Trader Sam's;Polynesian Resort; Walt Disney World; Orlando, Florida

Well back to Japan after a nice almost two-week vacation in the U.S.  We did the Chicago thing with the family and then were off to Orlando with the sister and her family to play in the Parks.  And, as promised, here is a review of Trader Sam's Grog Grotto.

Welcome Tiki Fanatics 

First off, I'd like to thank my wonderful brother-in-law for the opportunity to go to Trader Sam's.  His meticulous planning allowed us to visit here even with our very busy schedule (which he planned as well).  In addition to his perfectly planned agenda, we were allowed to stay in their Bay Lake Tower Villa (DVC Contemporary Resort), so many more thanks.  We had perhaps the trip of our lives with my sister and her family.

Back to Trader Sam's, Trader Sam's authoritatively answers the question of who could create the best themed Tiki bar of all time.  Disney, of course!  There could not be a better place for a Tiki bar than the Polynesian Resort, a Polynesian-themed Tiki bar in a Polynesian-themed resort!!!  In addition to Trader Sam's, we were able to enjoy a dinner at Ohana, a Hawaiian-themed Brazilian-BBQ-like restaurant and a breakfast at Kona Cafe, a Hawaiian breakfast joint, both at the Polynesian resort.

The actual Trader Sam's bar is not the largest place, and from what I hear and how it appeared to be, it is very popular with Disney cast members and Orlando locals.  Accordingly, you may have to wait awhile to get into the bar. There is plenty of seating outside though near the pool.  Kids are allowed in the bar before 8pm (I think it is 8), but it is hard to get a table for more than 4.  Making it even more difficult to bring kids in the bar is the fact that when we finally were allowed in (party of 7 on the wait list), there were 7 seats available in the bar but they were not together.  That said, the bar is enjoyed best with a hot date or a cool brother-in-law as in my case.  We decided to let the wives and kids sit outside in the ample outdoor seating while we enjoyed a drink and the amazing scenery.

Let's start with the theming.  Man oh man is this place cool.   Everything from the Tikis...

Hello Mr. Tiki

To the views of the volcanoes outside...

Nice ocean view

To the Octopus waiting on the roof...

Somebody get the takoyaki maker ready

To the angry Tiki gods...

This might be a little too intense for the kiddies

Makes this a Disney masterpiece.

There are storms at times...

Get your ponchos ready

As well as volcano eruptions!

Volcano!!!

 There are some great drinks on the menu as can be seen below.

What shall we get next?

In the bar, I ordered the Hawaiian beer sampler, the Kona Beer Flight.  Let me explain why I made that choice in lieu of a Tiki drink. The brother-in-law and I decided to expedite our time in the bar since our families were waiting outside on the patio, so we ordered quick and easy to make drinks.  He ordered the Rum Flight, straight shots of rum, yummy!  Both of our samplers came out as three shots (5-once cups of beer for me) on surf boards.   I was familiar with all of my three brews since I regularly drink them in Japan as Hawaiian beer is popular here.

Triplets

Add 20 bucks for the souvenir shot glasses

While outside, I ordered the Nautilus and was not disappointed.  If you order the Nautilus in the bar, there is a whole production of shouts of "Nautilus!" and lighting effects when the servers bring it to your table.  I ordered it at our outside table, so instead it was brought out in two plastic cups and the souvenir mug was to be picked up later upon presentation of my receipt.  Disney does not want broken glassware like the mug in close proximity to the pool.  One warning is the mugs that come with the drinks are quite pricey.  My drink (which to my surprise, was for two) was 52 dollars.  You can ask for drinks without the mugs and they are considerably cheaper.   Here are the drink in cups and my mug, the biggest, second most expensive and perhaps the most impressive one of my collection.

Double the pleasure

Ahoy brave sailors

1st edition!

We also ordered some things to munch on with our drinks, the Chicken Lettuce Cups, Kalua Pork Tacos, Hawaiian Poke and Corn-battered Portuguese Sausages.  They all tasted very good, impressive but standard Tiki-bar fare.  Ironically, what impressed me the most of our food selections was the Pulled Pork Nachos from the nearby quick-service restaurant, Captain Cook's.  However, that didn't matter since we came to Trader Sam's for the drinks and the theming.

Some Tiki Delicacies

Pulled Pork Nachos

In addition to the great theming in the bar, the patio's theming wasn't too shabby with abundant Tikis and entertainment in the form of live Hawaiian music.  The performer sounded really good especially after a few drinks.

Tiki

More Tiki

Tiki butt!!!

Our performer is way in the back.

If we didn't have 3 kids with us and Fast Passes for Space Mountain, I could have spent all night at Trader Sam's.  Really.  Nothing like strong drinks, being with buddies (great family in my case) and enjoying a vacation at an awesome Tiki bar.  I give Trader Sam's five Tikis out of five Tikis for its well-mixed drinks, good food and awesome theming.

If you are wondering where you can meet the actual Trader Sam, please proceed to the Jungle Cruise and your tour guide will introduce him to you.

Trader Sam has some deals you'll lose your head over.

 

Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck, Kahuku, Oahu

As promised, here is my impression of Giovanni’sShrimp Truck, just down the road from Romy’s.  Last week, I gave Romy’s stellar marks for its prawns and li hing mui pineapple.  This week, I’m going to give Giovanni’s stellar marks for its lemon butter shrimp (left in the second picture below) and garlic shrimp scampi (right in the second picture below).   Both were, drum roll…  Great.  I’ll talk more about the shrimp in a bit, but first a few words on the menu at Giovanni’s.  From my memory, there was not too many choices on Giovanni’s menu.   I actually think that it is pretty cool and it worked quite well.  Namely, Giovanni’s sticks to what it is good at and focuses on that exclusively.  No diversification here, no weak attempts at BBQ chicken wings or Kung Pao chicken to appease to the masses or get that few extra customers.  Just make the best shrimp and have people come to you for that.  As stated in a few lines above, pretty darned cool and pretty effective in this case.

Each plate was 13 dollars and contained a dozen shrimp.   The shrimp were perfectly cooked, not chewy as overcooked shrimp can get.  The shrimp scampi (right) was full of flavor, pleasant, carmelized garlic is great.  The lemon butter shrimp (left) were the favorite with my group, good for kids and a fresh flavor.  Not exactly sure what I mean by fresh flavor, but try them and you’ll agree.  Both were a mess in terms of deshelling the shrimp.  Luckily, Giovanni’s had very good facilities to wash hands.  From my memory, I believe Giovanni’s actually had non-portable restrooms too.  

Many of the shrimp truck reviews warn of long waits for orders, but since we went around 4ish to both of them (on a Friday), we were not hit by the long wait times, roughly only 15 minutes each.  I can imagine that on the weekends and for lunch and dinner, you might have to wait a long time though.  But for the shrimp and prawns that Giovanni’s and Romy’s have to offer, the wait is well worth it.

My review, five out of five shrimp for Giovanni’s lemon butter shrimp and shrimp scampi.

Romy's Prawns and Shrimp, Kahuku, Oahu

I'll add my second post about Hawaii, the first added two days ago in my discussion about Honolulu Coffee Company at Ala Moana Mall.  Romy's is the second of two shrimp trucks/shacks that we went to a few months ago, and from what I ordered, it was my favorite of the two.  Had I ordered identical items from both of them I could do a better comparison.  I'll write about Giovanni's, the other shrimp truck, next week.  In this regard, what I ordered at Giovanni's tasted great too.

We went to the shrimp shacks/trucks in succession as they were on the same street and we were pretty hungry.  One thing about the shrimp trucks, they are great, but are not the cheapest.  You'll be paying at least 12 bucks for a plate of 12-15 shrimp (more money if you get prawns, and less prawns than shrimp).  But in my opinion it is well worth it; they are absolutely delicious.  Here are some pics and comments. 

Well, we got there around 4:30ish and here is a picture of the establishment.  Seating is all outdoors, so I expect it could get pretty hot in the summer.  There are bathrooms in the back and a facility to wash your hands.

I ordered prawns and li hing mui flavored pineapple (Chinese dried plum flavor, unique to Hawaii (in America at least)).   The woman at the counter looked behind her and asked if they still had prawns left and I quickly became horrified that there would be none left for us.  I was relieved when the cook told her that there were some left for us.  A pound of prawns was 18 dollars and the pineapple was 4 dollars.   After waiting for about 15 minutes (there were not many people around because it was not 5 or 6 yet), my number was called and I brought the food to our table. Here it is:

The pineapple was delicious, very fresh and full of the li hing mui flavor.

The prawns were, well, to die for.  They were the little red superstars of my Hawaii trip.  The prawns were roughly the size of hand (fingers and palm; I'd say I have average-sized hands).  They were crunchy and juicy all at the same time, perfectly cooked.  In fact, they were like little lobsters.  I savored the tails, but what I really liked was sucking the head and all the stuff in there.  I was sad when I downed the sixth one.  Right now, I'm getting hungry just thinking about them.  We will definitely head back to Romy's for the prawns next time.

Romy's has an option where you can fish for your own shrimp and then have them cooked.  If we have more time next time, I think that would be pretty fun.

In closing, I give Romy's five out of five prawns for the prawns and pineapple.