Mini tiki crawl in Santa Barbara/Goleta

just wanted to tell any fellow Santa Barbara area (not many of us out there) T.C.ers, and anyone else who might be interested, about my afternoon mini tiki crawl in Goleta!....well my girlfriend and I started the afternoon at a place called the Bayside Cafe which to my surprise had a little bit of tiki spirit in it, they've recently decked it out with bamboo and hawaiian deco framed prints, tropical print rugs and a stone tiki outside to boot! it was happy hour and we ordered their happy hour special---a Mai Tai! very cool, then we grabbed a planters punch and enjoyed the view which overlooked the Goleta beach.
We then headed over to the Ming Dynasty at the Kmart shopping center in Goleta for an early dinner. I'd passed by the place once (unfortunately the've recently remodeled the place) and noticed that they had Orchids of hawaii style mugs on their menu... I asked the girl at the register about them and she laughed and said that the menu was old and drinks served in tiki mugs was, as is typical nowadays,a thing of the past. Well I had to find out for myself, so today I went in and talked to the manager about it and he led me to the bar and pointed to three different stacks of Tiki mugs and a Volcano bowl! I was so stoked....I ordered a Zombie which came in a Fu Man Chu mug which he actually let me keep for 4 dollars! excuse my detail and excitement here but for Santa barbara/Goleta that was definitily an awesome surprise. The meal was great and I must say the drink was frosty and very tasty. at this point we were pretty hammered and figured we'd sample the rest of the cocktail menu another day. We then headed across the street over to the Kahuna grill and cooled off with a couple of beers and checked out the cool tikis and tropical decor of the place. I'm gonna grab lunch there tomorrow.
On Fridays and Saturdays they have a guy named Mango play at the Bayside, apparently he plays traditional Hawaiian music from 7-10....as a side note we were gonna try and catch Riding Giants at the Cinema twin in Goleta to really cap off the tiki afternoon but we missed the showtime.
Well I just wanted to share that with all of you and if any locals read this it's definitely a cool little tiki afternoon.
cheers!
Theron

You gotta check out the SB Surfing Museum posted in Locating Tiki. They have 2 tikis carved by Ventura Local Greg.

yeah I haven't been in to the sb surf museum in ages, but i recently went by there and the owner said the place was closed and he was moving the museum because the rent was too high. He said he didn't know where he was moving though. Shame that was such a cool little location.

[i]On 2004-07-27 00:51, theronpk wrote:
I asked the girl at the register about [Orchids of hawaii style mugs on their menu] and she laughed and said that the menu was old and drinks served in tiki mugs was, as is typical nowadays,a thing of the past. Well I had to find out for myself, so today I went in and talked to the manager about it and he led me to the bar and pointed to three different stacks of Tiki mugs and a Volcano bowl! I was so stoked....I ordered a Zombie which came in a Fu Man Chu mug which he actually let me keep for 4 dollars!

Great story about how tiki mugs are not a thing of the past.

Theron,

I love Ming Dynasty! I haven't ever been in the bar area, but I have frequented them many a time and have always had a Scorpion Bowl with the flaming volcano. Good food, and a GREAT drink!
Refresh my memory... where is the Bayside Cafe? If the drinks are good, then I'll have to check it out. Aside from Ming Dynasty and Jimmy's Oriental Gardens downtown, I can't get a good drink in this town to save my life.

-T.J.
aka Bill

Bill,
The bayside cafe is over at the goleta pier, not far from the SB airport, I can't remember the name of the freeway exit, but it's not too far from the Ming...I know what you mean about getting a good drink in this town...doesn't get much better than Jimmy's over here.... the drinks at the Bayside are decent, the planters punch is good and strong, the Mai tai is not too bad, but go for happy hour since their H.H. special is the Mai tai.
if you've never been, you should definitely check out the Hong Kong Inn in Ventura! that place is great for a drink, very old school and they have a polynesian Revue on fridays and saturdays! not bad for SB/Ventura, but whatever you do avoid thier food at all costs!
T

If you do this mini-crawl again.......I'm in.

Anytime Jugle Trader
T

You may wish to add Chucks of Hawaii to your crawl, although do bring your own tiki mugs. It has been reviewed with a great photo: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=4653&forum=1&vpost=43016

thanks for the tip christiki, I've always heard that Chucks is just your basic steakhouse with a polynesian name and not much else, so I've never bothered to check it out, lazy I guess, I'll have to grab dinner there one of these nights.
T