This is an archive - these pages are no longer updated!
Some information will be out of date.  Some of this writing goes back to 1995.
See Tiki Road Trip (2007 edition) for the most up-to-date information.

Honolulu Restaurant
Alexandria, VA

Tiki Bar Review Pages (and Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai page) correspondant  David Bartell visited Honululu Restaraunt, and two other Polynesian Paradises in the DC/northern VA area. I tried to visit the Honolulu on Easter of all days,  but found they're closed Sundays.  The following  Saturday, April 10, 1999, was slow.  It was the day of  the Cherry Blossom Parade in nearby Washington, D.C.,  the weather was nice and the city was full of people,  including autonomy-seeking Sikhs in orange turbans,  buses, bikes, and of course, cherry blossoms.  Plus!   Infamous beavers had already eaten several of the  sacred trees before being trapped.  Despite the  excitement and ensuing lull in business, Honolulu sold  50 marvelous Mai Tais that spring day. Outside, Honolulu looks like a warehouse for rent,  situated between a 7-11 and an Exxon, with nothing  else around, as far from it's namesake in appeal as in  miles.  Three grizzled drifters were smoking out back  by the dumpster.  They paid us complements, verifying  that the neighborhood may not be as bad as it looks.   The entrance to the restaurant does not look like a  place customers are meant to go, but then there are  the two tell-tale tiki totem pillars painted in from a  putrid Lincoln log palette.  Inside the foyer there is  a phone (out of order), a cheesy dribbling fountain  (with about 37 pennies in it), and perhaps a gumball  machine.   We have to cut David off here... just as things were getting interesting! Further histroy, review, and description of the Honolulu can be found in Tiki Road Trip. Update 2004:  Honolulu sadly closed in the spring of 2004. This location was well-loved and is missed. The decor was liquidated via a silent auction held during the last weeks they were open. Mitquinn69@aol.com responds: i can not believe you attended honolulu's without having the best drink known  to man..........the puca punch..........i live in washington dc and the ONLY  place to drink exotic drink is there, and the best ever is the puca punch! Sean contributes: Polynesian paradise fashioned with carved tiki gods, fish nets, fountains and the walls are adorned with coconut carvings and bamboo. Owned and operated for over 23 years by a former Trader Vic bartender. Food is fabulous and the drinks are reasonably priced, very potent and heavenly. Highly recommend the "Tiki Hut" to every person who wishes to escape reality and find paradise if for only a hour or two. DP adds: I recently, on your website's  recommendation, took a trip down to the Honolulu.  Just wanted to report back that the ambience was excellent, David Chan extremely  friendly (he let one of our number behind the bar to make Pusser's Punches), and  the drinks TASTY and strong. Keep up the good work. Dan adds: hi, nov. 29 was my girlfriends birthday & i wanted to do something special. so i called some friends & drove 3.5 hours to d.c. spent the day in museum & shopping. then took the metro (its very easy, take the yellow line to huntington depot & walk 2 blocks & you're there) to the honolulu restaurant.it was the first time the 4 of us went to a tiki bar. we had so much fun! the food was very good & the owners were just wonderful.the drinks were otherworldly. the girls started with a flaming volcano & us guys each got a tiki tumbler. they were very strong but oh so good . for the next round we each got a mai tai.i've never tasted anything like it . unfortunately i'm sure no one near where i live will be abel to make one .we had the best time. we're already planning our next trip to paradise. i recomend everyone go to the honolulu restaurant. thank you for putting the review pages together, we never would have found this place without your help. And even more on the Honolulu from Miss Jenna... A Virtual Tiki Mecca was found on your page. Thanks to your efforts, I found the Honolulu restaurant which is literally 5 minutes from my house in Alexandria VA. I gathered up the gang and went last week and we were thrilled. The non smoking side is considerably less divey than the smoking side. They were pretty surprised when a gaggle of 12 hepcats walked in and went nuts. The food was great too. We were totally shocked given the exterior of the building! Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC James (me) dug up these pics of the Moai in the Smithsonian in Washington DC.  Unfortunately my flash malfunctioned, so these are acid trip Moai now.  Anyone have better pics? .. .. There are 400 Tiki Bar Reviews plus other road trip adventures in the book Tiki Road Trip Get an autographed copy of Tiki Road Trip from the author!