Max’s South Seas Hideaway , Grand Rapids, MI (restaurant)

Name:Max’s South Seas Hideaway
Type:restaurant
Street:
City:Grand Rapids
State:MI
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational

Description:
This location is up and running in Grand Rapids. A multi story bar located in an old renovated building. I have not been to the bar as of yet. I’ll have to wait for the hype to die down and that may be a long wait. Looks like a lot of care was taken in the build. The pictures posted are not mine by the way.

https://maxstiki.com/

Wow! this place looks old skool.

Looks great so far.

AND they have food, like real food.
Not a Chicken wing and small salads.

Are you even aloud to open a new tiki bar without one of those new plastic Moai lamps these days?

THIS is the place where a newbie can go to and say damn, I never knew there was so much to tiki.

This place is amazing. I was lucky enough to be able to fly in for opening night. The decor is outstanding. There are so many vintage pieces as well as an equal amount of new pieces that are all mixed with each other, side by side, that it's basically impossible to tell which is which.
It looks like it's been there for a long time and stuff just kept getting added over time which I love. The bottom floor has two bars, dining space, and quite enclosed large booth type spaces and 'huts'. The main front bar which had a long bar was nice, but the 'Atomic Lounge' in the back was my favorite place with eight seats at the bar and four four top tables, it just felt more intimate and hidden. Upstairs houses a big horseshoe 'ship' bar as well as more table seating and huts.
The staff were all great and the food and drinks incredible. I had the jumbo crab rangoon which were huge and delicious, and a fried spam 'sushi' roll that was divine.
The Mai Tai, Painkiller, Max's Swizzle, and Lei Lani Nouveau cocktails I had were perfect.
They really knocked it out of the park with the entire place.
All photos below are mine.
Sign, entrance, and building at night. The third floor will become tiki decorated AirBnBs next year sometime.

Main front bar.

The 'Atomic Lounge'

Upstairs ship bar.

The insane wall of mugs from own of the owner's, Mark's, personal collection. This isn't even all of his mugs!


Wall of Gecko'z carvings of the old Wardhouse beams. Each one is gorgeous.



Other carvings, art, and the pinnacle of the old Kona Kai.

Lamps. Unsure which, if any, are vintage and which are new!

Some of the booths/huts

Food and drinks!

Caught Bigbrotiki (Sven) off guard. Mug by Gecko and myself semi drunk on a delicious Mai Tai!

Wish it weren't in Michigan so I could go all the time!

Dixon previously of The Alibi

[ Edited by: DixonAlibi 2019-10-24 17:14 ]

Nice pics. Hmmm only a half hour drive. May have to go and check it out on a weekday. Maybe the ghosts of Michigan’s storied Tiki past will have a new gathering place.

Right now they’re only taking reservations via OpenTable. They’re making sure the place stays a relaxing tropical getaway.

I was there again last night (third time!). I really need a checklist of their amazing drink menu! Gotta drink them all!

My wife and I stopped in last evening (no reservation). The tiki vibe is outstanding. I had a Mai Tai that was tasty.

We ordered the crab rangoon appetizer which was great. I also ordered the Huli Huli Ribs which I thought were too salty (maybe its a style I'm not familiar with). Overall though I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere. If this place doesn't make it, I want to attend the liquidation auction...just sayin'.

I'd post more pics, but I think the others on this page got it as good as mine already.

[ Edited by: jimsflies 2019-10-28 08:41 ]

Damn over forty pictures and only one person smiling in one photo.
Get happy people.

You wanna grimace come to Ohio, we will give ya something to grimace about.

Oh my stars that is superb! Some of those artefacts look familiar... Is this where that big collection from the Art of Tiki exhibition a couple years ago went to?

Mark Sellers bought the majority of the collection, most of which is on display at Max’s

I can't wait to take a trip out there to explore this place. I highly recommend watching all these videos of Cate and Sellers doing a walking tour. You can actually move the camera in every direction to really capture the scale and all the work they put into it:

https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/an-escape-from-reality-inside-grand-rapids-new-tiki-bar/?fbclid=IwAR0EutAIO9j_vmFXlN2oND4PIUvGVY4Q0JFj5RIx9D8GMz3QMToID7eDXCQ

Truly remarkable. I also listened to an interview with them on Desert Oasis Podcast and they said the main two floors are 14,000 square feet! And the third floor will eventually be an air bnb/hotel. Curious for comparisons sake what are/were the interior dimensions of the Mai Kai and Kahiki.

I do think this is worth the travel, just to see all the amazing artifacts, but no doubt the food, drinks and service will be stellar as well.

So what else is there to do in the Grand Rapids area if one is to spend a few days there?

On 2019-10-29 16:27, mikehooker wrote:
So what else is there to do in the Grand Rapids area if one is to spend a few days there?

Lots of stuff! Check out ExperienceGR

I highly recommend the Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Meijer Gardens

Lots of great restaurants and craft breweries. A definite must is one of Mark Sellar's other bars, Stella's. Get the Stella's Punch and keep the mug, designed by Anthony Carpenter!

This is a pretty cool walk through:
https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=QtX77UcQ8aX&fbclid=IwAR1uCL38l7RnppucJEkrzOLFhAOORVQK1KHH4vh7GxCttbwQOLV3wEmZWiU

I may just have to drag the family North to Grand Rapids for a visit when we're in northern IN this Christmas. Now to find out what their Holiday hours are.

On 2019-10-30 11:52, jimsflies wrote:
This is a pretty cool walk through:
https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=QtX77UcQ8aX&fbclid=IwAR1uCL38l7RnppucJEkrzOLFhAOORVQK1KHH4vh7GxCttbwQOLV3wEmZWiU

Holy crap! What an absolutely spectacular bar. Kudos to everyone involved. Looks like there's still a few things in progress but I can't believe they pulled off this much of a build out in just 6 months. The depth of design and decor simply blows my mind. I can only imagine how great the rooms for rent will be. Really curious how much money went into this project. Has to be in the millions.

On 2019-10-31 13:11, mikehooker wrote:
Really curious how much money went into this project. Has to be in the millions.

$2.5m is my understanding.

Even back when this place was just sawdust and rumours, the stories I was hearing were...exhausting. "Over the top" appeared to be downright quaint comparatively. Finally seeing the interior makes me realise that I was still shy of the mark - this place is just unbelievable.

Question for those in the know: Who is Max? What's the significance of the name (the South Seas Hideaway part is self-explanatory)? :)

IIRC, Max was the nickname Martin Cate's mum gave him as a kid.

On 2019-10-31 14:13, HopeChest wrote:
IIRC, Max was the nickname Martin Cate's mum gave him as a kid.

Gracias!

On 2019-10-31 13:22, HopeChest wrote:

On 2019-10-31 13:11, mikehooker wrote:
Really curious how much money went into this project. Has to be in the millions.

$2.5m is my understanding.

In the Desert Oasis Room podcast, I recall $3 million being mentioned in passing, which jibes with $2.5 if they're rounding up. Contrast that with the $6 million it would've take just to acquire the land in Austin, with construction yet to come. Yowzer! Any way you slice it, that's a lot of money. Even assuming they self-financed a significant chunk, it's going to be years before they break even (not a criticism).

On 2019-11-01 06:36, Prikli Pear wrote:

On 2019-10-31 13:22, HopeChest wrote:

On 2019-10-31 13:11, mikehooker wrote:
Really curious how much money went into this project. Has to be in the millions.

$2.5m is my understanding.

In the Desert Oasis Room podcast, I recall $3 million being mentioned in passing, which jibes with $2.5 if they're rounding up. Contrast that with the $6 million it would've take just to acquire the land in Austin, with construction yet to come. Yowzer! Any way you slice it, that's a lot of money. Even assuming they self-financed a significant chunk, it's going to be years before they break even (not a criticism).

Thanks guys, guess I should have listened to the entire podcast.

On 2019-11-01 06:32, Prikli Pear wrote:

On 2019-10-31 14:13, HopeChest wrote:
IIRC, Max was the nickname Martin Cate's mum gave him as a kid.

Gracias!

On opening night, whenever someone would ask the bartender who Max was, she’d point vaguely behind the person and say that he just walked by. Fun little thing!

Doing a little more reading about Max's. Its cool that they have their own ceramic studio for mug making, etc. on site.

https://www.facebook.com/MaxsTiki/posts/2594485933918200

https://www.facebook.com/MaxsTiki/posts/2749134278453364