Post #798912 by bamalamalu on Thu, Nov 28, 2019 1:19 PM

Mamahune's!

We were able to visit a few times during our recent return to Kauai. Fun place with a nice location right above Lydgate Park with views of the water and mountains, and directly overlooking Hikinaakala Heiau. Best of all, 1 mile from where we stay!

This is an outdoor bar so lots of open space and not as much room for typical Tiki bar clutter. But it's still full of all that good Bamboo Ben-ness: Bamboo, Tiki stools, routered trim, fun old swizzles and travel brochures embedded in the bar, nice lamps, etc. Everything you'd expect, but with a tradewind breeze and an ocean view. The volcano is a nice focal point and got a lot of attention from customers the one time we actually saw it in action. The bar itself isn't large and has somewhat limited seating, but there several tables nearby and then a large lawn area with many more tables. We always stayed in the bar area, but the lawn tables looked to be nicely spread out and comfortable.

Our first visit was on a Saturday and we were really impressed. Service by the bartender, Tom, was very good, and there was a lady hustling around serving all the tables. And the drinks were surprisingly good quality. Their version of a Mai Tai, the Ali'i Tai was pretty nice. They had a "Painkiller" made with Smith & Cross that was really spectacular, and the Shipwrecked was a really nice rum/syrup/bitters mix (with smoke added, when the smoker's working.) They even have really nice chewable ice.

I wish I got a clear picture of the menu; it's different than what's currently listed on the website. On Saturday they also had a duo playing - Wailana & Tia. These ladies played some really nice, fun mostly older-style Hawaiiany tunes and added to the relaxed tropical atmosphere.

Unfortunately, staff is everything and we found the service and drink quality wildly inconsistent on different nights. We returned the next Wednesday for my birthday and were really disappointed.

Since there were four of us that night, we sat at one one the tables right by the bar. The young waitress brought us menus but never came back. We eventually just ordered a around directly from the bar. The bartender that day seemed inexperienced and uninterested. They have a 'drink of the day' we asked about but she had no idea what it was and after finally checking a notebook said it was "uh, it's uh...bourbon and fruit juice." The Painkillers and Shipwrecked that were so good the previous time where nearly undrinkable and weren't even consistent among themselves - The 3 Painkillers ordered by our group were completely different from each other. I happened to order the same salad on both visits, and even the food was a let-down. The service continued to be lousy - loooong waits for the server to appear, one person's meal wasn't entered... We're patient and would have understood had it been busy, but there were very few customers that evening. There just seemed to be a huge lack of interest by the staff. A really disappointing experience. [Side note: we ended up going to Avalon Gastropub across the bridge afterwards to make up for the dud of a birthday dinner. Service there was spectacular and the cocktails impressive.]

We knew Wailana & Tia were performing there again the next Saturday, so we decided to give it another try in the hopes our first bartender would also be working again. Score! Tom was back and we had another nice time with delicious drinks. We made sure to find out his schedule and came back again his next night working for another good time.

Oddly enough, we met a lady elsewhere who had been the head bartender at Mamahune's when they opened and had helped set it up and came up with several of the drinks. We talked with her about it a few times and she was sad, but not surprised, to hear of our experiences. It sounds like they started with a real vision and apparent dedication, but it just kind of fell apart and she eventually left due to the inconsistencies.

It's really a shame - It's a great experience when done right. As I remember Ben once said about Tiki Iniki, he just builds 'em, he doesn't run 'em. Too bad! Hoping they can get the service and quality on a consistently good track so everyone can go and fully enjoy his work.

They currently open at Noon, but do close early, generally around 8 PM. They did open late & close early a couple times while we were there due to rain and/or low turnout, so I'd recommend calling to verify the hours. And find out when Tom's working, and go then!

I didn't get great pictures, but here's a taste: