From the luaus that I've been to, including the California-nized versions that the universities hold, the emphasis seems to be more about entertainment and display of different dances and musical styles. B/c s o much work goes into the showy aspect, the food suffers. Given what I know of traditional Hawaiian cuisine, the fare is very simple to begin with and was never meant to feed massive numbers of people such as tourists.

Long story short, I would advise travelling to HI during one of the hula festivals or a slack-key guitar festival so you get the talented part of the luau minus the kitsch.