Mai Tai's — Restaurant in Honolulu

Hello I see you’re interested in reviews.. This is my back yard, couldn’t live closer, couldn’t live classier. The only stable table here is the bar 😂 or coffee tables. Margaritas by the midday tender are trash, if I wanted 6 shots of tequila I would have ordered tequila shots; to that, the customer base is not class. Highly recommend the Mango Mojito though, they have been great across all shifts and tenders, just be sure to pull out the rotten mint, it’s hit or miss. First order was shrimp ceviche; great flavor, a bit chunky and extremely watery, either frozen or over cooked shrimp, hard to tell so a little more training or kitchen attention will go a long way. If frozen; get fresh, this is Hawaii. Chips are store bought, house made would be cheaper and higher quality. High prices account for low customer volume. It’s not rare to see this place abandoned. Prices are in no way related to Supply and Demand. Spicy Chicken sandwich (the number 1 recommendation) had good flavor; below par like generic ChickFil-A for 3x cost. Chicken was improperly filleted for frying. (I would know, I managed Colorados’ most successful CFA) deluxe options would be a huge addition generating $2-3 per sale. Where’s my; cheese, lettuce, tomato? The dinner plates are under sized. Great for the slender sleek bar food, improper for dinner plates at dining tables. Management should distinguish. Fish tacos tasted great for the region, the grill and sear was what I expected from my neighbor. Fries are very well done and what I received the first time, but my tacos are meant to come with chips and salsa. At this point inconsistency is expected, I have no lime, I have no napkin. Ahi Tuna still seared excellent second time around, just arrived cold. The quality of the staff far exceeds the quality of management; better managers will make you so much profits! Management could care less and you’d never know, the operations solely ride on the kitchen and wait staff. Management gets a honest 0/10 from me, you really can’t tell they exist, and when you pay specific attention to one it’s just a middle aged wanna be frat boy. If I learned one of the managers was the owner I’d laugh and never return. The place is never more than 50% full, but honest majority teetering on 5-15% you can literally do the math. The only time they cleaned the mold off the bar was when I asked them to. Live bands are good for the area, not all that common. Better attention to acoustics and more attention by the bands would go a long way in customer base; the only way to communicate here is shouting, unless there is absolute silence. All in all I do come back; in the blue moon it’s enjoyable, but frequency will lessen to none unless improvements are made, my business is dangling on convenience at this point. I generally tip my waitress more than she makes in a day, sometimes a week. A night in has far more potential than a night out...

Overall horrible service from staff. First trip to Hawaii and my husband's birthday and we take him to this place which was recommended as really good. As soon as we arrived we got carded which is fine,we go in and seated ourselves. We asked the waitress by us Anna if we could sit in the table next to her, she looked at us and ignored us completely. We sat down anyways and the table was dirty and unwiped. A lady passed us and asked the lady if anyone was sitting at another table and she immediately recognized her and proceeded to seat her and take her order. Then as she was passing by was when she talked to us asking us how we were she didnt even look us in the eye. My husband's asked her "Could you wipe down the table please?" And she didn't even hear him until he said it again to her. Then she asked us if we were all over 21 when it's a bar everyone has to be over 21. She told us we had to get stamped at the door and that after 4pm everyone under 21 had to leave which is a dumb excuse. But the lady she took before us she didn't card her nor her husband. She used the excuse that their table was dirtier when we almost sat there and there wasnt anything. We gave her our ID and she was looking at them to see if they were fake, she couldnt even count and stared for a whole minute. Then we went to the man in front and said why he didnt stamp us and said "Oh my bad, I'll get the stamp" if they really had everyone below 21 leave by 4 he would have had the stamps ready. Later we spoke with a manager and she couldnt even do anything and gave a look as if it's not the first time. We left unsatisfied, upset and by far the worst staff I've seen so far. Staff discriminated by looks and dosent recognize people who come and on top of that don't know what...

I was at Ala Moana to visit one of my favorite stores (which shall remain unnamed) but needed lunch first. I tried Habitant at Nordstrom and Mariposa at N-M but both were full so I opted for this open air island-themed bar on the 4th floor of AMC as I knew they would have open tables (as it's a large space).

It was a somewhat muggy day but a breeze coming from the East made it a pleasant enough experience. I ordered a Hendrick’s gin & tonic ($11) and the Lettuce Wraps ($17) from Alize. My drink came promptly but food service was leisurely and I ended up ordering a second gin & tonic before my food arrived.

The lettuce wraps came deconstructed; a plate with generous quantity of lettuce leaves, a bowl containing the minced chicken and a small container of chili sauce. I assembled each wrap by spooning on a little chili sauce, then a generous heaping of minced chicken. Yum! It was a nice, refreshing lunch, low in carbs (as I watch my carb intake) but high in flavor. I really liked the wraps.

I spent a pleasant hour at Mai Tai’s … I think it would be much nicer in any season besides Summer. The servers, like Alize, are pleasant and professional though I think they could use at least one more server. Mai Tai’s is a large space and food comes from outside the bar. It used to come from Bubba Gump’s kitchen … Does it now come from Olive Garden? I don’t know but it really doesn’t matter. The quality of the food hasn’t changed in the years I’ve been frequenting this place. The drink prices are reasonable. A similar drink costs $15 in downtown Honolulu. I like Mai Tai’s and can recommend it as a place to relax from the hustle and bustle...