Smith's Family Garden Luau - Polynesian & Fire Show, Dinner and Open Bar
Overall Rating
4.70
It was ok
Reviewed by: B Denney, 2024/02/21When I think of a Luau, I think of the movie with Adam Sandlin, Jennifer Aniston, and Nicole Kidman in Just Go With It - in Maui.
The Luau we attended here was different than my expectations. The arboretum on the property was beautiful and full of a variety of plants, trees, animals, and some sea life.
The buffet style food approach was ok, but nothing exceptional unfortunately.
After dinner, there was a show to reflect the Hawaiian history and culture through dance, which culminated in a one-man fire stick show.
Again, all okay. Probably the coolest thing to me was the fact that it's a family business of more than 5 generations. Hats off to them!
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2024/02/12 |
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Good, but not the best
Reviewed by: Andy, 2018/09/05The food was very good, and the show was good as well. My only real complaint is the time gap between events happening. We arrived and were treated to a tram tour of the botanical gardens, which is fabulous. After that we had approximately 40 minutes before the Imu ceremony where they pull the pig out of the oven. Although we further explored the gardens, there's only so many times you can admire a flower or tree. My wife and I decided to find seats (open seating for parties less than 5), and we choose poorly. The bar doesn't open until after the Imu ceremony, so we weren't able to enjoy a drink (other than water) while we waited. After the Imu ceremony, the band started playing music and the bar opened. Once the buffet started, we realized our poor choice of seats, as we were among the last tables to be signaled for the buffet. At least we had drinks by that time, but the waiting wears on you. The food was good, but once we were finished, there was only the music to listen to. Normally this is an opportunity to talk to the other guests, but the seating arrangement isn't conducive to starting a conversation with strangers.
After another 30 minutes or dead time or so, we moved from the dining area to the theater. The show was entertaining, with traditional dances and music, but it just didn't flow as a story for me. I felt like it was more of a documentary of Hawaiian dance. My wife and I were ready to go when it was over (even before).
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2018/08/30 |
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Good
Reviewed by: Rachel, 2017/08/27It was very busy. Good food but my gluten free meal was brought 20 minutes after I was full from the salads provided. However I ate the pork , chicken from the buffet style feast and food was well labelled so I had no reaction to the food I ate considering I am allergic to wheat. Very nice staff. Show was good. I wished there was more history and traditional dance wear. The high pitched whale noises the one lady made hurt my ears for every song. I wished the warrior dance was longer as I enjoyed the drums and seeing less women dancers hehe. The fire show was the best part. Thanks so much smith family!!
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2017/08/24 |
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Smith's luau
Reviewed by: itlbfun, 2017/01/30The luau is just average. The show portion of the luau is in a "theater" type setting making it seem removed from the luau. The food was ok. They did try hard to accommodate my food allergy and prepared a separate plate for me.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2017/01/27 |
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Smith's Luau
Reviewed by: itlbfun, 2017/01/28Not like it was 28 years ago. You are distanced fron dancers by stadium seating. Imu pig was good but the rest of the food was jusr adequate. Show wasn't spectular either.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2017/01/27 |
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Luau 09 AUG 2016
Reviewed by: Rob & Steph, 2016/08/13We brought 6 people to luau. I had been to Smith's Luau 3 times in the past, the others (my Fiancee, our daughters, and their friends) had not. My daughter had been to a couple of "real" Hawaiian family luaus in the past. I advised our group that this would not be like those, it would be a very structured and commercial setting with a really great Polynesian show at the end.
The Smith's are a wonderful family, very accommodating, welcoming, and freiendly beyond words. The tour, Imu ceremony, and food were as good as they had ever been in the past.
The thing that earned the Smith family only 3 stars on this visit was the quality of the performance at the end. I was looking forward to the male warrior portion of the show, but found that the current cast was lacking in stature and talent. With only 3 young men in the cast, two of whom were in the range of 100 to 130 pounds, the warrior aspect suffered dearly.
Hopefully the Smith family can rebuild this cast, or at least get a gym membership for the current cast members, and return the show to the quality that I had experienced in the past.
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2016/08/09 |
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Luau
Reviewed by: Marilyn, 2015/08/20They took pictures as you came into the grounds, I wish they had taken a few minutes to be sure everyone was in the picture and could be seen. The grounds are very pretty and well maintained, it was fun to ride thru the gardens and get info about the trees and flowers. The sitting was good, lots of people, lines at food tables went fast and plenty of food. Drinks were plentiful, service was good, very friendly family. Then when the bar/drink area closed, we were all sent to the luau dance area. It was very warm, with the smell of the gasoline/fuel for the fire dance. The dancers were ok, the whole luau was too long, I felt that several of the dances were very slow and long. The whole dance part could have been cut in half. The fire dancer was really good, as were the stick dancers.
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2015/08/14 |
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Nice show
Reviewed by: kablewhirl, 2015/04/05This trip is very organized. We arrived at the grounds and were driven on a tram to the gardens (not sure why the tram, completely walkable). We were then left to wander the gardens for a half hour or so. The gardens are beautiful, the whole setting is lovely. The next event was the ceremony explaining how the pig is prepared and cooked, which was somewhat interesting. Next we were ushered into the dining area for cocktails and dinner. The pork was delicious, the rest basically typical buffet fare. Dinner felt like we were at a big wedding reception and didn't know anyone. If you like buffets and big feedings, you'll love this. Not our family's cup of tea. After dinner we walked to the theater for the show. The show was fine, the dancers were fine, it was entertaining. We didn't really know what to expect from a luau when we signed up and now that we've experienced it, we'll never feel a need to go back. Glad we saw the dancing but this is the one excursion we regret having spent our time and money on during our week in Kauai.
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2015/04/02 |
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Great Experience
Reviewed by: Hulala, 2014/12/09The luau was held in a beautiful place and it was really fun to explore. Unfortunately, when the seating began we were asked to move multiple times because of reserved seating and it made the dinner portion of our evening very very annoying. Luckily, the entertainment after dinner was awesome.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
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Surprised!
Reviewed by: Just me, 2014/10/13Short and sweet ... the tour of the grounds was lovely; the food and mai tai's were superior; but the dances needed some umph! That was a sad ending to an event that started great.
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2014/10/08 |
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Luau
Reviewed by: redrobin, 2014/08/26My thought was that a Luau was supposed to take place while eating the wonderful buffet food. At this Luau we sat down at long tables and did enjoy a delicious buffet. However, then we had to move to another location where they had bleacher seating, which was extremely uncomfortable. The show itself was just ok as it did not have a lot of spectacular associated with it. There was only one guy who did an act with fire. Most of it was just basic hula dancing and not what I would have expected. VERY uncomfortable seating and MEDIOCRE dancing. I would not recommend this Luau to any of my friends are family who may wish to visit Hawaii.
I was however pleased with Veltra tours and the professionalism and the call I received for verification of activities. Thank You.
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
| Activity Date: | 2014/08/11 |
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Awsome grounds...great food....so so show...
Reviewed by: Raslco, 2014/07/12We have attended luaus on other islands and the show at this luau was not impressive. The grounds were amazing , beautiful picture opportunities ....and the food was delicious!!! We were not impressed with the show. The seating was stadium seating which was extremely uncomfortable. The show was not interactive with audience......I believe the "host" was pre-recorded?
Again.....we've been to other islands and have been to much better.
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2014/07/09 |
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Great food
Reviewed by: Jeff, 2014/06/13
Overall I would say this event was a positive experience. The food was very good. The tour of the property was very enjoyable, this is a magnificent setting for a luau. In my opinion, the after dinner show, however, needs to be updated. I'm sure there are those who appreciate the cultural and artistic emphasis on which the show was based, however, from an entertainment perspective, this show fell considerably short of other luaus I have attended. Most of the music was very slow paced, some of it seemed to drag on forever. I expected a more fast paced performance, one which would ellicit more enthusiasm, more excitement within the audience. The slow paced, historic theme just didn't get it done for myself and the people with which I attended this event.
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2014/06/10 |
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MS
Reviewed by: Mr. Anonymous, 2011/06/14I felt the grounds were lacking a bit. Kauai is much more beautiful than this tropical paradise. Been to another luau few years back and much better than this. The dancers were fabulous but felt some of the show lacked authenticity, sorta felt like everyone else was tired of it all.
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
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smith tropical luau
Reviewed by: Mr. Anonymous, 2009/06/20Not really what i had expected. I found it to be rather boring. Would have really liked to see more of the Men dances than there was. Didn't really care for all the other country style dances was really looking for more of a Hawaiian, Polnysian style luau. The fire dance was cool. Think kids would find this show rather boring. The plantation was really really pretty i would recommend that you tour that.
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| Attended as: | Families |
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A very long night
Reviewed by: Mr. Anonymous, 2009/04/07Arrived a bit before 4:30. Staff was quite rude that we were so early.
Also, everything was dragged out..far too long. Entertainment was too late for our granddaughter to enjoy as she fell asleep.
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
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Attendee
Reviewed by: Mr. Anonymous, 2007/09/04The food was very good. I have seen shows at other luaus that I enjoyed more. This show seems to be family members and I prefer the shows that seek the best talent.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
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