Tiki's Grill & Bar , Honolulu, HI (restaurant)

Name:Tiki's Grill & Bar
Type:restaurant
Street:2570 Kalakaua Ave.
City:Honolulu
State:HI
Zip:96815
country:USA
Phone:923-TIKI
Status:operational

Description:
Website: http://www.tikisgrill.com/

The restaurant strives for the trendy “Hip Hawaiiana” ambiance and overlooks the action on Waikiki Beach from the hotel’s second-floor pool level. The decor is the main draw, lots of Shag lithographs, expertly matted and framed by Link at Frame Fetish. Lots of hand-carved wood tiki masks, statues and war clubs adorn the walls. We saw a few of bruddah Gecko’s carvings! The flooring is palm wood, fishnets hang from the ceiling and the walls are lava rock.

TIPSY factor: very high, but all are modern carvings.
]

The Food & Drink:

everything we ordered was terrific! the waiter was helpful, but not overbearing...

Calamari Katsu
Panko-crusted calamari steak strips served with fried capers in a lemon grass beurre blanc sauce.

Oriental Chicken Chop Salad
Coconut-marinated grilled chicken breast, fresh vegetables, fried won ton crisps and julienne romaine lettuce tossed in a sweet and sour sesame dressing.

Tiki's Fish & Chips
Panko, cilantro and green onion crusted fresh island fish served with our house made key lime tarter sauce and fries.

Drinks can be ordered in a souvenir hurricane glass or a coconut shell with a Tiki’s logo silkscreened on it, $9. ~ go for the coconut shell, the volume is HUGE !! i had a lava flow (sans booze) and it was way too much to finish!

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-06 19:09 ]

Regarding Tiki's in Honolulu, HI:

My good friend Vili Manaka carved all of the statues, clubs and paddles for the decor of Tiki's. Anyone interested in getting some great carving done in exotic woods drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with him.

TTK

Tiki's @ the Aston Waiki Beach Hotel is an incredible tiki bar/restaurant, all the moreso because it has view of Waikiki Beach framed by tiki torches and coconut palms swaying in the tradewinds.

The bar scene is happening, although disappointingly I'm not sure everyone properly appreciates the tiki theme, although it is spreading the gospel - I saw numerous patrons walking down Ala Moana with their souvenir cocunut mugs from Tiki's.

I'm with Dogbytes - the cuisine is delicious!

Tikis abound as do Shag prints and even Gecko has an Easter Island inspired carving on the outside wall.

Tiki's has two 8-1/2 foot tiki at the entrance, eight tiki on the back walls of the dining room, a 3-1/2 foot tiki head named “Hibiscus Tiki” in the bar area, and a 6-1/2 foot, one-of-a-kind hula tiki in the central dining area.

Tiki’s also has palm wood flooring, fish nets hanging from the ceiling with starfish and shells, glass balls, plus 50 hand-carved masks, statues and war clubs from different regions around the Pacific.

Tiki's Grill and Bar

This newish Bar that doesn't seem to have an original name yet, has been open for a while and caters to the tourons heavily. Now and then some locals can be seen. Offers good contemporary live Hawaiian music and that ubiquitous "Jawaiian" now and again for your listening pleasure. Visually, it's an interesting mix of
two styles; Decor is modern yuppie bar with fairly elegant modern style fixtures, lighting, stone pavers, upscale furnishings/seating and then we have the fish netting in some of the ceiling, L.A. style "retro" graphics here and there, (leopard print, "tiki art", etc..) with two five foot tall styrofoam/plastic Japanese/Chinese interpretation of
tikis (yes, that's a new style, now...) some good "old style" Tiki restaurant carvings, and a large five foot fiberglass mascot in front looking as if it may have been chased out of a Disney cartoon of the 60's...
Some of the restaurant resembles a museum: a backlit tiki. then a few feet of wall. then a tiki picture. then wall. then a tiki statue. then a yard of wall. then a frontlit tiki. then more wall.
Aaahhh. design by committee.
Decorated by "professional restaurant decorating company".

Of course, had to sample their Mai Tai, which will setcha
back six bux. (One for the barkeep, always.) Watched with a keen eye and thirsty palate as the barkeep prepared it: a shot of light rum, a good dose of their mix which contained Passion fruit juice, orange juice and simple syrup (rock candy syrup). Some Pineapple juice. Then, float a jigger of dark rum. So; Two shots of rums, both Myers. I had him reiterate the recipe so i didn't miss a thing. Didn't appear different than most, but wanted to hear how they verbally "sold" their drinks, so;
I asked him was that a special MaiTai? Tiki's Grill and Bar MaiTai? No, he replied; "just your average simple straightforward MaiTai." But then, we settled into our seats and perused the table tents, (literature
defining the bar and drinks served) and found, among some wild apocryphal overview of their take on what a "tiki" is, that their recipe for their special five dollar custom house MaiTai had also a shot of
Gold Rum. The printed recipe calls for three shots; light, dark and gold... hmmmm....
Asked the hostess what is the decor called; what's thier inspiration, their motive.
She replied "oh, just the tiki style the tourists excpect to see".

Kapena was playing that night and the place was
full, everyone having a great time, and the hired help all were great, friendly, and accomodating.

[i]On 2004-10-28 22:19, lanikai wrote:

Some of the restaurant resembles a museum: a backlit tiki. then a few feet of wall. then a tiki picture. then wall. then a tiki statue. then a yard of wall. then a frontlit tiki. then more wall.

I love the the back walls were tiki art abounds. It is like a museum because it is never crowded and there is so much tiki art to see it is just like walking through a gallery.

I never would have selected the Tiki's torchlighter mascot, but I suppose he is harmless and loveable for the masses -

and I don't have a problem with cutting the marketing team some slack if it keeps the tiki bar open and full.

On 2004-10-29 18:53, christiki295 wrote:
I don't have a problem with cutting the marketing team some slack if it keeps the tiki bar open and full.

Yea, they must be doin sumpin right cuz the place is quite crowded alla time.
The museum observation was quoted by others; when they noticed the back area was kinda designed with a different format than the front area. (nuttin wrong with that...) front bar: Looks like a good collection from our Bob and Leroy (or is it reloy now?) ohana from OA. This admittedly is a fun place to people watch. Alert for the guys: The wahine element is abundant and attentive. If ya know wuddamean!

No.. don't get me wrong, they know how to make me part with my kala!

During our 2 week vacation to Maui over Thanksgiving this year, we took a one day excursion to Oahu. Our main objectives: to eat and drink at La Mariana Sailing Club, to check out Thor's new store (downstairs in the Beachcomber Hotel), to have a Mai Tai at the Mai Tai Bar at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, and to eat dinner at Tiki's Grill and Bar. Having been delayed over an hour for our inter-island flight because of "President" Bush's plane shutting the Honolulu airport down, we missed the sunset at the Mai Tai Bar but were able to make it to Tiki's G&B for dinner.

This was my 6th meal at Tiki's; 5 others were 2 years previous. After waiting for the 3 young hostesses to use a computer terminal to find us a table for 2, inside, we were seated 2 paces from the main bar. Before we settled in, the 3 surrounding tables started cheering and yelling at the television monitors because there was a game on, thus things didn't get off to a great start. (Also, the bar mats needed a good bleaching too... not a pleasant smell for a true dining pleasure.) We were reassigned another table (after many finger pokes on the computer monitor again) and this time we were almost inside the restaurant. The 2 seater table was delicately balanced over the floor tracks which guided the floor-to-ceiling glass doors that separated the inside dining room to the outside lanai. This would have been acceptable, but the floor was unlevel and the table legs just couldn't find a happy medium. I then asked one of the young hostesses if we could be seated INSIDE the dining room, as in the restaurant's beautifully tiki-furnished main area.

She was taken aback, and told me that no one wanted to sit in that room, since there were no windows to see the view (it was dark outside by now, and raining) and that part of the restaurant was closed off and used by employees, only. I was in shock. I rarely have the opportunity to eat at a place so lavishly furnished with large tiki carvings, lava rock walls, framed Shag artwork, fantastic Bosco pieces, and Doug Horne art, to name just a few. I would kill to have 1/8 of those pieces! Anyway, we stayed at the tipsy 2 seater table, and had a wonderful meal (mainly due to the waiter). We got our souvenir mugs (one lidded coconut and one yellow tiki) and left the restaurant decently happy but unsettled.

Due to my previous positive experiences at Tiki Grill and Bar, I would continue to frequent their restaurant. But, I would definitely request to sit in the main dining area (aka The Lava Walled Room) to soak in the best tiki mana. Just avoid the stinky bar mats and the glass door floor tracks!!

• Myke

Just back from Hawaii - mainly in Maui but spent two nights in Waikiki just to get a taste of the big town and Oahu. I wasn't expecting much tiki-wise in Hawaii, but after checking into our hotel (ResortQuest Waikiki Beach), we stumbled downstairs to find Tiki's Grill and Bar. I was impressed - so I submit my photos because I don't see any others here... I have a brand new Nikon that can shoot at ISO 6400 all day long, so my interiors will show up pretty bright... loved the Shag artwork (esp. the matting) - lotso-tiki, friendly staff, great chow. I chatted with the owner for awhile - kewl dude. Anyway, when in Waikiki, check out Tiki's! For a "modern" facility, I considered the decor fairly traditional and well done. The owner told me about La Mariana but we didn't have the time this trip.

great pictures, beautiful colours !

It looks like they added more decor from when I visited in late 06.

I do remember that "Bar Smell". I think its the bar mats and the bleachy crap they use to clean them. I too was amazed that nobody was choosing to sit in the main dining area but I'm from Florida and I suppose if I was visiting from Michigan I would rather be outside enjoying the view and weather.

I long ago gave up expecting the hired help to be Tiki Knowledgeable, although I do expect the bartender to know the drinks and hopefully the history or lore behind them.

It sometimes pains me to see touristy MCtiki establishments with a turn em' and burn em' mentality. I do not think "Tiki's" falls fully into this category. They obviously have appointed the place well and I agree that the food was well prepared. It's a good place to go for lunch to sit out and look at the view and to have Dinner in the main dining area.

The best place I found to relax and drink is
Da Big Kahuna

Great Pictures TikiReno! must be the D300. I have the D2x but it only gets to 1600 on the iso, although it has Hi1 and Hi2 settings (? never use em.)

This from the LA Times:

When the newly renovated ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Hotel opened in 2002, the surprise was not the renovations but the great food coming from the kitchen of Chef Fred DeAngelo (formerly of Palomino fame). On the second floor of the hotel and overlooking Waikiki Beach (get an outside table on the lanai at sunset), this casual eatery is decorated in palm wood flooring with fish nets hanging from the ceiling and lava-rock walls. A 30-foot volcano is the showpiece in the bar (where you can snack on pupus). DeAngelo's cuisine is good ol' American, with his particular touch of Pacific Rim apparent in all his fish dishes. His signature dish is king salmon, glazed with lemon-grass beurre blanc. Also high on the list is the mahimahi grilled with a spicy seafood salsa. Save room for pastry chef Ron Villoria's coconut banana bread pudding and outstanding lilikoi (yellow passion fruit) cheesecake with basil syrup. Check out the live Hawaiian music in the bar every night.

I loved this place! Not only was the decor, drinks, food, staff etc. pretty kewl but the location was spot on. Who could ask for a better view from the exterior deck of a tiki bar? Waikiki as far as the eye can see...

They had some nice tikis outside as well.

Ahhhhhhh...Waikiki. The cure for all your woes.

Wish I was there right now.

Pau Hana patrol gives da scoops.

http://www.honolulupulse.com/tgifinprint/pau-hana-patrol-tikis-teases-taste-buds

Tiki's has shown good staying power, as it reaches its 10-year anniversary.