Kona Kai Bamboo Grill, Philadelphia, PA (restaurant) - Locating Tiki

R rupe33 Tiki Socialite DC Metro Area (MD) Joined: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 381	R rupe33 Posted posted on Mon, Jan 31, 2005 2:46 PM Greetings...this place hadn't been too reviewed on here, so we went to Kona Kai on Monday, January 24, 2005. It was a decent enough place - the decor in the main room was quite tiki-ish, very bamboo with a round fountainish thing that had a fake parrot hanging on a trapeze. The drinks were good, the food okay - had some prime rib (which I ordered forgetting how fatty it tends to be). The puu puu platter was good. We had the unusual fortune to be there the day after the Eagles clinched their Super Bowl berth and which found Philadelphia still gripped in some serious snowfall. As such, we had the place to ourselves from roughly 7:30 until 9pm apart from the gent setting up the evening's karaoke. Thusly I cannot speak as to whether the place's normal crowd is raucous or not, as we experienced it under abnormal circumstances. In the main room there's also a small stage with some tikis on it. The stage apparently supports the venue's karaoke nights. Off the main room there' a Japanese-looking area with some Benihana-style hibatchi tables. Since the place was empty, these were not in use the night we were there. There's a small case back towards the bathroom entrance in which some evidence of the original location can be found. There are t-shirts and golf shirts for sale, and allegedly "tiki glasses" too. An inquiry with our server turned up no results on that front, though. The mai tai is on the sweet side, but I'd recommend the Scorpion - it's a bit stronger. Drinks tend to be served in hurricane glasses. Overall, I'd rate it 7/10. My recommendation: if you're in the area, it's worth stopping by. If you're more than 2 hours away, though, I would not recommend coming to Philly just to hit Kona Kai. It might be a bit disappointing in that regard. Cheers, Rupe [ Edited by: rupe33 on 2005-01-31 14:47 ] [ Edited by: rupe33 on 2005-01-31 14:49 ]

Greetings...this place hadn't been too reviewed on here, so we went to Kona Kai on Monday, January 24, 2005. It was a decent enough place - the decor in the main room was quite tiki-ish, very bamboo with a round fountainish thing that had a fake parrot hanging on a trapeze. The drinks were good, the food okay - had some prime rib (which I ordered forgetting how fatty it tends to be). The puu puu platter was good.

We had the unusual fortune to be there the day after the Eagles clinched their Super Bowl berth and which found Philadelphia still gripped in some serious snowfall. As such, we had the place to ourselves from roughly 7:30 until 9pm apart from the gent setting up the evening's karaoke. Thusly I cannot speak as to whether the place's normal crowd is raucous or not, as we experienced it under abnormal circumstances.

In the main room there's also a small stage with some tikis on it. The stage apparently supports the venue's karaoke nights. Off the main room there' a Japanese-looking area with some Benihana-style hibatchi tables. Since the place was empty, these were not in use the night we were there.

There's a small case back towards the bathroom entrance in which some evidence of the original location can be found. There are t-shirts and golf shirts for sale, and allegedly "tiki glasses" too. An inquiry with our server turned up no results on that front, though.

The mai tai is on the sweet side, but I'd recommend the Scorpion - it's a bit stronger. Drinks tend to be served in hurricane glasses. Overall, I'd rate it 7/10. My recommendation: if you're in the area, it's worth stopping by. If you're more than 2 hours away, though, I would not recommend coming to Philly just to hit Kona Kai. It might be a bit disappointing in that regard.

Cheers,
Rupe

[ Edited by: rupe33 on 2005-01-31 14:47 ]

[ Edited by: rupe33 on 2005-01-31 14:49 ]

Post #138547 by rupe33 on Mon, Jan 31, 2005 2:46 PM