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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Full
review and history of Jardin Tiki
is
available in Tiki Road Trip
November, 1999
Below that are some comments from John Trivisonno.
But first, some new commentary by yours truly.
Being on tour with a band isn't as glamourous as many people seem to think. The hours are long, the lifestyle is strenuous, and it is generally a lot of hard work. Although I am grateful to have had time to visit a dozen or so Tiki Bars of varying quality over the nine weeks I was on the road with Royal Crown Revue in 1999, there were plenty I had to pass up because my time or travel options were far too limited. I missed Trader Vic's Atlanta, the Hula Hut in Austin, and once again, Sam's Seafood near Los Angeles, even though I was in all of those cities.
After a few stiff drinks, we were talkin' Tiki and we were all set to head to Tiki Dore (Golden Tiki), a smaller Tiki Bar just a few blocks away. I was bummed that I had missed it when I was in Montreal a few years earlier, and I was even more bummed that it was closed when we got there. I couldn't talk John into a late night road trip to the Cocnut Inn (about 45 minutes away), so we called it a night. Keep reading this page for my original review of Jardin Tiki, and then for some of John's comments on Montreal Tikiness (with some of my new Jardin pics mixed in for good measure). John Trivisonno writes: Well, I'm afraid that I'm writing with some bad news... Tiki Dore bit the dust. Sorry we didn't get a chance to go in on the night you were in Montreal because, as it turns out, it was our last chance. The place filed for bankruptcy and it closed its doors for good. They had an auction today and I managed to walk away with a few things but the decor (along with everything else... freezers, tables, etc.) was being sold off in packaged lots, which meant that when you were bidding $45 for a lot made up of 4 masks, you were going to have to pay $45 for each mask (and you had to take all 4), plus a 10% auctioneer's fee, plus sales tax! Unfortunately, the decor was grouped together in lots of too big a number to bid on, for me anyway (10 lamps, 6 high back rattan chairs, etc). A Lono God statue went for $250! A jungle drum went for $65! The support beams in the main dining room were tiki totem poles! They were sold off as a unit with the ceiling. Most of the good stuff went to interior designers So with the Tiki Dore gone, the Jardin Tiki is the only Polynesian place left on the island of Montreal... luckily the Tahiti, Aloha, and Luau restaurants remain not too far outside the city |
|
I
did however take full advantage of a day off in Montreal by calling up
John Trivisonno, publisher of a newsletter called the Mai Tai, and
founder
of the Montreal Tiki Appreciation Society. John had been
E-mailing
me for a few years, and it was a pleasure to meet him and his lady
friend
in person. We met at the Jardin Tiki (Tiki Garden), of course,
and
partook of their buffet, which was essentially unchanged since my last
visit to Jardin Tiki in 1996. Summer 1996:
We stumbled across Jardin after spending a relaxing afternoon in Montreal’s Olympic Gardens. A beautiful Japanese Garden, a Bug Museum, an Arboretum, a Chinese Garden, and a bunch of other less exciting stuff (can you say flowers and flowers and plants and flowers and plants as far as the eye can see...) are spread over a few thousand acres in Montreal’s Olympic Village. A mere 1/4 mile from the Garden’s entrance sits Jardin Tiki in all of it’s glory. Upon entrance to the HUGE restaurant, one is confronted with the obligatory 15-foot high Tiki so that you know exactly what sort of restaurant you’re in. If you can’t handle the Tikis, get the hell out! Then, after passing the turtle pond (yes, they’re real!), you cross a little bridge into the restaurant proper. The place must seat 400 or so, and the all-you-can eat buffet will only set you back about eight bucks (American). The buffet contains all you would expect from a Polynesian restaurant, with plenty of sea food on one side and Chinese food on the other. In a Homer Simpson-like feeding frenzy, I must’ve scarfed down three pounds of shrimp before moving on to my egg roll appetizer... The food is of a quality you’d expect from an eight-dollar-per-plate buffet, but the sheer quantity of selections available means that just about anybody can find something tolerable. Several soups, a few different types of salad, many main courses, many, many side dishes, and even an array of desserts means that you will be well fed for your eight bucks. Hell, I’d eat here even if there wasn’t a Tiki in sight! But there is! And how! The seats are huge, high-backed bamboo thrones. Lanterns and plants of every description hang from the high arched ceiling with hardly a foot of space between them. Grand, majestic Tikis of all shapes and sizes watch over your meal from carefully selected vantage points. A second floor balcony seats yet more people and accommodates all of your private party needs. Colored lights, running water... we’re talking about the complete package here, kids! The drinks come in the obligatory big ol’ bowls, or the classic Tiki mugs, and feature the usual variety of exotic names and fruity flavors. They are, however, served to your table; there is no real bar. There isn’t much action here after dinner time. When in Montreal, Jardin Tiki is your mandatory first stop on any given night of revelry. Early 1998: Tiki Bar Review Pages Correspondant John Trivisonno has gratiously provided further information on Jardin Tiki: |
|
The Jardin Tiki experience is a must
for any true fan of
Polynesian
Pop, cheap food, fruity drinks, and turtles. .
| Just
discovered your page of Tiki Bar reviews and was glad to find mention
of
the Jardin Tiki in my home town of Montreal.
Aside from the Jardin Tiki, it's hard to find a good Tiki Bar or Polynesian style restaurant in Montreal these days. A few small restaurants... leftovers from the late 60's... still survive in mini malls if you look hard enough, but they are getting rare.
|
|
Thought
I'd give you a little background and history. The
Jardin Tiki
opened in the late 70's or early 80's I guess... around the time that
that
whole strip of restaurants near the Olympic village began to pop
up. Apparently,
the original owner was the same guy who used to own a much cooler, much
more authentic Tiki Bar called the Kon Tiki, in a downtown hotel in the
60's and 70's. I remember the Kon Tiki as having similar decor to
the
Jardin Tiki but, as it was located in a hotel, it was completely
windowless,
giving it a much better, darker atmosphere... the Kon Tiki also
featured
more running water and lagoons, little bridges over the water, palms,
dark
walls, blue, green and red lighting, and tikis of course. Well,
the Kon
Tiki closed in about 1981 but luckily, I'd had the chance to experience
this first class Polynesian restaurant on several occasions as a kid
(The
Kon Tiki, along with my stays at the Hawaiian Isle Hotel in Miami
Beach). 
We
recently discovered a place called the Hawaii Kai Bar (in Beni Hanna's
Japanese Restaurant, of all places) in Montreal. It's been there
since
the 60s (at least) and it is a small, authentic Polynesian bar... no
real
tikis but a great dark atmosphere and decor, including a thatched roof
over the bar, bamboo trim, fake rock walls made to look like the inside
of a cave (with recessed lighting in the rock), and an amazing array of
hanging lamps made out of everything from baskets to blowfish. We
got
there late... the supper crowd was gone and the only people left in the
restaurant were the remaining guests from an Indian wedding
reception...
so, they kind of had to reopen the bar just for us. I had a
Yellow Bird
(a good blend of rum, curacao, juices, etc.), while other Society
members
had Mai Tais, and the Beni Hanna Special (you get to keep the glass but
it's nothing out of the ordinary)... 
October 1998: Several months have passed, and John did indeed
start
up his newsletter, The Mai Tai. Shortly after sending me
the
great debut issue, he reports some bad news...
The
Hawaii Kai is no more!
The Montreal Tiki Appreciation Society arrived at the Hawaii Kai last
night at 9:00 pm. We were there to be interviewed by a local
paper
and figured it would be great to meet for the interview in a small,
cozy
Tiki Bar. Much to our surprise, the place had been stripped of
all
its Tiki decor!!! The girl at the door claimed that they had done
this in order to make it more accomodating for bands that play there
every
second week now (bad Shania Twain covers!!!). Well, the interview
finally
took place at the Jardin Tiki instead... so at least we still make it
into
the paper.
And, I did manage to talk to the night manager at the former Hawaii Kai and he had some good news for me: he kept the lamps from the bar!!! After a long bargaining session (it took two people to convince him to show us the lamps and another person then had to be brought in to negotiate a price... seriously, this was the toughest bargaining I've ever had to do... the guy was stone cold, he didn't flinch, didn't show any emotion....), we scored six lamps including 2 blowfish lamps, a clam shell lamp, etc. They need quite a bit of restoration (30 years of dust have to be cleaned off) but it'll be well worth it!
Bad news about the Hawaii Kai - but at least some of the decor
ended
up in a good place. All to much of the remaining authentic
vintage
Tiki Bar decor ends up in the hands of greedy antiques dealers or
dumpters.
| I
have
maintained
this web site since
1995. I write and create photos because I enjoy it. People tell me they enjoy reading this site, so I keep it going. However... This site has cost me a lot of hours, and a lot of money. And, unlike my writing for magazines or books, there is no publisher sending me checks for the work I do on this site. So... |
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