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 Wed, Sep 24, 2014 11:33 PM Hey Jim, thanks for the insightful response. Like I said earlier, I rave about the Mai Kai to people all the time which is why I was so surprised to have poor experiences two nights in a row. I spent many a happy hour in the Molokai bar in the early 2000s and ever since moving to Austin around 8 years ago I always make it a point to go there whenever I am in town visiting, usually once or twice a year. And while the majority of our food and drinks are ordered from the Molokai rather than the main dining areas, I've never once had a complaint about something served to me. As you mentioned, despite the magnitude of their operation and how high we've set the bar, it's a very well-oiled machine and those drinks are typically mixed to perfection. I did point out to the waitress exactly what was wrong with Chelsea's Moonkist Coconut (tasted way too strongly of honey) and I don't believe the bartender addressed the issue properly. There is no way he remade that drink that quickly, I believe he just diluted it with something else that made it barely passable and certainly not tasty as it usually is (It's one of Chelsea's favorites). I guess the point of my earlier post was to see if anyone has sensed any sort of downward trend happening. I've seen posts lately about DJ nights, and bingo, and singles meet-ups... perhaps they need those things to drum up new business these days, or maybe those antics have always been in place and I've managed to block it out since the drinks were always so damn good. All I know is we were very sad to not have the relaxing and delicious experience we are accustomed to and I truly hope it was just a couple off nights and not a sign of things to come. Edit: I just finally read the event thread about tiki bingo and how the proceeds go to different animal charities each time and it actually sounds fun and is for a great cause so disregard above if I sounded like an asshole. I'm glad they let you organize that. [ Edited by: mikehooker 2014-09-25 00:27 ]

Hey Jim, thanks for the insightful response. Like I said earlier, I rave about the Mai Kai to people all the time which is why I was so surprised to have poor experiences two nights in a row. I spent many a happy hour in the Molokai bar in the early 2000s and ever since moving to Austin around 8 years ago I always make it a point to go there whenever I am in town visiting, usually once or twice a year. And while the majority of our food and drinks are ordered from the Molokai rather than the main dining areas, I've never once had a complaint about something served to me.

As you mentioned, despite the magnitude of their operation and how high we've set the bar, it's a very well-oiled machine and those drinks are typically mixed to perfection. I did point out to the waitress exactly what was wrong with Chelsea's Moonkist Coconut (tasted way too strongly of honey) and I don't believe the bartender addressed the issue properly. There is no way he remade that drink that quickly, I believe he just diluted it with something else that made it barely passable and certainly not tasty as it usually is (It's one of Chelsea's favorites).

I guess the point of my earlier post was to see if anyone has sensed any sort of downward trend happening. I've seen posts lately about DJ nights, and bingo, and singles meet-ups... perhaps they need those things to drum up new business these days, or maybe those antics have always been in place and I've managed to block it out since the drinks were always so damn good. All I know is we were very sad to not have the relaxing and delicious experience we are accustomed to and I truly hope it was just a couple off nights and not a sign of things to come.

Edit: I just finally read the event thread about tiki bingo and how the proceeds go to different animal charities each time and it actually sounds fun and is for a great cause so disregard above if I sounded like an asshole. I'm glad they let you organize that.

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2014-09-25 00:27 ]

Post #728334 by mikehooker on Wed, Sep 24, 2014 11:33 PM