Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL (restaurant) - Locating Tiki

M mikehooker Grand Member (3 years) Austin Joined: Jul 17, 2014 Posts: 1211	M mikehooker Posted posted on Thu, Sep 18, 2014 7:11 AM Went to the Mai Kai last night. I'm only in south Florida once or twice a year anymore so I very much cherish these visits to my old favorite haunt. But I must say, it was a very disappointing experience this time. We went for happy hour as usual and met with a couple old friends with the plan of sharing a mystery drink which I'd never gotten before. We were told the drink doesn't have happy hour pricing which we didn't mind, but were saddened to find out the mystery girl couldn't come out til 8:45 (nearly 3 hours later). Mystery drink at full price with no dance? No thank you. So we order up individual drinks. I start with a 151 Swizzle and it was wonderful. My better half gets a Jet Pilot and it was delicious. All is well in the world. Then everything went wrong with the second round. I go for the Zombie and it did not taste good at all. Chelsea got a Moonkist Coconut, one of her favorite drinks there, and it was downright awful. We asked for a replacement for hers, something we've never had to do in ten years of visiting the place and the waitress was back in under a minute with a new drink. She tossed it on the table and said "hope this is better" and storms off. The drink was still bad and for how quickly she came back with it, I think the bartender maybe splashed a bit of cocunut in the old one because there's no way he could have mixed another drink that quickly. We both sipped our way through our bad drinks, with the waitress never checking to see if it was any better. The situation wasn't improved any when the "artist" performing in the Molokai bar started singing Stevie Nicks and "Margaritaville". It would almost be comical if we were actually enjoying ourselves but the wretched soundtrack coupled with the poorly mixed cocktails, bad service, and over 50s singles meet-up group completely shocked my system. This isn't the Mai Kai I remember, with two guys playing traditional Hawaiian music through a shoddy PA in the Molokai bar and beautiful maidens serving us the most delicious libations on the planet, helping us forget all the problems outside those rain drizzled windows. I've been touting Mai Kai as the greatest place on earth to any who will listen for as long as I can remember. It's why we chose it as our wedding destination this coming April. But I left with a very bad taste in my mouth (literally). I hope it was just an off night and not indicative of things to come. I'll revisit them tonight and report back. Thortiki, how was your experience assuming you were there last night as well?

Went to the Mai Kai last night. I'm only in south Florida once or twice a year anymore so I very much cherish these visits to my old favorite haunt. But I must say, it was a very disappointing experience this time. We went for happy hour as usual and met with a couple old friends with the plan of sharing a mystery drink which I'd never gotten before. We were told the drink doesn't have happy hour pricing which we didn't mind, but were saddened to find out the mystery girl couldn't come out til 8:45 (nearly 3 hours later). Mystery drink at full price with no dance? No thank you. So we order up individual drinks. I start with a 151 Swizzle and it was wonderful. My better half gets a Jet Pilot and it was delicious. All is well in the world. Then everything went wrong with the second round. I go for the Zombie and it did not taste good at all. Chelsea got a Moonkist Coconut, one of her favorite drinks there, and it was downright awful. We asked for a replacement for hers, something we've never had to do in ten years of visiting the place and the waitress was back in under a minute with a new drink. She tossed it on the table and said "hope this is better" and storms off. The drink was still bad and for how quickly she came back with it, I think the bartender maybe splashed a bit of cocunut in the old one because there's no way he could have mixed another drink that quickly. We both sipped our way through our bad drinks, with the waitress never checking to see if it was any better. The situation wasn't improved any when the "artist" performing in the Molokai bar started singing Stevie Nicks and "Margaritaville". It would almost be comical if we were actually enjoying ourselves but the wretched soundtrack coupled with the poorly mixed cocktails, bad service, and over 50s singles meet-up group completely shocked my system. This isn't the Mai Kai I remember, with two guys playing traditional Hawaiian music through a shoddy PA in the Molokai bar and beautiful maidens serving us the most delicious libations on the planet, helping us forget all the problems outside those rain drizzled windows. I've been touting Mai Kai as the greatest place on earth to any who will listen for as long as I can remember. It's why we chose it as our wedding destination this coming April. But I left with a very bad taste in my mouth (literally). I hope it was just an off night and not indicative of things to come. I'll revisit them tonight and report back.

Thortiki, how was your experience assuming you were there last night as well?

Post #727811 by mikehooker on Thu, Sep 18, 2014 7:11 AM