Fred's Mexican Cafe - Kihei

Sadly, the service and food are not very good but the location and the views are stellar. Went on Taco Tuesday and it wasn't even worth the discounted Taco price. Only good thing was the ability to put your name on a list and they will call you when your table is available 👍

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 2

Service: 3

Recommended dishes: Shrimp Tacos, Chips & 4oz or 8oz Salsa, Baja Fish Tacos

We don't miss Fred's every time we're in Maui. The food is good and while not inexpensive, it's going rate for Maui. The thing to do at Fred's, though, is to sit on their lanai facing the road and watch the sunset. Seriously, it's across the beach. Great views. My only real complaint is that they frequently seem understaffed so it takes a while to get seated, to order and then to get your food.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 3

This place has gone so down hill! If you are looking for good Mexican food, take a drive to the food trucks in town. They surpass this place on every level. Fred’s used to be such a great place to eat at and tell friends, family and visitors about, but after coming back here almost 15 years later with a 15+ person party, none of us have anything good to say about it. We came on a Sunday night with our families, where there wasn’t that many people as Taco Tuesdays and somehow the wait was still ridiculously long (our entire party was there and ready the whole wait time), when we finally got sat, there weren’t many people, lots of open tables and yet the service was slow. Food orders got mixed up, sent back to the kitchen and we caught a kalua pig quesadilla being billed that was NEVER brought out to us. My brother and I ordered the Cabo specialty plate and it tasted exactly how it looked. Horrible! My tortillas that came with the dish were broken and my brother’s were all stuck together so when pulled apart, they broke too. By the time the replacement tortillas came out, we were completely over that entire joint. Honestly at that point Taco Bell sounded and would have tasted better than what we were served up. We actually laughed about the ending part of our experience because the staff cleared our tables so much faster than they brought us, our starter chips with salsa, food and drinks. Honestly sad to see it’s gone downhill because we used to enjoy coming here and to Moose’s a lot!

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Taco Tuesday. I had the Pescado and Baja fish tacos. They were ok. I honestly don't see what the fuss is. We had to wait 20 mins for the table. Great servers. But I wouldn't go back for mid quality tacos.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Taco Tuesday

Been here several times. Super chill place and decent prices. Taco Tuesday is good. Went for breakfast a different day, service was slow and terrible.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 2

Great atmosphere and location. Service was friendly and helpful. The food was not very good- lacked flavor and the carna asada lacked flavor and crispiness that is expected with a carna asada steak. My whole family had upset stomachs and loose BMs after eating here. Too expensive for what it is. Drinks were not very strong either and too sweet.
Wanted to love it for the staff and location but we won’t be back here.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 4

Great central spot with good food and quality service. Chips and dip and house Margheritas are worth the trip.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 4

Food was enjoyable it's not the best Mexican food that I've had but good. They charge for chip and salsa refills, which I disagree with, but this is Hawaii. You pay for everything. I'm surprised they don't charge a table rental fee. But is good food.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

This is basically a Mexican beach dive bar. Cheerful staff. Nice group of folks at bar. Waiter fun, but not particularly attentive.
Margarita was weak, way too sweet, and just under room temp. Basics for an 'upper shelf' margarita: real juice, rather than bottled mixer, fresh fruit IN THE GLASS, and enough booze to pack a punch. A floater of some kind would help. Even OJ from Safeway would make this better.

Side salad just the right size - fresh and delicious. Enchilada sauce was very tasty - but with a kind of diced carne asada filling that didn't do much for me.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3

Very limited menu, and the food taste not so good.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 3

Recommended dishes: Taco Tuesday

First day we went there was a line to get in they sat us at at table, I asked if happy hour was there they said yes. Next day walked in they said happy hour was at the bar only really. Then I asked waitresses for check she said she would get it right now , waited got up found out she was sitting at a table eating.then said I forgot .

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 1

Recommended dishes: Taco Tuesday

This is the message I sent directly to Fred’s through their Facebook page. I have not gotten a response other than an auto-reply.

“I’m writing so that hopefully other customers don’t have the same experience we did. I did call on Thursday and talked to, I believe Penny, who apologized and did reimburse for one of our meals.

I want to provide additional details. We visited your restaurant on Wednesday. We told our son and friends we had been there a couple years ago and how awesome it was. This time, my wife and I shared fajitas. My son got fish tacos with shrimp. Katie had a shrimp quesadilla. Luke had tacos carnitas. When our fajitas came out my wife tried a bite and said the shrimp was cold. I felt it and it was cold to the touch. Since shrimp is often eaten cold I didn’t think too much about that and I ate one.

The server overheard us and immediately took the plate and said she would have them remake it. I overheard her tell the kitchen staff to remake it. It was no more than two minutes and the plate was back out.

I can’t imagine they remade it that fast. I’m afraid they threw it back on the grill and reserved it. I don’t know that for sure.

Immediately, on the walk back to our room my wife and son got sick. Katie and I have since gotten sick. All four of us that had the shrimp got sick. The only person that didn’t get sick was Luke.

I realize sometimes shrimp is served cold; however, the fact it was supposed to be hot but instead was cold suggests it was not handled properly.

Additionally, Katie told us the next day that while we were at the restaurant she could see the bin where the chips are stored. She saw a server clear a chip basket from a customer’s table and dump the remainder back in the bin.

Penny, if I got her name right, did reimburse for the fajitas, which I do appreciate; however, it’s bigger than that.

I love this island so much and crave coming back and experiencing all I can. But we’ve lost most of the time with our friends and son (they could only stay a week). My son slept for 40 hours.

We spend thousands of dollars to come here, and it’s wasted just to cut corners on food safety in the name of speed. My hope is for a complete overhaul of the process, proper training and supervision, and complete transparency with food preparation.”

Please be careful and insist your food is cooked properly.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 3

Came at 7p and Google says they close at 9p. Were turned away immediately saying that they just did their last seating. Plenty of open tables inside. :-/ This was a Friday night.

Service: 1

Everything was good. Service was a little slow but they told us that coming in so we did not mind. Food was good, not great but good.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Chili Verde

Rich, good service and pleasant atmosphere!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5