Tag Archives: restaurant review

Tong’s Tiki Hut – Villa Park, IL (Chicago Area)

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

IMG_5765When you first pull in to this strip mall in the western suburbs of Chicago and see the covered up windows of Tong’s Tiki Hut, you might mistake the Villa Park restaurant for being closed.

IMG_5767Upon closer inspection you’ll find that it’s indeed open — and has been for some 30 years. (Unfortunately, its three sister locations haven’t been so lucky over time.)

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In fact, the bamboo blinds obscuring the windows help to accomplish what most tiki bars aspire to do, which is create an insulated tropical environment with no distractions from the outside world.

IMG_5830For being a neighborhood Chinese restaurant, their dedication to the tiki theme is impressive. (They even got the music right with recordings of soothing Hawaiian steel guitar.) There’s a beach mural and lauhala matting on the walls, and a thatch overhang above the brown vinyl booths. Bamboo, shell and tapa pendant lamps are suspended from the ceiling, which is covered with fish netting and entangled plastic seagulls, lobsters and crabs.

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A vaguely Rarotongan looking tiki stands against the rock wall, and to its right is a leopard-print bar flanked by an odd, colorfully-painted tiki pole. Beyond that is another smaller dining room with more rattan furniture and another island mural (last picture).

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I felt like we must have entered some time warp when I saw that most of their tropical drinks cost $3.95! They’re served in tiki mugs and are actually pretty decent considering the price. About a dozen tiki cocktails are offered, from classics like the Mai Tai, Scorpion and Fog Cutter to the Tiki Lover, the house special made with gin, rum, coconut cream, pineapple juice and cream. Some even had wonderful throwback descriptions like this one for the Samoan Passion: “Legend has it that this potent drinks arouses hidden passions.”

IMG_5823Along with spicy Hunan and Szechuan dishes, the menu features all the Chinese-American standards you’d expect to find, including syrupy egg drop soup, orange chicken, chop suey and Mongolian beef with crispy fried cellophane noodles. (And if that’s still not American enough, they also have cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets and french fries…)

IMG_5825Their version of the pupu platter is called a bo bo tray ($11.95), which includes two each of egg rolls, barbecue ribs, aloha fried shrimp, Polynesian beef and wontons surrounding a small cooking sterno. I, however, went for my favorite “Polynesian” appetizer, crab rangoon (6 pieces for $5.95), and it was one of the better renditions of the dish I’ve had, with lots of filling.

IMG_5873Less pleasing was the barbecue pork combination plate ($6.50), one of several weekday lunch specials that come with pork fried rice, flavorless wontons and an obscenely large egg roll (plus a cup of soup, fortune and almond cookies, and tea).

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If we’re comparing tiki-themed Chinese restaurants in the Chicago suburbs I’d say that Chef Shangri-la in North Riverside has better food and drinks overall, but I was charmed by the decor and cozy vibe of Tong’s Tiki Hut.

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Tong’s Tiki Hut
100 E. Roosevelt Rd.
Villa Park, IL 60181
630-834-7464

Tong's Tiki Hut on Urbanspoon

Kowloon Restaurant – Saugus, MA (near Boston)

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

Kowloon in Saugus, Massachusetts, is both a restaurant and roadside attraction. Its giant A-frame, pagodas and Ku tiki entice hungry motorists from route 1 north of Boston, and its fellow conspicuous neighbors include the Leaning Tower of Pizza and the huge neon cactus sign of the Hilltop Steak House.

The Wong family started Kowloon as a small Chinese restaurant in the 1950s, and later expanded it into this behemoth that seats up to 1,200 people (twice as many as Bob Chinn’s Crab House). Patriarch William Wong was inspired to give it a Polynesian-esque feel after traveling to Hawaii during the mid-century craze for the South Seas.

The restaurant is divided up into various themed rooms, like the Thai Grille with a beachscape mural and the Tiki Lagoon with thatched huts against the walls and a not-very-tiki-looking statue looking over the central fountain.

There seemed to be a different hostess for each dining room, and they can be quite assertive about seating, so you might want to already have an idea where you want to eat. I insisted upon the Volcano Bay Room. I loved the lifeboats hanging overhead, ship’s rigging, nautical lanterns, and especially the illusion of the erupting volcano.

The drinks aren’t of the highest caliber compared to some of the best tiki bars, but I award bonus points for customized glassware. They had several cocktails “for two” that arrive in a souvenir glass and I chose the Mai Tai ($16.95). It should go without saying that this isn’t a purist recipe.

Kowloon has a very extensive menu offering Cantonese, Szechuan and Thai food, plus sushi. Each cuisine is prepared in its own kitchen. One of their signatures is the Saugus Wings ($8.75), which are covered in a sweet, garlicky sauce that’s pretty addictive. For appetizers we also ordered the boneless pork spareribs ($8.50) and crab rangoon ($6.25), but these were the favorite.

The Flaming Ambrosia ($14.95) is another famous dish. This retro-style delicacy consists of half of a pineapple filled with sweet and sour chicken (or shrimp) and set on fire!

We rounded out our feast with still more sweet and sour chicken ($9.50, which we would have skipped if I’d realized it was basically the same as the Flaming Ambrosia), General Gau chicken ($11.75, fried chicken with spicy ginger sauce), pork lo mein ($8.75), and beef fried rice ($7.75).

We also ordered the kung pao chicken ($10.95) and beef and mushroom chow yoke ($12.25); the latter I would definitely get again. The portions were quite large and between seven (and a half) of us we still had leftovers for days, though there wasn’t any General Gau chicken left so that must have been pretty decent too.

A display case near the entrance had a bunch of souvenir mugs for sale, both generic ones and signature mugs produced by Tiki Farm. I picked up these first two here — the fogcutter and the mug recreating the tiki found on their vintage mugs. The stock was running pretty low though at the time, so I hope they’ve gotten some more.

Tiki spots are few and far between in Massachusetts — even more so now with the recent closing of Pago-Pago in Milford — and this is one of the best and most beloved. Nowadays, you can get a carefully made tiki-inspired drink at bars like Drink in Boston, but I think you have to give old-school places like the Kowloon their due.

Kowloon
948 Broadway
Saugus, MA 01906
781-233-0077

Mai-Kai Restaurant – Fort Lauderdale, FL

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

Hands down #1 on my list of the Best Tiki Bars is the Mai-Kai Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. (And I say that coming from California where we’re pretty spoiled by all the awesome tiki spots close by.) It was started by Chicagoan brothers Robert and Jack Thornton in 1956, and it’s still family-run to this day. It’s a tiki timewarp that you can’t miss.

As covered in my previous post, we started out at the Molokai Bar for happy hour. Then we went out to the tropical garden filled with waterfalls and tikis, where photo opportunities abound.

I loved this bridge and the lagoon-like feel. I hear it’s also worth wandering through at night when it’s all dark and mysterious.

It’s like an amazing labyrinth going from room to room, and this is barely the tip of the iceberg. The restaurant area alone can seat nearly 500 people! (I’d still recommend making reservations for dinner, though.)

There are seven seating sections, each named after a South Pacific island and decorated with authentic artifacts (including a shrunken head from Samoa). Tonga is popular for its elevated view of the stage for the luau-style show, but we had a closer vantage point from the Papua New Guinea room on the side.

Another one of the special things about the Mai-Kai is the ritual of the Mystery Drink. A loud gong brings the dining room to attention as a lovely Mystery Girl delivers a large bowl of booze (enough for four people to share) along with a little hula dance and lei.

Ordering cocktails, I again went for the big guns with the Barrel O’ Rum ($14) from the “strong” tropical drinks section (preferred it over the Jet Pilot), while my dear designated driver ordered the non-alcoholic Maui Sunrise ($6.25) made with peaches, bananas and passionfruit syrup (pictured left).

Mr. Baseball is happy as long there is steak, so he had the 10 oz. filet mignon ($39.50) perfectly roasted in the Chinese oven. Also on the menu are several seafood preparations and an assortment of Asian dishes like curries, teriyaki chicken, sweet and sour pork, and Peking duck.

That mid-century Continental classic Lobster Thermidor, here listed under the more theme-appropriate pseudonym Lobster Tahitienne ($37), is just something you don’t find on menus since diners started caring about things like calories and cholesterol. It’s pure indulgence: more than a pound of lobster sauteed in butter and served in its shell with a creamy sauce with sherry and Dijon mustard.

The song and dance show performed by the Polynesian Islanders Revue is choreographed by owner Mireille Thornton, a native of Tahiti who joined the Mai-Kai in 1961 as one of the original dancers. We were there on a Thursday when there’s just one show at 8 p.m. (Fridays & Saturdays have two). A $10.95 per-person fee is added for the entertainment, but it’s fun and worth seeing. (It’s free for children under 12.)

We went all out for our visit, but there are ways to save money at the Mai-Kai. First is the aforementioned happy hour. The Fort Lauderdale airport (and probably other tourist hubs) had 2-for-1 show coupons, while the website www.SouthFloridaDines.com offers a $30 dining voucher for $15. (Though of course you can only use one discount.)

Don’t forget to stop by the gift shop where they have tons of Mai-Kai souvenirs. (They also recently had a contest for new T-shirt and logo designs.) I just had to take home that big ol’ Mystery Bowl home with me. The really fun part was getting it to fit in my carry-on luggage…

Mai-Kai Restaurant
3599 North Federal Hwy.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308
954-563-3272

Mai-Kai Restaurant & Lounge on Urbanspoon