Food: Rafting To The Kon Tiki

It was raining pretty hard Monday night and we contemplated piling on board the family pae-pae (balsa wood raft) to Thor Heyedahl ourselves to our dinner destination at the Tahitian Inn. The Belle of Ballast point wasn't in the mood for a rafting adventure, so we took Gus the pickup truck instead.

We parked in the front lot of the Tahitian Inn and walked through the lobby to our final destination, the Kon Tiki Restaurant. Once we located the correct entrance for the hostess station we experienced a brief wait until one of the servers happened by and said that she would seat us, which she did. We were presented with drink and food menus, and were immediately prompted to make a selection of something. I asked that we be given a few moments to first peruse the menus.

A while later our server returned to take our drink orders. We chose a couple of the Kon Tiki signature cocktails, the Lychee Lemon Drop with vodka for me and the Tahitian Sunrise for my dining partner. After fifteen or so minutes our server came by to apologize for the delay, but the bar had to make a trip to Tahiti or somewhere to find a bottle of something and our beverages would soon be forthcoming. After a full twenty minute delay we finally received something other than water.

The Kon Tiki menu lists Small Plates, Sandwiches, Tortilla Pizzas, Deep Dishes, and Kon Tiki Tacos along with sides and salads. We decided to make our meal from several  categories and to share our choices. My bride chose the Pear Pizza Salad and the Pepperoni Flatbread Pizza. I chose the Kon Viche and the Tuna Poki Tacos.

While the bar service remained excruciatingly slow the entire evening, the food was superb. My bride raved over the Pear Pizza Salad, and I have to agree with her that the flatbread pizza was tasty. I have enjoyed ceviche from Tampa to the Yucatan and back, but never one as good as the Kon Viche. The shrimp, lump crab meat and calamari were perfectly marinated. There wasn't a tough or mushy morsel to be found. The Tuna Poki Tacos were also prepared to perfection. The marinated sashimi tuna had just the right amount of zip and zing.

These four dishes were more than enough to satisfy our hunger. The Kon Tiki doesn't short change on food portions and we were both too stuffed to even think about dessert. All of our food choices were delicious, and a lady at a neighboring table said the Tiki Slaw was heavenly.

I would definitely contemplate a return visit for the food and next time try something simple like beer or wine to see if that would result in speedier bar service.

Keep in mind that this visit occurred on a rainy Monday evening. The place wasn't over-run with customers. On the down side, as I mentioned before, the bar service was horrible. On the up side, the bar service was horrible - there was more than enough time to sober up between drinks.

Dinner for two with adult beverages and a 20% gratuity came to $110.