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Maui Express

4.0 (86 reviews)
InexpensiveHawaiian

Maui Express Photos

Business Info

MAUI EXPRESS ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Moderate noise
Casual
Outdoor seating
Good for kids

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Recommended Reviews - Maui Express

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Menu 8/2025
Gingerlily L.

You can get Lau Lau here. Yes it's in a mall, but the food here is good, authentic and reasonably priced. It's a mom and pop operation and the old couple have been here for a long time serving good Hawaiian style plate lunch. Solid.

Vendor stall
Emmett T.

Maui Express is one of the vendors at the Grossmont Center food court that happens to be operated by an elderly Asian couple. For a small kitchen, the menu offerings were rather extensive. There were traditional small bites like musubi and lumpia. Loco moco and combination lunch plates were also featured. There were no customers in line when I stopped by so I took my time before deciding on a musubi, spam saimin, and lau lau mix plate. The musubi came with Portuguese sausage which was my preference. The size was average for this seaweed-wrapped block of rice. The saimin was served in a plastic takeout container. Two pieces of spam, thin noodles, and green onions were the contents of the soup. The plate contained white rice and macaroni salad as sides and came separately because it took longer to prepare. A serving of kalua pork along with a bundle of steamed taro leaves containing more fatty pork made up the protein. The flavor of the meat wasn't as well-seasoned as I had hoped. For the prices, the food from auntie and uncle was decent. It was convenient to eat here since I was shopping at one of the nearby stores in the mall. I rated my dining experience at Maui Express between three and four stars.

Spam musubi
Xander N.

3.5 Pretty good food for a business run by two people. The spam musubi was perfectly cooked, and the teriyaki chicken bowl had good teriyaki chicken, but too much rice. The employees were very helpful and answered my questions (They also had free refills).

Mikey H.

I don't normally come out to the Grossmont Center, but this is where I had to get my Covid vaccination. It was actually an easy process and everyone was really friendly. Lots of people! While waiting, because we had to stay for 15 minutes before leaving, I saw a big ALOHA sign, so before I left I thought, why not? I ordered the Spam siamin, a chicken eggroll, a manapua, and a Spam musubi. As I was walking to my door, the bag slipped and my soup container busted open. After getting something to carry everything in, I looked to see what the damage was. Everything survived, but my eggroll was drowning. Brought everything out, and put my saimin in a big bowl. I didn't particularly care for the noodles, and I would've liked the Spam sliced. The broth was great though. My eggroll held up pretty well! There was still a crispiness to it! Loved the manapua, bbq pork bun, and my musubi was good! I felt like I had takeout from Chinatown in Honolulu! I would have to come back to try some of the entrees but for what I got, it was great! Mahalo!

Front of the establishment

Wow what a great place ! The sweetest hard working couple are here day and night to run this place. They've been here for years running this place, and it's definitely worth checking out. The prices are amazing and so is the service. It makes me sad when I come and see how dead the food court can be. So if you're ever in the area, come check it out!! Idk anywhere else where you can get a chicken teriyaki bowl for only $5.99. I truly wish this couple the best in these hard times. 10/10 recommend. The ambiance is great as well. I love the food court it's located in, it has a very old 80s feel and I hope it always stays that way!

Side of Fries
Samantha D.

This is the first time in about 6 to 8 years that I have actually eaten at the spot. I generally have gone here for some spam musubi or another snack like an eggroll. The food was decent! Especially for the price. I enjoyed the seafood combo with short ribs. The short rib was actually cooked perfectly and was flavorful. It had a very small amount of fat. In addition to the short ribs, it was served with a couple of pieces of fried fish and three fried shrimp. The fried fish tasted like tilapia... Definitely not my favorite out of all of the items. The fried shrimp was good. everything was fairly small and proportionate to each other. My combo came with two sides of rice, and a side of macaroni salad for $11. It's hard to find all of this for $11, but I will say that the portions were petite and the quality of the fish items were just OK. So it seems appropriately priced. I have course had to order a Thai tea with Boba and I ordered a side of french fries for my son. The Thai tea was average (I think it may have been canned), and the boba was not great. It's like it had been sitting for a while in some liquid and it was extra soft. It became so soft that it clogged up my straw (LOL). The fries were awesome... You really can't go wrong with those. They were just crispy enough and not soft at all. The service was definitely "mom and pop" style. One older gentleman at the counter, and from what I could see one person cooking up everything fresh. It did take a little bit of time to get the food, but most of the other people in the food court seem to have ordered from here as well. All in all, I would eat here again since it was pretty tasty and filling. I'd probably try one of their other combos or do the spam musubi next time.

BBQ teriyaki chicken
Sandra P.

Super delicious , Very friendly . first time coming Will come back, to try other dishes. (BBQ Chicken)

Ramona V.

I stumbled upon Maui Express while I was at Grossmont Shopping Center, it's located inside the food court. They have a good variety of Hawaiian lunch plates and snacks. They also carry lumpia here and even boba! I ordered two spam musubis to sneak into the movie theater LOL it wasn't bad. It comes out piping hot though! I think they pan fry the spam musubi after it's already wrapped! Not a bad place to get your Hawaiian food fix while you're out shopping.

Katsu chicken and rice

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8 years ago

Really good pineapple orange chicken!! The chicken lumpia is also really good! I'll definitely be back!

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8 years ago

Had an amazing meal with my family. The food was BOMBBB. Would recommend to anyone who loves Hawaiian bbq

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8 years ago

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9 years ago

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9 years ago

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10 years ago

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Ask the Community - Maui Express

Is this located inside the mall? Which entrance is best to use?

Closest parking to the food court is the area between Macy's and the Irish pub. Then walk down the "alley" between Macy's and the day spa, towards the building with the glass roof. Parking by the Verizon near the Walmart is just a few feet longer.

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Greta authentic Hawaiian food. Flavors were on point and Mac salad is one of the best I've tried…read more We got the beef teriyaki, seared ahi and Kailua pork plate and all were delicious. The beef was a little dry for me but the flavor was good. I highly recommend them for Hawaiian food.

BEST HAWAIIAN PLATES IN SD (3.5 stars)…read more The food is always legit here! And the serving size is quite generous. So why not use them for catering?! I threw my dog (yes, my dog) a birthday party at Pure Pawsh (about a mile down the street) and needed catering food I like that was close by and can serve ~15 humans. I ordered in advance maybe 10 days before the event on the 27th 1 medium tray of rice ($60) 1 medium tray of Hawaiian Mac salad ($60) 1 medium tray of Huli-Huli Chicken ($120) FYI, they won't deliver if you don't hit the $400 minimum. I got an email on 9/20 that my order for 9/2 (Tuesday) will be ready at Liberty Station. Sorry 9/2 was like 2 weeks ago. I've stated my event is on the 27th Sunday. What was difficult about my catering order? I went to the restaurant and the front staff helped me get everything situated. But that interaction was a little off too. I don't mean to be stereotypical but GenZ customer service is something else. It's 9/27, my pickup was for 11:15 (confirmed it vial email, called the restaurant 2x the day before and made sure all was set for hand off at 11:15). I showed up around 11:15 and called the restaurant (I'm parked illegally because there is no parking and they said it's fine to do because it's just a hand off). Well the hand off didn't get handed off until closer to 11:30. FOOD SIZE the medium trays are good for 12 people. I think I could have fed 15-20 comfortably. I'm going to say the rice and Mac salad were a bit too much in size and wish they had offerings for smaller portions because those sides are just fillers and. Body is eating big servings of each. I had so much left over of those two - I made a lot of fried rice from the left over rice BUT the Mac salad went to waste. Portions great, taste is great, and price is fair.

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Maui Express - hawaiian - Updated October 2026

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