Kona - Kai at Marriott Hotels

I was wondering if anyone has recently been to one of the Kona Kai restaurants at various Marriott hotels around the globe? I've never been to one, but imagine them to be something of a poor man's Trader Vic's.

I'm off to Athens, Greece in a couple of weeks and the only possible Tiki bar there is the Kona Kai, so any information about the Kona Kai chain would be welcome!

Trader Woody

Good quetion. I believe there was a Kona Kai at the Marriott in Clearwater, Florida but I assume it is long gone. All I have are a few swizzles. Any other info on the Kona Kai wold be of interest to me as well.

?

Anybody figure this place out?

Anything left of them besides the couple swizzle sticks that Kailuageoff and I have?

..the kona kai at the marriott near chicago has not been open to the public since 1999(?) but still retains all it's original decor and fixtures.....it is primarily used for banquet hall rentals and was host to exotica 2003....the cool sign they used to have out front by the road was backlit with red neon and cool googie lettering but has been gone for many years....the tikis out front have all found homes with members of tiki central.....

Chip, are you asking was there ever a Kona Kai in Clearwater, Florida? That I don't know. Maybe Geoff can answer that. But, this bump does give me an excuse to re-post this glamour shot of the Philadelphia Kona Kai, courtesy of Monkeyman. If you love eye candy like I do, you can never tire of photos like this.

I wondered the same and made a post a bit ago - as there was once a kona kai near NYC in Tarrytown at the Marriott. I spoke the guys at Oceanic Art (Bob and Leroy) as they did some work on it when it opened. Its certainly gone I went there and was told by the younger staff to ask a woman named Rose about it as she has been at that location for over 20 years. (I have yet to meet up with her). I have also never seen anything (mugs, matchbook, swizzle, photo, menu) from this particular Tarrytown< NY location (its near the Tappan Zee Bridge rt 278 / 78). So if anyones got anything please post. It was also in the phone directory for a while but that number just gets you to the Marriott. Theres a Ruth Chirs' Steak house where I think it used to be (Kona Kai)

So many recent threads on the "Kona Kai" (both Marriott chain and not), that I went looking for a general overview thread (much like we have here for DTBC and TV).

This thread is the closest I was able to identify on TC.

The Philadelphia location is documented in BOT as a significant Tiki palace. Was it truly on the same scale of Tikiness as the Kahiki and Mai Kai, and a class above the other Kona Kai's in the Marriott chain ??

Other than these following places, just how many "official" Kona Kai's were there ??...

Kona Kai - Philadelphia...

Kona Kai - Bethesda, MD...

Kona Kai - Chicago (and did this place have the same signature A-frame entrance?)...

And the word "Kona Kai" obviously is used for many many other bars, (non-Marriott) restaurants, motels, and apartments. Like this fantastic place...

Was the Marriott usage the original source for that (made up ?) name, or was it taken from history or literature (a la Bali Hai) ??

That was 5 questions BTW !! :)

I will just chime in to add that the 2 Kansas City, Missouri Kona Kai locations were both inside HILTON hotels.

With all the Kona Kai talk lately and knowing that Greece is currently in the financial dumper. I checked the Athens Ledra Marriott website
to make sure their Kona Kai is still there and it is so that's good news. No A-frame entrance that I could see though.

I suggest that John-O make the Athens Kona Kai the next stop on his Zombie Road Trip.

Seriously. :)

On 2002-05-13 08:34, Kailuageoff wrote:
Good quetion. I believe there was a Kona Kai at the Marriott in Clearwater, Florida but I assume it is long gone. All I have are a few swizzles. Any other info on the Kona Kai wold be of interest to me as well.

There was a Kono Kai in Clearwater Florida located at the Island Estates complex. Obviously a knock-off with the Kono instead of Kona. I have this postcard showing an aerial view of the Island Estates and a inset photo of the restaurant.

Description on the back of the card.

Your exotic meal whetted by south sea spirits, oh my!

DC

The Kona Kai in San Diego was independent, initially owned by the original owner of the Disney Hotel and then sold to the local developer who modified it, as well as the grand dame Hotel Del, to a Mediterranean theme, according to Critiki.

On 2011-07-31 10:23, Dustycajun wrote:
Your exotic meal whetted by south sea spirits, oh my!

Ha ha! To me that means that Menehunes peed on your food.