"Delicious veggie taro burger and fries. 3 5 green stars because they need to reduce plastic waste The Makai Lounge is the Marriott poolside bar and casual restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. I had the veggie blue cheese burger with fries $16 . The taro patty was good but salty and, when combined with the salty blue cheese dressing, it was bordering on being too salty to eat. Other than that it was quite delicious, LOL! The brioche bun which tasted like it may have been from the excellent Passion Bakery was great, there were lots of mushrooms and grilled onions and some greens to add balance. The fries double fried? were also really good and overall the meal was heavy, salty, and fatty, but delicious! Beer was $5 during happy hour but was a lot short of a pint 12 oz., or at most 14 oz.? so it didn?t induce any ecstatic happiness. The excellent Oasis on the Beach nearby has full pints of Kona beer for $4 during happy hour. I had the Kona Wailua wheat which turned out to be almost as good as their Hanalei IPA. My waiter was OK but did seem a bit aloof never once seemed to make eye contact. I?m also giving them 3 5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these reasons: ? They do use some local ingredients, such as my taro burger patty and the brioche bun. The salads are ?made using Kailani farms organic greens.? They don?t list sources for most other things meat, etc. so they could do a bit better on transparency there. ? Reasonable selection of vegetarian and vegan items on menu, once you know that they can substitute taro burger patties. ? They had some local beer on tap, such as Kona who do a lot in terms of sustainability ? solar energy, water conservation, GHG emissions, community involvement, and fundraising . On the downside, they also have imported ?beer? like Bud and Coors, in cans and bottles. Hawaii has lots of great local beer ? no need for imports! ? They served my draught beer in a plastic glass ? this was disappointing. It?s probably for safety reasons, but I wasn?t that close to the pool, and I?m not a child. ? They also served ketchup in a plastic container on my plate ? I didn?t ask for ketchup, so it would be better to just provide it in bottle or a small ceramic dish. ? Similarly, the other condiments provided mustard, etc. were in individual plastic sachets rather than larger bottles reusable containers. ? Overall, not bad for a hotel restaurant, but room for improvement ? especially with the plastic waste."
