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- Verified Buyer
Absolutely love this. Set up three different drinks at one time and the margarita machine takes care the rest.So far, so good! We've used it for three parties in the last 6 weeks, and it has been great, working flawlessly... unless a 3 inch blob of ice gets caught in the hopper. It can't deal with anything larger than a regular ice cube, and note that we always use the bagged ice and let it get a tiny bit melty as suggested in the instructions. My dear hubby was hesitant about buying such an expensive item, but is now a convert, not just because the machine keeps the party flowing with drinks, but also because it is a showstopper and great conversation starter. The funny thing is, the men gather around it like it is a shiny new Corvette and ooh and ahhh over it.... You can see the glazed look in their eyes as they watch it whip out batch after batch of frozen concoctions. I almost expect them to start grunting and waving cave man clubs in the air. (Just kidding, guys!) But suffice it to say that the Tahiti Frozen concoction maker has been a hit here! The guys have renamed it "That Tsunami Margarita maker!" One thing I have to warn you about... (and many thanks to the other posters for the heads up)... do NOT just think you can use the recipes in the recipe book and find satisfaction! Au Contraire! We tried the Margarita recipe exactly.. UCK! too tart, just awful.... took us 5-6 tries to get it right. (But it was fun practicing!) Finally involved a combo of Minutemaid limeaid, Masters of Mix Margarita mix, Triple Sec, Tequila and just a tiny dash of OJ. The Mojito recipe and Daiquiri recipes in the book also required major tweaking. Also, you will need to PRACTICE before you do it for a party... So glad we read the reviews and did so, because it would have been rather embarrassing otherwise. It isn't hard to operate, its just a little different from a standard blender. And you have to remember to take the "lid" off before you try and pour. The function of being able to add more shaved ice and reblend is a great help. In hot sun, it only takes a few moments for any drinks left in a pitcher to separate, but a quick shave of more ice and a quick blend brings it back to par. Also, be warned... SERIOUSLY! It says it in the warning info several times... DO NOT STICK YOUR HANDS NEAR THE BLADES! I didn't think and was trying to get the last of some shaved ice out of the pitcher with my finger, and discovered just how RAZOR SHARP those blades in the three pitchers really are! ( No worries, all healed, now!) BUT be careful with them! Another thing you need to account for... you can't over fill the pitcher and get a bigger batch. When it blends, it is very powerful, and the level rises significantly. That said, once the ice is in, a pitcher of drinks yields about 24 oz, and will generally provide 3.5 drinks per pitcher. No biggie if you only have 8 people standing around, but if your party lends itself to a larger guest list, say 25-30, you'll have to hustle to get those drinks out. At least the first round. Our answer to this problem was to premix the "batches" of drinks. We used the SCREW ON TOP FOOD CONTAINERS by rubbermaid/glad or whoever, because I have found they DO NOT LEAK, and kept them in a cooler. Once you get your recipe to your satisfaction, you should end up with about 1.5 cups of "mix" (That is the flavored mix ingredients plus the alcohol. If you add fresh or frozen fruit, it will be closer to 2 cups.) We labeled the containers... about 10 of each...Mojito..."Rita"... Daiquiri...then we froze them until the morning of the party. We kept them in a cooler under the bar. They were NOT frozen when we put them into the blender. Making these up ahead of time eliminated error, and standing around measuring things into the pitcher. Big time saver! Any "batches" unused went back to the freezer for the next event. Note we did not find any single bottled mix that really did the trick alone when mixed with the spirits. All bottled mixes just seemed to be missing something. Be aware that if you make "Virgin" non-alcoholic drinks, you will need to use water to replace the spirits in a double amount. i.e if your recipe calls for 2 jiggers of spirits, the non-alcoholic recipe will likely need 4 jiggers of water. That's because the spirits really melt the ice. Without it, the drink is quite thick and hard to pour. So, if you are thinking about taking this plunge... go for it if it is in your budget. We haven't regretted it and would surely buy it again. Just be sure to perfect your recipes, practice, and prepare enough pre-mixed "batches" in advance. ;-)GreatCan be used easily for a variety of drinksI bought this blending station as a Christmas gift for my wife and I. We do alot of entertaining throughout the year and this was going to be the perfect conversation piece. One of those things you just gotta have even at the high cost. We set it up to give it a test run making Margarita's, Virgin Strawberry Daiquiris, and Mudslides. After putting the ingredients in their respective pitchers the excitement was building as I hit the switch. The ice chute moved over to the left station first. This one was set for the Margarita's. It blended, shaved some ice, blended, shaved more ice and blended again. Looked perfect although the pitcher was only slightly more than half full upon completion. OK, we'll just double everything next time. Next it moved to the center station. This was set for the Virgin Strawberry Daiquiris. Again, it blended, shaved some ice, blended, shaved more ice and . . . wait for it . . . that's when the WOW went to WT???? The shaved ice just sat at the top of the half blended mixture. You couldn't even tell the blender was blending. Upon "finishing" the Daiquiris it moved over to the Mudslides. That's when you could just see the slush build up on top of the Daiquiris pitcher. ARRRGGGHH ! ! ! As it went through the next station blending the Mudslide it seemed better but then, double WT???, it did the same thing. Not as bad as the Daiquiris but still just a heap of unmixed slush at the top of the partially blended mixture beneath. Well, my wife and daughter said I had the look on my face of a kid whose awesome new toy just crapped out after playing with it for 5 minutes. Very disappointing. We ended up having to push the unmixed portion down into the mixed and use the manual setting to finish the job. Even then the Daiquiri was just too thick but the Mudslide did come out great. All in all, I just had my expectations too high I guess and the let down was as aggravating as you can imagine. I'm sure we'll figure it out just playing with mixtures/amounts. If anyone else has had similar experiences please let me know. After reading all the reviews I guess I was just expecting "AWESOME" out of the box and it was really just "OK". We'll keep practicing though and hopefully get the mixtures right. It seems as though, in this case, that shaving the ice is the problem since it just sticks to the pitcher instead of ice cubes that would drop in and be blended normally. I will update on any improvements/issues as they arise.UPDATE: Been experimenting since my first post and the "slush" problem has indeed gotten better. Basically because we've tweaked the ingredients, at least doubling the liquids from their recommended recipes. It is pretty cool just be sure to experiment BEFORE you unveil it at your next party.Great machine but it does take up a lot of room. I am still very pleased with this purchase, very good quality and very stylish.This is the hit of my bar. 2 cousins purchased it after seeing mine in action. Impressive
