Kon Tiki Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Tucson

Kon-Tiki has held a special place in my heart because it’s a survivor of a bygone era and you just have to love it where it’s at. I can ignore poor cocktails as long as the food is good and/or the mugs are cool.

All that aside, I carpooled down to Tucson from Tempe yesterday for Kon-Tiki’s 60th Anniversary Celebration. We lined up three hours in advance, which was our choosing and got seated in the bar first. Upon ordering our drinks in the 60th Anniversary mugs, which were $63 generic Tiki Farm mugs that are sold online for $35, our server insisted on taking our drink orders FIRST. While awaiting for our drinks those at our table began to notice other sections of Kon-Tiki being served their meals at a quick pace while we waited to place our food orders. What our server failed to mention was that she was only taking drink orders not just for our table but for HER ENTIRE SECTION.

After an hour and a half of waiting to place a food order our table agreed to just pay for our mugs and any other anniversary merch and eat at El Guero Canelo. Our waitress returned with our bills and various merch items that were ordered along with everyone’s check that needed to be paid. Not everyone in our party recieved the items they ordered but yet were charged for them. While bringing that up to our waitress, she then quickly apologized and half hazzardly explained that the bar was backed up with tickets and it was too much of an effort to ask for one more boxed up mug and zombie glass. So we then patiently waited until asking her again only to recieve the same excuse about a half an hour later. It was about then patience started to wear thin then where our waitress relented and returned to our table, slamming down a boxed mug and zombie glass and yelling at us how it wasn’t her fault.

I can look past the fact that Kon-Tiki’s 60th Anniversary Mug from Tiki Farm was maybe an after thought and a let down in comparison to the mugs that bar has released in the past. But our waitress was completely inept which led to one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had while dining out.

I can’t say I would attend another mug release at Kon-Tiki and it may be awhile until I return again. This event was just disappointing and I’m sure our section was an isolated incident while we witnessed other portions of Kon-Tiki enjoying their food and ordering multiple rounds of drinks while our waitress was driving the struggle bus to...

720pm we called to see if there was availability for our large party. They said yes. The lady asked how long until we arrive. I told her 5-10 minutes. When we arrived, it took a good moment for the front security and staff to recognize us, greet us and seat us as they we chatting. They were not prepared when we showed up. So we had to wait a bit for them to set us up. We had kids with us they were kind enough to let us come in with them. Apparently after 7pm kids aren't allowed. Our waitress was very nice and patient with us. Answered all of our questions and gave great recommendations for drinks. When we placed our order it took very long to get our beverages and food. They did not look busy we saw two other family dining on our side plus about 3 people at the bar. So our waitress took quite a bit of time to get back to us. Drinks were great, they were not stingy with the alcohol so that was a plus. The food wasn't so great.. I think it's over priced for the portions you get. That's just my opinion. The fried rice I ordered was crunchy, my main entree was cold like the food had been sitting there waiting to be brought to our table. The orange chicken was not very tasty. Had a very strong orange peel taste. Had to get something different since my kids didn't like it. So I wasn't going to complain about my food. When we were done eating we waited about 20 to 25 minutes until we saw our waitress to ask if we can have our check. I've heard so many great things about this place from people I have met here in Tucson and I just wasn't a fan of it at all. I don't know if it's like Hawaiian inspired or what but the food definitely lacks the hawaiian flavors. So if you want hawaiian food this isn't the place if you want to have drinks they're pretty good and not watered down. The picture of the food is the luau platter. 2 bacon wrapped shrimp. 2 coconut shrimp. 2 mini steak skewers and chicken skewers. 2 crab puffs and 2 pot stickers served over a bed of wonton chips with cinnamon...

I've lived in Tucson since 2013 and kontiki has been a favorite spot of mine for a special night out many times with friends. After being in the military I have bad PTSD and I am aided by a PTSD service dog. She is small but she is very good at her job and she is extremely well behaved to the point where hardly anyone ever notices her. I went to katiki last night and it was definitely not my first time bringing her with me since she goes everywhere I go. My friends were already at the restaurant so I knew I could just walk back to their table. A taller balding white-haired man and a blue button up yelled at me as I was walking through the restaurant that " dogs aren't allowed in here" I was very taken aback since I've never had this problem here before. Having a service dog. I understand my rights under the Americans with disabilities act. If you have a service dog and you walk into a facility, they are allowed to ask you two questions Is that a service dog? What service does it perform?

This man asked neither of those questions but proceeded to chase me through the restaurant and continue yelling at me. I asked him if he worked there and if he was prepared to ask me the appropriate questions since she was a service dog and he didn't want to hear any of it. He just wanted to kick me out of the restaurant or force me to eat on the patio. The man didn't talk to our group the entire rest of the night, the wait staff felt very awkward because he kept badgering them about the dog and the waitress. We had fully understood that we couldn't just be kicked out like he wanted.

Then to make things even better, after we were finished our entire meal and walking out of the restaurant, he walked up behind us and said "don't come back". I don't care where you work. That's not appropriate. If the restaurant doesn't take action, I'll probably be filing a report...