A Disappointing Visit to Mai-Kai - Tiki Drinks and Food

B BH Member Pennsylvania Joined: Mar 10, 2010 Posts: 10	B BH Posted posted on Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:38 AM On 2010-03-14 06:01, GentleHangman wrote: My feeling is: the drinks should be of consistent quality regardless of which hidden bar they emanate from. Maybe a "Master" or two needs to be overseeing the drinks being made at each location to insure consistent quality. A Black Magic ordered at the Molokai bar should be identical to one ordered from one of the dining areas - Just my humble opinion. GentleHangman-I think you're spot on with this post and from everything I've read this was the attitude of Donn Beach, Trader Vic, and Mariano Licudine, the three guys I am most interested in emulating when it comes to drink making. Thanks to everyone for posting their feedback on the Mai-Kai, especially those who have been there recently and can compare these recent visits to past ones. I think in the end my disappointing visit owed to one of two things: either 1. It was an off weekend at the bar and a fluke, or 2. My tastes have evolved and become sharper thanks to the Bum's books and my practice in the art of mixology (and as an aside, not to derail my own thread, but I personally love the term "mixology" and think that it captures the spirit of my hobby just perfectly without being pretentious or misleading). Regardless, as GatorRob pointed out quite eloquently, Mai-Kai is a treasure and a place that I will always happily visit again and again. I love the Mai-Kai just as much as everyone else here on TC, in fact it was that love that prompted my to start this thread and make my first contribution. In my mind I treat the Mai-Kai like an endangered species and become very uneasy when it appears at risk. Alarm bells went off on my last visit, so I thought I would sent out an alert to the TC community and find out what others were thinking. I am glad to learn that the rest of you have had good experiences recently. Lastly, I am not sure how to respond to Bargoyle's question about whether the drinks were bad since the concept of a bad drink is highly subjective and ambiguous. I have noticed the tendency for TCers to enjoy engaging in esoteric debate (such as the one concerning use of the term bartender versus mixologist) and I myself occasionally enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing, especially when it comes to a topic I that love and I have a cocktail in hand. But I'll save that for a future thread when we can discuss whether or not a cocktail is bad if it tastes worse than the last time you had it.

On 2010-03-14 06:01, GentleHangman wrote:
My feeling is: the drinks should be of consistent quality regardless of which hidden bar they emanate from. Maybe a "Master" or two needs to be overseeing the drinks being made at each location to insure consistent quality. A Black Magic ordered at the Molokai bar should be identical to one ordered from one of the dining areas - Just my humble opinion.

GentleHangman-I think you're spot on with this post and from everything I've read this was the attitude of Donn Beach, Trader Vic, and Mariano Licudine, the three guys I am most interested in emulating when it comes to drink making.

Thanks to everyone for posting their feedback on the Mai-Kai, especially those who have been there recently and can compare these recent visits to past ones. I think in the end my disappointing visit owed to one of two things: either 1. It was an off weekend at the bar and a fluke, or 2. My tastes have evolved and become sharper thanks to the Bum's books and my practice in the art of mixology (and as an aside, not to derail my own thread, but I personally love the term "mixology" and think that it captures the spirit of my hobby just perfectly without being pretentious or misleading).

Regardless, as GatorRob pointed out quite eloquently, Mai-Kai is a treasure and a place that I will always happily visit again and again. I love the Mai-Kai just as much as everyone else here on TC, in fact it was that love that prompted my to start this thread and make my first contribution. In my mind I treat the Mai-Kai like an endangered species and become very uneasy when it appears at risk. Alarm bells went off on my last visit, so I thought I would sent out an alert to the TC community and find out what others were thinking. I am glad to learn that the rest of you have had good experiences recently.

Lastly, I am not sure how to respond to Bargoyle's question about whether the drinks were bad since the concept of a bad drink is highly subjective and ambiguous. I have noticed the tendency for TCers to enjoy engaging in esoteric debate (such as the one concerning use of the term bartender versus mixologist) and I myself occasionally enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing, especially when it comes to a topic I that love and I have a cocktail in hand. But I'll save that for a future thread when we can discuss whether or not a cocktail is bad if it tastes worse than the last time you had it.

Post #517201 by BH on Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:38 AM