very animated storytelling lady, who I thought did a really good job at keeping the kids entertained.
What lost the stars for this review was the crappy service. I felt our table got ignored, and everyone on my table felt that way. To get a refill, I had to stand up and ask one of the waitresses helping another table (and this was after 45 minutes of not one single waiter coming by our table). Our table was overflowing with dirty dishes that weren’t bussed away. I also thought it was strange that for a breakfast buffet, they didn’t keep ketchup bottles on the table. You had to ask for ketchup as well as waters.
Overall, I would go back – but hopefully the service is better next time. I had a great time, only because I was with a great group of friends. I did enjoy the food, as I got two plates full, but the service was hugely disappointing. Some positives were that the juice and soda were included in the $ 35 buffet price, and they validate if you use valet or self-​park.

Been here 2 times for the character breakfast. I think this a fantastic place for kids to have fun and eat breakfast. The experience of meeting Mickey and hanging out with the other characters is worth it. You dont need to go to the mainland to do something Disney. And we did not stay here at the hotel. It is worth the visit and the price to make the little kiddies smile!!!
Food is good. My favorites are the little Mickey Mouse pancake, egg’s benedict, mini loco moco. They have a lot of fruits and an omelet station. My only complaint was not enough veggies on the buffet.

The restaurant offers a special Character Breakfast Buffet and a dinner buffet. This review is for the CHARACTER BREAKFAST! The Character Breakfast is from 7am to 11am. Last seating is at 11am but the festivities continue until 12:30pm.
Location/​Parking:
The restaurant is located in the Aulani Resort in Ko Olina on the west side of Oahu. Don’t forget to let your waitress validate your parking ticket. Parking is FREE with validation for 4 hours!
Reservations:
I initially checked for availability the following weekend and they were completely booked. The next availability was three weeks later. So I made reservations online for a party of 8 and the only time slot they had was at 11am.
Character Experience:
All guest will meet Mickey and take professional pictures prior to being seated. The staff will also take pictures for you from your phone.
Minnie and Goofy walked around the restaurant to do a meet and greet and take pictures with you while you dine. Both Minnie and Goofy came to our table twice. You can ask Minnie and Goofy for their signature if you have an autograph book.
Aunty hosts the show with singing, dancing and children participation. They march around the restaurant with Minnie while tapping coconut and shaking musical vegetables/​fruits for music.
Food:
There was a wide variety of food from breakfast pastries (donuts, muffins), fresh fruit (papaya, watermelon, strawberries and blackberries) and hot entrees (fried rice, mini loco moco, eggs benedict, made to order omelet, Portuguese sausage, bacon). There is a small kid’s section in the buffet with Mickey shaped waffles, tater tots, scrambled eggs and bacon.
My favorite foods were the Mickey shaped waffles, mini loco moco, fried rice, Portuguese sausage and the fresh papaya.
Price:
The adults price for the breakfast buffet is $ 32 and children 3 years old and older are $ 18. Two year old and under are free. An 18% gratuity is included in the bill.
Service:
Our waitress named Jennifer was friendly and prompt with our drinks. She came to check on us numerous times and even refilled our iced teas without any of us asking.
Wait Time:
I took out 1 star for the review for the wait. We had an 11am reservation and had to wait to see Mickey and then wait again to be seated. We were seated at 11:30am even after coming 10 minutes early from our reservation time.
I remember the wait being an issue 2 years ago so it’s a little disappointing that they haven’t fixed this problem. We shouldn’t have to wait especially if we made reservations.
Overall, it’s a wonderful experience if you have children. They will love it!

Cute character breakfast! You get a ticket to take a picture with Mickey… of course they will take pictures with your phone if you don’t want to pay, but it’s going to be a crappy photo because they want you buy the professional pics that aren’t included on your photo passport. I see your marketing schemes, Disney!
The buffet itself is pretty good. Standard breakfast food which caters to mainland Americans, Hawaiians, and Asians… all my favorite types of breakfast food. Since I have a list of allergies, the chef came out to personally let me which items to avoid. We got take pics with Goofy and Minnie… and Auntie is really cute especially when she leads the parade with the kids.
Make reservations early, cause they fill up!

I loved the environment and the atmosphere. Got to see all of the characters and took some photos. The food was exactly what I thought it would be and that was awesome!!! We enjoyed every part of our brunch for my fiancées Birthday :) be sure to make reservations to get in!

Buffets all day long here!
Breakfast highlight is their Disney characters that comes out to swaddle around to say hi and take pics with you. Their miso soup and smoked salmon were the winners for breakfast.
As for their dinner buffet, their seafood selections were amazing! I loved their King crab legs for days! It was not only tasty fresh, it was also meaty as well. Raw oysters tasted fresh as well as their salmon sashimi. Shrimp was bomb and squeeze those lemon wedges on, then you will be good to goooooo!
Prime rib for the carnivore lovers!
Service was great.
This resort buffet was leisurely. Time to kick back, chow down and turn down.

Typical buffet. Pretty lame actually for the cost. Sure there’s a large selection of rather average food. The sashimi was decent but not good; the sushi were all lame rolls with veg and mostly fake crab stuffing. Of all the meat selections I only liked the brisket (it was great although a bit over salted). Desserts, especially the molten chocolate, were great.
Around $ 45 per person. Not even close to worth that; maybe $ 25 would be worthwhile. And they had the audacity to try to fool the poor tourists who choose to stay at the resort by adding a suggested tip section on the bill. Come on, it’s a buffet where you serve yourself. Wait personnel clear plates (like a bus boy) and refill the water (again, like a bus boy).
Not a chance I’d go back to this overpriced buffet.

My bro wanted to treat us with our young daughter to a character breakfast. Keep in mind, the prices will be Disneyland-​eque, you are, after all, in Walt Disney’s dreams. The reception was true to Hawaiian style. I don’t think you get this hospitality anywhere else in the world. When your pager is called, you get ushered through a line for photo ops. The little ones had fun here. We were placed at a half booth, and we perused the buffet line.
HOLY MYLANTA. Have you seen the spread? Keep in mind, I love breakfast. They have everything imaginable, and even a few things you probably won’t find anywhere else. Most notable? The kalua pig fried rice. Broke da mouth. Seriously. Every single morsel of food i took on this day was cooked perfectly. No complaints.
The characters that showed up here were less than memorable. For me anyway. I didn’t even know who they were.
Well, again, you’re paying tourist prices, and you’re on vacation. So shell out the pesos at least once and bring your kids to this place for a magical breakfast. Keep some tums on hand. You’re gonna need it. haha

The character breakfast buffet is a must if you are staying at the Aulani with children. But beware of the wait. We usually eat here on a Friday morning and it is always crowded. First, you take pictures with Mickey Mouse and the staff is nice enough to take photos with your camera too. Then you are led back to the waiting area where you wait until your table is ready. So save yourself some grief and don’t expect to be seated at your reservation time.
But once you do get seated, service is pretty quick and they will take your drink orders and you are free to explore the buffet line. My kids love that there is a buffet section just for kids. The kids section is lowered to a friendlier kids’ height and offers scrambled eggs, mickey mouse waffles, mini pancakes, and more.
Adults can enjoy a variety of hot items like oatmeal, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, frittata, eggs benedict, sausage, ham, corned beef hash, hash browns, pancakes, waffles, French Toast as well as made to order omelets. There also plenty of breads and pastries to choose from and also some Asian foods like miso soup and fried rice. I really liked that they offer papaya among their fruit selection.
Goofy and Minnie Mouse will stop by at your table to say Hi and for photo ops. Aunty will be playing ukulele, signing, and facilitating play for interested kids.
You can make reservations on the Aulani website. Adults are $ 32 and kids 9 and under are $ 18. the character breakfast runs daily from 7 – 11 am.

Ahhhhhh!!! My birthday breakfast with mickey, minnie, and goofy! My bf reserved 2 weeks ahead.
There is free self parking and valet parking for 4 hours with $ 35 spent at a restaurant in Aulani Resort. After 4 hours I think it’s $ 10 for an hour.
The buffet is downstairs from the lobby. After checking in with the host we got to take picture with mickey! There is a professional camera person that would take a picture for you but the picture would be $ 30. However, they will help you take pictures with your camera.
After picture with Mickey, it was time to feast. The server came and asked us what we want to drink. I asked if they have almond milk… and OMG they do! My bf said he’s gonna get juice since he doesn’t drink coffee on the weekend… and ended up getting coffee. *face palm* Almond milk was sweet… love it! So we went to check out the food. There were sooo much food for breakfast (egg benedict, loco moco, mickey and stitch waffle, pancakes, sausages, soup, veggie, stir fry, sandwiches, fruits) I probably ate like 4 plates full. Dang… that calorie in one day. I actually thought the food would be horrible but it was pretty good. They certainly have improved since the first time I went a year ago.
Minnie and goofy was walking around the restaurant when we were eating. There was also a kids entertainment.
I knocked off one star because the server was ok. She was kind rushing us out when we got the check so soon. She ignored us until we paid. She didn’t bother filling our drink. So you have to ask her to do it.
Buffet was $ 32 per person. It’s to be expected at Aulani. I was satisfied overall.

The Service: so so… not very attentive.
The Food: $ 32 per person. If you are coming here just for the food, you might be disappointed. Not a lot of variety of choices. My favorite has to be Disney characters waffles!
The Entertainment: If you are coming here for kids entertainment, this is the place! Disney characters come to each table. Lots photo opportunity! Kids can join in the singing & dancing with the host. Very entertaining!

I’ve been to Ama Ama before and loved it! Hearing great things about the entire resort, we couldn’t wait to try out the much raved about Disney character breakfast.
There are a lot of great things that they do, but there were also a few mishaps that left us feeling a bit underwhelmed.
THE GOOD:
From the photographers to the performers and characters — they all work so hard keeping up to the Disney standard and making sure everyone has a great experience. AWESOME! The characters even took the time to help my pretending-​to-​be-​shy niece to come around. The performer has interactive activities that they make a sincere effort to get every kid to participate. I appreciated that!
Mickey Mouse was outside to have pictures taken with him while folks wait for the tables. You do need to check in for your reservation to receive a ticket to take a picture with Mickey.
The selection of food is wide and thoughtful with Stitch and Mickey mouse waffles. Not everything tasted amazing, but it was good. The highlights were the guava pastries, miso soup, and waffles.
They have staff that goes around to each table to make sure Goofy and Minnie have visited each table.
THE NOT SO GOOD:
We had a 10:45 am reservation because that’s all that was available. Breakfast is from 7 – 11 am. Since it was late as it is, obviously we were ready to eat when we got there. Even checked in early. As we waited and all were hungry, my 3-​year old friend’s excitement began to quickly subside and she was discouraged as she saw characters continue to pass through the breakfast area without getting to take pictures with them. Well, we watched people who arrived well after us continue to get seated. 11:11 am rolls around and one of the hostesses asks us if we’ve been helped. We let her know we checked in and she looked up our last name. Apparently, they forgot about us and offered no apology. In fact, she was very quiet leading us to the table and we didn’t get to enjoy the same enthusiastic greeting and walk to the table that we watched every other guest enjoy.
The server had to be asked a few times to bring water and ketchup before it finally came. She slammed down the mugs for the tea. Other than that, she was nice.
The characters went to the 2 tables next to us. Those tables were visited by the character a couple of times but skipped our table. When one of the staff asked if either of the characters stopped by yet, we said no and she looked appalled and walked away. I appreciated her checking but her reaction confirmed our feelings that this wasn’t right.
I think there could be a slightly better layout with the breakfast station. There were no bowls placed by the oatmeal, cream of wheat, and grits etc. Whereas, all the other things that needed bowls were there. I saw several people look around then just put is on their plate which is really difficult to eat.
We forgot to put our tickets for validation in with our checks. So when an employee walked by our table, we asked her validation. For validation, you’re required to spend $ 35.00 at the property. Keep in mind there were 4 adults and a child and that the breakfast has a SET price of $ 32.00 per adult and $ 18.00 per child. Yet, she asked to see our receipt to confirm that we spent $ 35.00…this is while we’re sitting in Makahiki finishing our breakfast with the finished checks on our table. REALLY??? That was just tasteless.
ALL IN ALL:
The staff overall does a great job and it’s aimed toward the kids. My niece had a blast once we got seated and she had the chance to eat. I’d come again if they worked out the other kinks and made us feel as welcome. I’m a huge Disney fan and of how well they normally execute everything.