Mai Tai Bar (Royal Hawaiian)

After some busy days shopping and exploring, we had ourselves a relaxing day on Waikiki's scenic beach. After a few hours of sunbathing and swimming we left to escape the heat with a refreshing island libation. We headed straight for the Royal Hawaiian's bar, which has tempted us with its outstanding view of the beachfront and Diamond Head peak. Though we passed by and admired it every day, we hadn't noticed the bar's perfect name: Mai Tai Bar (different from the one in Ala Moana). We took a seat on the sandy patio and looked over the bar's extensive Mai Tai selection.

I chose the Royal Mai Tai since it seemed to have the least amount of variation from a standard Mai Tai (other than the 1944, which I decided against on account of having Tiki's version last night) and because it is named after the hotel. I was especially intrigued by this Mai Tai as well because it features Lahaina rum (I have been eyeing the bottles of this Mauian rum in every ABC store we see but had yet to actually try it).

The presentation of the Mai Tai was off the charts. The drink sat in a perfect highball glass with a full embellishment of a pineapple slice and a maraschino impaled by a mini umbrella with a lime slice on the side in front of a beautiful ocean background. My only complaint is that the ice, which was in the shape of cubes with craters, was surprisingly clowdy considering the prestige of the Royal Hawaiian.

My first impression was, in all honesty, a bit disappointing after I was so impressed by the look of the drink. The Mai Tai was bitter and sour which would be great if it had the necessary accompanying sweetness. Similar to Tiki's, the RH Mai Tai Bar did not rely on the juices and instead seems to use mostly rum and Curacao. The issue here is that these rums do not blend as smoothly together, leaving a pretty strong straight rum flavor with a bit of residual sour/bitter from the juice and Curacao that is present. It was, however, not as sour as the Ala Moana Mai Tai Bar's and definitely more palatable and refreshing. I did taste some pineapple juice, but wish there was a bit more to cut some of the bitterness of the rum. The Lahaina silver rum was very prevalent in this MT's flavor profile and, unfortunately, was not the smoothest to drink. The most interesting part of this drink was that it had a weirdly distinct smokeyness which I can only imagine came from the rum(s). All in all, this Mai Tai was definitely drinkable and actually pretty tasty once I adjusted to its more sour flavor profile.

8/10

 Ellie's Corner:

The Royal Hawaiian was pretty much exactly the bar experience I was looking for, as on-the-sand as is legally possible while drinking. I also ordered a Mai Tai this time (I know!!) albeit a blended, extra fruity one. It was kinda minty, like a Maijitai (get it?) and it came with an extra shot of dark rum to put on top (I added it and I still liked it!). Eric's Mai Tai was pretty good, although every time I took a sip of it I felt like I was eating ribs because it really tasted smokey, like BBQ. Wow, as I was writing this I realized I had no Pokemon Go experiences today so I opened the app for the first time since we got here and found out our hotel is on a PokeStop so I should probably start playing more while we're here. I also see a Cloyster nearby, so I should go get it.