With a name like that, we were very excited to check out this Waimea (Kamuela) restaurant that shares a parking lot with an unassuming lodge. Reservations were strongly suggested. This was our last night on the island and we were excited because of all the excellent reviews we had read and frankly, the concept sounds amazing as well. We thought this would be the perfect way to put the accent on an incredible gastronomic adventure.
We were seated immediately and our server came over minutes later to talk to us about food and drink specials. In my zeal, I jumped on the bartender's vodka special - but my husband reminded me that vodka doesn't like me and that I should consider one of the gin or whiskey drinks instead. We asked her to give us a minute to review the menu. She returned - only after I had painstakingly gotten her attention - even though she walked by our table a few times, and we were obviously ready to order. She seemed a bit put out by us changing our mind about getting the bartender's vodka special because for the rest of the evening, we felt like we were a bother to her. But, on to the food!
Kamuela Ranch Water 
Goat Tacos 
Whole Roasted New York 
Portuguese Garlic Bread
Kamuela Ranch Water - Mango infused tequila, fresh lime, passion simple syrup, soda water - it was perfectly balanced and in complete harmony on the palate. However we were confused by the chili lime rim that was not a part of the ingredients. It didn't detract from the drink by any means.
Spring Night -- Rye, Amaro, Port wine, ginger beer -this reminded me of the Bon Apetit The New York Sour that I favor -- however mine is usually made with Maker's Mark. The Rye and Amaro added a smokiness to the cocktail that I really enjoyed. It was well made, the flavors played well together and it was strong.
Goat Tacos - Korean style braised goat on mu shu tortillas --- the tortillas are absolutely delicious - the mu shu gives it a springy yet light texture that is pleasing to the palate both texturally and tantalizing to the taste buds. And this is even before you've taken a bite of the tender, melt in your mouth goat meat. Daikon adds a delicious crunch. The apple salsa was either missing from ours or didn't really add much in terms of texture or flavor. It was not missed. If we were rating this restaurant on this alone, it would be a 5!
14oz Big Island Grass Fed Whole Roasted NY steak - we asked for this medium rare - it came out rare. This was served with a spring onion daikon relish and chili pepper taro. The relish was very citrus forward and just didn't seem to complement the steak. When our server came to check on us, we let her know his steak was rare, she offered to take it backed to be cooked more, but lets face it, we all know that that never works well. It would have likely come out overcooked and hockey-puck hard. The texture was a challenge to the point that I (he is perfectly capable of cutting his own meat usually) had to cut his steak into smaller-sized portions and I couldn't do this without the plate sliding all over the table.
18oz Grilled Rib Eye - medium rare and cooked to a perfect temperature with excellent texture however it was massively under-seasoned and over-charred to the point of bitter.
The Garlic Fried Rice turned out to be Cauliflower Rice. It was bland and underwhelming. Good texture for Cauliflower rice, but not what we were expecting.
The Portuguese bread was absolutely delicious and I could have made a meal out of them. The dough was light, airy with the right amount of springiness. It had a perfect crisp and was pleasantly garlic-forward and well seasoned.
Our server came to check on us several times, and would ask 'is everything perfect?' even though she knew that one of our steaks was far from perfect. All in all, we were rather disappointed with this meal at FORC for which we had the highest expectations and expected to leave a 5 Star review.
