Makai Sushi

Holy shit, does this place have a perfect 5 star rating for a reason. This was the tastiest, freshest sushi I’ve had in my life. I live in Seattle, so you’d think it would be easy for me to find sushi at home that was just as amazing, but sadly there’s no contest. I will be dreaming of the bowls at Makai Sushi for a long time to come. You must go! And go early, they run out!

This guy is the jam! The sushi was amazingly fresh and delicious and he was super friendly. Get in there if you’re in the area!

Some of the freshest ingredients! My California roll was great! Check this place out if you’re visiting Kauai, you won’t be disappointed!

Super delicious! The poke bowls are really a treat. The location, inside a little grocery market, makes it easy to miss — but be sure not to! Really friendly sushi chef and his sister who run the place together. If this was by my office back in Seattle, I’d eat here all the time.

Fantastic place to grab a bite to-​go. Gorilla bowl and ahi bowl filled to adult males with some left over. Super friendly staff. You should go and try it out.

A lot of threes and fives added up to a four. On the positive side the Ahi and crab were both delicious. And so the Spicy Ahi, California, and Hapa maki were all tasted pretty good. The problem with them was that the chunks of stuff are too big and so the maki ended up as loose, huge, hard to eat rolls. The ahi, cucumber, and avocado chunk size worked a lot better in the Ahi Avocado Poke Bowl. However, the unagi was pretty awful — dry and rather flavorless.
As you might notice from the photos and/​or the menu, by default EVERYTHING comes covered in both wasabi and sriracha-​ish mayonnaise based sauces. Thankfully, you can order the maki and bowls without and they will provide the usual sushi condiments of wasabi, soy, and ginger.
Also on the positive side were the chef and his assistant both of whom were very nice and are clearly working hard to make a go of it. But unfortunately we got to know them well as it took us three visits to get food. The first two times we visited around 5:00 to pick up a sushi dinner only to find out that they had run out — so you can and should ignore the ‘7:00′ closing time. The only time we succeeded in getting fed was when we took their ‘2^nd visit advice’ and ordered ahead around lunchtime.
All in all Makai Sushi is a very mixed bag. What would have been a good take out dinner at a reasonable price for Koloa ended up as a kind of expensive lunch. And while the sushi was ‘good for Koloa’ at home it would be a 2^nd or 3^rd tier sushi place. Your mileage may vary.

Visiting nearby and was excited to try this 5star reviewed place and the much hyped Gorilla bowl. If you didn’t know it’s in a grocery store you’d never find it.
The $ 16 gorilla poke bowl had plenty of fish but the taste was underwhelming. Despite all the different sauces it was bland and the fish was chewy. There were several types of rolls with long descriptions but basically all the same except for the protein. Had a taste of hubby’s unagi roll, which again was bland and plain with ill-​proportioned protein to rice ratio. On the other hand the staff were very friendly. Overall, it wasn’t terrible but given that we were expecting something that merits a 5star rating we were disappointed.
I overheard another customer say their family came 7x within 1 wk, so to each their own.

BEST poke bowl EVER. It’s so flavorful and fresh. We had the gorilla bowl, and now we can’t wait to come back for more. The $ 16 portion was enough for two to share, but we are trying to portion control so that may affect my perception a bit.
They used to be a food truck, and now they’re located in a little run-​down grocery store. There’s a bar with about eight seats. We were lucky that we didn’t have to wait. We ALMOST passed this place up given its sketchy location… SO glad we didn’t!

I’ve only ordered the gorilla poke bowl and I am sold! It tastes incredible. We ordered it for lunch and one order is enough to share between two people.
If only I lived in Poipu I’d come all the time.
It’s a very small place inside a grocery store but don’t let fool you. It’s BIG in taste.

Loved this place! Gorilla poke bowl is the way to go. Also loved the chef special roll.
The chef and staff are attentive. Go early and enjoy the fresh cuts to start off the day.
Don’t be fooled by the grocery store location. Good food is good food, especially when it’s made with consideration and care.

This place isn’t fancy. This place is literally in a market but the Chef has character and man were the rolls and bowls awesome. Seriously some of my favorite fresh fish on the island! Really yummy!!! Tasty poke.

Most expensive poke bowl I’ve ever had, but also probably one of the best. I had the ahi bowl ($ 14) and my friend got the gorilla bowl ($ 16) so it came to a little over $ 31 with tax. If it wasn’t so expensive, this would easily be a 5-​star Unilocal review. My only other complaint is that Makai Sushi is inside of Kukuiula Market and parking here is kind of a pain in the butt.
On to the good! I got the ahi bowl because I’m not a huge fan of salmon or ono (the other two fish that are in the gorilla bowl) and it was pretty bomb! Aside from the poke, there’s also sushi rice, wakame (seaweed) salad, shredded daikon, masago, cucumber, and avocado in the bowl. A lot of the other poke bowls I’ve had are just poke and regular rice. I think the additional vegetables and sushi rice are what makes this bowl better than others. They go pretty heavy with the sauces, but I don’t think it overpowers the poke unlike other reviewers have said.
The wait time was actually longer than I thought it would be (these are made to order), but still within a reasonable time. There is a counter with a few bar stools you can sit at, but honestly you’re in Poipu so you should be taking this and enjoying it at the beach! If you’re on the south side and you need a poke fix, this place might be worth checking out.

Chef Matt is a sushi genius. His Gorilla Bowl is to die for. We also had his Hapa Roll which was incredible
Highly recommend!

Oh heyyy Gorilla Bowl.
You know that instant spark you get when you see a cute guy across the room?
That happened to me with the Gorilla Bowl today and I feel it should be documented.
1. Our eyes locked and it was salivation at first sight
2. First base. I gingerly picked up one piece of poke to nibble on and was struck by a brief sadness that I had to use chopsticks instead of bare hands.
3. Needless to say, I devoured the entire thing in under 15 minutes. The sauces, the fresh fish, the cucumber… it was perfection.
I have a feeling I will dream about this bowl when I return from vacation.

This is such a hidden treasure! Makai Sushi is located inside Kukuiula Market (in Koloa)… Yes, it’s INSIDE the grocery store. When you walk in, you will see a small sushi counter to the left. There were only 2 people working – 1 person to help take orders and the sushi chef, so if it’s busy then there might a little wait as everything is made to order.
They have a bunch of daily specials on the board above the counter. Thanks to fellow Unilocalers, we ordered the GORILLA BOWL! It was soooooooooooo good. The Gorilla bowl had a mix of different types of sashimi, cucumbers, avocado and then topped with mayo and tobiko. Everything tasted so fresh and it was nice how it was all diced up so you had a little bit of everything in each bite.
Can’t wait until our next trip to Kauai so that we can try out more of their sushi rolls and of course, order another gorilla bowl!

We came here while on the south side of Kauai because, well, look at all the 5-​star reviews on Unilocal!It was difficult finding this location because it’s just a counter inside a supermarket. There are actually 2 food counters, the one in the front left is the Makai sushi counter. It was a tough choice trying to decide which roll to order because there were so many ingredients listed for every single roll. Eventually we went with the Hapa roll.
The chef starting making the roll and it took quite some time, but we chatted him up while we waited. He went to sushi school on the mainland and then came to Koloa to start a sushi shop because there was no sushi available in the area. The supermarket offered him a counter and the rest is history.
Sadly, though, the sushi roll looked a little amateur. You can tell that it was just over stuffed and the cuts weren’t even. The rolls were doused in a lot of mayo, which was kind of unnecessary. Overall, the sushi roll tasted okay, but certainly not the best sushi I’ve ever had.
We had some problems paying by credit card because his Square card readers (yes, multiple) didn’t work. We ended up paying cash.

Es delicioso. El Gorilla Poke Bowl inmejorable. Es un mostrador dentro de un supermercado, es increíble encontrar tanto sabor en un sitio así.

Find them located inside the kukuiula market. I ordered a Gorilla bowl and talked with the chef over the bar while he was making it. Another customer who found this place on Unilocal was waiting next to me. She said the good reviews on Unilocal was good enough for her.
The chef was friendly and funny while he made the food so waiting for the food wasn’t so boring.
Price for a Gorilla bowl is $ 14. Paying $ 14 for a Gorilla bowl seemed to make sense at the time since it’s something I have never heard of. Looking at old pictures of the menu tells me it used to be called a «Poke bowl». Smart move on changing the name because $ 14 for a poke bowl is pricey. Not to mention they skimp on the fish. Paying $ 14 for a bowl of mostly rice, vegetables, and some fish is unreasonable. Take a look at the pictures of the making of the poke bowl if you don’t believe me.
All in all taste was good but that’s because the bowls had a generous amount of different sauces. I like to taste my fish and in this case the taste from the sauces were so overpowering that I wasn’t ever sure if I was eating a cucumber or ahi or salmon in each bite.

I’m all about hole-​in-​the-​walls. And this sushi stand is literally in the small convenience market. Had some good Unilocal reviews, so had to try the Gorilla Bowl. For $ 16, got a lot of ahi tuna on bowl, with a mix of their gorilla sauce. The sushi chef is super friendly and nice, so it made it a pleasant experience watching him putting it together.
Underwhelmed, unfortunately by the Gorilla Bowl. To me, didn’t taste the as good as poke from the many markets on the bed of rice. I think there could have been to much sauce and the fish itself did not taste the freshest.
I’m willing to give their sushi rolls a try, next time I’m back. I dig a stand… in a convenience store.

The gorilla bowl is really what the hype is. I was hesitant to believe so many reviewers all gave this place a 5, but after visiting, I would agree the bowl is a 5. I gave it a 4 because I also ordered a Cali roll, which was pretty much the same price, but wasn’t even close to as flavorful as the bowl.
The sushi shop is in the General Store, so if you don’t see it when you pull into the parking lot, you’re not in the wrong place. There is bar seating for 6 people, but you can also take your order to go.

Overall impression:
Fantastic sushi/​raw fish/​display of food. Interesting location. Great experience.
Avg price: $ 12
Positives:
–the sushi plate is absolutely amazing, both in taste and in color/​presentation
–They make the plate right in front of you, so you know its fresh and done well. Also, you can make sure they don’t spit in it or anything.
–Pretty good amount for the price
–free parking
Negatives:
–when you watch them make it in front of you and talk to them, you feel more pressure to leave a tip
Tips:
–try to talk to the sushi chef (whoever the current one is). I think they subconsciously give you a little more.
This place is super cool. The location is kind of weird. It’s inside a grocery store. Also, the decoration is a bit strange. It looks very Hawaiian-​touristy with grass hut type of adornment, but then they serve sushi like izakaya/​sushi-​chef style. Whatever. The sushi is great and the presentation of the sushi is great, and the servers are nice and fun to talk to. You can get some great advice from them if you’re just visiting the islands. In fact, for tourists, that might be an added benefit-​free advice from a local who is taking your money so they feel obligated to give you good advice.