The Senia Team Is Opening Their Second Restaurant

One of Hawaii’s hottest dining destinations is teaming up with Hawaii’s most luxurious hotel for a new restaurant: Senia chefs Anthony Rush and Chris Kajioka are opening Ondine in Maui’s Hotel Wailea, in collaboration with hotel owner Jonathan McManus, according to a press release.

While Senia aims to be both a neighborhood restaurant, with a la carte options and a destination tasting counter, Ondine will be high end. The restaurant, at Hawaii’s only Relais & Châteaux property — meaning it’s a member of a “global fellowship” “of the world’s finest hoteliers, chefs, and restaurateurs” — will include garden terrace dining, a private chef’s kitchen with a tasting counter that seats up to 20, and a “treehouse private dining experience for intimate groups of eight.” The menu will focus on Maui ingredients and the chefs plan to develop exclusive relationships with local farms.

As Eater restaurant editor Bill Addison noted in a recent review, Senia was one of the most anticipated restaurant openings of 2016. At just nine months old, it’s “a watershed restaurant for both its nationally up-to-the-minute menu and because of the sterling resumes of its principles,” Addison says.

Since it debuted in December, Senia has landed on “best of” lists, was nominated for James Beard Awards, and pastry chef, Mimi Mendoza, was named a 2017 Eater Young Gun. “To launch at Hotel Wailea, Maui, Hawaii’s only Relais & Châteaux property, continues the momentum of what we’ve accomplished in Honolulu,” Kajioka said in the press release.

Ondine is slated to open fall 2018 following a redesign of Hotel Wailea’s existing restaurant.

• Acclaimed Chefs Find Maui Home At Hotel Wailea [PR Newswire]