Post #713136 by robbie_silver on Sat, Apr 5, 2014 9:24 PM

This thread, along with Chuck and Don's Waikiki Mai Tai reviews at http://www.foundationbar.com/Mai-Tai_reviews.html were helpful to me during my visit to Waikiki last week. I wanted to throw my experience in as well for a quick Mai Tai in Waikiki primer - sorry, no pictures - just the straight goods. I am ranking from best to worst:

1 (BEST) - Royal Hawaiian Hotel - $12 - its pretty tough to beat this view of Diamond Head in the late afternoon and walking through the RH is the perfect appetizer to an excellent Mai Tai. In this case, you get what you pay for.

2 - Moose McGillycuddy's - $4.00 at Happy Hour - I was pretty surprised by this but the Moose delivered the goods. I hit this joint every time I am in Waikiki; there is so much cool stuff to gaze at on the walls. We visited this place on a Tuesday and it happened to be Taco Night; they were excellent and we received a 2 for 1 breakfast coupon with our check. Beauty.

3 - Chuck's Cellar - $4.75 at Happy Hour - like so many have said, this place feels like an old Rat Pack hang-out; somewhere you would expect to see Jack Lord at the salad bar grabbing some warm bread from the oven (nice touch). Cool live music starts at 6 every night. I also tried their Blue Hawaii, it was not great, but I should not have had high expectations for that drink.

4 - Nashville's - $2.50 at Happy Hour - speaking of expectations, I had zero when I walked down into this basement country bar on Kuhio in the middle of the day. The young girl behind the bar was making her first Mai Tai (it must have been her first shift) under the close supervision of her manager, who kept encouraging her to pour more dark rum as the float (I was not going to object). This bar is the farthest thing from tiki but I have to admit I enjoyed this drink - it was certainly the best for value I had during my trip.

5 - Alaska Airlines flight into HNL - free inflight service- I admit I loved this touch after a 7 hour flight. I am ranking only the taste (it was the Trader Vic's Mai Tai), not the gesture as it was well received by all who indulged. As far as ready-to-go mixes go, I think this is as good as it gets; if only I had an airline bottle of dark rum to float on the top I would have been set free. Nice work, AA (Alaska Airlines, not Alcoholics Anonymous).

6 - Princess Kauilani - $10 at poolside - I was not staying here but grabbed one to escape the heat during some shopping. I have to admit I totally disagree with Don and Chuck on this one; while they favoured the lemonade taste of this drink, I found it offensive. It tasted nothing like a Mai Tai - it more closely resembled a Lynchburg Lemonade out of the can. No fun. At all. I admit this could have been the worst on this list, any maybe it should be, given its price.

7 - (WORST) Jimmy Buffett's at Beachcomber - $5 at Happy Hour - I admit I liked the set up of this place, and maybe I was just frustrated at the slow service since I snuck away for a solitary 20 minutes from my family in the hopes of a quick one. But while the first taste was OK, by the time it hit the back of my tongue, my body was sending a signal to my brain begging me to stop abusing it with this chemical-tasting solution. I'm not trying to be a hater of the pre-mix (certainly Nashville's used a pre-mix, and even the barmaid at Chuck's Cellar admitted that they pre-mix some of the ingredients, including the orgeat) but this tasted a bit like standard kitchen cleaner. Maybe a bit worse.

From what I recall, all of the above were served with pineapple/cherry and an umbrella, except of course for Nashville's and AA. I received no mint or flower with any drink.

While I did make it to House Without a Key at Halekulani, I went with a seasonal tropical Mojito (it was very good). I also went with the Tropical Itch at Duke's (mainly because it was served with a backscratcher, it did not disappoint.) Sadly, I did not make it to La Mariana.

Of course it's a total burn that International Market Place is no longer there; at least Duke's Lane still rocks. I loved Waikiki; I had given up on it the last time I was there about 12 years ago and was pleasantly surprised this go-around. I feel like there is still a market for those who enjoy old-school Hawaiiana; just about every dinner we ate was top notch, with great Happy Hour specials.

On another unrelated note - Oahu has a cool TB channel caled MeTV which serves up only vintage programming. Every day at noon it broadcasts Jack Lord era H-50, which was the perfect lunch entertainment prior to hitting the bars and beach (OK, the bars).

[ Edited by: robbie_silver 2014-04-05 21:25 ]