Nicole K
We decided to check out the Big Kahuna Tiki Bar on a Saturday afternoon, arriving around 2 PM. The place had a lively, tropical sports bar vibe—fun décor, poor lighting but upbeat energy—and we were excited to sample the food and drinks. It took a long time to be greeted, and we were encouraged to sit wherever we wanted. The staff ran out of menus so we had to shared our 1 menu with each other. When we placed our order, we were told it was happy hour, and the menu confirmed that mocktails were $1 off.
Unfortunately, when the receipt for the bill we already paid for arrived, the discount hadn’t been applied. Due to their electronic payment system, the bill was not itemized and we were offered only a total.
The food itself was flavorful, but the portions were noticeably small. I ordered the Spam Musubi Bowl, which cost $14. What I received was about a cup and a half of rice topped with roughly half a cup of Spam marinated in teriyaki sauce. Tasty, yes—but not quite worth the price tag. It would be helpful if this dish had some sort of vegetable in it perhaps bok choy or seaweed.
To top it off, the staff seemed unprepared for the weekend crowd. Despite it being mid-afternoon, the restaurant was clearly understaffed and overwhelmed by the number of guests walking in. Service was slow and scattered, which made the experience feel more chaotic than relaxing.
All in all, while the vibe was fun and the food had potential, the pricing, portion sizes, and lack of clarity around the happy hour deal left us disappointed. The visit didn’t quite live up to expectations. I hope this restaurant works out it’s kinks, as I think it would be a good addition to the Loveland downtown scene.
… moreJennifer Penney
Wow! Such an awesome addition to downtown Loveland! The food was AMAZING. We had the edamame, poke nachos, sushi rice, kalua loco moco, and poke bowl. All of it was absolutely delicious. The drink menu is on point – great selection of Tiki drinks and they also have a full bar and beer. Such a fun atmosphere too! Will definitely be back.
… moreLyndsi Palacios
Husband and I stopped in for the first time this evening after thinking a beer and poke bowl sounded good. We ordered the edamame, poke bowl, fried rice bowl, and their Liquid Aloha beer-rita. All were delicious, people were nice and they have a good variety on tap. Definitely plan on stopping in again!
… moreKristen Williams
What a wonderful little bar!! The service, food and drink were all fantastic. Our server was attentive but not overly so, the food was delicious and the drinks were absolutely phenomenal. I am a huge coconut fan and the coconut based drinks were heavenly. The ONLY critique I have is that I wish the edamame was cooked for a bit longer, as it was a bit hard and stringy, but overall still delicious. We will definitely be coming back!
… moreCenchrea
I enjoyed this visit!!! The nachos are bomb!!! They have 2 different kinds, but I couldn’t choose, so I got half and half. Not disappointed at all!
… moreKylie Lucio
I ordered the flight (Pina colada, blue Hawaii, and don’t lime to me) and they were all DELICIOUS. I also got the spam musubi and loco moco – so good and genuine to Hawaiian cuisine!! I’ll definitely be back!
… moreAlex Tingle
EDIT: I appreciate that the owner reads and responds to all comments, but I think the photo of the nachos speaks for itself and it’s disheartening that instead of agreeing that it’s not up to snuff, they stood by it and argued with my assessment. Maybe look at what other tiki bars are serving? THEY are setting our expectations. Customer reviews are for other customers and the best a business can do is use them to be better, not as an opportunity to review the review (unless of course in cases of clear dishonesty or abuse!). Don’t worry though, I won’t be back
The service was great— super friendly, attentive, and helpful with my friend who had a dietary restriction.
The rest of the experience was pretty MEH. It felt like a sports bar decorated for a tiki night rather than a tiki bar. Which honestly is fine by me, but I know that there are a lot of other tiki bars in the front range setting a different standard (but also honestly charging a lot more too).
The drinks were made fresh and tasty, but also were pretty weak. I’m used to tiki drinks knocking you on your butt.
The food was … a shock. My friend got a bowl that was just 3 different shades of off-grey. I got the pork nachos and I thought I was back in a middle school cafeteria… like others have mentioned, the pork is pretty flavorful (but obviously from a crock pot). The thing that drove me nuts was the very small amount of mostly UNMELTED shredded cheese. I cannot believe I paid $18 for that.
If you’re looking for some fun drinks with some friends I think it’s a fine spot, and maybe other dishes are better, but otherwise I can’t really recommend this place.
… moreButch
My wife and I came in a few weeks ago to watch two folks that we know sing. We had friends that went before us and one couple had already left. The couple that waited for us explained that the bottled beer they had gotten tasted “rank” so they were paying and leaving to go somewhere else. My wife and I stayed, and after 15 with no servers coming to the table my wife went to the bar and got me a.draft Coors Light and she got a glass of Chardonnay. After my wife had a few sips of her wine, she pointed out to me that her glass was dirty. She pointed out both smears and lipstick residue on her glass. Since she pointed that out, I looked at my beer glass and it was pretty smudgy and smeary too. Since we had already paid and had already determined our fate by drinking our beverages and left. There may be a question as to why we didn’t have the waiting staff come over and replace our glasses and give us fresh drinks and clean glasses. Well the reason is simple, the majority of the staff were behind the bar acting like a bunch of kids at a high school sporting event working a concession stand. Needless to say, we exited our after finishing our drinks and went to another establishment. The best words I can think of to describe our experience are “never again.”
… moreGerman Ruiz
I really like the food it was delicious and tasty. We got loco moco with kalua pork, poke nachos, musubi, and a few drinks
… moreLeeAnna Smith
Super cute decor and we loved the live music and free pool. The drinks were delicious as well, but they need to be run this place better. There were only 2 employees, so it took forever to get food and drinks. The worst part though is they were out of a lot of stuff at 7 pm on a Friday. No wings, no chips for nachos and no Kona beers! Then, our order was wrong. They didn’t ask us if we needed anything or check on us while waiting for food or even check on how the food was when we received it. We will not come back, which makes me sad because I was so excited about this place. UPDATE:dropping it to a 2. We asked for our check as soon as we got our food, which even that took about 20 minutes to get and even then it was only because we stood at the bar to ask for it! We also got charged for a Sprite that was supposed to be free with the kids meal.
… more