Zing Maui: Wailuku’s Got a Brand New (Lunch) Bag

By Vanessa Wolf

Second food purveyor on the left. Photo By Vanessa Wolf

Do you like breakfast?

What about lunch?

Then we’ve got an offer for you!

What do you do when your stomach angrily informs you it’s time for a refill?

Up until now, you probably had to drive around to area grocery stores, purchase a bunch of food, take it home, cut it up and cook it.

No more squishing and squashing or flipping and flopping.

With this offer, just pick up the phone, place an order and fill that belly. And when you’re done, clean-up is a breeze.

Do you have kids? Know any kids? Know someone who knows someone whose kids also like breakfast and lunch?

What about appetizers? Do you eat those?

Well, call right now, and you can order anything from Kula onion rings to homemade tortilla chips.

The Zucchini Sticks come with a side of lemon frosting, er, aioli. Photo by Vanessa Wolf

(Just pay separate shipping and handling.)

You get it all! Huevos Rancheros ($8), Biscuits and Gravy ($8), Mediterranean Quinoa Salad ($9), Kids’ Mac-N-Cheese ($5) and a BLT ($9), enjoyable in a uniquely dark, super depressing, “abandoned mall food court sans mall” atmosphere.

Operators are standing by!

The new Zing Maui in the Main Street Promenade may not solve all your problems, but it does offer area residents and workers a range of traditional, local and Mexican-style breakfast and lunch options.

We started with a Breakfast Burrito ($8).

Filled with scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage, cheese, beans, salsa and sour cream, this is one gut buster that may just keep you running ‘til dinner time.

No surprises here.

Just plenty of freshly prepared, locally sourced ingredients pushing the envelope of what one humble flour tortilla can reasonably be asked to hold.

The Pan Fried Artichoke Hearts are a real treat. Photo by Vanessa Wolf

If breakfast food isn’t so much your bag, the menu also offers a wide variety of lunch options.

The Beer Battered Zucchini Sticks ($6) with lemon aioli may very well thin out the weaker members of your pack… But what a way to go.

The aioli borders on dessert sweet, but there’s something about the contrast of the crisp, savory fried veggie sticks and the creamy, sugary mayo dip that’s a touch addictive.

Worried about your waistline?

Definitely avoid the Pan Fried Artichoke Hearts ($6).

Eight sections of artichoke are coated in an intensely seasoned breadcrumb mix. Once again, the super sweet lemon aioli makes an appearance.

Pillsbury called. They want their mayo-based frosting recipe back.

The Chopped Salad is as close to a Cobb as you’ll find here. Photo by Vanessa Wolf

Perhaps better matched with some marinara sauce or even ranch dressing, these delectable fried thistle flowers are hard to resist.

You could spend hundreds at local watering holes trying to get the job done, or take care of that irrepressible bar food craving with one call to Maui Zing AND keep your job.

We wanted “something like a Cobb salad” and were steered toward the Chopped Salad ($9).

Essentially a Cobb sans avocado, all the veggie ingredients were notably fresh and crisp. thereby countering-balancing the thin strips of deli meat and chalky texture of the pre-shredded cheddar.

However, the fresh bacon bits and copious amounts of cucumber more than tip the scales toward craveability.

The 4 Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich ($9) answers the question “can a grilled cheese sandwich have too much cheese?” with a resounding YES.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Cheddar Bomb. Photo by Vanessa Wolf

Filled with cheddar, provolone, Swiss and mozzarella, there is so much cheese inside this bad boy that several slices weren’t quite melted in spots. At all.

The highlight was the fresh and flavorful side salad, indicating there is plenty of room for gussying up the main event.

A layer of fig jam perhaps? Some fresh arugula and tomato? An unexpected (Stilton? aged Gouda?) cheese – and less of it – or more unique and substantial bread perhaps?

A little more oomph is needed before we’d order it again.

But don’t despair!

The Homemade Tortilla Chips ($5) with house made salsa fresca and guacamole aim to put a smile on your face.

The chips themselves are perfection: crisp and light. Local Mexican restaurants not making their own would do well to start sourcing their offerings from Zing.

The Homemade Tortilla Chips. Photo by Vanessa Wolf

The fresh, vibrant pico de gallo and rich and creamy guacamole were faultless accompaniments, we just wish there were more than a tablespoon of each.

Seven chips in and we were all but licking the tiny ramekins. Where’d that lemon icing aioli stuff go?

The restaurant staff is friendly and helpful, and appearances suggest the person behind the counter also had a hand in making your food.

In contrast, the food court in which Zing is located is one of the more depressing spots in all of Maui.

Dark and cavernous, it would be a good place to work on your bleak poetry or dystopian novel, but we suggest doing your actual eating elsewhere.

As for what to eat elsewhere, you cannot go wrong with the Rueben ($9).

They had us at house roasted corned beef.

The Rueben is a classic made in the classic style. Bravo. Photo by Vanessa Wolf

Corned beef: You complete me.

Two slices of thick, flavorful marble rye (maybe make the lackluster grilled cheese on some of this?) are filled with corned beef, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing and melted Swiss cheese.

It’s a classic made exactly how it should be.

And if that’s not enough, the accompanying pasta salad is delightful. Chockablock with lightly pickled cucumbers, it lightens and brightens the otherwise ho hum standard. 

Not into Ruebens? With ten sandwich options in the $9 range, you’re sure to find a love match. 

Why spend hundreds on food that doesn’t satisfy when Zing Maui is here to meet your hunger needs?

This is the one-two gut filling power punch you’ve been waiting for.

Act now while supplies last!

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Zing Maui is located at 2050 Main Street in Wailuku. They are open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.