Soft opening on December 1st, 2024 and officially opened December 10th, 2024.

This is a traditionally decorated tiki bar with art, tiki carvings, flotsam and jetsam, swag lamps, and dim lighting for a mysterious twilight experience.

They serve a menu of traditional tiki cocktails (see below).

They have merch on their Etsy store (see below).

The Pearl Tiki Bar officially opened on January 25, 2022.

Part of "The Block" which includes Highball Lanes, The Pearl, The Capri, Fondren Station and Fondren Yard.

Highball Lanes shares a wall and side entrance with Pearl as well.

This small tiki bar has little padded booth nooks looking out each of the front windows that have a nice assortment of colored glass fish floats hanging overhead.

One interior wall is wallpapered with a tropical leaf print, while the opposite walls have bamboo wainscotting and a tan wallpaper punctuated by various flotsam and jetsam as well as small framed tiki and nautical artworks.

Lauhala matting covered ceilings with stained oak beams. A matching dark stained oak bar and barstools.

Some rattan chairs for seating.

Not much in the way of large carvings or signature pieces, and this may not be as immersive a space as some, but it is cozy and provides a nice counter-point to the other bars and businesses on "The Block".

Opened Tuesday, March 8th, 2022.

Famous chef and restaurateur Guy Fieri’s “Downtown Flavortown” restaurant is located on The Mountain Mile in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

The 43,000 square-foot entertainment destination centers around a 300-plus seat restaurant, showcasing Fieri fusion cuisine like his bacon mac ’n’ cheeseburger and Trash Can Nachos.

It has a 14-lane duckpin bowling alley, 10,000 square-foot arcade, full-service tropical Tiki bar, and a photo opportunity with a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro similar to the one featured on Fieri’s hit show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”

The bar itself is set up as a thatched rectangular island with bar stool seating on all 4 sides. There are also 5 thatched roof booths opposite and plenty of other open seating throughout.

The signs on the thatched roof of the main bar just say "Tiki Bar" and have a couple of small tiki masks and a third larger tiki that is recognizable to most tikiphiles as the mascot tiki from Forbidden Island in Alameda, CA (originally designed by Tiki Diablo).

A "Caliente Margarita", "Tattooed Mojito" and "Guy’s Famous BBQ Bloody Mary" are on the craft cocktail menu but you can also get traditional tiki cocktails like the 1944 Mai Tai, Jet Pilot, and Rum Barrel.

Tiki Farm manufactured 4 unique mugs for the bar to start out with, modeled after carved tiki poles in the restaurant. These are for sale on premises for $45 each.

Opened March 28th, 2019, The Drunk Munk is located on the corner of 6th Avenue and Stetson Drive, in the building occupied for 21 years by Cowboy Ciao.

Greg Donnally, who owns Drunk Munk with partners Andrew Nam and Scott Hane, brings a decade of experience operating a tiki bar in Scottsdale to the new project.

From 2002 to 2012 Donnally operated Drift Lounge, once located on the other end of Stetson Drive in the current home of Boondocks Patio and Grill.

Drunk Munk utilizes some of the decor from Drift, including a large Moai head on their back bar but was not intended to re-create the old venue.

They have integrated several new features. One lounge area in the restaurant, for instance, looks very similar to that first introduced by the Tonga Hut in North Hollywood, CA -- cozy low bench seating with cushions and pillows, stools, and dark-stained wood walls with a Witco outrigger wall hanging next to a 1960s Malm freestanding cone-shaped fireplace.

The 4,600-square-foot restaurant seats 150 in the dining area, along with 50 spots on the patio.

Built in 1956. The Village of Hillburn is where the once well-known Motel & Restaurant on the Mountain operated and was regarded as a local landmark. It was designed by a prominent architect, Junzo Yoshimura, who modeled the facility after the famous Kyomizudera temple in Kyoto Japan. 

The site boasted 16 buildings, a restaurant, 101 rooms, a coffee shop, and cocktail lounge, as well as a clear view of Manhattan from 30 miles away. They offered banquet/conference facilities as well as dinner theater and ski season packages.

Somewhere in this 18-year-span from 1956-1974 with the original owners, they also ordered custom cocktail mugs and drink bowls from Otagiri with their signature menu cover's risqué Geisha Girl which is taken from a piece of period art housed at the Met:

*Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, 1753–1806). A Woman and a Cat, ca. 1793–94. Edo period (1615–1868), Japan. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929. 

They removed the cat from their graphic art because apparently exposed nipples were permitted but showing pussy was just too much!

Thomas Esposito took ownership of the property in 1974 and unsuccessfully ran it for three failing years with many different entertainment acts. Faced with defeat, he brainstormed a last ditch attempt to make it work financially. From September 1977 - January 1978, Esposito attempted to turn it into the first gay resort in the Northeast. This attempt failed and successive businesses took control of the property since then. However, many today in the LGBTQ+ community still remember this as a historic first.

Today, it is home to Mt. Fuji Steakhouse and has been since 1985 when they did a major remodel to add it to their chain.

Opened in 1979.

A somewhat Polynesian Pop tiki bar and restaurant right on the main island of Bora Bora in French Polynesia.

It features a thatched roof, open sides, white sand floor, wooden slab tables and stools made of coconut stumps. Some carved tikis are on site that look like they could have come out of Oceanic Arts in Whittier, CA. Mary's has been visited by many celebrities over the years and the bar is proud to showcase their carved "walls of fame" with each celebrity's name -- some of whom have performed impromptu shows for the bar.

They also serve as a venue for traditional dance groups.

Opened in 2006.

The Muse du Quai Branly (or, the Quai Branly Museum, for us English-types) is a museum dedicated to non-Western art, from Oceania, the Americas and Africa. The museum has a large, permanent collection of Oceanic art from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and more. The artifacts in this collection are traditional and not Polynesian Pop, but are an excellent example of the influences that Polynesian Pop grew out of.

From June 24-September 28, 2014, the museum held a special exhibition, "Tiki Pop," curated by Sven Kirsten, author of The Book of Tiki and Tiki Modern. Kirsten collected specimens of Polynesian Pop culture to tell the story of the rise, fall, and rebirth of American Polynesian idealism. The Mai Tai Room, was part of this exhibit -- a complete tiki bar that Cheeky Tiki installed and which featured a carved tiki by Jamie Wilson. The tiki is now currently residing with Sven Kirsten at his home bar in Silverlake, CA. To complement the exhibit, a companion book and documentary were also produced.

The museum is very near the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.

Opened July 13th, 1961.

This was the flagship restaurant in a chain of Kona Kai restaurants, with locations in Chicago and Kansas City. It was in the City Line Marriott, at the start of the "Golden Mile" of hotels in Bala Cynwyd.

Created in a ‘not to be outdone’ competition between the titan hotel empires, Marriott commissioned this as the jewel in an elaborate chain of its own Polynesian themed restaurants. As a shot across the bow to Hilton’s Trader Vic’s and Sheraton’s Kon Tiki, The Kona Kai was arguably the most obscenely extravagant of the challengers on the field. No expense was spared and rather than utilize stock or simply procured décor for its outfitting, practically every decorative element of the Philly location was custom designed and created. Wall treatments, tropical carpeting and signature figural Tiki carvings were all fashioned from tailor-made blueprints furnished by the prolific architects.

The Kona Kai Frigate Bird from the front roofline was carved by Southern California tiki artist Jim Casey. Jim’s work is quite recognizable and can be seen in other venues such as Aloha Jhoe’s and Pacific Ocean Park. Aloha Jhoe's had a very similar frigate bird in front of their restaurant.

The hotel closed in 1985 and was demolished. However, many of the carvings were saved and ended up in the collection of Jordan Reichek. Jordan later put up these pieces for auction at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA in 2017 where they were purchased by Mark Sellers, the owner of Max's South Seas Hideaway in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and incorporated into that bar and restaurant where they can still be viewed in all their tiki glory.

This location had its grand opening February 22nd, 2024.

The 298-seat indoor-outdoor restaurant and bar was operated by Tampa-based 23 Restaurant Services, which purchased the rights to Don the Beachcomber in 2022. The hospitality group also operates Ford’s Garage, Yeoman’s, and Tiki Docks.

The Madeira Beach location was the first of many, according to 23 Restaurant Services, and they hope to re-launch this iconic brand with 10-15 of the tiki-themed restaurants across the Southeastern United States over the next several years.

Hurricane Helene caused extensive flooding damage to the property in September of 2024 and it shut its doors, presumably temporarily.

However, in January 0f 2025 it was announced that they would not reopen and instead will be converted into parent company 23 Restaurant Group’s Tiki Docks concept. Creative director Justin Peterson and beverage director Marie King said that all efforts (and much of the decor) will be directed toward the planned flagship Don the Beachcomber in Hamlin, near Orlando, estimated to be opening in mid- to late 2026.

Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, is a beachside resort hotel at the Ko Olina Resort in Kapolei, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. Alongside Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort and Disney's Vero Beach Resort, Aulani is Disney's third "stand-alone" hotel located in an area without any adjacent theme parks.

Aulani was opened to the public on August 29, 2011, with 359 hotel rooms and 460 time-share villas on 21 acres. A November 2018 report stated that, at that time, there were 351 rooms (in two 15-story towers), including 16 suites and 481 villas, most being "2-bedroom-equivalent." In an October 2018 review, it was noted that there were three restaurants with seating (Makahiki, Ulu Cafe, and 'AMA'AMA) as well as smaller outlets providing snacks, including the 'Off the Hook' poolside lounge. The bars (including The ‘Ōlelo Room adjacent to the Makahiki, Off The Hook, and the Wailana Pool Bar) offer a small selection of a dozen or so tropical cocktails. See menus below for Off The Hook and Wailana poolside dining/cocktails.

*NOTE: In 2011, when Aulani opened, Critiki chose not to include it in their directory and, indeed, mytiki.life held off from including it for some time as well. This is not because it isn't a wonderful resort, but because its very concept was outspokenly anti-Tiki in concept design. It was conceived as a love-letter to the Hawaiian people and they wanted to be as respectful of local culture as possible by downplaying Disney and tiki concepts and elevating Hawaii's historical and cultural aspects (lowercase "d" and upper case "H" as some designers put it). They did not want to overwhelm visitors with conflicting themes from other Disney IPs or draw criticism for including Enchanted Tiki Room/Rolly Crump style fantastical elements that were more of an Imagineer's dream than anything rooted in Polynesian culture.

Of course, being Disney, and a corporation with a need to synchronize properties and merchandise, they immediately began breaking their own rules, but even at that they were studiously rigorous about keeping things contained. A tiki-like Stitch statue from the film Lilo and Stitch, was placed prominently. Character actors portraying Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Stitch, and Moana interacted with visitors. Tiki-like menehune statues dotted the grounds, especially in child-friendly areas. These seemed like fairly unobtrusive and tasteful inclusions.

But no tiki mugs to be found...until Fall of 2023 when some elegant and restrained pieces showed up as part of a large set in their gift shop -- and not labeled as tiki mugs, but as "serveware".

So, with these "serveware" pieces in circulation, we've finally decided to add this resort to the listings. It may not embrace the Tiki Aesthetic as much as Disney's Polynesian Resort in Florida or other locations, and may remain more "tiki adjacent" than truly "poly pop tiki" but Aulani has definitely set foot into the mug collectors realm with their 2023 gift shop offerings.

Opened in September of 2013.

From Jungle:

"Welcome to Jungle, the original tiki bar transporting you from Brisbane to your own tropical paradise. Our handmade tiki hut takes inspiration from the Polynesian Islands, with a cocktail list just as tropical to match! You’ll find us centrally located in West End on Vulture Street. Though she is but small… she is mighty. Making and shaking is what we do, baby. We love mixing up tropical concoctions with a list of drinks reflecting seasonal produce and emerging rums. Let us know if you have a classic cocktail or something different in mind; we can more than likely whip that up for you. We also have a wall of rum, a range of local and international beers and tasty beverages rotating on tap."

Opened in 1970.

Dragon Island was a Polynesian themed Chinese restaurant located in Centereach Long Island, New York. As was not uncommon for Chinese restaurants of the time, it was completely immersed in the Polynesian tiki theme from the outside of the building, to the dining room, and even the advertisements. Past patrons remember fondly the bridges, ponds, delicious food, pu pu platters, and strong drinks. The only tiki mugs known to exist from Dragon Island are OMC matte black 47/42 "Droopy" mugs, with the name, town, and phone number on the back.

Dragon Island closed in the late 1980s. The building still stands and can be seen in its current incarnation on google maps.