Tiki Tap House was opened by Cindy and Jordan Peabody in Centralia, Washington in July 2013. It is an "island inspired" pizza restaurant -- not a tiki bar. There's only beer and wine available, so no tiki cocktails. The decor is spare, but there's a clear love for tiki here. There is a wall with tiki mugs, tikis adorn the thatch-topped bar (which has 18 rotating beers on tap), and some tiki art is on display -- including impressive tikis carved by Cindy's son, restaurant manager Anthony Dijos. The pizzas incorporate lots of unusual island flavors, going beyond the expected Hawaiian pizza, with Spam, mango, macadamia nuts and coconut.

TikiCat was a tiki bar in Kansas City, Missouri, it opened on April 13, 2017 and closed in July 2020. The bar was part of the HopCat group, a chain of beer-focused pubs around the midwest. The focus here was on pure tiki, not beer, and the group enlisted the help of a number of noted specialists and artists: the buildout was by Bamboo Ben; Martin Cate helped with the cocktail program; there were carvings by Dave Hansen (Lake Tiki), Patrick Sousa (OB Tiki), Ken Pleasant, and Jason Joffe (Smokin' Tikis); tiki mug and menu design (and awesome sci-fi themed mural) by Anthony Carpenter; lamps by Jason Shelfow (Tiki J's Custom Lamps); and art by Thor Thordarson.

There was a vintage Witco bar and stools, and vintage furniture for seating. There were some intimate hut areas for groups, and table seating. The space was richly decorated, with carvings, art, bamboo, thatch, matting, and faux foliage throughout.

HopCat and TikiCat (which was located in the basement of HopCat), both shut down after being unable to come to an agreement with their landlord. HopCat hopes to re-open at a new venue in the near future.

The Don the Beachcomber location in Marina del Rey opened in 1970. It is one of the "UFO" shaped versions of the restaurant, with a round building topped by a low-slung wraparound roof with a pointed top. The restaurant makes an appearance in the 1989 Patrick Dempsey film Loverboy as "Tiki Joe's". The restaurant was closed by the mid-'90s. The building is still there, attached to the Marina del Rey Hotel, but underwent a dramatic remodel in the early 2010s, and is no longer recognizable.

The Waikiki opened in 1960, in a building that previously been a Chinese restaurant called The Chinese Lantern. The Waikiki operated until 1967, when the business was sold to Moon Kim who opened the second location of her Luau Hut there, retaining much of the decor. Since 1978, the building has been Kelly's Irish Times, though the Chinese origins are still clear in the building's architecture.

Dobbs House Luau opened at the Love Field airport in Dallas in the last week of November 1958. It was an early outpost of the then-new Dobbs House Luau chain, inspired by the Dobbs family's purchase of the Luau in Atlanta. Dobbs House was a chain of restaurants and hotel concessions, and already had the restaurant space in the airport. The family chose to re-theme some of their restaurants as Polynesian, including this one. Elaborate decor was installed, including many tikis, pufferfish, and water features. The restaurant operated successfully at Love Field until the Dallas-Fort Worth airport opened in 1974, which hurt business. The restaurant closed after 1974 (possibly as late as the 1980s), was temporarily a family entertainment space called "Llove" and has been used as office space for many years now. It was in the northwest corner of the mezzanine level.

Other Dobbs House Luau locations were in Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, Lexington, Houston, and Louisville.

The Luau was first opened by the Dinkler family, who owned a chain of hotels. They opened this restaurant sometime in the mid-1950s (it was open by 1957), and operated it as "Dinkler Luau" or "Luau, a Dinkler presentation." The restaurant was stylish, with a dramatically pointed roof over a porte cochere entrance, and was designed by Curtis and Davis Architects of New Orleans. The interior featured waterway and bridges, and a cabinet with bamboo cases holding regulars' chopsticks, just like at the original Don the Beachcomber in Hollywood. There was at least one tiki carved by Barney West.

Soon after it opened (1959?), the Dinklers sold the restaurant to the Dobbs family, who changed the name to "Dobb's Luau" or "Dobbs House Luau (1960?)." The Dobbs House Luau chain swiftly spread to other cities around the south, including Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Lexington, Houston, and Louisville. In 1962, the name was changed to "Dobbs House Tiki." The building was later demolished.

Adventure Island Mini Golf was a tiki-themed miniature golf course, it opened in 2008 in Star City, Birmingham. The indoor course featured lots of faux rock work, bamboo, artificial palm trees, and many tikis and moai. There was a "tiki bar" that served light refreshments and a selection of bottled drinks.

In 2017, investor Mo Chaudry made a deal to expand the brand. A second location was then opened in 2020 at Stoke-On-Trent (Chaudry's already thriving Waterworld location) to give even more entertainment options. He planned to expand the brand even further with more locations in the future -- shooting for 20 locations by 2022 -- but then COVID happened, throwing future development into turmoil.

This location at Star City closed on January 19th, 2023. However, the Stoke-On-Trent location remains (at least as of 2024).

Kula Hut opened in May 1960, and was just off Robson Street in Vancouver, B.C. It advertised itself as the "most authentic" Polynesian restaurant. It was owned by Joan and John Jang, Joan was the restaurant's manager. They hired Philip Fong and Paul Mak, who had been dining room captains at the Kon-Tiki in Montreal. By 1974, the restaurant was closed.

Polynesian Gardens Condominiums is a large, multi-building housing complex in southern Florida with Polynesian theming, including Witco furniture and art. Built in 1974, the amenities for residents include not just a swimming pool and billiards tables, but a regulation, four-lane bowling alley and each lane ends in the mouth of a giant tiki head. The lobby has beautiful painted murals of bathing Polynesian maidens, and a massive oil lamp sculpture. The condominium complex initially targeted Jewish people, especially the large population of people moving to southern Florida from colder northern climes. When the condos were first being marketed, actress Eve Arden's name was used, but it's unclear if she was an owner, investor, or was only lending her name to the property.

Opened in 2016.

The Tiki Hut was a vacation rental by owners just north of Yucca Valley, near Pioneertown (and its famed Pappy & Harriet's music venue), Joshua Tree National Park, and Palm Springs.

The building was on Janky Acres, a collection of three themed vacation rentals tucked into a secluded desert valley.

The Tiki Hut was able to sleep up to seven people, and was furnished with lots of bamboo, a tiki bar, a fake palm tree, and large tikis carved by CC Rider.

Seems to have closed @2020.

The Royal Hawaiian opened in 1947. It was owned by the Cabang family. The Cabangs were originally from the Phillipines and were friends with both of the Fillipino Tiki carvers in L.A. at the time, Milan Guanko and Andres Bumatay. These talented artists both supplied Tikis for the restaurant. The prominent Andres Bumatay tikis outside the restaurant became weathered and destroyed and were later replaced by modern carvings.

The Royal Hawaiian also had a sister location located in Anaheim in the 1950s.

The Royal Hawaiian has been through several iterations. It originally had several small dining rooms with glass-walled dioramas filled with tikis and plants, great lamps, bamboo, thatch and sea grass matting, and a bar with a fireplace and pufferfish. There were lovely oil paintings throughout, including a large piece hung directly above the hostess stand.

In spring 2006, the restaurant was sold to a new owner, who gutted it. The newer, tiki-stripped version closed for good in 2012. In 2016, the space reopened, again with the name Royal Hawaiian, this time by people who wanted to bring back its rich tiki history. The new owners, Mo Honarkar and daughters Hasty and Nikisa, worked to bring back a fully-decorated Royal Hawaiian with the help of Bamboo Ben.

However in January-February 2019, the restaurant was closed for yet another remodel and then re-opened on April 3rd, 2019 under the auspices of chef Mariano Maro Molteni. Honarkars company remained as landlords, while Molteni owned and operated the restaurant which he rebranded as the "Royal Hawaiian Fire Grill". Molteni's remodel (which came as a surprise to the landlords) removed much of Bamboo Ben's decor, especially natural materials like lauhala matting and thatching in favor of dark blue painted walls and a "cleaner" and "less cluttered" look. There were still tikis and accent pieces, but the interior was much reduced from its former full tiki glory.

On July 15th, 2022, Royal Hawaiian Fire Grill announced its closure for the end of that same month, on July 31st, 2022.

Following the 2022 closure of the last iteration of the Royal Hawaiian, the space was turned over to Boulevard Hospitality for a complete transformation and a grand re-opening in May 2023. The new build-out was completed by Ignacio “Notch” Gonzales, famous for building spaces like Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco and Inside Passage in Seattle.

To round out the new experience, the Royal Hawaiian’s owners have brought on famed barman Dushan Zaric of Employees Only to build a bespoke cocktail menu that riffs, weaves, and rethinks the rum-forward staples of tiki lore.

*NOTE: For photos of original location prior to 2006, or newly opened version from 2023 onward, see separate listings.

The Warehouse was opened in 1969 by Burt Hixon, of Beachbum Burt's in Redondo Beach. In recent years the restaurant has been owned by Lee and Martha Spencer; Lee Spencer passed away in October 2016. The elaborate decor is much more nautical rather than true "tiki", but with a strong Polynesian lean. The building is designed to look like an old wharf building, surrounded with mature palm trees and a wooden walkway entrance over a lagoon with live turtles. Inside, the main dining room has several tables inside large shipping crates, and a second level mezzanine with small tables rings the room. In recent years, the bar has been rechristened a "tiki bar" though the tiki is minimal and the decoration is more nautical flotsam and jetsam and shipping crates. The Warehouse is most well-known for their souvenir signature barrel mug, still available today. The food menu is very traditional upscale steak and seafood fare. A small number of tropical drinks are available.

The Warehouse is also the location of the Shipwrecked tiki bazaar and social event, started in 2019, which celebrates artists, tiki craftspeople, and plays host to live music.

*NOTE: Discussions of development make the future of this location uncertain but they are still open. If you have not visited it yet, don't wait too long!