To Tiki or Not to Tiki? That is the question. - General Tiki

K Kono Member Orlando Joined: Oct 08, 2003 Posts: 1266	K Kono Posted posted on Thu, Oct 28, 2004 8:20 AM On 2004-10-27 23:25, christiki295 wrote: Where is the tiki love for a gorgeous, extremely well decorated tiki bar which pays homage to the Martin Denny & Co. by having their album covers on the wall? That tiki mug isn't just 1/2 full, it (to me) appears to be 3/4 full. Most of you are talking in theory, we're talking about a specific bar that we don't care for. Wai Tiki in downtown Orlando. I can ignore the Top 40 music if I have to. It doesn't help but it doesn't kill the place for me. I don't mind a younger crowd either. I'm pretty immature myself. I guess for me it was in part the attitude of the staff (which is backed up by the experience Joe Vitale had) which was superficially friendly, aloof and very "professionial." This staff would be right at home in a beach bar during Spring Break in Lauderdale or Daytona dealing with all the assholes. Which segues nicely into another reason Wai Tiki fails: Orlando's downtown crowd are primarily a bunch of assholes. I'm pretty lenient when it comes to assholes since I've been one most of my adult life myself. Orlando's assholes are particularly odious though. When I moved here about four years ago I noticed fairly quickly that the club crowd was pretty obnoxious. Kind of rich kid wannabe obnoxious if that makes any sense to you (watch a few 80s spring break/ski resort flicks, pick out the rich kids and you'll see what I'm getting at). My theory was/is that Orlando is too safe a town. I lived over in Tampa for years and there's plenty of assholes in Ybor City on a Saturday night but that's usually because they're just too drunk. The Orlando asshole is an asshole drunk or sober. Tampa is a more dangerous city with some very dangerous areas. Ybor can be somewhat rough, people do get knifed and mugged and shot there on occasion (haven't been in four years so its probably continually getting better) and my little theory is that this somewhat keeps people a tad more courteous to each other than in a place like...say, Orlando where the streets are very safe downtown (99%) and people are free to nurture and allow their assholiness to bloom to its full glory. Anyways, sorry for the rant but I guess what I don't like about Wai Tiki is that it doesn't just tolerate this asshole crowd it actually caters to it. I can deal with the downtown scene even if I'm not particularly enamored of it but it just doesn't work with Wai Tiki. It's just not a tiki bar to me. I'm usually pretty open minded and lenient but I went there and to quote the horse on Ren and Stimpy: "Mmmmmm, didn't like it."

On 2004-10-27 23:25, christiki295 wrote:
Where is the tiki love for a gorgeous, extremely well decorated tiki bar which pays homage to the Martin Denny & Co. by having their album covers on the wall?

That tiki mug isn't just 1/2 full, it (to me) appears to be 3/4 full.

Most of you are talking in theory, we're talking about a specific bar that we don't care for. Wai Tiki in downtown Orlando.

I can ignore the Top 40 music if I have to. It doesn't help but it doesn't kill the place for me. I don't mind a younger crowd either. I'm pretty immature myself.

I guess for me it was in part the attitude of the staff (which is backed up by the experience Joe Vitale had) which was superficially friendly, aloof and very "professionial." This staff would be right at home in a beach bar during Spring Break in Lauderdale or Daytona dealing with all the assholes. Which segues nicely into another reason Wai Tiki fails: Orlando's downtown crowd are primarily a bunch of assholes. I'm pretty lenient when it comes to assholes since I've been one most of my adult life myself. Orlando's assholes are particularly odious though. When I moved here about four years ago I noticed fairly quickly that the club crowd was pretty obnoxious. Kind of rich kid wannabe obnoxious if that makes any sense to you (watch a few 80s spring break/ski resort flicks, pick out the rich kids and you'll see what I'm getting at). My theory was/is that Orlando is too safe a town. I lived over in Tampa for years and there's plenty of assholes in Ybor City on a Saturday night but that's usually because they're just too drunk. The Orlando asshole is an asshole drunk or sober. Tampa is a more dangerous city with some very dangerous areas. Ybor can be somewhat rough, people do get knifed and mugged and shot there on occasion (haven't been in four years so its probably continually getting better) and my little theory is that this somewhat keeps people a tad more courteous to each other than in a place like...say, Orlando where the streets are very safe downtown (99%) and people are free to nurture and allow their assholiness to bloom to its full glory. Anyways, sorry for the rant but I guess what I don't like about Wai Tiki is that it doesn't just tolerate this asshole crowd it actually caters to it. I can deal with the downtown scene even if I'm not particularly enamored of it but it just doesn't work with Wai Tiki. It's just not a tiki bar to me. I'm usually pretty open minded and lenient but I went there and to quote the horse on Ren and Stimpy: "Mmmmmm, didn't like it."

Post #122223 by Kono on Thu, Oct 28, 2004 8:20 AM