Mai-Kai

The Mai-Kai is easy to love. It's not that its oversized tiki cocktails and Lobster Tahitienne are anything to write home about. It's just that you can't set foot in the place without succumbing to a deep enchantment: You've entered a waking dreamworld, part Blue Lagoon, part Monkey's Paw. Maybe because it's dark as a cave or because you're never more than ten feet from running water. Or because the cocktail waitresses are dressed in Barbarella-era bikinis or because, as you grope your way through room after room lit by jewel-colored lanterns, there's a kitschy-surreal surprise around every corner. What most people are looking for is the Polynesian dance and fire-eating shows, which are fun, for sure. By the time you finally make your way out to the winding, torch-lit path in the garden, you're feeling as intrepid and remote as Henry Morton Stanley trailing Livingstone through the Congo. Yet, you're still in Fort Lauderdale.