Luau Room, Coronado, CA (restaurant)

Name:Luau Room
Type:restaurant
Street:1500 Orange Ave.
City:Coronado
State:CA
Zip:92118
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
According to a June 21, 2006, story in the San Diego Union-Tribune ("118 Years of Dining at the Del"), the Luau Room opened at the historic Hotel del Coronado in 1940. It was an "ocean-view restaurant with Pork Foo Yong, Pineapple Spareribs and parasols peeking from rummy drinks."

But by 1970, the restaurant had become the Prince of Wales Grille with a completely different decor and menu. In 2006, a new seafood restaurant, 1500 Ocean, opened in the space. Interestingly, a small, outdoor "Mai Tai Bar" has recently opened at the hotel during the summer months.

The signature drink of the old Luau Room (Coronado Luau Special) lives on as one of the specialty cocktails of the Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge in Alameda, Calif.

And may I say it's one of my top three favorite drinks on the Forbidden Island menu, and I've tried them all.

This timeline of the Hotel del Coronado includes a photo from the Luau Room.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060621/news_lz1c21thedel.html

My mom worked in the sales department at The Del for many years. I've been meaning to dig deeper into the Luau Room's history. The Del is VERY protective of their history and of their intellectual property.

Does anyone have a menu from the Luau Room? I tried unsuccessfully to bid for one on ebay a week or so ago (it went for approx. $70 -- a little rich for my blood). What caught my eye from the photos of the menu was that not only did it have a drink section, but each drink showed the full recipe. So if anyone out there has the menu, I'd love to have a copy of the drinks section. And I'm sure others would like those drink recipes as well (even though two are already in Beachbum Berry books).

Luau Room

I just picked up the menu from the Luau Room at the Hotel Del Coronado (for a lot less than $70 I might add). How cool is it that they listed all of their drink recipes on the menu. Here are some photos of the menu and the drink recipes. Two of these drinks made it into Beachbum Berry's work, that's awesome.

Here is the menu cover.

The drink recipes from the front page

The back page drinks

There was also this insert card for Flaming drinks! These must have been quite a sight.

It would be great to see some more photos of the interior if anybody out there has them.

Hey thanks! You saved us all a lot of money. How interesting that the two cocktails from Jeff Berry's books (Coronado Luau Special and Del Coronado) that are from the Luau Room are not included on the menu. Maybe a change of bartenders?

There is a Luau Special, but the ingredients don't match the recipe for the Coronado Luau Special. Hmmmmm.........

And a Flaming Navy Grog!?

"I am Lono!" -- http://www.347steps.com

[ Edited by: arriano 2008-08-20 09:43 ]

On 2008-08-19 16:39, Dustycajun wrote:
It would be great to see some more photos of the interior if anybody out there has them...

Just visited the Del w/ Amy and stumbled upon this image of Pat Boone & family at the Luau.

Hodadhank,

Great photo! Thanks for grabbing that.

DC

Here is a bigger photo of the Luau Room from the one Arriano posted.

Nice mural in the background and those carved poles on the end of the bamboo railing look like the may have been Tikis.

DC

Found another photo from the Luau Room showing an impressive waterfall feature with giant clam shells. Also some nice Tiki table lamps.

DC

They're in the process of redoing the old Luau Room space again. But sadly it will not be a tiki bar.