This was our last night here so I had reserved what I guessed was the nicest restaurant in the area. This property is quite immaculate. Walking to the restaurant, you cross a little bridge to get there. Since we had a reservation for right when they opened, we were seated at one of the tables closest to the beach.

We, of course, started with some cocktails. Andrea started with the Coco Loco (mezcal, lime juice, coconut puree, lemongrass syrup) and I had the Poni Yuzu Tonic (gin, St. Germaine, yuzu juice, tonic). I liked mine since it was light and refreshing. We were given some bread and if I recall correctly, the bread was made with koji and the butter was made with ulu. Regardless, they were both good. Bread had a crunch on the crust and a glutinous moist interior.

We decided to start with the Half Dozen Hulalalai Oysters since this was the first opportunity for us to try local oysters. They were served with the typical mignonette and cocktail sauce, but also a little bottle of their house made “HotDamskey” hot sauce (served via eye dropper) which we very much enjoyed.

We also started with one of the Tableside Poke dishes. Our waitperson, Lilibeth (I think) recommended the the “Hapa” (we laughed at the name) because of course it was a mix of the bigeye tuna and kanpachi. The poke was good and would definitely be interested in trying the Japanese bluefin one next time.

It was time for our next round of cocktails. This time I went with the Paniolo Pau Hana (Casamigos Reposado Tequila, cucumber, jalapeno, mango) and Andrea went with the Ho’onanea Highball (muddled cucumber, vodka, yuzu juice, mint syrup, sake, seltzer).

We then had our appetizers. Andrea ordered the Kekela One Cut Greens and I ordered the A5 Wagyu Hot Stone admittedly because I can’t resist the thought of a bit more action. Andrea’s salad was good with fresh produce and a truffle-soy vinaigrette (thankfully mild on the truffle). I forgot to ask from what prefecture the wagyu was, but I’m assuming it was Miyazaki. The hot stone wasn’t really hot to give a good sear on the meat so I undercooked the first piece a bit and took more time with the other pieces. There were some small mushrooms that I tried to cook on the hot pot, but they didn’t really give good utensils to do that. There were also some crispy garlic and some thai chili relish as condiments. All in all, it was just an ok dish and I wouldn’t bother to order that again.

For our mains, Andrea ordered the Crab Noodles which was listed as one of their signature dishes and I went with one of the specials, the Broiled 1/2 Kona Lobster & Frites off of their Ocean Bounty menu. The fries seemed were perfectly cooked with a nice crunch on the outside and very nicely seasoned. There was also a Sriracha Hollandaise (pretty mild though) that was great to use for dipping the fries as well as the lobster. Andrea didn’t really care for her dish and it’s not really something she would normally order (the thing she liked most on the menu was actually the steak, but she already had steak yesterday evening for dinner at Brown’s Beach House at the Fairmont. I thought the dish was pretty tasty with a good crab flavor, although overall the dish lacks texture, but it is a noodle dish. Andrea, of course didn’t finish the dish even with my help, so we had the rest boxed up (and I was hopeful that I might be hungry enough the next morning to eat it before we checked out, but sadly I wasn’t and we just threw it away 🙁 )and they also nicely gave us the little bottle of hot sauce from the oysters.

As we finished up our entrees, Lilibeth came by and asked us if we wanted to do one of the soufflés for dessert since it took 25 minutes from ordering, which we most definitely did. The one we went with was the macadamia nut and chocolate chip soufflé. We did look at the dessert menu anyway just for kicks and it was definitely the best choice for us. The macadamia nut and chocolate chips were just placed on top of the soufflé and we were instructed to make a hole in the soufflé and pour in the crème anglaise. The soufflé was good, less eggy custardy than I prefer. So it was definitely not one of the better soufflés we’ve had although it may be by default the best soufflé available on the island.

Pacing on the meal was definitely on island time and was just over 3 hours long (granted 30 minutes of that was due to the soufflé) which is pretty leisurely for basically a 4 course meal. We certainly were leisurely about our ordering too. When on the island… We did enjoy the experience and were also quite impressed with the Four Seasons resort overall. It was a nice final dinner and we’d happily come back here on our next visit to the big island.

https://www.fourseasons.com/hualalai/dining/restaurants/ulu/