Frances G.
Yelp
So my friend and I were trying to meet up for happy hour, and this place popped up on Yelp with rave reviews. We both have never been here so we decided to try this place out.
This is located in a triangular corner plaza on the Newport Avenue and McFadden Avenue side (there's another strip mall right behind that faces Walnut Avenue and McFadden Avenue). It's at the end of the strip mall, right next to McFadden, to be more exact. The parking lot is small and fills up quickly, especially on typical busy evenings (there were cars waiting in the aisles when we we finished up near 7:00pm...I wouldn't even know where else to park if we had come later). We met up around 4:45pm on a Friday, and luckily, there were a few parking spaces still open. Right when entering the doors, we were met by a velvet rope that blocked the entrance with curtains drawn, kind of like what you'd see at a club. A staff member came out to greet us, asked if we had reservations (no), what we were here for (happy hour), and if we wanted to sit at the high table or at the pool table (high table). Happy hour was 4:00-6:00pm so we only had an hour left, and the staff told us that we had a 2-hour limit to stay.
The ambiance is pretty dark inside with quintessential island decor and all staff members wearing Aloha shirts. I guess the concept is to "warp back to mid-century Tiki living," and that's definitely the vibe that I got. The happy hour menu is limited, but we ordered the sweet chili cauliflower wings ($8), coconut shrimp ($7), and angry edamame ($5). We later ordered the miso chicken skewers, too ($2 off during HH so $17). For drinks, my friend got the mai tai ($10) and I got the Kona coffee off the regular drink menu ($16).
TBH, everything tasted ok. My Kona coffee didn't have much of a coffee flavor, but rather more of a toffee-like flavor with a hint of tartness. I liked that they actually give you alcohol, because I was definitely feeling it from this one drink. The coconut shrimp was good, but the cauliflower and edamame needed something more. The miso chicken was good, but a bit dry.
Overall, it was kind of a neat and fun experience, and staff were all friendly and very attentive. Even though we only had 2 hours to stay, we didn't feel rushed or anything, and we also kept an eye on time to make sure that we finished eating and drinking within the 2 hours, which was plenty for the 2 of us. The other drinks sounded good so maybe I (or we) will give it another try on a non-HH time, with reservations.