Hukilau Sacramento to be changed to Italian Restaurant.

This is horrible news for Sacto Tikiphiles.

Hukilau Island Grill at 16th and O streets in Sacramento is being converted to Pronto Restaurant, a fast-service Italian place. Last Saturday was the final night for the island-themed Hukilau.
Partners Dave Virga and Mark Scribner, who dreamed up midtown's Paesanos a decade ago, closed Hukilau in favor of more Italian food.

It's really too bad. It was a great place and the food was really good and it seemed to be busy all the time until maybe 6 months ago when they almost doubled all the prices. Maybe it was a last ditch effort to keep the place afloat. Too bad they couldn't make a go of it because it was a fun place. The decor was pretty cool too, especially the back room where they had some great tiki wall decorations. We'll miss it for sure!

I was there about a month ago and was told by the staff that they were closing for 2 weeks to remodel. None of the staff was told of what changes would be made, only that there would be a new patio on one side (16th?) and the menu would be expanded.

The big curved wall in the main diningroom was to be knocked out to open it up to the kitchen. Makes sense now-sounds like an Italian cafeteria. I am SO bummed! I am moving up there in 3 months and now there is no place to go for tiki!

:drink:
Tacky Tiki

Terrible news! The Hukilau was a magnificent tiki oasis. I feel as if a tiny part of my tiki experience dies everytime something like this happens:

The review in Locating tiki:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=10006&forum=2

On 2006-05-12 17:32, Gigantalope wrote:
This is horrible news for Sacto Tikiphiles.

Partners Dave Virga and Mark Scribner, who dreamed up midtown's Paesanos a decade ago, closed Hukilau in favor of more Italian food.

Nothing was more tasty than their coconut pancakes with macadamia nut syrup.

I'm glad I got to experience it when I did - even got to do so with my mom.