Post #215787 by Bargoyle on Sun, Feb 19, 2006 11:16 AM

LUAU HALE TRIP 2/18/06

I'm happy to say that the Luau Hale is still open and fully functional. I had my doubts when we first drove by it (was going a little too fast & had to turn around) as there was only one car there...parked right in front of the door.

An unassuming place from the outside with no windows, I gotta admit, I thought maybe this was a wasted trip...

The front door didnt give me much hope either, and I totally expected it to be locked (inspite of the posted hours stating it had opened at 11.30 that morning)

The door opened on a little hallway with rock walls, and a fountain that wasnt working and my hopes lifted slightly...

The main dining room was empty (it was about 4:45) so we took a right, and headed into the lounge...

Beautiful murals painted on all the walls in the lounge, and some great lamps hanging above the bar

We sat ourselves in a booth by the bar, and promptly ordered cocktails. I had a MaiTai and Jess had a Tropical Margarita. Both were good. The MaiTai, while not traditional (I think it had some grapefruit in it?)was still very good. Tasty & strong. The Tropical Margarita had a little too much Midori for my tastes, but was still very good.

Over Jess' shoulder I noticed a few masks on the wall (the only tiki I'd seen so far) so I made her bail out of the booth to snap this pic

There is also a mask painted on the adjoining wall...

We got menus, and perused them. Some interesting polynesian dishes as well as the standard Chineese dishes we see at most of these places. Some of the Szechuan dishes sounded great also, but apted for Pu-Pu to start, and sampled some more cocktails. Here's a crappy pic of the menu logo ...

I had a Suffering Bastard and Jess had a Planters Punch with our PuPu. Once again, both drinks were very good. It was an unexpected trend after the recent glut of good drinks! For dinner we decided to split a dish called Polynesian Delight. Steak, shrimp, mushrooms, water chestnuts and veggies with white rice. Very good. Gonna have the leftovers for lunch in a few minutes!

With dinner I had a Zombie, Jess had a scorpion for one. The scorpion was good. Large & very tasty. The zombie was passable, but once again seemed to have a strange grapefruit taste like the MaiTai. It didnt stop me from drinking it, but off all the cocktails, it was the one I was least impressed with.

It was getting tough to try and sneak photos as people were comming in for dinner, so I went out to the main dining room and asked for permission. I had the pleasure of meeting one of the owners and she told me the place was formerly a HuKeLau, owned by the same people who still run the Chicopee one, but they bought it from them over 30 years ago. By this time, the place was starting to fill up. The parking lot was nearly full when we finally left. Its great to see that like the Kowloon and HuKeLau, there is still plenty of local interest in the place!

The setup of the main dining room(s) is VERY cool. There's a raised pagoda in the center that has a Chineese feel to it, with windows on two sides that look out on the other two dining rooms.

It creates a really neat effect, as the lower dining rooms have HUGE murals on their walls, so it's like you're in a little hut looking out on the Polynesian night.

Inside the Pogada....

From the "outside" dining room looking at the main pagoda

The outer dining rooms & murals...

Eating under the watchfull eyes of the Moai...

All in all, a great Polynesian joint out in the Berkshires. The drinks were good, the food was good, and the atmosphere was very freindly with that funky vibe we all dig. The murals are gorgeous (too bad Pappy wasnt there to get some good pics...I'm a hack, I know it) and the wait staff all wear bright hawaiian shirts. On the negative side, the masks and the Moai painting were the only tiki to speak of in the entire place. They no longer serve any drinks in tiki mugs either. The closest thing they have are the scorpion bowls in the one and two person sizes.

I'd reccomend that the New England Ohana check it out when you get a chance. It's a bit fo a ride for most of us (took us about 1.5 hours each way), but there's the outlet mall in Lee just a few miles up the road to turn it into a day trip. Or doing it as part of a fall foliage trip thru the Berkshires might work also. Might be a good place for a NETC meeting in October?

I'll post a formal review in Locating tiki in the next day or so. Just wanted to share with my fellow New Englanders first!

See everyone on the 25th at the Kowloon!