After 4 years, the newly remodeled Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale has reopened. Take a look

In a flurry of swishing palm leaves, swaying hips, twirling fire, stiff rum drinks, conch shell horns and coconut shrimp, Fort Lauderdale’s beloved Polynesian restaurant Mai-Kai reopened after four years and $20 million of renovations and repairs.

The 67-year-old restaurant, known for its strong tropical cocktails and traditional live performances, temporarily closed October 2020 after water damage caused the roof to collapse. Four years later, it welcomed back friends, family and longtime fans Thursday for a Polynesian-style ribbon cutting ceremony of ukuleles, drums and flower leis.

Mai-Kai dancers (literally) roped in restaurant management and staff for a celebratory dance around the restaurant’s brand new outdoor bar near the front entrance.

“Everybody on our team gave everything that they had to deliver the best,” said Bill Fuller, the managing partner and co-founder of real estate investment and development company Barlington Group and Mad Room Hospitality. “We love this place. We grew up with it. We put all of our investment, all of our heart and all of our passion in this. So today is very, very rewarding. It feels amazing. I know the staff is excited. I know the community is excited, and I think we did what’s right by the institution.”

The lively reopening was a longtime coming for fans of Mai-Kai, a historic institution brothers Jack and Bob Thornton opened in 1956. For a brief moment, it seemed like Mai-Kai’s days of hula dancing, flaming knives and Pupu platters were over when the property was put up for sale in January 2021. But the family ignored high-paying high-rise developers to partner with Barlington Group and Mad Room to bring Mai-Kai back to its former glory, Fuller said.

“We, I believe, had the right skill set, the right passion, the right timing for us to bring what Mai-Kai needed to go for the next 65 years,” Fuller said.

So what does it take to keep entertaining South Florida for the next 65 years? Die-hard Mai-Kai fans will be pleased to know few things needed to change, but some things certainly did.

The roof was replaced, the structure needed maintenance, the electric and plumbing systems were updated and accessibility accommodations were improved, Fuller said. The most noticeable change, which guests seemed to approve of, was the grander entrance leading into the restaurant.

A new, tall volcano sculpture with a fountain and lit tiki torches greet guests as they pull up to the valet kiosk. And just outside the front door is the new outdoor Bora Bora bar, serving boozy (and campy) Mai-Kai cocktails.

Got an itch you can’t reach? The Tropical Itch cocktail comes with a wooden back scratcher. Feeling adventurous and generous? The giant $100 Mystery Drink serves four. Hate the taste of alcohol? The banana daiquiri is more your speed. Feeling nostalgic? Fuller recommends the classic Barrel O’Rum, an adorable barrel-shaped mug serving a not-so-adorable four shots of rum.

“I would encourage everybody, if they can, to come via ride share because while we have a lot of parking, we also expect a lot of guests,” he said. “And once you’ve had a rum barrel, maybe you’re better off in an Uber or Lyft anyways.”

Jack Keyser was sipping on a Barrel O’Rum in the restaurant’s Molokai bar as he reminisced on old times. (He wisely planned to take an Uber home.)

Keyser, 64, has been coming to Mai-Kai since he was in his 20s going to the bar with his friends every Friday night. The place was so popular in the ‘80s, he said, if you showed up after 5 p.m., you couldn’t get a seat. He also remembered when the restaurant placed an ad in the Sun Sentinel for women to apply to be Molokai bartenders. There was a line of bikini-clad women was so long, it went into the street, he said.

Mai-Kai regulars continued to support the restaurant even after the roof collapsed, Keyser said. The bartenders would have a Happy Hour on Fridays in the parking lot, and 20 to 30 people always showed up.

“So many people grew up here. People got married here. People brought their kids here. I brought my kids here,” he said. “It’s just an iconic place.”

The restaurant, one of the most unique in South Florida, is a completely immersive experience inside, not unlike walking into Disney World. Every square inch of each refurbished room is decorated with materials and authentic artifacts from across the Polynesian islands. The Thornton brothers spent $350,000 on building the Mai-Kai, making it America’s most expensive restaurant in 1956. In 2014, the restaurant was officially listed in the The National Register of Historic Places.

Most people who grew up in South Florida have Mai-Kai memories. Fuller remembers driving from Kendall to Mai-Kai as a kid with his family. “OK, vamos a Mai-Kai,” his grandmother would say. The restaurant has hosted many birthdays, proposals, weddings and anniversaries. During the Thursday night dance performance, one couple told the MC they were celebrating 50 years of marriage.

The restaurant also makes for a great first date spot. Take it from Sandee Hamilton, whose husband took her there when they started dating 36 years ago.

“I was amazed. I had never been,” said Hamilton, who works in the Mai-Kai gift shop. “It’s been such a joy to watch the Mai-Kai be reimagined. It’s better and grander than it ever was.”

The centerpiece of the reopening celebration was perhaps what the restaurant is best known for. The Mai-Kai dancers performed traditional Polynesian dances: The fast-paced ʻŌteʻa from Tahiti, the romantic Hula from Hawaii, the fierce Haka from Aotearoa, or New Zealand. The audience watched in awe, and some fear, as dancers performed the final act, the fire knife dance from Samoa.

Teuruhei Buchin, the restaurant’s cultural arts and entertainment director, served as MC. In between each performance, Buchin told the audience about the dance’s history and the culture it comes from.

The restaurant’s dance programming is rooted in celebrating and uplifting Polynesian culture in a respectful and authentic way, not through cultural appropriation, Buchin told the Herald. Hula dancers tell their ancestors stories through dance, she said.

“The goal is to be able to share this great space with people, and all the mana, the energy, from everything on these walls,” she said, gesturing at the artifacts. “We don’t look at it as decoration, this is ancestor.”

Buchin, who is Hawaiian and Tahitian, said the Mai-Kai has been part of her life since she was 3 years old. Not only did her family members dance at the restaurant, the majority of the current dance group are family members, too.

Preparing for opening night was chaotic, but exciting, she said. It’s an honor for her to not just be part of the Mai-Kai, but also part of a tradition she hopes to pass on to her granddaughter one day.

“It is about community and building that ohana,” she said. “So although we may not be blood, we are united in aloha.”

MAI-KAI Restaurant and Polynesian Show

Address: 3599 N Federal Hwy, Fort Lauderdale

Hours: 4 p.m.-midnight Monday-Thursday, 4 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m.-midnight Sunday

Info: 954-563-3272 or https://maikai.com/