The Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale has been named the world’s best tiki bar by the 6,000-member-strong Critiki.com, a travel guide and historic archive of Polynesian pop culture hotspots around the world. The site provides information on more than 850 tiki bars, restaurants and hotels. Altogether, Critiki members have submitted more than 50,000 ratings.
“There’s simply no matching the Mai-Kai, in either the grand scale or the minute attention to detail in the décor,” Critiki says in its rating. “The Mai-Kai has multiple dining rooms, each themed for a different island group, a literal ship-shape bar, a gift shop, winding tropical gardens, musicians, dancers, and an array of Oceanic art and culture on display every way you turn.”
Critiki says no other venue “provides such a transporting experience to the heyday of American Polynesian fine dining.”
In February, the Mai-Kai was named to the National Register of Historic Places.
After the Mai-Kai, the rest of Critiki’s top 10 includes Smuggler’s Cove, San Francisco; Hale Pele, Portland; Tiki-Ti, Los Angeles; Frankie’s Tiki Room, Las Vegas; Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge, Alameda, Calif.; Trader Vic’s, Atlanta; Foundation, Milwaukee; Don the Beachcomber, Huntington Beach, Calif.; and Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar, Anaheim, Calif.
See the complete list on the Critiki site.
