Category: Tiki Bar

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Kaia’s Brings Tiki to the East Bay Suburbs

Located in downtown Danville, Kaia’s Island Kitchen & Tiki Bar recently opened serving Hawaiian inspired food and tropical cocktails in a family-friendly space filled with tiki decor. We found the food and drinks to be pretty good, along with friendly and fast service that made our stay very pleasant.

Having recently converted from a previous concept, there are still some growing pains for Kaia’s, including a website that’s under construction and no reservation method. Nonetheless, we drove up to Danville on a Saturday evening and were seated after about a 25 minute wait. The restaurant features plenty of bamboo features around the booths and tables, along with a separate bar area and nicely appointed lounge that is more dimly lit.

Our food order was delivered very quickly and I absolutely loved the tropical Cobb salad, with teriyaki chicken that was so delicious. Mrs. Mai Tai ordered the poke plate which included an elaborately carved avocado. Our server was friendly and very attentive, even with the restaurant running at capacity for the entirety of our visit. There is nice music playing though when it is really crowded you will have a hard time hearing it.

I’m pleased to report the cocktail menu includes legit classic tiki cocktails, including a Zombie, Planter’s Punch, and Navy Grog. The ’44 Mai Tai is pretty good and uses Appleton rum that is balanced and approachable for Kaia’s suburban audience. Mrs. Mai Tai’s Jet Pilot was also very good, as was our son’s Jungle Bird. Our other son had a Saturn that seemed to be a bit off balance, relying too much on gin in the mix.

Kaia’s is a legit tiki-inspired restaurant that seems to be doing many things right, including branded glassware, mugs, and apparel. We look forward to a wider variety of cocktails, as hinted on the menu.

Mai Tai
Jet Pilot
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Regression at Trad’r Sam

I wrote fairly glowingly about the refreshed interior at Trad’r Sam after their surprise and ultimately short-lived temporary shuttering in the fall of 2023. The world’s oldest continuously operating tiki bar was quickly back in business including a decor upgrades and graffiti-free restrooms.

After our wonderful dinner at Tommy’s Mexican we walked a couple blocks up Geary to see how the ol’ Trad’r was doing. There weren’t a lot of people in there just past six, and we settled at a table for conversation over drink. Greg and Debbie had been here before dinner so went with Cokes and Julie and I scanned the menu for some cocktails we’d like to try.

I had a great experience with a Singapore Sling on a past visit, and decided to skip the Mai Tai made with apricot brandy, sweet and sour, and pineapple juice (but at least it wasn’t blended like the Zombie and Navy Grog are). The Sling was, well it was fine – but really sweet. Meanwhile Mrs. Mai Tai went with the Toasted Almond cocktail which is a frozen drink and thanks to being frozen tasted pretty great and not so sweet. Maybe a frozen Zombie isn’t a bad choice next time.

I’m sad to report the restroom has regressed. While the walls are white they’re now covered in graffiti that was pretty raunchy, expressing to customers that Trad’r Sam is still quite divey and likely will remain so forever. Nonetheless, I do enjoy my visits here to remind myself of the history that’s been in place for almost 90 years.

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Tiki Classic Cocktails at Smuggler’s Cove

I found myself in SF on Wednesday for some rum drinking and socializing at Smuggler’s Cove. After finishing some rum I decided to go the cocktail route with two tiki classics and to see how well Smuggler’s Cove interpreted the originals, and it should be no surprise that both were excellent renditions. Because you can’t always have the Mai Tai, even if it is one of the best anywhere.

Navy Grog

The Navy Grog had plenty of rum as you’d expect but it is so well balanced you’d hardly notice. Taking inspiration from the Trader Vic’s version of this classic, Smuggler’s uses Allspice Dram as the key sweet and spice component to great effect.

Planter’s Punch

Even better was the Planter’s Punch that features Appleton 8 Reserve blended rum from Jamaica, with small measures of Allspice Dram and Angostura Bitters. I really loved the richness of this cocktail, including the Appleton rum that serves as an excellent backbone.

I must say it was great to see the Cove being pretty busy on a Wednesday, not so much that you couldn’t find a seat but more than enough to demonstrate the appeal of the city’s best exotic cocktails midweek. Two guys noticed the aloha wear a couple of us were wearing and peppered us with questions about the appeal of tiki bars. I don’t know if our answers were completely cogent (alcohol was involved, after all) but we did our best to extol the virtues.

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Orinda’s Boo Loo Lounge Keeps it Going

We had a very nice visit to Boo Loo Lounge, a small tiki bar located in the sleepy bedroom community of Orinda. Visiting on Friday evening was no problem since the BART station is a four minute walk away and we avoided rush hour traffic.

There have been some management changes at Boo Loo, but I’m pleased to report that the team remains committed to high quality cocktails and great hospitality. The venue’s small size next to the Orinda Theater means that there are ebbs and flows as guests come and go, but the team worked well to take drink orders and deliver them to the tables. We were treated to a great music mix from DJ Shy Hulud  that was a blend of exotic, psychedelic, and Latin tunes.

The cocktail menu at Boo Loo hasn’t changed, which means that their Saturn, Ruby Daiquiri, and Lady of Singapore are still great. Bartender Kriss knew me from The Kon-Tiki and suggested a Mai Tai made with a rare Nha Terra Grog rum from Portugal, and this had a really interesting flavor with white wine flavor notes.

Even better was Boo Loo’s standard Mai Tai that’s made with a blend of rums and just a bit of a grassy lean from the Rhum Agricole. It’s a really good Mai Tai, highly recommended, and Boo Loo continues to have a very nice rum selection if you’re looking for something new to try.

Mai Tai
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Disneyland Trivia and Doc Parks at Dr. Funk

Two visits this week to San Jose’s leading tiki bar, first for trivia night on Monday and then on Traditional Tiki Tuesday for a guest DJ set at Dr. Funk.

Risky Quizness brought their trivia set up on Monday once again, coinciding nicely with Mai Tai Monday where Dr. Funk’s excellent Mai Tai is only $8. The theme this time was Disneyland, a topic close to our hearts. We’d done pretty terribly at Office and Friends trivia, but this time with our sons in tow we did a team up effort and “The Rebel Spies” came in 4th place overall, not too shabby.

Traditional Tiki Tuesday features a rotating set of DJs who play records from 7-11 pm, plus all day Happy Hour which means that the Mai Tai is only $12 (plus, you know, some other cocktails). The “5th Tuesday” DJ this year is Doc Parks, yes the Doc Parks of bartending and tiki bar fame – who used to be a professional DJ before he moved in the hospitality industry. We dug Parks’ set, including a couple songs from Las Vegas surf band The New Waves.

DJ Doc Parks

Our food and drinks this week were pretty much perfect, and Mrs. Mai Tai is now just one rum from finishing Level 1 of the Rum Asylum rum list.

$8 Mai Tai Monday
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The Tiki Talk Show

I was pleased to be a guest on the latest episode of The Tiki Talk Show, available on YouTube and on podcast platforms. We had a great discussion with Ellie and Ryley who have recently launched their podcast with a focus on newer tiki bars and what’s happening now rather than a focus on the past.

I think this is a great angle and with their discussions with bar owners such as Jason Alexander from Devil’s Reef this should turn out to be an interesting series and to document what’s happening in the industry. There is also a focus on an artist each episode as well, so I’m looking forward to seeing who will pop up on future shows.

In our session we talked about Mai Tai stuff and my own journey, but also industry trends of within the tiki bar genre. We also discussed rating criteria, cocktail ingredients and ratios, and a comparison of historical tiki bars with modern ones. Check it out on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform.

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Is Zombie Village Making a Comeback?

After a round of cocktails at Smuggler’s Cove we Lyfted over to Zombie Village for more cocktails and to soak in the atmosphere Saturday night. In some past visits over the last couple years the venue hasn’t been that busy even on Saturdays, but we were pleasantly surprised to see that the space was very well attended this week including a large group that seemed to be holding some sort of convention over in the ice cave area. This was Maggie’s first visit and the huge tikis and special effects do continue to amaze guests.

The cocktail menu continues to have a nice selection of cocktails, almost all of which are from the venue’s launch in 2018 (thank you Doc Parks and crew!). We started with our two favorites: a Disco Banana for me and a Coco Pandan for Mrs. Mai Tai. Both were well-prepared, especially the Disco Banana that was frozen and had a great texture. I followed that up with a delicious and fassionola-forward Village Punch that still uses a fragrant gardenia as a garnish.

There were still a few of the amazing Woody Miller mugs for sale, one of which Joe snapped up to take home. There was a great energy and cool music at Zombie Village during our visit, and it was also so nice to see Carlos Jimenez (ex-Kon-Tiki) behind the bar as a new Villager. Things are looking up for this wonderful tropical oasis in San Francisco.