Post #655810 by tikicoma on Mon, Oct 15, 2012 10:53 PM

The short answer is yes. The McMemamins are known for seeing the value in historic buildings and turning them into successful venues featuring movies, quality music concerts and competitive food and drinks. They brew their own beer and its solid if not exceptional and their mixed drinks are good but not what I would call part of the craft cocktail movement, at least not at any of the five I've been to, they don't fail, at least not so far.
Tacoma Cabana on the other hand evolved from another smaller restaurant downtown that did well but they wanted to expand. After talking to and being aware of Jason Alexander from the web it seems he's about the craft cocktail movement and classic "tiki" drinks and this year competed in the Kona Mai Tai competition though he said he went out early. This town needs a good craft cocktail bar and their place is a bit more contemporary tropical than over the top tiki. The space they are in has had 2 or 3 joints fail quickly before them, but they were (I thought) pretty lame business models.
I can see them both succeeding but in the current economy all restaurant business is tough and very competitive.

So now you know more about the City of Destiny's bar scene than you ever wanted to.

aloha, tikicoma

"Tacoma, 185,000 alcoholics can't all be wrong!"