We went to Don the Beachcombers on Thursday April 27. We arrived for a late lunch at 2:50. The restaurant is located on Pacific Coast Highway, in a beach community and tourist destination. The original opened in Los Angeles in 1934, and was only a cafe at the time.
 |
| Pretty nice sign! |
The restaurant can be seen from a distance given it’s expansive parking lot and large sign, the restaurant itself has three separate banquet rooms as well as a large main dining room. The parking area and the land around the physical space is filled with tropical plants and palms. It feels like an oasis of the tropics.
Just like many Tiki bars and restaurants it is dark in the entrance, as you are supposed to leave your outside worries behind, the inside has many skylights and a larger picture window with seating behind a thatched bamboo curtain to defuse some of the light. Upon entering the main dining area we were greeted with Hawaiian music, which was at a soft level so not to interfere with talking or listening. It was the best representation of a Tiki restaurant I have ever been in. It was very clean and inviting and our booth seats were very comfortable.
Just like many Tiki bars and restaurants it is dark in the entrance, as you are supposed to leave your outside worries behind, the inside has many skylights and a larger picture window with seating behind a thatched bamboo curtain to defuse some of the light. Upon entering the main dining area we were greeted with Hawaiian music, which was at a soft level so not to interfere with talking or listening. It was the best representation of a Tiki restaurant I have ever been in. It was very clean and inviting and our booth seats were very comfortable.
 |
| Our view from the table of the waterfall |
The menus were laid out well although they did not have many vegetarian options, on the top of the main page it stated there were vegetarian options but you had to ask your server about them. I find this generally annoying especially in a place like California where the population of vegetarians is higher.
 |
| The other direction from our table |
 |
| Our Mai Ti's! |
Our server informed us that we could have a veggie burger instead of the meat burger and we both ordered it. It came with either fries or hawaiian cabbage salad.
My husband and myself were going to this restaurant to see it, we expected great drinks and didn’t really expect great food. Much to my surprise the veggie burger was hand made and very delicious. A lot of places will use a frozen patty and charge to much for it. This was well worth the $14.00 a piece we paid for them. They tasted fresh and the vegetables served on them were also very fresh, consisting of hawaiian onion tomato and romaine lettuce, then toped with mango-ginger aioli on a brioche bun.
All in all I would go back to Don the Beachcombers again, the only hesitation I would have is that they really have limited choices for vegetarians. So it would be hard for me to choose that restaurant in Southern California, over so many others that have many more vegetarian selections. Everything from the service to the atmosphere was top notch. It is a destination restaurant, just something that we had to see. Maybe next time we go there it might be just for the Mai Ti’s!
 |
| What is this guy staring at? |
No comments:
Post a Comment