Chef Mavro

My wife and I have been coming to Chef Mavro for years, due to food with world-​class sophistication and impeccable service. This time, though, we were disappointed. The portion sizes, which were previously European (i.e., small) are now microscopic. It looked like the «tiny food» parodies we sometimes see in commercials and comic movies. The photos on the Unilocal site show comfortably-​sized portions, which is not at all what we experienced. The wine pairings were also not particularly generous (or particularly good, quality-​wise). When we finished the meal my wife asked whether we should now go out for pizza. Ultimately we concluded that the value ratio (what we got for what we paid) was seriously out of whack. When our bill is almost $ 700 we expect to get enough to eat. I doubt that we will return.

Good but pricey. Worth the cost.

Just had my second dinner at Chef Mavro in 4 months. While the food is quite refined, and the wine pairing very good, the whole dining experience falls far short, mainly because the place lacks warm and life, which makes the glacial pace of dinner (3 hours for 4 course dinner) a burden rather a pleasure. Both times, the service was polite but stiff, distant and aloof. Smiles were noticeably absent. The décor was quiet and elegant, but because of the somber wait staff, it felt depressing. Simply put, the evening was not enjoyable. Very odd atmosphere…

I took my wife and mother-​in-​law there for dinner. Not a special occasion just wanted to experience it. The format is quite odd. There is no wine list. the pricing is not really on the menu. The dinner was good. I have had just as good and better in quite a few places in town. We declined the wine pairings because I don’t really drink wine. I ordered a bottle for my wife and mother-​in-​law. We went with the recommendation from the in-​house sommelier. Then we were confused about the 4 and 6 course selections as well as the truffle options!!! So the dinner was average and then the killer-​the check came. Over $ 800! C’mon! Good food but not worth that!

Overpriced, underdelivered. It could be wrong of me to be comparing the food here to what I’ve had in San Francisco…(this place may not survive in SF… but in Honolulu maybe it’s grabbing tourists) anyways, we had the tasting menu… I’m not saying anything was bad, but these tiny bites were not delicacies. I will say the desert was very nice! I would maybe come here again… but only for the desert. I felt was this was the most thought out and memorable item of the tasting as well as the watermelon mint gelatin palette cleanse, interesting textures and flavor. The service was maybe overly attentive… I felt like I constantly had someone reaching over me and it didn’t feel relaxing. Maybe this was just an off night for me, but the evening didn’t quite flow right. The staff needed to lighten up as well, a little stuffy in there! Spend your money elsewhere in my opinion…

My wife and I did a duel birthday celebration at Chef Mavro on her birthday in September of this year. Our close friends Gordon and Susie had the pleasure of dining there before and described the great experience that they had.
In short it exceeded our expectations! It was the most wonderful fine dining experience that we’ve had to date.
When we arrived the parking attendant, Michael, opened the door for my wife and offered to take picture of us outside the restaurant, which was a nice way to start the evening. We were greeting by the hostess and Chef Mavro himself upon entering the restaurant. Mrs. Mavro also stopped by to say hello. The service from the wait staff was excellent. They were all knowledgable, helpful, and polite, and knew how to balance their engagement with the customers privacy.
We had one four course and one six course meal with the wine pairing for the latter. We also added the Australian tajima wagyu dish as a supplement. Each dish was a delightful new experience from the visually pleasing presentation to the tasting, and topped off by an excellent pairing of wine or sake. Every bite was savored. Nothing was left on each plate.
Chef Mavro even stopped by to check on us, which we appreciated. We took the opportunity to take a photo with him.
The complimentary desserts were a nice surprise and the «icing on the cake» to conclude a memorable evening.
We’re planning to bring my mother here for her 85^th birthday next year.
Mahalo nui loa Chef Mavro and Mrs. Mavro for an unforgettable and exquisite fine dining experience!

Another amazing dinner at Chef Mavro! As always, the service was impeccable and the food was phenomenal. The wine pairings were perfect and in a brilliant variety of styles from Daiginjo sake to Chateauneuf du Pape. In particular, Chef served an absolutely delicious take on a local favorite, pairing the most precisely cut and flavorful Lomi salmon with a confit Hamachi and topped with a spoonful of lemon shave ice. Absolutely amazing. Can’t wait for the fall menu!

Lovely evening, good food, and Chef Mavro is very nice. I didn’t like how they don’t have a wine list, but I understand the theory behind it. Overall, nice fine dining experience on Oahu.

I took my boyfriend here for our anniversary. We both got the full tasting menu and he got the wine pairings. This was my first fine dining experience. The sommelier was very personable and knowledgeable. The service was top notch and Chef Mavro himself stopped by the table to say «hi». Everything tasted very good, but looking back there weren’t any memorable dishes that stood out for me. I’m glad I went, but because of the cost I probably won’t go back any time soon.

Very pricey but I believe for a special occasion with exceptional ingredients, prepared perfectly, Chef Mavro is the place. I have been here several times but all have been for special occasions: birthday’s, anniversaries, celebrations, etc. I know people bring out of town guests too!
Most recent was for my mom’s birthday and my parents wedding anniversary. Called to make a reservation noting the special occasion. Parking is free and located via the entrance on King Street (turn right before McCully).
We had a 7:00 p.m. reservation and arrived on time and were whisked to our booth (restaurant has a upper ding area with some larger tables). Unlike other restaurants that are small, the noise level in Chef Mavro is never raucous, it is a good place to have good conversation and not have to yell. It’s a mix of four top booths and some two and four top tables in the middle to accommodate larger parties.
You know its a fine dining restaurant when linens are refolded when you go to the restroom and there are several choices of water (sparkling, still, etc.). Service is very impeccable and servers are very attentive to give you privacy but clear your plates when you have finished. Also everytime I have come there, if Chef is in the kitchen he comes around and greets all the diners and chats with them. I really like this and it attests to his belief in really engaging with his guests.
We always bring our own wine ($ 25−35/bottle corkage) because we like to pair to our dishes. Brought a 2011 Sea Smoke Southing and 2008 Cayuse Armada Vineyard Syrah to pair with the pork and lamb dishes. They do a great job with stemware and decanted the Syrah.
Food is always so impressive. Chef Mavro really does a great job highlighting the ingredients. Recent amuse bouche was Sumida watercress and baby radishes with Japanese kewpie mayonaise and shoyu which is such a clever take on local style watercress with mayo and a traditional French summer dish of radishes with butter and salt. Other highlights of the summer menu include hamachi confit with cured Alaskan king salmom lomi lomi style
maui onion, green onion, hanapepe salt, lemon shave ice. Very refreshing and highlights the hamachi with the bright lemon shave ice. Really enjoyed the goat cheese and niman ranch lamb. Three of us had the 6-​course menu and my fiancé had the 4-​course. With the amuse bouche and dessert plus wine we left stuffed. Although people criticize that they leave Chef Mavro hungry, I beg to differ because the excellent bread and small mignardises (hand crafted candies) plus amuse bouche really fill you up. Total with espresso and tip about $ 200/​person. Not bad in my opinion but not in my budget.
Only docking one star for the price not for service or quality.

I give 5 star for the food journey and wine expert that was serving us drinks. Very knowledgeable lady.
The food is insanely unbelievable. Definitely worth trying.
Waitstaff was trying very hard to please therefore was super stressful. I personally wish the atmosphere was a little more relaxing.

I went here in February for my birthday. The décor is old school. The service was decent at best especially since we were paying a high price for the 6 course meal with the wine pairings.
I did however like how they had a vegetarian menu since I am newly a vegetarian. When I made my reservation I told them I was a vegetarian. In addition, I told my server when I was ordering that I was a vegetarian. But for some UNKNOWN reason, when I received my amuse bouche it had chicken in it. Who does that? Gives a vegetarian chicken? I meant to write this review earlier and am glad I finally got around to it.

Just the most wonderful dining experience… the experience I was looking for on my birthday. The 6-​course meal took us through a wonderful culinary experience, with great wine pairing. All the staff were friendly, even the wife of the chef came by to chat with us. We saw chef Mavro on the way out. He was super friendly, & appreciative of is coming in. Highly recommend!

It is such a pleasure and an indulgence to dine at Chef Mavro. The dining room is warm and cozy. The staff courteous and ready to please. The cuisine perfectly executed.
I saw the newly launched spring menu and instantly wanted to dine here again after being absent for almost a year. The restaurant offers a 4-​course, 6-​course, and a tasting menu of all the featured courses, with or without wine pairings. Menus are flexible so you can substitute I tend to choose the 6-​course menu without the wine pairings because I’d rather pay the $ 35 corkage (per bottle) to bring my own favorite champagne and wine.
The amuse bouche of avgolemono, chicken broth, eggs & lemon was omgosh good!!! In all my years as a foodie I have never came across this avgolemono so I googled it as soon as I arrived home and found this: Avgolemono is a traditional Greek soup that means ‘Egg Lemon”. … The traditional soup is very simple, made of only chicken broth, egg, lemon juice.
The poached Taylor Farms Shigoku oysters were presented in the shell on a baby leek salad topped with a transparent lemongrass kanten and finished with sriracha trout roe, ogo mignonette. Oysters were cooked perfectly and packed with flavor.
Seared Hudson Valley foie gras had a perfect crust and served with island mango seared and deglazed with balsamic vinegar plated with a foie gras mousse in brioche. Yumm…
Roasted Keahole lobster, cooked and served in the shell was tender and juicy. Plated with perfectly fried corn fritters made with a mix of local sweet corn, lobster knuckles, and shiso, then battered & pan fried in grape seed oil and charred poppy seed asparagus with crustacean espelette emulsion.
The fourth course was Provence-​style roasted Niman Ranch lamb loin, socca blinis & basil ratatouille, sweet spiced lamb jus. Lamb was well seasoned, tender and juicy and was not gamey.
Next came the pan fried Big Island Goat Diary feta cheese, long pepper, brick dough crisp flavored with sage & honey, salad of poha berries & frisée lettuce, and topped with mac nut snow (shaved mac nuts).
pre-​dessert palate cleanser
Perfect ending to an amazing meal: Waialua chocolate bar, yuzu «guri guri,» chiboust, & caramel sesame crumbs, basil essence.
Overall, the experience was memorable and well worth the price. Will make it a point to return.

Another spectacular night at Chef Mavro. Last night was the award winning meal. How do I know this… well anytime they serve «the egg» you are privileged to try some of his top dishes.

Five DIAMOND restaurant — I was excited when my mother in law told me that’s we were going to try this for dinner. I’ve always passed the restaurant on King Street, heard of it’s outrageous prices, and tiny servings. But what an experience. The food was delicious! Definitely new to my taste buds. And even though the portions were super tiny for a big foodie like me, I came out satisfied. My mother in law ordered us the caviar to try. $ 190 a plate for three different types! I ordered the 6 course meal, substituted the lamb for the wagyu. The wagyu was amazing! This place is known for their wine pairings. Their wine pairings were excellent! I’d recommend trying it!
The only negative thing I have to say is circumstantial. We had 14 people in our party. We had our reservations at 6:30 pm and didn’t leave the restaurant until 11:30pm. There was about a 30 minute wait between courses for our big party. 5 hours to get through a 6 course meal. By the 4^th course, I was ready to sleep. But again, circumstantial because of our big party. I’m sure if our party was smaller, we would have finished in a decent amount of time.

Exquisite and elegant. Chef Mavro’s menu consists of a Hawaiian-​French fusion cuisine. Sounds like a fun and interesting mix? Don’t be fooled, it is seriously delectable and mouth watering. I feel like he was part of the first few chefs in the early 00’s to bring the farm to table philosophy to Hawaii, before it has became popular these days.
FOOD
Food was piping hot, presentation was impressive, and the taste was just heavenly. We had the four course menu with wine pairings. All local ingredients, a plus.
ENVIRONMENT
Located near the intersection of South King Street and McCully Street. Casual dressy attire. White linens, shiny crystal and silver is about the restaurant. There is an inviting and comfortable ambiance. They have a private parking lot.
SERVICE
They truly made us feel special and it made our anniversary so memorable. The staff was very observant and friendly. Our waters were filled with lightning speed. Excellent service indeed.
CONCLUSION
My husband made a wonderful choice for our Anniversary dinner. The entire experience from food, environment, and service was perfect. This is a great place to celebrate an anniversary, birthday, or have a business dinner.

Congratulations to Chef Mavro for being one of two restaurants in all of Hawai’i to receive the coveted AAA Five Diamond rating! You deserve it!
NOW GO AND GET THE WINE PAIRING

So… the last time I went to Chef Mavro was back in 2008. I had a horrible experience and vowed never to return. However, my friend made reservations for this place for us to go. At first, I refused. I said no. But then she further explained that the last time I went was back in 2008, I need to give the place another shot, and they even have a vegetarian menu. So those last words «vegetarian menu» lured me in for another shot at this restaurant.
A restaurant having a vegetarian menu is an automatic 4 stars for me because it shows they are aware of picky eaters like me.
So, how did this place get 5 stars? Well, let me begin.
Food/​Wine:
CHANTERELLES
forest chanterelles & hoi’o salad, mushroom veloute
LOUIS JADOT, 2010 PULIGNY-​MONTRACHET PREMIER CRU, «CLOS DE LA GARENNE,» FRANCE
COUSCOUS TAGINE
eggplant caviar in brick, english peas, swiss chard, dried cranberry, pearl onion
green & black olive tapenade, harissa
RIDGE VINEYARDS, 2012 LYTTON SPRINGS, SONOMA COUNTY
TARO PUFF
taro puff, baby cauliflower tempura & purée
pomegranate-​teriyaki glaze
PIANCORNELLO, 2009 BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO, ITALY
CHOCOLATE
açaí & waialua chocolate crémeux, chocolate wafer
açaí-​blackberry sorbet * sand * coulis
QUINTA DO VESUVIO, 2001 VINTAGE PORT
The food was all excellent and the wine pairings were perfect. (I thought it was going to be a wine tasting size pour, but it was actually a good amount of wine for each course.)
Service:
All staff members welcomed us warmly and were well attentive to our needs. I was amazed to see Chef himself serving some dishes and even the Chef’s wife came to our table. (I confessed to her that I was the one that wrote the horrible review back in 2008.)
Needless to say, I’m glad I was dragged into another shot at this restaurant. Yes, this restaurant will empty your wallet, but it is worth it since every dish is made to perfection.

I had the degustation at Chef Mavro tonight. Arriving at 6.30 I was greeted by name as I walked in, and provided with a personalised menu (nice touch) consisting of 14 courses, most with matched wines.
The amuse bouche was a chilled carrot soup with Crecy orange topped with a coconut foam. The orange gave a touch of sweetness to what otherwise might have been a bland dish. Very subtle, very lovely.
Next course was very simply described as «Vegetables». Shavings of carrot served with watercress on a watercress purée and a couple of small, round chick pea fritters. Simple but delicious and nicely matched with a Jermann Pinot Grigio.
Next up was abalone served on steamed baby leek floating in a sea urchin emulsion. Can’t begin to explain how good this was. The abalone has quite a strong flavour, the urchin even more so, but the softness of the leek complemented it beautifully. The sommelier matched this with a sake, and honestly, anything less powerful would have been totally overwhelmed by this dish. Brilliant.
Fois gras done three ways was next; natural topped with a sliver of pickled mango, seared on another sliver of mango that had been dusted with something that tasted like plum, and finally as a bavarois topped with a little cap of reduced seaweed kanten. This was gorgeous — all of it — but the bavarois was just out of the box. The fois gras came from New York and had a subtler flavour than some of its French equivalents. Perfectly paired with a beautiful, sweet Zind Humbrecht from Alsace, this was the best of the courses so far.
The next dish was onaga (red snapper) and spinach baked in a fish-​shaped pastry shell which they opened at my table and served with a tomato and herb relish. Very good, but I have a thing about seafood and tomato — it just doesn’t work for me. No reflection on the concept which I’m sure anyone else would have loved, and paired with a Henri Bourgeois Sancerre which smelled like fresh mown grass, I’m not complaining.
Next was local lobster tail and claw roasted and accompanied by a chorizo and lobster cake (sort of like an upmarket falafel) served on a tamarind and tapioca jus and paired with a jean-​Marc Brocard Chablis. All good — I think the waiter said they use the crushed shell of the lobster in the jus which might have contributed to the lovely sea salt taste.
Baby duck in a star anise jus arrived soon after, along with a glass of Bergstrom Pinot Noir from Oregon. The little piece of duck breast was perfectly cooked, very flavoursome, and beautifully complemented by the slight tartness of the anise. There was a little bowl of red rice on the side which included bacon made from the leg of the bird, along with diced baby carrot and French green beans.
I was approaching fullness by now, but there was no way I was going to stop before reaching the bottom of the menu. Lamb was up. Served in a «deconstructed» tagine, ie, the couscous was served in a separate bowl with dried cranberries, and the little medallion of lamb loin was on another plate with a side of peas, chard and sliced pearl onion. Add a smear of olive tapenade, some Harissa lamb jus, and a deep fried eggplant money bag, serve it with a full bodied Californian Zinfandel from Sonoma, and what have you got? Deliciousness. The only thing I would change was the jus which was a little too bitter for my taste.
Final savoury course was wagyu beef with Brussels sprouts and prosciutto served on a celery mousse. This was accompanied by another wine from Sonoma — a Cenyth Meritage red. I’ve never heard of this before but apparently it’s a blend of Malbec, Bordeaux and a couple of other grape varieties. Quite nice.
Once again, a beautifully presented dish with an interesting combination of ingredients. The sprouts and prosciutto were served with diced bacon which was delicious. The wagyu (which was cooked blue, exactly the way I like it) was very good and worked well with the chimichurri drizzled at the bottom of the plate, but my favourite combination was the meat with sprouts and celery emulsion.
By this stage I was not only out of superlatives but ipad battery, so I won’t even get the chance to talk about the cheese (local goat with a side of Hawaiian organic white honey — love it before I’ve even made it into my mouth!) or the desserts. But I assume these will be as good as the rest of the menu.
I’ve only ever given one restaurant five stars before. Tonight I’m making it two. Beautiful food, impeccable service and excellent wine pairings. Chef Mavro is faultless.