Here’s where to find the best mai tais in Honolulu — and the secret recipe for a Waikiki gem.
Never mind that the mai tai was created in Oakland, of all places — the classic tiki cocktail has become synonymous with Hawaii, where there’s hardly a bar that doesn’t serve the drink.
Bay Area restaurateur Victor Bergeron, who founded the Trader Vic’s chain, invented the drink in 1944, mixing an aged Jamaican rum with lime, orgeat, orange curacao and simple syrup. As the origin story goes, he served it to a friend, who exclaimed “Maitai roa ae,” which means “the best” in Tahitian. And so the name was born.
It wasn’t until 1953 that the mai tai made its way to Hawaii, the recipe delivered by Bergeron himself to the bar at The Royal Hawaiian. He tweaked it slightly, sweetening it with pineapple juice.
These days, Hawaiian mai tais run the gamut from saccharine concoctions to superlative riffs on a classic. Some of the favorites don’t even come with an ocean view — the quintessential mai tai pairing — but they’re so good, you won’t miss it. Here are a few places to find the best of the best on Oahu.
Mai Tai Bar at The Royal Hawaiian
Drink in history at the place where the mai tai made its Hawaii debut. The Royal Hawaiian even named its beachfront bar after the drink. Here, you can order the Vic’s ’44, which hews closely to Bergeron’s original recipe, or the Royal Mai Tai, based on the sweeter version he introduced to Hawaii, with orange and pineapple juices.
DETAILS >> The Royal Hawaiian Resort, 2259 Kalakaua Ave., Honolulu; www.royal-hawaiian.com/dining/mai-tai-bar
House Without a Key at Halekulani
This bar may be in the heart of touristy Waikiki, but even locals frequent the House Without a Key. They come for the lovely sunset hula performed to live Hawaiian music and, of course, the mai tai. Like the Halekulani hotel, the cocktail is understated and elegant — a classic mai tai recipe with a blend of rums and fresh lime juice in the base, served over heaps of crushed ice and topped with a dark rum float. House without a Key’s iconic kiawe tree, which is more than a century old, toppled two years ago, but the tree remains, sprouting new growth. It’s proof that there can be new life in the old — and not just in cocktails.
DETAILS >> Halekulani, 2199 Kalia Road, Honolulu; www.halekulani.com/dining/house-without-a-key
La Mariana Sailing Club
When it comes to atmosphere, there is no better tiki bar than La Mariana Sailing Club. It fronts a working marina, and old salts come from noon to night to drink beneath puffer-fish lamps and scallop-shell lights. When the tiki trend faded in the 1980s, parts of disassembled tiki bars in Hawaii found their way here: carved tikis from the Sheraton’s Kon Tiki Room, koa wood tables from Don the Beachcomber, fishing floats from Trader Vic’s. No matter that the mai tai here is a bit too sweet and a bit too strong— soak in the surroundings and alcohol, and all will be OK.
House Without a Key’s Mai Tai
Makes 1 cocktail
INGREDIENTS
1/3 ounce orgeat
1/3 ounce orange curacao 1/3 ounce rock candy syrup ¾ ounce Bacardi Gold Rum ½ ounce Bacardi 151 Rum 1¼ ounce fresh lime juice ¾ ounce Bacardi Select Rum, to float
DIRECTIONS
Build cocktail over crushed ice. Float ¾ ounce Bacardi Select Rum on top. Garnish with lime wheel, sugar cane stick, mint leaf and Vanda orchid.
— House Without a Key, Halekulani Hotel,
Honolulu
DETAILS >> 50 Sand Island Access Road, Honolulu; www.lamarianasailingclub.com
Bar Leather Apron
Come for the spectacle at Bar Leather Apron, where the mai tai arrives in a smoking, hollow tiki idol. This isn’t your usual Hawaiian beach bar. It’s tucked away on the mezzanine of an office building (just follow the smell of smoke), and reservations are a must for a seat at the bar, but the effort is worth it. For it’s not all smoke and mirrors with the mai tai here — it’s a creative and deeply complex drink made with raisin-infused rum, misted with absinthe and perfumed with orange blossom and rose water. A spiced orgeat is there, too, along with lime, tying the drink to its mai tai roots. The gentle smokiness binds all the flavors together.
DETAILS >> 45 Fort Street Mall, Suite 127; www.barleatherapron.com