ALOHA to the Islander in Seattle

The other proverbial shoe (or sandal as the case may be) has fallen, hot on the heels of the Bellevue Trader Vic's. Yesterday, following a lovely, sun drenched lunch on the patio at the Islander, our friend/Islander waiter Mark informed us of the final decision with a simple "so have you heard?" There have been a handful of posts in the last few months here mentioning the "de-Tikifying" of the Islander, and now, by December 2008, the Islander will be no more, transformed into a Vietnamese restaurant.

My wife, son Joey and I spoke with the owner, Twah, a very nice and gracious person. She gave us the straight poop and her reasoning was not surprising. Between October and May, the Islander became a ghost town, as she says "everyone only came here when the weather was nice." Anyone who has spend 5 seconds in Seattle during those months (especially in the last few years!) must agree that it gets a little moist, to say the least. Soggy days couldn't sustain the "Islander" vibe, and so it goes, barely 5 years after its incarnation.

Here on TC, there have been a variety of opinions about the Islander. We liked it. It was where we celebrated our last 3 wedding anniversaries in late-July (always sunny). It was a nice place to gather excitement before attending an art show's opening. The food was good even though the drinks were hit & miss, and the vibe was certainly "Tiki-light" and getting lighter...but we liked it. I think the melancholy arises from two fronts: the sentimental memories from past Islander experiences and the fact that yet ANOTHER Seattle-area "Tiki" spot will be no more, and that's not good.

For those who are interested, let's plan a "wake-before-they-close" get together sometime in the near future. Maybe we can squeeze one more sunny union on Union St. and bid a final ALOHA to the Islander.

Cheers~

Andy

I think a farewell to the Islander would be a great idea. When Mrs Riviera and I moved to Seattle,
this is where we had our first encounter with the Seattle tiki crowd. We used to dine there quite frequently, but each time the food quality seemed to decline a little. Still, sad to see another
tiki-ish establishment vanish...

Islander was terrific to our huge group for the first Jet City Junket ~ especially since i had made reservations at the wrong Islander..they pulled in staff and the owner showed up to serve!

i thought this would be coming ~ the razing of the parking lot & huge construction around 1st and Union, was the reason we haven't been going ~ a day last summer, on the patio was our last visit..

FrankTodd and i are free for the next 3 weekends .. who's in charge ??

Oh sad sadness!

We only made it to the Islander once, but we enjoyed it.

Here's what it looked like back when we were there, over our coast to coast international Tiki Trek a few years back.

Is there a time frame for it's demise? I'm might be up there in a couple of months.

I thought it had already closed - I noticed a few months back they were selling their furnishings on Craigslist - loved that lamp with the retro stars on it but couldn't afford it at the time. I guess it's up to the Tikiphiles of Seattle to open a Tiki bar/restaurant - wouldn't it be fun to decorate?! I've seen so many wonderfully decorated homes and/or bars here that the place would be a veritable paradise! Wishful thinking!

Bummer. The wife and I went there about 2 years ago when we were out visiting family. Would love to get my hands on some of the furnishings but the whole sending stuff across the country thing usually causes some problems.

Lost Isle ~ Well, the Islander is changing from a Tiki Theme to an upscale Vietnamese Restaurant (oh as if Seattle needs another one of those…)

Sophista-Tiki (Dawn) and I met Tiki Joe’s Pop (Andy) and Joey for lunch to see how the detikification for ourselves.

Tofu & Noodles

The wall tikis are all in one room, for now.

I had the Honey Walnut Shrimp, 12 dollars is a lot for lunch, plus you gotta pay to park.

Dawn had a noodle bowl with eggrolls and skewers of meat

we used a coupon ~ yay. the food is "just fine" nothing special at all..honestly Seattle's Chinatown offers better and less espensive lunch options. there is one tiki left, i know Andy purchased it! there are some framed prints and a "tiki bar" sign for sale, nothing special at all, and im not sure of the pricing.

Afterwards, we walked through Pike Place Market and stopped for a dozen mini donuts

Mondays &Tuesdays at the Market, the bakery had awesome specials ~ anything in the case was a dollar, and the giant texas fritters and donuts were 2.50. but we were too full to partake..this time… but I hear Tuesdays recur every 7 days!