Cabali — Restaurant in Oro Valley

Hate to say it. This is my second time here and the first time was a few week after they opened.

We thought we would give them another chance since they’ve been open awhile and thought they’ve had some time to smooth things over. It unfortunately was the opposite.

First of all…last I checked this was a 21+ bar and there was a BABY in there when we arrived that ended up crying and making noise immediately. If I’m paying over $100 for an experience that says it’s 21+…it better not have a screaming baby in it. When people go on a date and spend a lot of money…you, as a business, should care that the experience is going to be worth it. And if a place says it’s 21 and up…it better be for that money. I’m not paying that much money to listen to an infant scream.

Now the servers/bartenders were fine. Friendly and helpful…but def no excitement to be there. It felt like I was in a place where robots could have been serving me because there wasn’t much personality. Again they were friendly…no one did anything rude or crappy….but for the money I was just underwhelmed and not feeling like I was paying for an experience at all.

The food we got was mostly good but insanely small portions for a high amount of money. Spam Masubi and coconut shrimp were very good but again tiny portions for high dollar. We ordered the wings too and they were so chewy and slimey…it was such a bummer. Because it was 9 wings for 18 bucks or so.

The drinks- we ordered a mix of classic tiki drinks and some of their originals. The only one we liked was the zombie which the bartender basically told us they weren’t really supposed to do a zombie for one person because they wanted people to buy the “group zombie” drink. And if the owner takes issue with that…we are very glad and grateful she made us a single zombie…especially because it was the only palatable drink.

Let’s just say- just because you put a bunch of weird or uncommon ingredients in a drink- Doesn’t mean it’s good. And these drinks are not. They are charging undertow prices for drinks that are NOWHERE near as good.

As a tiki person- you are truly better off going to Kon Tiki, especially with their new cocktail menu. And even if Kon tiki was still doing their old menu, it would still be more worth it because at least you know what...

I LOVE tiki bars. I mean LOVE. And I was very excited to check this place out and I’ll start by saying the bartender who waited on us was very kind but he didn’t know classic tiki drinks we were asking about…to be fair: he was happy to look the recipes up and make them…he was very pleasant and we appreciated him. But this is def the theme of the place. Fine but not quite tiki.

Technically everything was ….fine. But if you’re looking for a tiki bar I would say this is a stretch. If anything, it’s just a fancy room to display the owners tiki mug collection. He has a lot of cool mugs, but I don’t believe that makes this place tiki.

Tiki is meant to be an escape like you’re walking to another world. This place very much just feels like…night clubby with a shadow of tiki.

If you don’t love tiki and what it’s meant to be, you’d probably enjoy this place a lot…but for calling itself a tiki bar I’d say…ehhh.

The drink menu was interesting and a little different than what we’re used to seeing at tiki bars which was cool but we had one with curry in it that didn’t necessarily work for me. Not terribly tiki but points for trying something different.

Worth stopping through to see the mug collection but among tiki bars I’d say it falls pretty low on the list.

Oh also was VERY happy they are always 21 and up. That was a major...

The design and concept are very well executed with this bar feeling like an escape into another world. I wish there had been space for a doored foyer so that everytime someone came into the bar the sunlight didn’t blast in and kill the dim vibe. Overall a great tiki build out.

The drinks I found to be very watered down and lacking much punch. If you’ve been to Vegas tiki bars then you know they pack a punch - two drinks might mean the need for a taxi ride home depending on what you pick. Not at Cabali - Here the alcohol is measured out to the milligram for every drink. We ordered 3 and they were so watery by the end it felt like we were just sipping tiki fruit infused ice water.

For the price I think the drinks are little underwhelming - and I’m saying this as someone who has been to tiki bars from Diego to Denver to Florida. I feel you’re paying more for the ambience and the gimmick - big tiki fan who is local to the area but won’t rush back due to this reason.

Next time I might just go for a beer here as I feel they might have more alcohol than the tiki drinks at a...