Post #299351 by Scottes on Sun, Apr 15, 2007 6:27 AM

A dozen+ of us got together last night at the New Tiki.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=23324&forum=4&57

I had stopped in to the New Tiki about a week after it changed hands and became the New Tiki. I wanted to check it out and try the food, and take a look around at the "tiki-ness" of the place. Only the lounge is really tiki (but as you can see from the pics above it's great). The food then was less than stellar - the crab rangoons were bland, the fried rice was boring and the Pupu Platter was OK - but missing the little stove so it got cold and I never finished it. There was one item on the Pupu that did not get eaten past the first bite. I can't remember what it was though - it was not very memorable.

Fast forward 5 weeks to the New Tiki....

As to the food now - there's been a hell of an improvement! The mini dumplings (Peking Ravioli) were great - they seem to be the same recipe as the larger, standard ones but they work so much better as mini, bite-sized ones. Nice job here - though I have to say that the sauce was boring and not that great. The Crunchy Shrimp were also delicious - nicely sweet with a clean batter. The fried rice - which was not very good on my first visit - has also seen a heck of an improvement and it's now more like the fried rice you're used to. I also tried a wonton filled with curry beef that was quite good, and a Crab Rangoon that was sweet and tasty. Very little crab - as is typical these days it seems - but the bit of sweetness was nice and made them worthwhile. I also noticed that the Pupu Platter has the little stove now, too. Nice.

The Water Dog soup was my personal favorite. I've never heard of this before, so I when I saw it on the menu I had to try it. It looked much like a Wonton soup - water chestnut, pork strips, scallions, Chinese celery and some other stuff in a moderately dark beefy broth - but it had bite-sized dumplings rather than the typical Wontons. And it was excellent. I am a big fan of Wonton soup and I'd have to say that this Water Dog soup has hit my top spot for favorite in the area. Highly recommended.

I found the drinks to be very good - typical New England variants but done well. I had 2 Mai Tais - "Jimmy's Mai Tai" - which is not a standard Trader Vic Mai Tai but more similar to the ones I've had all around Boston. They were both very good, and will be my staple drink at New Tiki. I also had a Head Hunter, served in one of the coconut mugs that Brian recently found buried out back. I enjoyed this drink too - somewhat light in alcohol and with a pleasant coconut milk base, it was very tasty. I also noticed a couple at the next table had ordered Scorpion Bowls, which came in new "Scorpion-Bowl-For-One" mugs that Brian recently acquired. I will have to try one of those next time, since I've always enjoy Scorpion Bowls. I did hear that the Fog Cutter was not so great though, but it might have been due to the fact that one of the bartenders was working her first night.

All in all I really like the New Tiki. The improvements in food make for one hell of a change for the good. And from talking to Brian the food will only become better. (He did have a copy of Beachbum Berry's Taboo Table as his new "bible" - along with the Grog Log and The Book Of Tiki!!) The lounge looks great with all the tiki, and they have live bands on Friday & Saturday night. The band last night - Big Time Trio - was a hell of a lot of fun, even though they wouldn't play Styx's Mr. Roboto. (Sorry Sully!) The new staff shirts are fantastic, by the way! Loved them!

So a big Thumb's Up to New Tiki. And remember, this is NOT the Tiki Lau. This is the New Tiki.

Rum Review Blog - http://scottesrum.blogspot.com/

[ Edited by: Scottes 2007-04-15 06:29 ]