Last updated on December 31st, 2024 at 08:46 pm
After more than four years, Fort Lauderdale’s beloved Mai-Kai held its grand reopening to an excited public on Nov. 21 2024. The event was celebrated with all the Mai-Kai magic — island music, the swaying of hula girls’ hips and plenty of fanciful rum drinks.
During the four years the restaurant was closed due to water damage, it underwent a $20 plus million remake and reimagination. The Mai-Kai’s rebirth comes thanks to new owners the Barlington Group, a South Florida-based real estate investment and development company known for its historic preservation work.
In partnership with the founding family, the new hosts have brought the historic Mai-Kai back to life, from the classic cocktails that have been served since the beginning to the dazzling dance and music performance nightly in the dining room.
The show at the Mai-Kai appears unchanged from the original. (Video: Bonnie Gross)
Artists and craftsmen were hired to work magic restoring the establishment’s historic interior. Then theme-park designers took over the outdoors to create an all-new Polynesian-inspired extravaganza.
Perhaps the flashiest addition is a glowing 20-foot-high caldera fashioned from cement that has lights to replicate the lava glow and water jets the lava flow.
Inside the redone building, the culinary staff has revamped the menu. The chefs have introduced new items for modern-day tastes yet retained some old favorites. Think crab Rangoon and barbecued ribs.
In a newly showcased service bar, you can see mixologists who are trained to shake up over 50 specialty drinks. These are modern interpretations and Mai-Kai classics heavy on rum.
And talent from Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand, the Philippines and Samoa are performing in the Islander Revue. Come for dinner and the show that is the continuation of the world’s longest running Polynesian
dance revue.
Today, the entire staff is ready and eager to bring that “aloha” feeling back to this Polynesian palace that is and always has been the Mai-Kai.
In the beginning: The Mai-Kai opens in 1956
Imagine it’s Dec. 28, 1956 and it’s opening night for the Mai-Kai Restaurant and Polynesian Show. People flocked to this home of tiki culture set on a quiet road far from what was then downtown Fort Lauderdale.
A friend of mine who remembers these early years recalls going to the Mai-Kai with his family and passing it in a school bus every day. The restaurant’s closest neighbors were the pine trees, palm trees and grass that spread pretty much as far as the eye could see, he says.
When it was built, the Mai-Kai was in a rural area. Photo courtesy the Mai-Kai.
That is until you came upon a real estate office way in the distance. The area was on the eve of expansion.
By the end of the restaurant’s first year, it had taken in $1 million (equivalent to over $5 million in today’s money). And so began its long reign of success.
The Mai-Kai in all its Polynesian glory sprang from the imaginations of brothers Bob and Jack Thornton. Having grown up in Chicago, they attended Stanford University and then served in the armed forces.
While on leave from the Army, they visited South Florida and were ready to settle down here after being discharged.
It was the perfect place for them to fulfill their dream based in part on memories of visiting Don the Beachcomber Polynesian bar and restaurant in Chicago as children and Trader Vic’s as university students in California.
Don the Beachcomber in Chicago where Bob and Jack Thornton were first introduced to tiki culture. (Photo courtesy mytiki.life)
Preparing to run a restaurant, they traveled to Hawaii and visited all the Island-inspired restaurants on Oahu.
Then, using their own money plus money from their parents and what has been called a “reluctantly granted” bank loan, they spent $350,000 to create the Mai-Kai.
It was the most expensive restaurant built that year. Adding to its cost, the brothers bought authentic artifacts. One tiki statue was even thought to have a spirit residing in it.
During the early years, the restaurant seated 225 guests in five dining rooms and had a small bar made from surfboards where they featured, you got it, rum drinks.
Mireille Thornton dressed to dance in the Mai-Kai Polynesian revue in 1977. Photo courtesy SwankPad.org
By 1961, a Polynesian dance troupe was being organized to provide a dinner show.
A friend of Bob’s recruited a Tahitian woman to join the revue. Her name was Mireille, and she ended up joining the Mai-Kai family by dancing and later marrying Bob.
She soon became the creative force behind the nightly shows that would prove to be the longest running Polynesian dance revue anywhere in the world, including Hawaii. And she’s still involved with the restaurant’s reopening.
Change at the Mai-Kai
By 1970, the restaurant was bound to change when Jack suffered an aneurysm and sold his interest to his brother Bob. It’s said that Bob, a dashing lady’s man, had been the driving force behind their endeavors all along.
Bob Thornton in front of a one of the velvet paintings that hung in the restaurant. Photo courtesy the Mai-Kai
Bob soon undertook a major expansion, creating eight dining rooms, one with a stage for the islander revue; the Molokai Bar, which transports you to an island saloon; a gift shop filled with Hawaiian shirts and tiki mugs; restrooms with attendants; and gardens with waterfalls, tikis and orchids.
The redone restaurant could accommodate 600 guests and looked much as it does today.
Soon, insuring the original antiques used to create the ambiance became prohibitively expensive. At that time, many were donated to places such as the brothers’ alma mater Stanford and to the Fort Lauderdale art museum.
They were replaced with carvings and woodwork by contemporary artists as well as set pieces from the 1962 filming of Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando. The figurehead in the Molokai Bar was just one of those artifacts acquired from MGM.
FUN FACTS: In 2014, the Mai-Kai was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2015, it was named the “best tiki bar in the world” by Critiki, an organization of fans of Polynesian pop culture, according to Wikipedia. It even was nominated in a contest for America’s Best Rest Room, where the golden beauty of the ladies’ room placed it on the top 10 list.
A fortuitous partnership
When the kitchen roof collapsed in 2022, the Thornton family still owned the restaurant, but the repairs and necessary updates would be so expensive, they decided to sell it.
The renovation that was overseen by the new owners respected the historic elements of the restaurant while adding an exaggerated island vibe to the outdoor entry area. Those who have been to the renewed Mai-Kai should still recognize it, and those going for the first time will, most assuredly, love it.
Here is the Molokai bar just after it opened in the 1970. It looks much as the bar does in the newly reopened Mai-Kai where you can still order a pupu platter. Photo courtesy the Mai-Kai and swankpad
The Molokai Bar: Back but better
Stepping inside and heading for the Molokai Bar, you’ll find that after being totally refurbished, much of the area is back as it was — only better. You can still imagine yourself in a South Seas saloon in the 1800s.
The iconic figurehead was removed from the bar during construction but has been returned to its place near a window.
A calling card for the bar always has been water cascading down the outer windows. When you sit inside, you can imagine a terrible storm raging outside. That iconic water feature continues to flow. A new privacy wall outside the window helps maintain the illusion.
Inside the bar, another water feature runs under a bridge that takes you from the main area to a raised space in the back of the room made to look like a dock.
This “poop” deck, as it is known, had been there since the 1970s but had fallen into serious disrepair. The original illusion is back.
The Molokai also was known for its authentic nautical rigging and belaying pins. These have been redone or replaced, indistinguishable from the original.
Even coins that were sealed onto the bar top with acrylic were saved and repositioned when the counter was redone. Detail work doesn’t get more detailed than this.
Service bar: No longer hidden
For the first time, the service bar, the bar that serves the entire restaurant, is themed and visible to guests.
Originally, the bar, which could serve 400 guests on a busy night, was kept out of sight. That was in part to prevent anyone from trying to steal or duplicate the secret recipes used in many of the over 40 cocktails on the Mai-Kai menu.
Many of the recipes were even coded so only the trusted bartenders could follow them.
But now seeing those bartenders will be part of the Mai-Kai experience even if they are still keeping some secrets. The new 25-foot-long bar with five mixing stations is visible through a window in the gift shop. You can take a peek as you browse the outpost’s tiki-inspired merchandise.
Thatch roof and bamboo?
The port cochere was installed outside the Mai-Kai’s front door soon after its mid-century opening. A work of art, the port cochere’s recent renovation was a major undertaking. No detail was overlooked.
Its bamboo supports are actually metal covered with epoxy, which was hand-shaped to resemble bamboo.
On the roof, the thatch is not palm fronds but a synthetic product that is fire retardant and designed to last three times longer in Florida’s climate.
The outrigger that hung under the roof has undergone renovation. But enough holes and damage were left to the exterior of the boat so that it still looks like it washed up on the shore.
Lighted art panels restored
Lighted fiberglass panels over the front door were damaged in 2005 when Hurricane Wilma struck. Over the years, other panels had been lost or suffered manmade damage. The remaining panels were barely recognizable, yellowed with age.
Many were replaced by new panels, created by artists who reproduced the original designs.
Existing panes were renewed and patched, and updated lighting installed behind the artwork brightened the restaurant’s entryway, which is still located under the roof of what was the port cochere.
Brighter light, careful restoration
The Mai-Kai depended on a variety of vintage lighting custom-made in the 1950s and 60s for illumination, but they were dusty, darkened and damaged with age and offered only a dingy glow.
Instead of just ordering new lamps, craftsmen and artists were found who could restore existing fixtures. To do this, they had to dismantle the lights and reconstruct them from their frames, locating and creating materials, coverings and techniques as needed.
This being a historic building, anything available from the original Mai-Kai was used in the renovation. For example, tapas cloth salvaged from dining room walls was used to re-cover some of the lamps.
And the rest rooms?
The award-winning women’s restroom retains its rich interior. However, it needed some renovation. For this, artisans located matching mirrored tiles from the 1970s to replace original tiles that were missing. There also are new decorative panels, renewed stalls and new wallpaper. A real throwback is that there is an attendant in both the women’s and men’s bathrooms, causing many to search purses and pockets for cash for a tip.
Island-themed gardens
The Mai-Kai gardens, always a favorite with visitors, have reopened with ADA approved walkways. Although made of cement, they look like they were worn into the red dirt of the islands. Ferns as well as real and artificial flowers among the rocks add splendor and color so that these gardens will continue to be a favored place for evening strolls and, yes, even weddings.
When you go
These details may change so check the website for updates.
What: The Mai-Kai
Where: 3599 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale.
Hours: Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. till closing; Saturday and Sunday, 3 p.m. till closing.
Parking: Valet with a $8 fee. Parking is at a premium; it’s advised you rideshare. On opening night, cars waiting for parking were backed up on Federal Highway.
Happy Hour: Continuing the Mai-Kai tradition, Happy Hour in the bars will run from opening until 7 p.m. with some drinks half priced.
Bora Bora and Molokai Bars: Accept walk-ins with no guarantee of parking or seating.
Polynesian Islander Revue: There are several nightly performances of the family-friendly show. Each show runs for 45 minutes; reservations are required. Families with kids should be aware that the seating may be at 5 p.m., but there’s a 90-minute wait for the show to start. In the interim, dinner is ordered and served. On Sunday evenings, from mid-June to mid-November, there are special Kids’ Shows.
A fee for the show is determined by the showtime and table you book. Food and drinks available during the show are additional and there is a minimal spend required. The show is a separate charge — in December, 2024, it was: $23 for standard seating; $28 for select seating; $33 for premium seating.
To make reservations: Book your table for the Islander Revue online at maikai.com. Be aware: during the initial opening period, the reservations for tables for the show were not reflected in where people were actually seated.
More photos from Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale
From Florida Rambler writer Deborah Hartz-Seeley: For everything tiki and more about the Mai-Kai renovations, visit Jim “Hurricane” Hayward’s Atomic Grog blog. We can’t thank him enough for allowing us to use his blog as a source of information and photographs of the Mai-Kai restoration.
