Two in a night to finish off the planned part of October tiki road trip with visits to both Golden Tiki and Frankie’s.

It’s a Monday night and to be honest I’m still a little exhausted from running the Chicago marathon on Sunday (which was the main reason for my trip from Australia to the US) but I’ve only got one night here on the way home so let’s do it!

I started at Golden Tiki as they have a food menu but sadly at 8pm was a smaller version of it so kicked off with some pork meatballs and fries and started with a Painkiller.

Place was packed for a Monday night - I had to wait a while to grab a seat at the bar. The bar has really great decor although the poker machines at the bar were a trip (it is Vegas but I guess I wasn’t expecting it entirely like this - lots of bars in Australia have poker machines but they put them in a separate room, so I guess that’s what I thought I’d see). I couldn’t grab the iconic “clam shell” photo as this was moved to accommodate a band (yes on Monday night!). I’ve also not posted the photos of the excellent velvet paintings as they are a little rude and I didn’t want to have to flag this post!

The staff were friendly but busy so hard to chat to anyone except Jake on the door whilst I waited for my Uber. I did play a little poker at the bar but only dropped a $20 as I’m not really a gambler. Cashed out with $5 left just to see what the ticket looked like (it wasn’t really souvenir-able so I cashed it for the 5 spot).

Golden Tiki was also great but selfishly I’d prefer it a little less crowded.

To my knowledge, there are two must-see tiki bars in Vegas, The Golden Tiki and Frankie's Tiki Room. The Golden Tiki is definitely the larger and more elaborate of the two, with food as well as cocktails on the menu, and decor meant to rival anything you'd see at Disneyland. (Including animatronic parrots that swear like sailors.)

Visited here with Ilene while we were in town with my son to take part in the Las Vegas Archery Shoot.

Best Tiki bar in town, best Tiki bar I've been to (out of 12). Awesome entry, awesome decor, awesome drinks, good food. Some of the decor is "tongue in cheek" and/or "adult" which some tiki-philes might not like, but I think they pull it off beautifully. The place is packed with art and other conversation pieces to catch your eye. There are several different rooms or areas where the theming shifts. They had a DJ the night we were there, and it was '80s night, so no exotica music - but the place and the energy is so awesome that you don't care. My only critique is that they didn't sell or serve from mugs while we were there - but apparently they do now. Can't wait to go back!

On vegas anniversary trip with Gwen

great time after bad week

Gave Adam Rains a Southpaw Barbershop pin

First real tiki bar! Tons of fun and really kicked off my love of this!

1 visit summer of 2020, wow, this place is fantastic. Better than Frankie's, also more expensive. But damn, will hit again.