I live on Maui and have for the past 6 years. I know the tourist spots and the local grinds to the real deal places that the foodies go.

Well my go to place for top notch cuisine is the Lahaina Grill. It is the best restaurant on Maui bar none!

Well a French friend of mine highly recommended Gerards which just received some sort of Mobile award this year for its food. She said it could not miss it was her go to place to impress.

Well I am sorry to say it missed. So before I posted this I waited for a response to my concerns.

Please find my email first and there response. I would love to hear your feed back on this. Because I was accused of being harsh. Just for the record I was not harsh from my view point. As a former Marine I know all about harsh and I was in my opinion very diplomatic but you can decide for yourself. Love to hear your thoughts? Was I too harsh?

aloha,

Tracy

Hi Genevieve,

I am writing to tell you about my wife and I's experience on
Valentines Day at Gerards.

I have to say my wife was super excited to dine at your place she and
I are good friends with Joelle Perz who gave you rave reviews! We
also live on Maui - Wailuku.

Our reservations were for 8:30 pm but you were able to seat us early
at 7:30 pm. Very impressed! Our waiter was good but not great I
think his name was Mike forgive me remembering names is not my strong
point. The atmosphere was good although the tables were very tight
together but I guess you are trying to get as many seats as you can on
the porch. The menu as you know was preset. For our choices we both
ordered the same thing the Rack of Lamb. and the crepes. We ordered a
glass of champagne and a 1/2 bottle of Ken Wright Pinot Noir. Great
wine list I loved it!

The bread came and it was stale very dried out and a bit shocking for
a restaurant of your stature. I did not say anything as I did not
come for the bread but this did seem to set the standard for the meal.
The gentlemen bringing out the plates had no idea what we were
eating. I questioned him on the 2nd course as I had forgotten and he
did not know. Again not a big deal but for all the accolades you have
received attention to detail should be second nature for your workers.
My experience in the past has always been that during a course meal
the waiter or someone would explain each plate of food prior. This
did not happen one time. What I am leading up too is that in these
economic times you cannot afford to slack. Overall this was no better
then a chain restaurant. This was not a fine dining experience. The
quality of food was average, Other then seating us early the service
was average and the overall experience a disappointment. I was
utterly shocked when I left the restaurant.

Food - Below Average on a scale of 1 - 10 maybe a 6 but if you throw
in the QPR (quality to price ratio) it was a 1 (our bill was over
$400)

Bread - stale and very dry. The worst I have had at a restaurant ever
1st course - Excellent this was what I was looking for!
2nd course - Average nothing really dazzling at all
Main Course - Rack of lamb really was not a rack but merely Lamb Chops
2 and they were very good the green puree was cold and not very good
the potatoes average overall a bit misrepresented but average.
Desert - This was socking and well below average. The chocolate which
tasted like cold hershey's syrup was on a plate with 2 crepes that
were also not hot but barely warm topped with whip cream and 2
raspberry's.
Petits Fours - shockingly dried out and not at all delicious.

Service

Average I was surprised that the attention to detail was so slack and
although not unprofessional it was merely average on the level of
Koho's or maybe Ruby's? The waiter did not offer coffee or tea at the
end of our meal!

The Decor and Wine list were fine in fact very nice. Parking
excellent it is just that you were not on your A game and on
Valentines day that is utterly shocking!

Not many people take the time to write but I am the VP of a tour
company on HNL where we hand out rating sheets at the end of the tour
so that the customers can comment. I read each and everyone and if I
get a bad one I make an attempt to make things right. I know the
worst customer is the one who has a horrible experience and never
returns and tells ten friends. I used to be like that but now being
in the business of service I always give the company a chance to make
things better.

aloha,

Dear Mr. R
Thank you for sharing your experience at Gerard's on Valentine's Day.
Although I found your critic very harsh -bread is delivered daily from
the bakery, the petits fours were freshly baked, we only use imported
chocolate on our desserts- I do admit that Valentine's Day is not your
typical night at Gerard's.
As you probably know, February 14 is the busiest night in every restaurant
on Maui. We do have to bring in a couple of casual servers (who may not
have all the answers) just for that evening. A large number of deuces makes
it even more difficult. Nevertheless yours was the only complaint that we
received about Valentine's dinner.
We are sorry to hear that you did not enjoy your evening at Gerard's and we
hope that you will try our restaurant again, maybe on a more quiet night. I
am confident that you will have a very satisfactory experience as have many
of our regular customers for the last 26 years. Sincerely,
Genevieve