Post #498283 by Trader Woody on Thu, Dec 10, 2009 6:09 AM

On 2009-12-10 04:31, bigbrotiki wrote:

so has the success of the Mahiki --the buzz about the drinks, the celebrities, and booming business-- created a desire in the English bar scene to do alike.

Yep, I'm convinced the success of the Mahiki has everything to do with this. It's been popular with the rich/celebrity set from word go. Having members of the royal family partying there early on pretty much set the scene. They have shown it can be done & money can be made.

It's interesting to note that most, if not all of the new British Tiki bars are owned by people who are already running successful, but more conventional bars. This should at least mean that the quality of the drinks is high and that they are run efficiently. Of course as this goes on, there could be all sorts of bandwagon-jumpers coming out of the woodwork, so it's up to Tiki Centralites to help "sort the wheat from the chaff" & post their opinions here.

As for needing a Mahiki-esque place to lead a new revival in the US, I'm sure it can happen, but once again, it needs to have famous people falling out of it every other night to make headway in our celebrity obsessed culture. The perfect recipe would be to have one owned by someone famous bang in the middle of New York, Vegas or LA, such as the Viper Room.
It'll be interesting to see if it ever happens, but I'm sure the success of the Mahiki hasn't gone unnoticed over in the US.

Trader Woody