I'll start by saying I'm probably biased in that I fell in love with Frankie's Tiki room before I tried Golden Tiki so every Tiki bar I patronize will henceforth be judged by that standard.
Tiki bars are supposed to be dark but this place is skewed toward evil scary dark instead of fun and playful dark. I guess I prefer the warm colors and the soft red and blue glow from blowfish lamps at Frankie's rather than the general grayness and blackness of this place.
Second, I just couldn't get over the smell. Incense or the smoke machine or whatever it was it was just too much. I realize Frankie's is smokey and smells of spilt liquor but to me that is how a bar is supposed to smell, so by comparison GT just didn't smell right.
I had a happy hour mai tai which I wasn't overly impressed with. Very citrusy and flat on flavor. I realize mai tais are tart but I've had mai tais that at have a more balanced and robust flavor. This was just meh.
While maybe we should have tried something else my group sped off to Frankie's for a round of fink bombs and wondered why we didn't just go straight there in the first place.
Bars are totally a matter of personal taste and I could see why folks really like this bar but for me it just doesn't stack up to Frankie's.