Don's Mai Tai Bar

Years ago, Don's Mai Tai Bar was fantastic and known for their drinks and food.  We've been coming to Kailua-Kona and staying at the Royal Kona for over a dozen years.  

Something happened over the past year.  All the waiters and bartenders changed, even their outfits.  With that, their drinks also changed; they are now taste watered down.  Of course, we could be wrong and our taste buds may have changed once we arrived on the island.  

The group I was with had mixed drinks, as well as, a variety of bourbons and rums neat.  Every drink tasted watered down; probably 30% or so.  During the second round, we watched the bartender pour the correct amounts.  Yet, they still tasted as if they were watered down.  Even their world famous Mai Tai's tasted like watered down juice.

For the time being, I would caution anyone wanting something other than a beer and hold off to see if the reviews get better.  This review was written the week after the 4th of July 2013.

We were SO weirded out upon finding/entering Don the Beachcomber's, but I'm so glad we stopped by.

I insisted we do a DIY Mai Tai crawl around Kona and we were 3-4 Mai Tai's deep when I remembered where the original (allegedly) Mai Tai came from...Don's! I'm super bossy, so I immediately found it on a map and led the way.

To get to the restaurant and bar you sort of walk through the hotel which is eerily quiet (but nice) and felt like there was no one staying in it. The restaurant was no different, tons and tons of space, everything right on the water with amazing views, and yet it was completely empty (this was just shortly after 8:00pm).

They have a really large main dining room with absolutely no one in it...I'm not sure if maybe it was just because of off season (December) or what, but it looked like it used to be pretty magical and had such a life and I hated that it wasn't still living in its glory because in my eyes Don's is a staple and a quintessential part of the typical Hawaiian vacation. In the hall at the end of the dining room when you're leaving there are old black and whites of some of the famous people who have dined there and all the life the place had and it made my eyes mist over a little (could have been the booze, but still, I'm a sucker for sleepy places rich with history that have just been lost and forgotten).

Anyway we headed to the bar/bar area where everyone else was (also looking confused), and a lot of people were ordering dinner and eating there, so maybe I'm just completely dramatic and mistaken about the restaurant part, but it looked straight up like aloha, RIP, nice knowin' ya, ghost town.

We ordered a Mai Tai of course and enjoyed the quiet weirdness of it all. The Mai Tais were strong and of course tasted no different than the four I chugged before it.

I will absolutely be back because I demand to know what the hell this place is all about nowadays and why it didn't live up to the picture I had painted in my head of beautiful tan babes with long hair serving me pig and pineapple and an old fat Hawaiian man playing ukulele in the corner with tons of white people in floral shirts looking sun burnt and happy.

I love it either way.

Dammit, should have gotten the Mai Tai sampler, but I didn't know it existed until I read other reviews.  Given that, I had the Original Mai Tai and it was stiff as hell.  I was literally blowing fire by the time I finished this drink.  $10 well spent.

Note: There's a nice seating area to the west of the Mai Tai bar where you can sit and relax on some comfy loungers.  

A killer Mai Tai, listening to the waves crash on the rocks below, and sitting in a relaxing chair after a hard day of sight-seeing brings tears to my eyes.  4 stars.