JARDIN TIKI

The Inaugural Outing of

The Montreal Tiki Appreciation Society

: : Where to hold the first meeting of The Montreal Tiki Appreciation Society? The choice was an easy one in a city in which the choices are limited… we decided to start off with a place with which we were all familiar, probably the biggest Polynesian restaurant in the province of Quebec (possibly even the biggest in Eastern Canada): the Jardin Tiki (that’s Tiki Garden to you and me). The Montreal Tiki Appreciation Society’s first outing, August 8th, 1998, began with Mai Tais at 7:00 p.m. and went on for 4 hours… : :

: : Incredibly, the Jardin Tiki was only a 3 minute drive from where I used to live back in ‘98! The restaurant opened, just across the street from the Olympic Village (now an apartment complex), on Valentine's Day in 1986. Tiki Society Member Dave LeBlanc believed the building to be much older (it was, in fact, a former car and truck dealership) and at our first meeting, he went on about architectural styles, I-beams, and other things while most Society members stood there looking clueless. Douglas Chan, who opened the Jardin Tiki, had previously worked at the late, great Kon-Tiki in the Montreal Sheraton – Mt. Royal Hotel, which closed in the early 1980’s. Much of the Jardin Tiki's decor also made its way over from the Kon-Tiki . : :

: : The Jardin Tiki is a huge place… combined, its many rooms seat a total of about 400 people. A big sign, spelling out ALOHA in bamboo letters, greets you at the entrance... You immediately know you’re in for something special when you open the doors and notice that the handles are actually brass tikis! Many more tikis await you inside, of course, along with a pool filled with real turtles (and plastic dinosaurs and sharks). Crossing a little footbridge over the turtle pool brings you into the main dining area, packed with high-back rattan chairs, bamboo, fishing nets, and an assortment of lamps, lanterns, spears, masks, and blowfish hanging from the ceiling and walls. : :

: : A musician performs in the rear Luau Room on Saturday evenings (live, non-Exotica music) but, unfortunately, the Hawaiian floor show, though still advertised on a sign at the restaurant’s entrance, is no longer on the entertainment roster. When no band is playing (which is most of the time), the Jardin Tiki pumps Hawaiian muzak through its speaker system; the muzak is best heard in the quieter areas of the cavernous restaurant (i.e. in the restrooms). : :

: : All of the drinks at the Jardin Tiki, including the Mai Tais, the Aku Aku Coconut, and the huge Tiki Grog, are big, and can be quite potent depnding on who is manning the bar. We suspect that since the Jardin Tiki does not have an official bartender, the drinks turn out extra strong when the kitchen staff doesn’t pay too much attention to alcohol content. The drinks are always an excellent prelude to the big buffet dinner that awaits you. : :

: : The food is a good mix of Chinese-American and seafood with a few items like onion rings thrown in to make it all more palatable to the local senior citizens who frequent the buffet on Sunday evenings. The meal at the Jardin Tiki is a few bucks more than you’d pay for similar stuff at a Chinese buffet but is, of course, worth the extra bucks for the extra atmosphere… : :

: : All in all, the Jardin Tiki was an excellent choice for The Montreal Tiki Society’s first meeting… as we finished whooping it up and the evening wound down, we pulled out our newly printed Tiki Appreciation Society membership cards which we flashed to the waitress. No, it didn’t get us a discount but she did stamp the cards with the official Jardin Tiki stamp which, along with the good memories, made for a pretty decent souvenir of our first M.T.A.S. meeting. : :

Restaurant Jardin Tiki

5300 Sherbrooke East

Montreal, Quebec H1V 1A1

514-254-4173

(CLOSED)

MID-2006 UPDATE:

Despite people constantly contacting me to warn me that the Jardin Tiki is on the verge of “going under,” the place still seems to be going strong. Stronger, in fact, than we first wrote about it almost a decade ago. True, it doesn’t really draw a crowd of Tiki-philes but it’s busier than it used to be with a good mix of folks... families, seniors, couples. Since I still live relatively close by (and since it’s now the only Tiki restaurant I can get to without driving into the suburbs or up north), I pop in for the buffet and a cocktail every couple of months. Despite reports to the contrary, the food is not that bad. Standard Chinese buffet fare but it can be pretty decent. I recommend going on weeknights, since the selection of items in the buffet seems to be more varied than on weekends.

MARCH -2015 UPDATE:

Well, all things must end, and the Jardin Tiki's time finally came on March 28, 2015, after a 29-year run. The building and land (and contents!) was sold to a developer who plans to build a seniors' residence on the site. The gallery below features several photos shot during the Jardin Tiki's final weeks...

CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS