The food is incredible and the dancers are the best in the US (even Hawaii!). It is an incredible experience unlike anything anywhere. Best drinks on the planet and the best service. A must!

Every other year my partner and I enjoy The Mai Kai. It is not just a Fort Lauderdale, or Florida CLASSIC - it is an AMERICAN CLASSIC TIKI INSTITUTION.

Dont do the show. You have less (great) food to choose from.
And you WILL be seated on long tables jammed together.

HINT: Book dinner for around 9:15. Show starts at 930.
Non-dinner show guests are seated in more private and beautiful spots. If you dont have a direct view - get up and walk around and enjoy the show. There are all kinds of interesting nooks and corners to explore.

DID YOU KNOW - the materials to build the Mai Kain in the 1950's were FLOWN IN FROM HAWAII - along with the carvers and builders.

SUPPORT THE MAI KAI - something like it will NEVER EVER come again.

The bar is a trip - PRE-DISNEY total immersion (rain outside the port holes--- bridges over indoor rivers).

You will get great asian/hawaiian food - beautiful fun - cool TIKI GLASSES to take home.

ENJOY ... just dont feel like you have to do the show!

This restaurant was the worst restaurant experience in my entire life. First, we made a reservation for 9:30pm and were horded like cattle into their Tiki bar where we had to wait for the next Hawaiian Dancer show. We thought we had the 9:30 show, but they overbooked.

Next, it took until 11:30pm until we finally got seated and we had no idea what to do. A line formed to get in and we found ourselves in a "first come first seated" situation with people that just walked in. So much for reservations!

There was no order to anything and nobody would tell us the truth about how things worked. They just made us sit in the bar and wait and they would "call us."

After the long wait, surely the food must be good at least, right? WRONG! The menu was all colorful and full of yummy sounding things, but the food was absolutely terrible. I thought that a steak priced at $43 would have been delicious, but I have eaten WAY better at Outback or Longhorn. These steaks were maybe $12 Applebee's kind of quality.

The service was terrible. We had to flag down a waiter to take our order. For the prices in this place, we should have had people waiting on us hand and foot! Fine dining prices for Denny's quality service. Actually, that's not fair because Denny's is WAY more responsive than this.

The Hawaiian show was so clichéd. The narrator of the show was so cynical and made sure to plug for the restaurant bar and the gift shop oh so many times. The show was not at all worth the hassle or the bad service.

This place is nothing but a gimmick, and a bad one at that. I would NEVER waste my money or time going to this place again, and I hope nobody else does. The best way to put tourist trap chop shops like this out of business is to simply NOT EAT THERE.

Eating at the Mai Kai is entertainment more than fine cuisine. This is a Hawaiian luau.

The food was very good and they have an extensive menu of tropical drinks. One couple in our party got a $20 drink for two that came with two very long straws. The concierge at our hotel had indicated that they had a special menu for $38 per person that included a show. We did have to ask for this specifically. They also have another package for $45 and you can order off of the menu as well.

The atmosphere of the whole restaurant and the gardens around it is definitely part of the experience. But bring a flashlight as it is very dark and hard to read the menu. The show was fantastic and as good as any that I have seen in Hawaii.

A vacation while you're on vacation is dinner at the Mai-Kai. That restaurant is a primitive patch of Polynesian on US 1 in Fort Lauderdale. We arrived early and sat in the bar for awhile. The bar looks like the inside of an old sailing ship. Beautiful girls in Molokai costume take your order from a menu of 50 specialty tropical drinks. I choose Tropical Breeze, fruit juice and rum. For some strange reason, the ice in the drink didn't melt - it didn't even get slushy.

We made reservations for dinner and the show and eventually we were directed to our table. Several "rooms" are around the centrally located stage. They had names like The Tahiti Room, The Hawaii Room, etc. Of course, it all looked like the inside of a big tiki hut, with a variety of handmade lampshades dimly lighting the area. Genuine Polynesian items hung from the ceiling also. It's very South Seas-looking.

We got a menu with four entrees because we were staying for the show. I chose Beef with Mushrooms and my husband wanted to try Ginger Garlic Beef. The first course served was a Pupu Platter with 10 items for each of us. Three different dips were brought for them. They were very good, but with the drink, a little too filling. I wasn't really hungry by the time dinner was served. My dinner had large chunks of mushrooms with tender well-cooked chunks of beef. I tried some, and it tasted good, but I ended up taking most of it home. It was great when I had it for lunch the next day. My husband said his was delicious. It was served with big pieces of red and green peppers and very spicy. Two very generous scoops of sherbet were served for dessert.

The show was excellent. The singers, drummers and dancers were obviously natives of the Polynesian Islands. The performers did an exquisite rendition of the Hawaiian Wedding Song. It is one of my favorites and it was our wedding anniversary. The lead dancer had come to our resort the preceding Tuesday and taught Polynesian dance, so we knew what the dance was about.

There is a gift shop in the complex with a large selection of clothes, jewelry and gift items.