Post #688661 by djmont on Sun, Aug 4, 2013 11:11 AM

A fair question! And I'll freely admit upfront that I might be completely full of shit.

Are the Maui and Guava Mai Tais supposed to be secret? The former is a Mai Tai with Dole pineapple juice and the latter has Kern's guava nectar. Since they're happy hour specials, we saw many of them being made. The guava seemed to be the more popular one.

I didn't watch my wife's Maui Mai Tai being made, so I don't know where it went wrong. But the reason I know it went wrong is that the first drink tasted completely different from the second drink -- and the first one was gross and the second was good (although sweet, as expected). I think the bartender (who was only on his second day) just grabbed the wrong bottle. No big deal. It could -- and does! -- happen to everyone.

As for the TV Grog -- you're absolutely right, and what they served me might have been exactly what they intended to serve me. But according to the menu description, it's supposed to have dark rum, pineapple and passion fruit in it. Jeff Berry's recipe concurs. So I have a pretty good idea, I think, of what that should taste like.

What I got, though, tasted much more like what I would expect of a Navy Grog. But the flavors were out of balance and funky, and not in a good way. Here's a picture:

Like I said, though, I could be wrong. I've never ordered one before and maybe I was mistaken.

At any rate, the bartenders were nice guys, and we had fun. My complaints may sound petty, and maybe they are.

(I want to make sure you know I wasn't an asshole about it or anything. I would never be rude to bar staff, and I tipped my customary 20%.)

By the way, the burger was excellent. But is that celery salt on the fries? The crab dip was really good, too.