Post #15385 by thejab on Wed, Dec 4, 2002 12:21 PM

my 2 centavos:

Decor: That old Tiki Central thread on "The perfect tiki bar" is a good place to start. Visit as many existing places as you can. But mainly keep it dark, dark, dark with subdued colored lighting. Please, no strings of little white lights!

Drinks: The most important thing after decor IMNSHO. I can't understand why restaurant after restaurant invests so much thought and expense on good food and food service staff and practically ignores the quality of their cocktail staff. I think any serious bar or restaurant should have a bar manager that has at least 5 years of experience in bartending with a complete knowlege of the history of cocktails (esp. tropical drinks in this case) and how to make them. Fine restaurants often employ a sommelier for their wine. This may not be necessary for your proposed restaurant but the bar manager should have extensive knowlege of wine and beer as well as cocktails.

Once a bar manager is found they should be personally involved in training each member of the bar staff, making sure they learn how to make the drinks the right way and that they are consistently of high quality. One sure way to ensure consistency is to require all bartenders measure the ingredients. Every drink at the Tiki Ti is carefully measured no matter how many times they have made it. The same goes for Trader Vic's. Well, at least at the Beverly Hills location where the bartenders seem to have the most experience and the drinks are consistently great. With the exception of one bartender, at Emeryville the bartenders are fairly young and from my experiences the quality is hit or miss.

To use a glaring example, the way the bartenders at Taboo Cove were trained was a joke! The average customer may have never had a tropical drink made the original way with fresh juice, etc. So, they may not like it because it seems too sour compared to their last Pina Colada or Sex On The Beach. But there is no reason why such a customer can't learn. Provide a cocktail menu at the bar that informs how each drink is made with care in the orginal way. But stick to your guns and don't let your staff leave ingredients out just because a few people are squeamish about the taste. If your bartenders don't like such attention to detail they can go pour beers and jager shots at some other bar.

Buy and use fresh limes, lemons, and oranges. Good restaurants buy fresh produce for their food, why can't they use fresh citrus? Why many bars buy limes to put in a gin and tonic or lemons to drop in a Hefeweizen, but still make drinks with sweet and sour and margarita mix is beyond me.

The tropical drink menu doesn't have to be huge. A dozen or so well-made classics along with a few originals should be fine. Served in tiki mugs of course. I like the idea of having both a tropical drink menu and regular cocktail menu.

Food: I think a modernized version of polynesian is a good bet these days. Lighter than the original, often deep-fried polynesian. Lots of tropical fruits in the dishes. More creative with combinations of asian and polynesian ingredients. Bring in varieties of seafood that are less common and aren't being overfished. Flaming foods and deserts!

Service: Can't overemphasize this one enough. It will make or break a night out for me. I have worked in food service in the past and as I remember if the management are a pleasure to work with than the staff will work harder and provide better service. When your entire staff has pride in the place and cares about whether or not the restaurant succeeds it is obvious to the customers. I got that feeling at the Mai Kai, from the maitre'd down to the bathroom attendant.

Music: Of course I prefer a mix of Hawaiian, exotica, and lounge music, played at a low volume. Trader Vic's does this perfectly, vs. the Tiki Ti: their classic rock radio blaring is the only bad thing about the place. Occasional live lounge music may bring in customers.