Fort Lauderdale’s Historic Mai-Kai Reopens After a $20 Million Renovation

After a four-year closure and a $20 million restoration, the Mai-Kai, Fort Lauderdale’s longstanding Polynesian restaurant and dinner theater, will reopen this Thursday, November 21. The historic venue will return with its immersive expertise intact — full with tropical gardens, Polynesian dance reveals, and loads of rum-filled cocktails.

The Mai-Kai initially opened in 1956 when brothers Bob and Jack Thornton spent $350,000 — making it America’s most costly restaurant mission that yr — to convey Polynesian tradition to a quiet stretch of farmland close to Fort Lauderdale Seaside. The formidable enterprise paid off, because the restaurant turned an instantaneous hit, serving to put South Florida’s eating scene on the map lengthy earlier than the area’s present restaurant growth.

“We’re not a tiki bar and don’t think about ourselves a tiki bar. We’re a Polynesian venue,” says managing accomplice Invoice Fuller. “Our objective has been to honor and protect the wealthy tradition and traditions that the Mai-Kai has celebrated over the past 50 years. Each element is genuine and tells a narrative that’s respectful and appreciative of those traditions.”

Working with cultural arts and leisure director Teuruhei Buchin, the venue goals to have a good time moderately than applicable Pacific Island traditions. The twice-nightly performances showcase conventional music and dance that inform tales from varied island cultures, with performers representing Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

Mai Kai.

The menu at Mai-Kai showcases Polynesian delicacies, mixing longtime classics with new dishes impressed by Southeast Asian flavors. Basic dishes just like the Mai-Kai Pupu Platter, with Shanghai hen, crispy pork and snow crab egg rolls, cheese tangs, and crab Rangoon, return alongside barbecue ribs, Peking duck, and Shanghai hen. New additions embody a wagyu strip steak impressed by the restaurant’s former beef, broccoli, beef, and mushroom dishes and a Kona beer-glazed brief rib, incorporating substances widespread in island cooking. Desserts spotlight tropical influences with choices like Asian pear upside-down cake with Vietnamese espresso ice cream, Mauna Loa macadamia nut pie, and the Offended Tiki Tower, with mochi, macadamia ice cream sandwiches, lychees, and grapes.

On the Molokai Bar, Mai-Kai’s cocktail program has been refreshed underneath bartender Cory Starr, beforehand of Chicago’s Three Dots and a Sprint. Drawing inspiration from Mariano Licudine, Mai-Kai’s authentic bartender and a protégé of tiki legend Donn the Beachcomber, Starr has crafted a 57-drink menu that honors the classics, together with the mai tai and Black Magic, whereas introducing his creations to the nautical-themed bar.

Mai Kai.

The house remained intact over the many years, with most of its Nineteen Fifties relics nonetheless in place when plumbing points compelled Mai-Kai’s closure in October 2020. That’s when Fuller — recent from revitalizing Miami’s storied Ball & Chain — partnered with the Thornton household, and so they assembled a group of theme park veterans to modernize the house whereas preserving its historical past. The 26,000-square-foot venue’s eight eating rooms have all been restored, every themed after a distinct Pacific island with artifacts from its namesake area. The renovation group, led by Tom “Hurricane Tommy” Allsmiller and artists with backgrounds at Disney and Common, preserved options just like the venue’s mid-century A-frame construction whereas including fashionable upgrades like DMX-controlled lighting that permits custom-made spotlights for every desk.

“Every visitor that walks by way of the door will really feel the power that Bob and Jack Thornton initially created,” says Fuller.

Mai-Kai reopens on Thursday, November 21 at 3599 North Federal Freeway in Fort Lauderdale. Reservations will be booked right here.