Tiki Bar Review #22 The Mai Kai Fort Lauderdale FL

I live in Seattle. I booked a flight and flew six hours across the country to go to the Mai Kai. Why? Because when it comes to Tiki bars, the Mai Kai is it! My visit to the Mai Kai lasted five hours and I could have stayed longer. What is so special about the Mai Kai you may ask? Well, let’s start from the beginning…

The Mai Kai opened in 1956 and it is one of the last remaining Tiki supper clubs. Instead of dying out or selling out like most other Tiki bars after the ’60s, the Mai Kai thrived. The premises actually grew as time went on. The Mai Kai is huge!

It has not one, but eight dining rooms and they fill up!

The Mai Kai may be the biggest restaurant I have seen. There is seating inside and out.

What packs the people in is the Polynesian Show…

For about $15 you get to see a two-hour Polynesian show that includes dancing…

music…

grass skirts…

and fire!

If you’re lucky, they might even have you come up on stage to dance like me!

Another reason why people come to the Mai Kai is for the drinks…

This is the Molokai Bar…

The Mai Kai has an ace in the hole: it’s channeling Don the Beachcomber through its drink menu…

Back when the Mai Kai opened, some of the original bartenders from Don the Beachcomber came on board and they brought the drinks with them. To this day, the Mai Kai is the closest thing you can get to having a Don the Beachcomber experience. If you order a Zombie at the Mai Kai, it’s pretty much the same thing you would have had at the original Don the Beachcomber.

After you’ve had a couple Zombies from the Molokai bar (Only 2!) and have been thoroughly entertained by beautiful women dancing in grass skirts and the fire dancers for almost two hours, you can chill out and enjoy the Mai Kai Gardens…

The Mai Kai gardens is almost the size of the Mai Kai itself and it has paths that you can walk around where you’ll see tropical flowers…

palm trees…

waterfalls…

ponds…

and Tikis!

It’s truly stunning during the day and even better at night.

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The Mai Kai is an important place. It’s a piece of Tiki history. It’s the biggest Tiki bar/restaurant there is. It has close ties to Don the Beachcomber. The drinks are great and the Polynesian Show is spectacular. I love the Mai Kai. I don’t ever want to see the Mai Kai shut down. Guess what? The state of Florida feels the same way. The Mai Kai is on The National Register of Historic Places! I think that says it all.

Here is the Mai Kai’s website.

And Facebook page.

I would like to thank Dave Gittleman of Gittleman Studios for all the pictures used for this post!

Here is Gittleman Studios webpage.

And Facebook page.