Lanai City Grill (Lanai) - Onolicious Hawaiʻi

Lanai City Grill is the dinner restaurant in town. Located in Lanai City, they have great food (local axis deer pasta, warm parker house rolls, generous salads), live music every night, and a popular happy hour. Make reservations and come hungry ^_^

Lanai City Grill, pathway to the entrance.

The day before Lanai Bowl, Kelly, Shann, and I went to Lanai City Grill for dinner. The two restaurants are just a couple minute walk from each other and I'm happy we got to try them both! Many good eats in Lanai City.

Lanai City Grill is inside of Hotel Lanai, just off the hotel entrance/lobby. We went around 7pm on a Tuesday night and it was PACKED. Birthday party, friend gatherings, family dinner. Everyone! You'd have no idea from the serene and calm street entrance. It was also Taco Tuesday so everyone seemed extra excited.

Here is the menu! We ordered several dishes and shared everything, the ideal way to eat with friends ^_^

We didn't make reservations but we should have. Lucky the hostess was nice and found a table outside. The restaurant has a mix of indoor and outdoor seating. Ask for an outdoor table if you want to see the live music (which they have every evening). It started pouring rain halfway through dinner but they had big umbrellas over the outdoor tables so everyone stayed dry.

Lanai City Grill, pineapple parker rolls.

I was most excited for these pineapple parker rolls. Kelly said she was not as excited because parker rolls are all over restaurant menus in San Francisco...but I was like, we rarely see them on menus in Hawaii! Hahah. It was a great order (Shann agrees!), especially because they came HOT from the oven. The rolls were super plush and warm, just a little sweet with sesame seeds and black salt on top. Local honey-miso butter on the side. It was a pretty big portion but we ate it all. Nothing like hot, fresh bread, right?

We ordered a caesar salad, with romaine lettuce from Sensei Farms right on Lanai. (You can also get Sensei Farms lettuce/greens at supermarkets in Honolulu, I use them often for lettuce wraps.) Good dressing, parmesan, and macadamia nuts. The croutons were made from the parker house rolls.

Remember how I said the Lanai axis deer is a popular local ingredient? We had it on pizza at Lanai Bowl, and then at Lanai City Grill we had it as a ragu with trofie pasta, local tomme, and tomatoes. Loved this dish.

And because it was Taco Tuesday...fish tacos ^_^

Lanai City Grill, pineapple upside-down cake.

We shared this pineapple upside-down cake for dessert. It was very big and tasty. Served warm with brûléed Maui Gold pineapples, a classic yellow butter cake, and side of vanilla ice cream.

Also want to mention this neat drink Shann ordered. It's called Lilikoi Nojito, made with fresh lilikoi, lime, mint, and club soda. I wish I took photos of all the non-alcoholic drinks Shann had this trip, it would be fun to recreate them at home.

All in all a good night! It was dark by the time we finished dinner, so we waited for the hotel shuttle (comes once an hour), and headed back for the night. Thank you to Shann and Kelly for being great eating friends! I love eating, and it's extra fun when you eat with friends who share the same enthusiasm and joy for good food.