Tiki Bars
Hidden Harbor
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Hidden Harbor opened in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh in January 2016. The bar is owned by Peter and Matt Kurzweg, who own the brewery next door, and their partner, tikiphile Adam Henry. The decor is decorated in a more nautical style than a tiki style, with no bamboo, rattan or thatch. There are, however, three large tikis carved by Crazy Al Evans. The drink menu is a mix of classic tiki drinks and modern tropicals, and there are special themed nights with more focused tropical drink menus. There is a small selection of food available, including a pu-pu platter.
Saturn Room
Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
Saturn Room opened in Tulsa, Oklahoma in April 2015, in the Brady Arts District, a bit north of downtown.
The bar is owned by Noah Bush, John Gaberino and Jeremy Reed, a team that has experience with craft cocktail bars.
They've dived into tiki in a big way, with a space that's full of tikis, thatch-covered booths, and float lights.
The drinks are served in tiki mugs, including a Chairman Mao mug with their logo. Their logo also shows up on a blue swizzle stick.
Tikitiki Bowling Bar
New Territories, Hong Kong SAR China (Closed)
Tikitiki Bowling Alley opened on October 15, 2015 in Sai Kung, in Hong Kong's New Territories. It was a large attraction, with three bars, a restaurant and a live music venue in addition to the bowling lanes.
The Krakatoa Lanes were ten bowling lanes, topped with a massive video screen with tropical and party scenes. Light fixtures were lava inspired, and the pins and balls were fluorescent colors and lit with black light.
Sea Dogs & Mermaids was the main bar, a large bar shaped like a ship and built of rustic wood, decorated in a nautical style. A row of tikis faced into the bar area. The bar served classic tropical drink recipes a la Beachbum Berry, and a selection of their own creations, in tiki mugs.
Beach Bums & Cannibals was a fine dining restaurant. The room was ringed with carved tiki panels on eggplant purple walls, with matching purple shag throw rugs under each rustic wooden table. Candelabras and chandeliers provided the lighting.
Other areas included the Octopus's Garden, with live music acts performing in front of tiki masks; and Island of the Gods, an outdoor dining area overlooking the hills of Sai Kung, backed with a row of tall tikis.
Closed @April 2024.
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.
Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States (Closed)
In November 2010, Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge moved from their original location to this much larger space, just down the street and now right on the Mississippi River.
The main level includes a restaurant and bar, and a large patio overlooking the river. There are large carved posts and tikis, and walls lined with lauhala matting and and carved wooden tchotchkes. On weekends, house band Exotik-a-Go-Go plays Exotica music, and the upstairs area is open. The upstairs, Shangri-La, has three distinct themed bars: the Shrunken Head, Forbidden Cove, and Ports of Pleasure. Each of the upstairs bars can be rented out for private events.
From 2016 onward, Psycho Suzi's started an annual "Mary's Christmas Palace" event running from October 1st-January 31st where everything is converted to an over-the-top Christmas theme, including the drinks.
*NOTE: In September 2022, the owner listed this location for sale for $6 Million.
Their permanent closing was announced by the owner, Leslie Bock, for August 19th, 2023 on social media.
Grass Skirt Tiki Room - Columbus
Columbus, Ohio, United States (Closed)
Grass Skirt Tiki Room opened in downtown Columbus in November 2012. The drink and food menus included both Polynesian yesteryear classics and more modern takes on tropical. Souvenir mugs were available. The decor included echoes of Columbus' beloved Kahiki Supper Club, with contributions from local tikiphile collectors and craftspeople. There were beachcomber lamps, pufferfish, large tikis, and a lava wall, and even some bamboo pieces that originated at the Kahiki. The bar closed in September 2019.
Alphie's
Goleta, California, United States (Closed)
Opened in 1957. Alphie's was a greasy-spoon diner, serving breakfast and lunch. The space was light and airy, with white walls, but there were quite a few Polynesian touches throughout. There were some carved tikis on the wall, lauhala matting, tapa cloth, and an outrigger (from Oceanic Arts) hanging overhead. It was a family-run joint, and if you were lucky, you might have caught the owner and friends playing jazz.
Closed May 18th, 2021. The family decided not to re-open as a result of COVID closures.
Adrift
Denver, Colorado, United States
Opened in 2012.
Adrift is a modern-era tiki bar and restaurant. The primary focus is quality, classic tiki cocktails. The bar is covered in plenty of bamboo, the walls are lined with bamboo, and murals of elegant vintage-feel scenes of Polynesia are framed in bamboo, as well. Light comes from pufferfish lamps, glass floats, and a bit of fire for good measure. Carved tikis are found inside, and outside the building is flanked with metal tiki wall sconces and two large carved tikis.
Mai Tai Restaurant
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States (Closed)
Built in 1968.
Mai Tai Restaurant also went by the names Kahuna, and Knobby's Mai Tai -- the chronology is not clear. During the time it was Mai Tai, the name Kahuna Lounge seems to have been used for the bar area within the restaurant.
The restaurant is perhaps most notable as an excellent example of the sort of design theft that happened during the height of Polynesian restaurants: all of the graphics for the restaurant, including Mai Tai's logo tikis, menu design, even the lettering used for the Mai Tai logo, where lifted completely from the Tahitian.
The Mai Tai's building has a tall, peaked A-frame roof in front. The building still stands today (as of 2021) , and for a time housed a karate school, but is currently vacant.
The Breakers
Crystal Lake, Illinois, United States
The Breakers (sometimes called "Lenny's The Breakers") is a classic Tiki-Cantonese restaurant and bar in Crystal Lake, outside of Chicago. It opened in 1949, and has plenty of old school tiki-in-a-Chinese-restaurant touches, with a landscaped garden, bamboo and beachcomber lamps, tikis, and dim lighting, amidst newer layers of rope lights and Party City-style tropical bric-a-brac.
The food menu is typical midwest Cantonese fare, and a "Po-Po Platter" is on the appetizers menu. The cocktail list includes a Mai-Tai ("It's a secret") and a Navy Grog ("It's a stronger secret"), and other classic and less-classic tropicals. There are some Dynasty mugs and bowls in use, but you may have to ask nicely to get your drink in one.
On the weekends, you may find some live music, which often includes some Hawaiian standards.
Tong's Tiki Hut
Villa Park, Illinois, United States
Tong's Tiki Hut in Villa Park is the last remaining location of a small Chicago-area chain of Chinese/Polynesian restaurants. Open since at least 1982. This location still has plenty of old-school tiki charm, with rock walls, tapa cloth lamps, and some nice big tikis. Food is the tiki-traditional "Polynesian" Chinese including a flaming pupu platter, and there is a full bar with drinks served in mugs.
Kokomo Tikibar & Room - Helsinki
Helsinki, Finland (Closed)
Kokomo Tikibar & Room opened in February 2011 in the Punavuori neighborhood of Helsinki. They had many karaoke nights, and later at night it become a DJ nightclub. The decor included bamboo and carved war clubs and masks, with some large carved tikis, but with stark white chairs and a white-and-black checkerboard floor. On Saturdays daytime brunch was served from noon to 2:30pm.
Closed January 20th, 2018.
There was also a sister bar, the Kokomo Tikibar in Lahti, but it closed in January 2015.