Bad Time/Food at Royal Hawaiian - Orange County, CA - General Tiki

T Traderpup Tiki Socialite Long Beach, CA Joined: Mar 26, 2002 Posts: 1055	T Traderpup Posted posted on Thu, Jun 20, 2002 8:00 AM Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the Royal Hawaiian..... I've always had a great time there! The best thing about Royal Hawaiian is that it is pretty much unchanged since the 50s. The outside is classic Polynesian restaurant: lush tropical landscape, Tiki guardians with electrified eyes, colored flood lights, electric Tiki torches, and oversized Tiki door handles! Lobby has vintage bent rattan furniture, bamboo and thatch all around, vintage south pacific artwork. The dining areas are done up in bamboo, rattan, thatch, tapa cloth, Tiki lamps on every table, various Polyneisan artifacts around, and lots of vintage tropical paintings. The bar alone is awesome! Even more bamboo & thatch, puffer fish lamps, glass floats, lava rock wall, aquariums, great lapu-lapus! Keep in mind when going to Royal Hawaiian: don't go expecting awesome food & service! The food is so-so, I think most of the waitresses have been working there since the early days of the place (with the attitude to boot). I usually wait over an hour to be seated (even with reservations). The air inside is a bit stale (I don't think there's an effective way to clean 50 yrs of smoke & grease off of thatching). The place could use a good restoration, but at least it has survived any streamline remodels. The place is always packed on the weekends! If you don't get there early, you'll spend forever worming your way into the bar, and without a reservation, expect a 2 hour wait to be seated. The best thing about Royal Hawaiian is that it is AUTHENTIC! It is true to what it is... a kitschy 50s Polynesian restaurant! Then again, my judgement is usually clouded by a lapu-lapu...... :tiki:

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the Royal Hawaiian.....

I've always had a great time there! The best thing about Royal Hawaiian is that it is pretty much unchanged since the 50s. The outside is classic Polynesian restaurant: lush tropical landscape, Tiki guardians with electrified eyes, colored flood lights, electric Tiki torches, and oversized Tiki door handles! Lobby has vintage bent rattan furniture, bamboo and thatch all around, vintage south pacific artwork. The dining areas are done up in bamboo, rattan, thatch, tapa cloth, Tiki lamps on every table, various Polyneisan artifacts around, and lots of vintage tropical paintings. The bar alone is awesome! Even more bamboo & thatch, puffer fish lamps, glass floats, lava rock wall, aquariums, great lapu-lapus!

Keep in mind when going to Royal Hawaiian: don't go expecting awesome food & service! The food is so-so, I think most of the waitresses have been working there since the early days of the place (with the attitude to boot). I usually wait over an hour to be seated (even with reservations). The air inside is a bit stale (I don't think there's an effective way to clean 50 yrs of smoke & grease off of thatching). The place could use a good restoration, but at least it has survived any streamline remodels.

The place is always packed on the weekends! If you don't get there early, you'll spend forever worming your way into the bar, and without a reservation, expect a 2 hour wait to be seated.

The best thing about Royal Hawaiian is that it is AUTHENTIC! It is true to what it is... a kitschy 50s Polynesian restaurant!

Then again, my judgement is usually clouded by a lapu-lapu......

:tiki:

Post #2479 by Traderpup on Thu, Jun 20, 2002 8:00 AM