Post #513951 by socal-tiki on Sat, Feb 27, 2010 10:04 PM

Off topic. My observations of Don's from 2 weeks ago.

I went to Don's 2 weeks ago for the first time since it was Kona. My wife and our friends sat in the bar and enjoyed some cocktails until our table was ready. Heading to our table, we noticed that Don's was pretty busy as there was an event going on in the room on the right side of the restaurant. We were seated in the main dining area with the lava rock fountain and giant tiki.

Charlie? took care of us that night. He was a fantastic server and made everyone feel at home and welcome. We had questions about certain drinks and he was very helpful. I enjoyed a Navy Grog which was great, but my favorite was the Dark and Stormy. Definitely one of the best drinks I've ever had. The drinks and service were fantastic. I was also impressed and by the Beachcomber swizzle sticks in the drinks. To me, it's these special throwback touches that will help to make Don the Beachcomber iconic once again.

There were four of us and we all had three courses including dessert. The calamari apps were great as was my Kahlua pork. I liked how everything seemed to keep with the overall theme of the place. For dessert we had a lava cake? and a cheesecake. Unfortunately the lava cake was missing the lava. The coffee was outstanding. Next time I will have to order one of those exotic coffee drinks, which was another thing I was impressed by. They (Don's) actually had such follow through as to have tropical coffee drinks for after dinner..very nice.

I guess this is the constructive criticism part. To me the bar always seems like the most crowded part of the building. I believe that this has a lot to do with the escapism that the darkness and intimacy of the bar provides. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling that in the dining room. I liked the decor, but to me it seemed to bright and airy. I would like to have seen candles on the tables and the lighting much, much dimmer to give the place a more expensive and mysterious feel. Maybe some music, Cal Tjader anyone? A lot of the mystique seems lost when the dining room feels daytime like. If all of the dining areas can't be dimmed, maybe one of them could be, and the other could be more family friendly and less romantic. One other observation was of a bright fluorescent light in the hall by the kitchen which was sorry to say but tacky and kills the vibe a little.

Overall we had a great time and I think I'm definitely going to be a regular. The service was outstanding as was the food. My mouth waters when I think about the drinks. I'm sure that there's a lot of sprucing up in the works. I just hope that giving the main dining area more mystique is in the plans.

socal-tiki