Tag: Oakland

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The Kon-Tiki Happy Hour Mai Tai

Happy hour is back at Oakland’s The Kon-Tiki, Tuesday-Thursdays from 4:00-6:00 pm. There are some food favorites including a grilled cheese sandwich, plus some familiar cocktails. Next time I need to try that Stiggins Pineapple rum on draft.

The Mai Tai previously graced the happy hour menu at Kon-Tiki, but this version is even better that previous one. The new Happy Hour Mai Tai features Jamaican, Martinique, and St. Luician rum and very good for a $10 Mai Tai in the Bay Area. The initial taste was a little bland, but as the cocktail diluted a little bit over a couple minutes the true flavor of this delightful Mai Tai began to shine.

There is a different Mai Tai on the regular Kon-Tiki menu, and it might be worth the $13 price to include some darker rums in the blend. But the Happy Hour Mai Tai is pretty great too.

I still enjoy the easy listening music at The Kon-Tiki. During this visit they played a song that sounded like retro 1970s soft rock but was actually the 2013 track “Don’t Know What’s Normal” from Shintaro Sakamoto. New music with a vintage sound.

Edit: Chris Day from The Kon-Tiki confirmed that the Happy Hour Mai Tai is the same as their regular menu, just lower priced. So go get it!

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Party Night at The Kon-Tiki Room

A big week for The Kon-Tiki room at Palmetto, Oakland’s newest tiki bar. They opened on Wednesday this week to coincide with a show at the Fox Theater across the street. Sounds like business was booming, which is the whole idea of the bar in this location.

Thursday wasn’t a show night but the Oakhana brought the party over from the original Kon-Tiki on 14th and Webster. Lots of fun.

The Grogs were a suggestion and were spicy and boozy. I also tried the Hash Browns that had a lovely sauce. Bar staff remains super friendly and accommodating, even making some off-menu Mai Tais with Saint Benevolence aged rum. Thanks to Bob Stear for the pour of Foursquare 2009, a very fine rum.

Longtime readers know we try to keep reviews and trip reports fair handed here. And despite my frequent advocacy of the Yacht Rock that is often played at The Kon-Tiki, I was not loving the 80s top 40 being played at Kon-Tiki Room on Thursday. I shouldn’t hear any Phil Collins songs in a tiki bar, much less four.

The Kon-Tiki Room is a lot of fun and the cocktails continue to impress.

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Mount Gay Rum Night at The Kon-Tiki

First brand sponsored rum tasting at The Kon-Tiki in quite some time. Mount Gay is a great choice, and I’m a big fan of their XO expression.

The special menu had some nice offerings. I’ve had the copper still rum expressions before so I tried the Barbados Slim; very good up cocktail with rich flavors of honey and Falernum.

The rum tasting was outside and we got to sample small portions of a cognac barrel aged sample. Hey, Mount Gay this rum is delicious, make it a limited edition retail product, please.

The food menu seemed a little larger than last time. In addition to the always fab Kon-Tiki Burger, I sampled the Calamari and Pork Bellies and both were great. More great service and a goovy vibe that Kon-Tiki is famous for.

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Cocktails at The Kon-Tiki Room

After dinner at Palmetto, we walked around over to The Kon-Tiki Room for more cocktails. It was a fun vibe and the bartenders were so helpful at working with us on our orders.

I had a fantastic Fogcutter and then asked for Mai Tai made with the aged rum Clairin from Saint Benevolence. While the spirits selection at The Kon-Tiki Room is not as vast as the original Kon-Tiki location at 14th and Webster, they do have some interesting expressions and the bartenders were accommodating to use an alternative spirit in one of their standard cocktails. A little extra orgeat and the Clairin Mai Tai was very good and a nice change of pace.

We were bummed the frozen Disco Banana wasn’t quite ready when we got there around 6:30. That was the only glitch during our Kon-Tiki Room visit. The checking of vaccination status and the requirements for masks when not drinking was not problem during our visit.

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Palmetto Dinner and Cocktails

We had a great dinner at Palmetto last night, along with some classic cocktails. The fine dining is most certainly that with some upper mid-priced dishes with some inventive ingredients. I had the pork chop with frisee, spiced carrots, refried black beans, grain mustard mojo, and shaved onions. So flavorful and a quite large cut of meat, too. Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed her Halibut and especially liked the lavender orange ice cream.

Flight Path cocktail

We tried several of the cocktails, which include some riffs on classics and also some Palmetto originals. From the classic side, I had a delightful Manhattan with Rum (Real McCoy 5) that was served up. Julie had the Brandy Old Fashioned that was also a great twist on an old favorite.  From the House side, I had the Flight Path with Rye, Falernum, Honey, Lemon, and Absinthe. Also served up, the Flight Path was truly excellent.

Manhattan with Rum

Service at Palmetto was outstanding and all the patrons were adjusting no problem to showing vaccination cards and masking when not eating/drinking. If you’re in Uptown (Oakland) and looking for something a little Upscale, be sure to seek out Palmetto.

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DIY Kon-Tiki Cocktail List Completion

Thanks to Chris Day for making me a Virgin’s Downfall at The Kon-Tiki the other night. This Missionary’s Downfall riff features Mezcal, which is why I always avoided it. But, as a matter of fact, it was delicious! Minty and fresh with some complex flavors that truly worked together.

Which means I’ve now sampled all the cocktails on Kon-Tiki’s third menu revision (first introduced in fall 2019), as tracked by the handmade checklist card I printed out over a year ago. I’m looking forward to the new menu that surely is coming soon.

The Kon-Tiki and their sister properties Palmetto and The Kon-Tiki Room announced yesterday that they are going to require patrons to be vaccinated (or have a negative test) starting in August. As of this week you have be vaxxed to sit at the bar, which is what I did and had a great time talking to Jeff Hall and some other barflies. And you can bet that this policy is going to make me more comfortable patronizing these places, as well as being safer for the staff.

It is going to need to start to get a lot more difficult for non-vaxxed folks to have access to nice things, or we’re going to have to do another round of shutdown and business closures.