Don the Beachcomber

We need to see pictures on this one. There's so few real Hawaiian polynesian pop tiki bars...

The decor is beautiful, and the tiki images and pictures make the decor very exotic. There is also a small section with pictures of Don the Beachcomber's history...but that was the problem. It seemed to me that this Don The Beachcomber is trying to leave its heritage behind in favor of winning over a younger, more hip crows. The neighboring "Don's" Mai Tai Bar had much more business; and it was there that I had to acquire my "Don The Beachcomber's" Rum Barrel. These thinks are advertised in many pictures in the hotel, but the restaraunt has discontined serving them. I was lucky that my barman found one of the few remaining in the back. So one of the original tiki bars doesn't sell tiki mugs...

Another complaint is the small selection of the drink menu. I would have thought that Don's storied history would allow for pages worth of coctails (like the Trader Vic's I visited), but much of the drinks are standard fare. I wanted to try something new. Also, the green flash I was served was actually yellow in color...at least it tasted good.

Although I did not regret going to Don The Beachcomber's, it was not all that I hoped for. Still, it is very worth the time of any tikiphile.

We only drank at the Mai Tai bar but I peeked into the actual DTBC and looked around. Hard to knock a bar that has a great ocean view. We did the mai tai flight and it was fine. I liked the Pele's volcano the green flash the best.

We did figure out that this place made a great pit stop for a bathroom break when we would walk from town back to our condo.

The coconut shrimp that was a happy hour special was very good. The rest of the food menu looked ok.

This is not an historical Don the Beachcomber's. The name was licensed by another company, which launched this bar in the Royal Kona Resort a few years ago. The Okolemaluna Tiki Lounge is far superior, in my opinion, although DtB's has a more extensive food menu. The Kona DtB's makes one important contribution to tiki culture by hosting an annual mai tai contest in the summer.

Don's is set in a really nice setting. We sat on the lanai next to the ocean. They have a outdoor covered bar with plenty of tiki's watching over you getting hammered. The ambiance was hard to beat.
My only complaint was the drink menu. Everything was based off the mai tai. Don't take my critiki wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a mai tai. I ordered a mai tai-rita and my wife ordered a navy grog. The only difference I could tell between the 2 was the -rita had tequila in it and the grog had rum. They both looked the same, came in the same hurricane style glass and had the same garnishes. Maybe it was an off night for the bartender when we were there. Also we ordered the tuna which was only suppose to be seared, but it came to us fully cooked all the way through.
Tuna, you disappoint.