Tiki Bars
The Myna Bird
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States (Closed)
The Myna Bird was a tiki bar in the International Market Place in Honolulu, opened on May 19, 2017. The small bar was part of The Street, a food-court-like collection of restaurants and bars by Michael Mina. The tiki bar paid tribute to the Don the Beachcomber restaurant in Waikiki, which was the anchor of the original International Market Place.
Closed on 11/08/2020.
UPDATE: This space was re-named the Tipsy Tiki with little to no change in decor and re-opened some time prior to December 2021.
The Yachtsman
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (Closed)
The Yachtsman was opened in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia in August 2014 by partners Tommy Up and Sarah Brown. Tommy Up has a longstanding interest in vintage tiki bars, including visits in much of his travels. The decor was in keeping with the classic tiki theme, with A-frame structures behind the bar, walls lined with lauhala matting, and plenty of thatch and bamboo throughout. The drinks menu included modern drinks and classics, all prepared with a craft cocktail sensibility. The Yachtsman closed in May 2017.
Nui Nui - at McMenamins Anderson School
Bothell, Washington, United States
Nui Nui and the North Shore Lagoon are part of McMenamins Anderson School complex, and opened on October 15, 2015. The Anderson School is no longer a school. It opened in 1931 as Bothell Junior High School, and now lives on as a collection of attractions: a hotel, a brewery, a movie theater, restaurants, bars, the North Shore Lagoon (a swimming pool), and the Nui Nui tiki bar.
The Nui Nui tiki bar is decorated in traditional style, with lots of bamboo, distressed wood and driftwood, and pufferfish, bamboo and tapa cloth lamps. The soundtrack includes Exotica classics. The tiki bar overlooks the swimming pool. There is an extensive spirits list, including over 80 rums. The tropical cocktails are made with the classic recipes, including a Mai Tai, Zombie and Suffering Bastard.
If you'd like to swim in the pool, it is open to non-hotel guests for 2-hour open swims during the day; at the very beginning and end of the day swimming in the pool is for hotel guests only.
*Kapu Hut in Eugene, Oregon is also a McMenamins property.
Tiki Bar Head Hunter
Kita-ku, Okayama, Japan
Tiki Bar Head Hunter is a small but thoroughly decorated tiki bar inside Omote-machi Play Town in Okayama. It opened in November 2011, and is owned by Yosiaki Taniguchi. Logo artwork was created for the bar by Mookie Sato.
The bar is encrusted with bamboo and festooned with netting, with thatch and float lamps and pufferfish and everything you want to see in a classic tiki bar.
Though the space is small, live acts perform regularly at Head Hunter, with an emphasis on musicians that get the mid-century American vibe.
Head Hunter is cash only.
Trader Sam's Grog Grotto
Orlando, Florida, United States
Trader Sam's Grog Grotto opened at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort in 2015. It is the sister of Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar, found at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. Like the bar in Anaheim, the Grog Grotto is a twin tribute to both the Enchanted Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise attractions. It is densely decorated and intensely themed, just as you would hope to find in a Disney tiki bar.
Like the Jungle Cruise, the crew members at the Grog Grotto are trained to give you a theatrical, goofy, fun experience. Some drink orders trigger special effects around the room (order a Polynesian Pearl and watch your bartender retrieve your pearl from a large clamshell), and several drinks are served in souvenir mugs. The decor is a mix of tiki and nautical, with some nods to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and also includes pieces left over from the old Adventurer's Club that used to be part of Downtown Disney in Orlando. The menu is limited, with several small plates. There is also outdoor seating at the adjacent, relatively lightly-themed Tiki Terrace.
The Grog Grotto was added as part of a big refresh of the Polynesian Village Resort in 2015.
Children are welcome at the Grog Grotto during the day, but after 8pm it is only open to those 21 and older.
The Pacific
Glasgow, United Kingdom (Closed)
The Pacific opened in February 2014, and was a sister location to The Tiki Bar & Kitsch Inn, also in Glasgow. Tropical cocktails were served in unique tiki mugs made by Garnet McCulloch of Fireworks Studio. The food menu was a mix of American and Thai. The space was small and not densely decorated, but a small bar was trimmed with bamboo and lauhala matting, and there were pufferfish lamps hanging from the ceiling.
Closed December, 2017 and rebranded as a new restaurant called Honu -- serving a medley of exotic foods (for Glasgow) including Thai, Korean, hamburgers, etc...and a craft cocktail menu... but all the tiki and kitsch has been stripped away.
B.G. Reynolds Tasting Room
Portland, Oregon, United States (Closed)
Since 2009, B.G. Reynolds has been selling the syrups needed for classic tropical drinks: orgeat, passion fruit, cinnamon, vanilla, special Don the Beachcomber blends, and more. The brand was originally called "Trader Tiki" and changed to "B.G. Reynolds" in 2011. In November 2015, this tasting room and storefront opened in southeast Portland. In addition to the syrups, the store also offered barware, tiki mugs, pre-mixed bottled tropical drinks, vintage aloha wear, and special cocktail mixing classes. The retail store closed in April 2016, but the syrups are still available from their online store, and are distributed to stores across the country.
The Golden Tiki
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
The Golden Tiki opened in Las Vegas' Chinatown on July 24, 2015. The man behind The Golden Tiki, Branden Powers, has been part of the nightclub scene in Las Vegas for some time now (he was Creative Director at the Hard Rock Hotel), but is himself a longtime lover of Tiki, having spent some of his youth DJing Exotica tunes at the Islands Restaurant in San Diego's Hanalei Hotel.
The Golden Tiki is in a large space, 4,000 square feet, and split into four different zones. The interior design and build out were done by Danny "Tiki Diablo" Gallardo. The bar has a thatched roof, and is topped by an animatronic talking tiki head, named Goldy, created by Erik "Irk" Hedman. A loveseat-sized artificial giant clam is popular for photos.
A flaming pu-pu platter is available on Friday and Saturday nights.
The greatest honor at The Golden Tiki is to have your head shrunken and enshrined in their glass case, wherein you can see many celebrities, Las Vegas personalities, and Tiki icons.
Kapu Hut
Eugene, Oregon, United States
Kapu Hut is the tiki bar within North Bank, a McMenamins restaurant, overlooking the Willamette River. North Bank used to have a non-tiki bar, but in October 2014, it was tikified and became Kapu Hut. There is a small menu of Polynesian Pop-tinged food available, and the drink menu has tropical drinks and over 60 rums. Given McMenamins' focus on brewpubs, it makes sense that there is an unusual (for a tiki bar) number of beers available here, too. The theming is light, and mixes Tiki with Asian and African elements.
McMenamins also owns the North Shore Lagoon at the Anderson School in Bothell, Washington (north of Seattle).
Rumpus Tiki Bar
VII. kerület, Budapest, Hungary
Rumpus Tiki Bar opened in downtown Budapest in December 2013. It boasts a drink menu a mile long, but it's full of familiar old tiki favorites, and appear to be faithfully executed, right down to the tiki mugs and garnish. There are two levels, one wrapping around as an upper mezzanine, so that there is a mix of dramatic high ceiling area and more intimate low ceiling spaces. There is no break between wall and ceiling, rather sloping arches, adding a cave-like feel. Black fish nets are pinned to the ceiling, studded with globe lights dressed up as float lamps. Reed, bamboo and thatch are used throughout, perhaps more sparingly than we see in American bars, but used to great effect. There are carved tikis, and framed posters of brightly colored tikis.
Lost Lake
Chicago, Illinois, United States (Closed)
Lost Lake opened in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago in January 2015. It was a partnership between Paul McGee, formerly of Three Dots and a Dash, and development group Land and Sea Dept. Martin Cate, owner of Smuggler's Cove, was also involved in Lost Lake, particularly helping with their selection of sipping rums. Its design was less tiki, and more of a nod to the early, streamlined bamboo-focused Pre-Tiki era of Polynesian Pop escapism. Colorful fish floats hung in the front window, and one whole wall was wallpapered with a bold banana leaf motif. Fish trap lamps wrapped the bar area, and the canted ceiling was covered with lauhala and bamboo. There was green vinyl booth seating toward the back, and a rock wall. The beverage program was developed by McGee, with a mix of classic tropical cocktails and his own inventions. Land and Sea Dept. also owned the connected upscale Chinese take-out restaurant, called Thank You.
After an 18-month down-time due to Covid, Lost Lake re-opened in August 2021 with a cocktail menu focused on "Tropical Drinks" (i.e., Margaritas, Pina Coladas, Mojitos, and Daiquiris) instead of "Tiki Drinks" (Zombies, Mai-Tais, etc.) as a concession to concerns that "Tiki" is racist and colonialist in nature. The decor was already fairly sparse by Tiki standards, but they went further by removing several pieces, including the glass fishing floats hanging in the front window, the fishing basket light fixtures over the bar, and the pufferfish chandelier. A picture of a woman in a grass skirt was also taken down, a rock wall was covered with a curtain, and fake skulls were removed from the fish tank.
This closure and re-vamping of their image still proved not enough to combat the difficulties of operating during Covid, however, and Lost Lake's Closure was announced for January 15th, 2022.
Aku Aku - Orlando
Orlando, Florida, United States
Aku Aku opened at the beginning of 2014 and is a sister property of the adjacent mid-century-themed Stardust Lounge (Aku Aku's name is a nod to the relationship between Las Vegas' Stardust Casino and its Aku Aku). The back wall of the space is one large shelving unit full of rectangular cubbies of varying dimensions, filled with little bits of Polynesian Pop decor. A large Moai overlooks the room from a corner. A small selection of classic tropical drinks are available, and a longish rum list has some nicer sipping rums (and a lot of unfortunate flavored rums).