Cafe O’Lei Dunes Maui Lani

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Cafe O’Lei Dunes Maui Lani

***Cafe O’Lei at The Dunes Maui Lani is closed. Fuego Argentinean Steakhouse is now in its place.***

Golf and Eat at Cafe O’Lei Dunes Maui Lani

Cafe O’Lei is the restaurant in the clubhouse at the Dunes at Maui Lani golf course, just south of Kahului in Maui’s central valley.

Cafe O’Lei at The Dunes is closed on Mondays and open from 11 AM to 8 PM, Tuesday through Sunday. The food is excellent, and the prices are reasonable, just as at the Cafe O’Lei restaurant in Kihei.

The view at Cafe O’Lei at the Dunes is beautiful. You can eat inside or outside and gaze across the golf course at the West Maui Mountains, with their ever-changing lights and shadows and mists. This restaurant is not in the usual tourist areas of Maui, so it’s usually less crowded than other places with food this good. See below for some specific Cafe O’Lei Dunes menu items as well as photos.

For reviews of mid-priced restaurants on other parts of Maui, see moderate Maui restaurants.

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Dana and Mike Pastula

Dana and Mike Pastula are the chef-owners of the Cafe O’Lei restaurants on Maui. These restaurants have some of Maui’s best food, but they are moderately priced, unlike Maui’s much more expensive fine-dining restaurants. This makes them very popular with Maui residents as well as tourists.

Dana usually works at the Cafe O’Lei at the Dunes in Kahului, but I interviewed her at Cafe O’Lei in Napili in January of 2011, to learn more about her and her husband and these excellent Maui restaurants. See the complete interview below.

Here are links to pages with reviews, menu lists, and food photos, from Cafe O’Lei restaurants: Kihei (south side), Dunes golf course in Kahului (central valley of Maui), Napili (closed but formerly west side), Wailuku (closed but formerly central Maui).

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Interview With Dana From 2011

Jon: When did you come to Maui?

Dana: Mike and I moved here from Chicago initially in 1982. We both worked for the Hyatt Regency Maui.

Jon: When did you start in the restaurant business?

Dana: We had several restaurants in California. After moving to Maui, I started a small cafe in Makawao in 1997. It was a 5-table cafe mainly serving sandwiches, coffee, and tea. We called it Cafe O’ Lei as a play on words with a Hawaiian touch. The name stuck for our later restaurants.

Jon: Have you had formal training as a chef?

Dana: Mike had been the chef of many hotels, Hyatt, Sheraton, and Lodge of Koele, to name a few. I went to school for hotel and restaurant management. I learned food by osmosis. My mom had a bakery and catering business, so it was in the blood growing up.

Jon: How many Cafe O’Lei restaurants are there now, and where are they?

Dana: We have 5 restaurants on Maui right now: Napili, Kihei, The Dunes in Kahului, Wailuku, and Waiehu.

Jon: How do you select items for the menu? Do you invent the recipes yourself?

Dana: Most of the items on the menu are Mike’s and my recipes. These are foods that we love to eat. We call it “comfort American food” using many of our local products. Because of my background and the diversity of Hawaii, we put a lot of Asian twists to the flavors.

Jon: Is the menu the same at all five restaurants?

Dana: All the restaurants have a core Cafe O’ Lei menu. The different items will be influenced by the Chef de Cuisine and what they specialize in. We give our chefs quite a bit of room for their creativity. You can see that on our daily specials.

Jon: What awards have you won?

Dana: We have won Hale Aina, Maui News, Maui Times. We are on the Frommers, Fodors and Trip Advisors preferred restaurants. Mike and I are happy we get honored but it is not so important to us. We know we have done well when we have many locals recommending us.

Jon: Do you and Mike do the cooking at any of the restaurants?

Dana: Now that we have five, we mainly focus on organization, marketing, and concept. The best thing about being a chef is knowing what you want out of your kitchen. We mainly do not ask something from our staff if we cannot do it ourselves. There was a time when we opened and closed the restaurant ourselves every day, cooking, washing, and marketing. Back then, we did not have enough money to hire a staff.

Jon: What do you like about living on Maui?

Dana: The perfect weather, great people that live here, and meeting new people from all over the world. Mike and I are two of those lucky ones that love what we do and make a living at the same time. We are really blessed with the opportunity to do it in paradise.

Jon: What do you like about the restaurant business?

Dana: Every day is different. It is a business where you can get direct satisfaction. You see a smile on someone’s face!

Jon: What else would you like to tell the readers of this Maui Vacations website about your restaurants?

Dana: We use the same product . . . meat, fish, produce, as what all high-end hotels and restaurants purchase, even though our menu prices are lower. We select our staff keeping in mind that we want them to be “people pleasers.” Cafe O’Lei may not be grand and glorious but you will have good food, friendly and great service with affordability. We are proud to be considered by many to be a local favorite.

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Cafe O’Lei at the Dunes Maui Lani menu (subject to change)

$$ Moderate

Soups & Appetizers at Lunch & Dinner

Cafe O’Lei Crab Cakes
Onion Soup en Croute
Manoa Lettuce Wraps
Kalua Pork Quesadilla
Fried Calamari
Salads at Lunch & Dinner:
Petite House Salad
Caesar Salad
–with or without chicken or fish
Curry Chicken Salad
Shrimp and Papaya Salad
Tempura Shrimp Asian Salad

Sandwiches at Lunch & Dinner

Crab Club Sandwich
Grilled Vegetable Sandwich
Roast Turkey Breast Sandwich
Bill Eby Burger
Macnut Crusted Chicken Sandwich
Brie, Bacon, Tomato Sandwich

Entrees at Lunch & Dinner

Daily Plate Lunch Special
Tempura Mahimahi
Blackened Mahimahi
Tiger Shrimp Linguine
Crisp Boneless Chicken

Cafe OLei Favorites at Lunch & Dinner

Charbroiled New York Steak
Togarashi Seared Ahi Tuna
Grilled Jumbo Shrimp
Macadamia Nut Crusted Chicken
Fresh Catch of the Day
Thursday Night Special:
–Asian Style Braised Beef Shortribs
Friday & Saturday Night Special:
–Roast Prime Ribs of Beef