The last time I went to Coco Deck was in April 2023. Back then, it was Duckine, an Asian fusion restaurant that featured dishes like assorted bao, garlic chow mein, fried chicken wings and tofu stew.
Duckine had only been open for about 10 months when the Lahaina fires happened. When the restaurant closed after the August 2023 fires, chef Alvin Savella talked with his team about rebranding the restaurant.
“Did we want to come back as Duckine, or did we want to be something else?” he says. “We decided as a group that we wanted to be something more family friendly and approachable; a place for the community to hang out. It’s what we felt Lahaina needed at the time.”
Coco Deck Lahaina’s sister restaurant, Māla Ocean Tavern, was the first restaurant to reopen on Front Street after the Lahaina fires, according to Savella.
“We weren’t able to open from August 2023 to February 2024,” he says. "February was when they cleared the water and sewage for this area; that was after six to seven months of being closed. There were guard shacks here; the whole area was kind of fenced down, we couldn’t get in. There was no electricity down here.”
When Māla reopened, Savella and Rob Farrell — the general manager at Coco Deck — stepped in as interim chef and general manager of Māla. They did that for about three months, then started talking about bringing back Duckine — or another concept in its place.
“Māla was the first restaurant to reopen — we reopened on Feb. 1 last year,” Savella says. “We were like the only place open at the time, and we were getting crushed; it was crazy busy. We were the only ones down here, and gradually — throughout April and May — there were restaurants along the strip that all started opening as well. We opened Coco Deck here in September, and every month has been better and better.”
While Duckine was slightly more upscale with a mix of Hawaiian and Chinese flavors, Coco Deck Lahaina features new American street food, according to Savella.
“We do a play on Latin flavors and local Asian flavors — it’s a little bit of everything,” he says.
One of Coco Deck’s most popular dishes is its poke donut ($17.25). And no — this version doesn’t feature a lot of rice.
“We do a spicy tuna and form it into a donut, and I dip it into a beer batter,” Savella explains. “After I pull it out of the fryer, I top it with more fresh poke, some spicy mayo. There’s two different textures — there’s some cooked ‘ahi in the donut, and fresh tuna on the outside as well.”
Other popular dishes include fish tacos ($24.50) — comprising grilled mahi topped with cabbage, pineapple relish, cheese, citrus crema and salsa — and fish & chips ($26.50), served with artichokes, pickled malt mayo and the eatery’s funky fries, which are a mix of four different fries — sweet potato, waffle cut, twister and shoestring, according to Savella.
“That’s our standard mix; we wanted to make it more fun,” he says. “I remember I was in Asia two years ago. They set down a plate of fries and it was mixed; I thought, ‘Why does nobody else do this?’ I liked this idea and brought it here.”
Savella also recommends the birria ramen ($26.50) — a hearty mix of beef birria, noodles, onions, cilantro and lime — and the Coco toast ($15.50) for dessert. The latter features crispy Hawaiian sweet bread with coconut jam, almonds and coffee ice cream, and it’s a tribute to a customer favorite from Duckine.
“One of the things we were known for at Duckine was our dessert, our kaya toast,” Savella says. “We brought it back — it’s a little bit modified, but it’s the Coco toast in this restaurant. It’s pretty much almost the same dessert, but everybody loved it so much that we were like, we have to bring that back. There’s a little bit of nostalgia — it’s a little bit of who we were and who we are now.”
Savella recalls how choosing the name Coco Deck did not come easily.
“It was the hardest thing,” he says. “For two months, every Thursday, five of us would brainstorm. One day, I was sitting on the lanai and was thinking, ‘What does this place make me feel?’ I looked into the distance there and saw coconut trees. Granted, the fires happened but the coconut trees are still here. I was sitting on the deck and was like, ‘This is the Coco Deck.’ That’s the vibe I got.”
Besides its regular restaurant hours, Coco Deck Lahaina features a Wednesday supper club with Savella. The dinner series features a four-course tasting menu that showcases innovative, bold flavors; the theme for each dinner always changes, according to Savella.
“Two weeks ago, it (the theme) was ‘Eat like you’re on death row,’ so it was dishes that people would think of if they were on death row,” he says. “I’m doing a kamayan one (a communal-style Filipino feast) in the future; I did a Duckine throwback menu one night. It’s a different experience; a little bit of education around different cuisines and styles of service.”
Savella says customers can expect more fun events to come at Coco Deck.
“We always try to push the boundaries and try to make things fun,” he says. “I told my business partners, ‘We’re starting to feel the life breathe into Lahaina again.’ It’s nice to see familiar faces, the people of Lahaina coming back, the housing starting to come back up.
“It seemed like, just looking down the street, as the months go on, more and more people are starting to come around,” he adds. “Everybody is trying to find a place to make a comeback.”
CONTACT
Coco Deck Lahaina
1312 Front St., Lahaina
808-451-2778
Cocodecklahaina.com
Instagram: @cocodecklahaina
Open 2-9 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
