Post #708635 by bamalamalu on Tue, Feb 18, 2014 9:02 PM

So, after a year and half of anticipation, we finally got to make our visit to Tiki Iniki last week.

First things first: it's is indeed another fine display of artistry by Bamboo Ben! The place looks great - every surface covered with something cool. We were there in the afternoon and it was a little unusual having so much daylight coming in from all the windows, but I'm guessing that's what they wanted. At any rate, it looks great.

As for the drinks... Sorry to say were were disappointed. Even though our friends had told us their Mai Tais weren't great on their visit, I figured it was the thing to try. Wish I'd gone for the Zombie instead. The Mai Tai recipe on the menu looks right, but the drink itself tasted like Sprite. I'm not sure what they did wrong, but it was a big let down. The other drink we tried, The Iniki, had more flavors but also wasn't super impressive (I'm not a champagne fan at all, which may unfairly bias my opinion on that one.)

We saw two bartenders while we were there and believe both were pretty new employees - both were clearly reading recipes. At one point someone at the bar ordered a Lemon Drop, and the bartender pulled out his phone to look up the recipe. So, a little less expertise than we were hoping for. I think the right idea is there in the recipes, but unfortunately the execution was lacking.

We planned to stay for a second drink, but we'd arrived a few minutes after 'lunch' ended so weren't allowed to order of the lunch menu. It was almost 2 hours until the dinner menu would be available, and the only thing offered at that time was a really skimpy Happy Hour menu. Having just come from Tahiti Nui, we needed real food and couldn't get it. We ended up bailing out and heading back to the Feral Pig in Lihue for food and a better Mai Tai. We fully intended to make another stop at Tiki Iniki later in the trip, but the next time we were up there they weren't open yet and the day was a complete wash-out with heavy rain, so we ended up heading back East/South again.

We'll give them another shot next time we're on Kauai, whenever that may be. But based on our brief visit, we'd have to say that at this point, it seems to be pretty much all style (great decor) and no substance (duds for drinks.)

Agh - my camera's acting up, but I'll post a few pictures in the next couple days.