While I was in Kailua – Kona, Hawaii, I happened to be turning fifty years of age. Commiserate with that very special occassion, I needed to celebrate in style and needed a fine dining restaurant to mark that occasion. We ended up deciding on the ‘ULU Oceans Grill at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. With some challenges actually getting a reservation, we had a very enjoyable evening at the ‘ULU Ocean Grill. This post showcases what you can expect at the Four Seasons Resort Fine Dining establishment in Kona, Hawaii, USA.

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This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Kailua – Kona, Hawaii, United States of America

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For that special fiftieth birthday, I was aiming to have a memorable dining experience in a great fine dining setting. Given that we were going to be on the Big Island of Hawaii, I was going to have to adjust those expectations towards a resort fine dining setting. While I wasn’t seeking something of a Michelin Star quality, I aimed to have a memorable and special meal to mark that special occasion.

While most fine dining restaurants don’t typically coincide with a resort environment, I would end up locating the ‘Ulu Ocean Grill at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in Kailua – Kona, Hawaii. The restaurant represented the fine dining restaurant at the Four Seasons Resort located on the western cost of Kailua Kona, Hawaii.

Getting a Reservation:

Despite a forward facing Four Seasons website, and a presence on Open Table, we had a little difficulty getting a reservation.

In our circumstances, given a set birthday date, we knew well in advance of when we wanted to visit. After trial and error, we later learned (unofficially) that the resort holds priority reservations for its hotel guests.

After several telephone calls to the resort at around the nine, six and three week mark(s) prior to our visit, we were able to get a second seating at 8 PM for our preferred date. We would end up being among the last tables served for the evening.

I’d later discover that the resort places it’s distressed inventory on Open Table a few days or weeks before, and you might find some space there assuming you were able to accomodate a last minute availability. While I appreciate the hotel wanting to reserve premium seating for it’s hotel guests, I have to comment that it was a most unusual way to get a reservation for a fine dining establishment on a special occasion, in my humble opinion.

Locating the Four Seasons Hualalai:

The Four Seasons Haulalai is located on the west coast of Kailua – Kona. It wa a twenty minute drive from where we were staying at The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort.

On arrival, we were checked at the security gate and provided instructions to the reception area. After driving down a twisting and landscaped driveway, we arrived to the front reception areas which was completely deserted at this hour. We were promptly attended to, and our car was valet parked on a complimentary basis.

Inside the ‘ULU Ocean Grill:

We had a short walk over through the quiet Four Seasons Hualalai hotel grounds over to the water front location of the restaurant. The ‘ULU Ocean Grill occupies a shoreline space close to the water. The entrance way allows guests to pass over a wooden bridge over a small lagoon, which is a nice feature for any restaurant.

Despite having an 8 PM reservation, we had a short wait for our table to be set. We were offered a seat in the bar and provided with the opportunity to review the drink menu. We ended up working on looking at the restaurant’s extensive and impressive wine list, and narrowing down a choice of wines to pair with dinner.

The wine list was showy and impressive. With a strong orientation towards old world wines, there were a few appearances of new Californian labels with the odd cameo from other new world countries. As a visiting Canadian, it’s always a treat to get access to legacy Californian winemakers that don’t always have distribution in Canada. As a result, the Californian labels were of the most interest to me.

We were eventually seated outside at the shorefront. While we were offered a table inside earlier, we chose to wait for an outside table (which was not guaranteed at time of booking). The table had immediate shoreline views, and was as peaceful as can be expected.

On the Menu:

We were presented with our server, who was an enjoyable and professionally chatty man in his fifties. He clearly enjoyed food and wine, which is a treat when dining at any fine dinig establishment.

The ‘ULU Ocean Grill menu was presented on two pages. The menu was professionally designed and easy to navigate.

The menu was divided into a sushi page consisting of maki sushi along with nigiri sushi and sashimi. The main portion of the menu offered appetizers consisting of cold, hot options, with seafood makai dishes and mauka land based dishes.

All of the options appeared upscale and interesting, with dishes such as Spicy Crab Noodles with King Crab, Spicy Ebi Butter, Mochi Noodles, Bok Choy and land items such as Kona Coffee Crusted Maui Venison paired with Miso Corn Cake, Japanese Whiskey-Ginger Glazed Baby Carrots, Szechuan Peppercorn Reduction, each item appeared regional, authentic and appealed to your palette’s desires.

All these options were presented along with an excellent and comprehensive wine list that allowed for a multitude of options when pairing a meal together.

The Meal: Perfectly Prepared Seafood

Given that I was celebrating my fiftieth birthday this was the right place to be when it came to looking for something a little upscale.

Given my fascination with Californian wines not regularly available in Canada, we started off with a bottle of Palhmeyer Jayson Sauvingon Blanc from Napa Valley. Nice and crisp, it hit the spot for a warm summer evening.

To start off the evening, we split a sushi appetizer. Coming from Vancouver, where there are hundreds of sushi restaurants, I moderated my expectations accordingly. We opted for a simple vegetable roll, which was prepared with baby shiso, romaine, and lime.

The vegetable roll was outstanding; crisply prepared and made with fresh organic ingredients. It happened to be the highlight of the meal for MrsWT73, who actually favoured it over her entrée.

Given it was my birthday meal, I went really upscale with my order. I enjoyed a seared tuna coriander crushed Ahi Tuna, served with seared foie gras (hallelujah!), forbidden rice, seared bok choy, and kabakayi duck jus and pohala berry.

The ahi tuna was exccelent; seared just right. The seared foie gras paired exceptionally well, and made this dish super upscale for a very special occiasion.

MrsWT73 went with her favorite Mahi Mahi, which is making less of an appearance these days on most fish menus. “ULU Ocean Grill’s version of Mahi Mahi was presented with local seasonable vegetables with Yuzu Butter. The fish was cooked verfectly; just under and juicy and moist throughout.

With getting to enjoy foie gras, a series of great wines, an outdoor shoreline setting, a beautiful wife, there wasn’t anything more that I could have asked for. Well, except until the waiter started bringing out old world Premier Cru Chablis’ do to a little impromptu food and wine pairing tastings.

After a terrific and enjoyable dinner, and given that this was the birthday event, I decided to enjoy a little dessert. ‘ULU Ocean Grill offered a whole series of themed Hawaiian desserts.

The Save Ice with coconut sorbet, pineapple granite and strawberry pearls looked interesting, along with the Mango Lime Tart with mango lime custard, kalamansi jellies, brown butter sesame crumble and compressed mango, all looked interesting.

I ended up going with the Pineapple Upside Down; butter pound cake, Kohana Rum caramelized pineapple with fior di latte gelato for the birthday dessert.

It was exceptionally tasty and a super treat to enjoy home made gelato in the middle of summer in the Islands of Hawaii.

The check came to $291.10 USD, with the dessert provided graciously by Four Seasons as a result of it being my fiftieth birthday. This was a classy move on the part of Four Seasons, although there wasn’t a birthday sparkler presented that you might find in some other restaurants. Very understated, but recognized.

We were pretty much the only ones left by the time we had finished dinner. We walked the short distance from the ‘ULU Ocean Grill up to the Four Seasons lobby reception area. In exceptional service, we found our car retrieved from the valet and waiting for our arrival. As with other Four Season hotels, we were given some water for the road. The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai’s version was presented in a small recycled aluminum can properly chilled. We had a pleasant drive back to The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort.

My Thoughts on ‘ULU Ocean Grill:

The ‘ULU Ocean Grill marked the spot for an upscale dinner worthy of a special event.

Although it was a bit inconvenient to negotiate with the restaurant for a dinner reservation in advance, the service and experience at ‘ULU Ocean Grill was pretty good nearing excellent and consistent with a high end resort offering. The food offered was excellent, with menu features that were sufficiently upscale enough to impress the Four Seasons Resort crowd.

I would recommend the restaurant; especially if you happen to be staying on site and have access to a better and more convenient series of dining times than we did.

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If you have visited the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, did you partake in dining at the upscale ‘ULU Ocean Grill ?

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