Pagan Idol
San Francisco, California, United States
Pagan Idol opened in San Francisco's Financial District on February 24th, 2016. The bar is owned by the Future Bars group, which owns a variety of craft cocktail bars around the San Francisco Bay Area.
Pagan Idol has a front bar, which is designed to look like the inside of a wooden ship, complete with porthole views of swimming fish, and blown glass tentacle light fixtures.
Red-lit stairs lead to the back bar, which is where the full-on Polynesian Pop experience can be found. A second bar is lined with zebrawood and backed by lava windows. Overlooking the bar is a massive tiki carved by Crazy Al Evans, and a large outrigger canoe hangs overhead. A tangle of ropes and fishing floats decorates the bar. The walls are lined with Tongan tapa cloth designs.
Just beyond, the room opens up, and a night sky of twinkling stars hangs overhead, with a volcano waterfall and two cozy booths. Looming over this room is a second large tiki, this one carved by Ivan Lee Mora. Periodically, the volcano "erupts" and a fog creeps along the starry sky, adding to the moodiness of the room.
The soundtrack is all Exotica and hapa-haole music. The drink menu is all original tropical drinks, but a full array of classic tiki drinks can be ordered off-menu.
In the 1950s, this same location held Tiki Bob's Mainland Rendezvous.
Details
- Type
- Bar
- Phone
- +1 415-985-6375
- Address
- San Francisco, California, United States
- Closed?
- No
- Links
Gallery
8 Tiki Mugs
1 Swizzle Stick
26 Visits
tabithablanken – 3 Feb 2023
We got to this bar right when it first opened, so we were the first ones in there for a little bit. The doorman gave me some serious side-eye for my Chinatown dim sum bag, and I had to promise that we wouldn't eat it inside. Which was weird, because there wasn't any food on the menu. The bar was really pretty with the stained glass and dark wood and all of the plants, but the octopus/nautical thing wasn't my favorite interpretation. We ordered a scorpion bowl and it was just okay. Then some FinTech bros came in and started loudly talking at the bar, and the vibes were totally off. Decided to leave without spending too much time here. Honestly wasn't much memorable about it.
TikiDeathMetal – Date: Unknown
DeltaTikiphile – 1 Dec 2023
The decor of this place is pretty good, but it's spatially awkward. There's a fair amount of wasted space. Better than half of the seating is made up of small stools that are an awkward height, and the tables are even more awkward, making that part of the experience uncomfortable. The best part of the visit was the bartender; he was a nice fellow. We were there early on a Friday night, so maybe it picked up later; but while we were there, the place was pretty dead. I wanted to like this bar, but it's in last place of the eight Bay Area tiki establishments we visited this weekend.
Mstiki – 16 May 2017
Cape FM – 9 Apr 2017
1st attempt was shortly after opening when only the front bar was open. It was really crowded with non-tiki people and there was barely room to stand let alone sit so I left. Went back at midnight the same day at the end of a long day of visiting San Francisco Tiki and brewery spots, so probably not the most objective palate by that point. However, I thought their spin on a mai tai and zombie were both great. Vibe was also much more chill and escapist at that time. Cool decor and water feature in the back.
TikiJosh – Date: Unknown
swizzle – 6 May 2024
Commodore Matt – 24 Aug 2024
Andrew Smith – Date: Unknown
Chuckbob – Date: Unknown
chris austin – Date: Unknown
StevenScuba – 17 May 2023
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