The Four Seasons Resort Hualālai Debuts a Reimagined Signature Restaurant and a New Sushi Lounge

It had been a long day.  

While I’d love to complain about a hectic schedule or long commute, I was actually exhausted from all the fun I was having.  

Once I checked into the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai, a sprawling oceanfront luxe resort that looks carved into lava rock, I felt immediately energized. I donned snorkel gear and slid into the 1.8-million-gallon King’s Pond stocked with more than 1,000 tropical fish and a spotted eagle ray named Kainalu.  

Then I relaxed in the hot tub at the quiet Beach Tree pool, with an unobstructed ocean view. And I watched a pod of dolphins jumping and playing in the water. That was hard work and by dinnertime I was spent!  

And hungry.  

The resort boasts five restaurants, including the fully renovated ‘Ulu Restaurant and the brand-new sushi lounge just above it. Noio, which opened in early 2025, boasts a nightly menu featuring freshly caught fish and seafood alongside authentic Japanese dishes. But its crown jewel is a seven-course prix fixe omakase (literally means, “I leave the details up to you,” in Japanese) crafted by rising sushi chef Nuri Piccio. While the resort has been serving sushi at its restaurants since it opened in 1996, this is the first time the property has ever had a dedicated omakase sushi bar.  

And it definitely has a vibe of exclusivity.  

Noio opened on the secod floor of ‘Ulu Restaurant at the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai.
Photo: Courtesy of the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai

There are only 12 seats with two seatings a night, five nights a week. Cost is $350 per person and the menu showcases super-fresh sashimi, a soup of savory custard dish, a grilled course and dessert. Dishes have included the puddlinglike chawanmushi with luscious uni (sea urchin roe), blue crab and ali‘i (king oyster) mushrooms; seared kampachi (almaco jack) with dried kelp, pickled daikon and nori sheets; and a salad with locally grown limu (seaweed), sea grapes and sesame konbu dust.  

Even if you decide to skip the omakase, dinner at Noio is spectacular, with an ocean view to match. The menu boasts a variety of fresh sashimi and nigiri (which can be enhanced with black truffle and caviar), Japanese and American wagyu, and a slew of à la carte dishes like hamachi carpaccio, braised abalone and spaghetti topped with cured pollack roe and shrimp.  

Downstairs is the reimagined ‘Ulu, the resort’s signature restaurant serving breakfast and dinner. Nearly three-fourths of the ingredients featured on the menu here—from mushrooms to lobster to even the rum—are from more than 160 local farms on Hawai‘i Island.  

The resort’s ‘Ulu Restaurant was recently renovated.
Photo: Courtesy of the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai

The open-air dining area is warm and inviting, with great views of the ocean from every table. Feeling the salty breeze immediately put me in relaxation mode. (Well, the ‘Ulu mai tai helped, too.)  

Our dinner started out with a plate of a half-dozen oysters dressed in a preserved lemon-cucumber mignonette. The oysters—a variety of Eastern oyster originally from the Chesapeake Bay area—are raised in the resort’s Pūnāwai Lake, harvested and served in three of the resort’s restaurants, including ‘Ulu. You can’t get any fresher than that.  

Following the oysters was the restaurant’s popular crispy chicken—and yes, it really is crispy—with a tangy gochujang-citrus glaze and paired with pickled daikon. That came with housemade noodles tossed with an umami-packed shio-konbu-miso butter and topped with caviar, and ‘Ulu’s signature miso crab leg with a yuzu-koshu-miso butter and charred lemon halves on the side.  

There’s an entrée for everyone, from the grilled fresh catch to the king crab noodles. But the star of the dinner menu is the ‘ahi “Wellington,” carved tableside and intended for two people. (That’s how big it is.) The dish mimics the traditional beef Wellington—a filet steak and duxelles wrapped in shortcrust pastry, baked, then sliced for serving. Instead of beef, this one features a thick slab of ‘ahi, along with ali‘i mushrooms, lū‘au leaf, a unique Surinam cherry jam and foie gras bordelaise that you’ll want to sop up with the pastry shell.  

It’s amazing that even after all that, we still ordered dessert. It was hard to resist the caramel mac-nut bar, with a dreamy milk chocolate crémeux, salted caramel and puffed sorghum that was supposed to mimic popcorn. It tasted like a fancy Snickers bar—and I wasn’t mad about it. The roasted pineapple parfait was a great meal-ender, with tangy notes of pineapple, liliko‘i (passion fruit) and Meyer lemon.  

A long day turned into a long night. No complaints here.

72-100 Ka‘upulehu Dr., Kailua-Kona, fourseasons.com/hualalai/dining 

This story was originally published in our SPRING/SUMMER 2025 issue, which you can buy here. Better yet, subscribe and get HAWAIʻI Magazine delivered to right to your mailbox.

Catherine Toth Fox is the former editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine and continues to contribute to the website and print publication.