Category: Tiki Bar

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Bamboo Room Takeover at Trader Vic’s Emeryville

The Bamboo Room by Trader Vic’s recently opened in the Esmé Hotel in Miami, positioned as a drinks-focused tropical lounge featuring original cocktails and some Trader Vic’s classics. This concept is one of Trader Vic’s Hospitality Group’s venue concepts and isn’t a tiki bar but leans towards a cozy chill nightclub vibe, often featuring jazzy live music or DJs.

On Friday, Trader Vic’s brought a little bit of Miami beach to Emeryville by setting up the Lanyu Island room as the Bamboo Room featuring mood lighting and a special cocktail and food menu. Wait service was provided and the chairs and decor were drawn from items formerly in the Trader Vic’s London location.

The four cocktails were drawn from the Bamboo Room’s original cocktails and all were very good with Date in Dubai and The Park Lane being the best overall.

  • El Polinesio with Brugal 1888 rum, Vic’s grog mix, mint syrup, and lime is served in a fab flamingo class and has fruity notes.
  • Date in Dubai with date-infused bourbon and pistachio orgeat was a delight, a rich mouthfeel thanks to aquafaba and the blend of nuttiness and fruitiness was perfect.
  • The Park Lane with Tea-charged Tanqueray, amaro, coconut, passion fruit, white chocolate leaned the closest to traditional Trader Vic’s cocktails, but the light touch of coconut and rich flavors were truly outstanding.
  • Hinky Dinks is a clarified Mai Tai with Zacapa 23, lime, orange curacao, and orgeat. We spoke with some folks who didn’t really care for this but I found that this was a good midpoint between a traditional Mai Tai and the overly silky mouthfeel of many clarified cocktails. But having a more flavorful rum than Zacapa would definitely improve this.
Hinky Dinks

We didn’t try the food options as we had dinner in the restaurant. The Bamboo Room drinks could only be ordered in the lounge so I had to carry some back to our table. The chill music made the vibe in the room truly relaxing and provided a sense of what visitors can expect in Miami.

The Park Lane
El Polinesio and Date in Dubai
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Raid the Cove Rum Night at Smuggler’s Cove

Had a great time visiting the City on a chilly Wednesday evening to participate in a special discount program at Smuggler’s Cove. “Raid the Cove” meant that all rum pours were 20% off, a sizable discount especially for some of the Cove’s legendary rare (and, yes, expensive) rums.

The event ran smoothly considering the need for staff to gather all the rare and obscure bottles from within the tight confines of the venue. The staff really worked hard to fill orders and I saw many of the Rumbustion Society members working hard to add more rums to their checklist and saw numerous bottled drained!



I took the opportunity to try Appleton Joy for the first time, finding it quite good and definitely a lot more rich and funky than some of the other longer aged Appleton rums (especially Appleton 21). I compared Joy to Appleton 15 and definitely thought it was so much better, thanks in part to this blend of rums all being aged 25 years or longer.

We also took the opportunity to order a couple of Smuggler’s Cove’s famous original cocktails. Mrs. Mai Tai had Dr. Barca’s Fluffy Banana and I had the Rongo Rongo, both so rich and full of flavor (and booze!). Thanks to Melissa for making great cocktails despite all the chaos.



This probably wasn’t the best night for newbies to visit but for experienced rum nerds who are participating in the Rumbustion Society it was quite a good night for some less expensive rum pours.

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Circus Peanut Appreciation Party

Busy weekend for me planning and executing the cocktails for a party featuring BG Reynolds Circus Peanut Syrup. I made a welcome punch and then had a menu of four cocktails made to order. This was my first time doing bartending for a party, and yes I did make a few Ultimate Mai Tais as well.

Thanks to hosts Brenda and Glen who made it really easy to work behind the bar, and helped with some of the rum and ice for the party. And thanks to Jason Alexander and Rodney Stanton for the recipes for four of the five cocktails I served alongside my Hurricane riff.

  • Welcome punch: Honey Glazed Nut Punch
  • Cocktails: Barnum & Bailey Planters Punch, Djumbo Grog, a Clown Got Us Into This, and Hurriclown

Honey Glazed Nut Punch by Jason Alexander
¾ oz Lime juice
¾ oz Grapefruit juice
¾ oz Circus Peanut Syrup
¾ oz Honey Mix
½ oz Cinnamon syrup
2 oz Demerara rum

Barnum & Bailey Planter’s Punch by Jason Alexander
1 oz Lemon juice
¾ oz Circus Peanut syrup
¼ oz Don’s Spices
1½ oz Dark Jamaican rum
½ oz Demerara 151 rum
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
1 Dash Absinthe

A Clown Got Us into This  by Rodney Stanton
1½ oz Lime Juice
⅞ oz Circus Peanut Syrup
⅛ oz Grenadine
½ oz Creme de Banana
1½ oz Kuleana Rum Works Nanea
½ oz Overproof Jamaican Rum
2 Dashes Orange Bitters

Djumbo Grog by Jason Alexander
¾ oz Lime juice
1½ oz Grapefruit juice
1 oz Circus Peanut Syrup
¼ oz Cinnamon Syrup
½ oz Falernum
1 oz Plantation 3 Star
1 oz Plantation Original Dark
1 oz Plantation OFTD

Hurriclown by Kevin Crossman
1 oz Lemon Juice
¼ oz Passionfruit Syrup
¾ oz Circus Peanut Syrup
1½ oz Dark Jamaican Rum
½ oz Overproof Demerara Rum

Apologies to our friends at Kuleana Rum Works for not holding the bottle to show the label. Rookie mistake.

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The Best Mai Tai of 2025: Smuggler’s Cove

Yes, I know that we’re not far into 2025 but I wanted to acknowledge the excellent Mai Tai I had at Smuggler’s Cove last weekend and sort of put the stake in the ground as the gold standard for mainstream cocktail bar Mai Tais. Can other bars top it? Possibly, but the vast majority won’t even come close.

And Smuggler’s didn’t too shabby with the other cocktails in our order, all so well prepared and balanced just like we always experience there. A lot of places pay lip service to “craft cocktails” but few provide consistent excellence like the Cove. Kudos to the staff for continuing the tradition.

There was a nice crowd there at opening on Sunday, but not so many that you couldn’t find a seat to relax. I was also able to pick up the fabulous 15th Anniversary Mai Tai glass featuring eight colors and a really great design. The last thing I need is another Mai Tai glass but I have to salute owners Martin and Rebecca Cate, they really do have great taste and that fab design is a testament.

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The Best Tiki Bar in SoCal is Trader Sam’s

We had another great visit to Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel on our recent trip, arriving in the mid-evening on a Sunday during the holiday week between Christmas and New Year’s. Despite being such as busy weekend at the resort, we were paged and seated at the bar within just 20 minutes even without a reservation.

The cozy confines of this bar feel like home, thanks in part to the Skippers who recognize regulars or even irregular vacationers with a greeting. Such was the case for us again this time as Skipper Melissa said hello and took our order. For many years Mrs Mai Tai’s favorite drink has been the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum, which is the Trader Sam’s version of a Painkiller. And they made it just as great as usual, though as her tastes are changing it now might be too sweet for her palette. I asked for a Mai Tai with Smith & Cross Jamaica rum and it was simply fantastic and made totally on point, thanks to Skipper Melissa.

The ability for the bar staff to adapt to customer requests and even develop their own custom “secret menu” items is truly what separates Trader Sam’s from many bars. Even in a high volume location like this, I’ve never seen them bat an eye at this and in some occasions they’ve even encouraged orders of off-menu items. The staff here from greeters to servers really work well together.

Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum and Smith & Cross Mai Tai

The Disneyland version of Trader Sam’s has a few special effects when certain drinks are ordered, but this is relatively mild to the Disney World version where you can barely breathe in between effects and gags; the Disneyland version is better where it is a special event not an onslaught. The immersive space is impressive as is the friendly customer service at this Trader Sam’s where we saw a bartender reposition a guest so that they could see the Shipwreck on the Rocks display for their order.

Trader Sam’s has been an intro to tiki bars for so many people who likely are forever spoiled by the dark immersive space with so many thematic elements and exotica music that’s always on point. It is about as good as any tiki bar anywhere given the size and it is our favorite in the region.

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The Kahunas Tiki

We revisit Dec 30 when we visited tiki bars in the valley that we’ve never visited before. Intriguing to me due to their sushi offerings, we visited Kahuna Tiki and Kahuna Tiki Tu. Both are from the same team but there are significant differences in the restaurant type and cocktails.

Kahuna Tiki is in the NoHo Arts District not far from Tiki No and features a large outdoor space anchored by a very mature tree, water features, booth and gathering spaces, an outdoor bar, and a small indoor sushi bar with seating. It was cold so we ate inside the sushi bar. There are tiki nods throughout, though somewhat “tiki lite” in terms of density and quality. We loved our sushi and fried rice.

Kahuna Tiki Tu is a newer location connected to the Mikado Hotel and sandwiched by Riverside Drive and the 101 freeway. There’s a vast main dining area with Japanese touches, plus a large Moai to complement the “accent tikis” sprinkled throughout. There is a dark tiki bar off to the side, more traditionally decorated aside from the gigantic TV. There are few bar seats and some tables in the middle but we chose a bamboo booth. Food menu looked essentially similar to the sister location, though we were told some things are unique in each location. A patio overlooks the hotel pool and some decor elements borrow from Disney and other genres (yes. pirates).

Where the two Kahunas differ are the cocktails, since Kahuna Tiki has only a beer/wine license. As such they can’t use spirits but presumably more than enough of something to suit. I had the Majestic Mai Tai that was a fruit-forward refresher and Mrs. Mai Tai had the cherry-forward Stupid Cupid that uses a Red Vine as a straw. Both were fine, but things made more sense after we learned about their restrictions.

There are no such restrictions at Kahuna Tiku Tu, though their 1944 Mai Tai uses Planteray 5 and since they didn’t have an acceptable sub I went with it to some regret. Mrs. Mai Tai’s Headhunter Martini was a lot better, featuring vodka and banana/cinnamon notes that were really tasty.

Headhunter Martini

We enjoyed the visits including some easter eggs that Arnelle gave us at the first location before venturing to the second. We hear good things from locals that the service here is usually great, so if you like sushi these locations demand some tiki attention.

Kahuna Tiki

Kahuna Tiki Tu

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Cozy Checklist Night at Tiki No

We had a fab time checking off a few “first visit” tiki bars up in the San Fernando Valley before New Year’s. Tiki No was said to be more of a dive bar in North Hollywood (the “No” in Tiki No) but we arrived shortly after opening on Monday to find that it was couples night as everyone in the venue was paired.

I was so pleased to see an elaborate bamboo palace inside with some nice booths, plus a seating area parallel to the long thatch-covered bar. It was cold but we admired the small patio as well. Lighting is very cohesive and while the tikis are off the shelf I did admire the collection.

We tried and liked two cocktails, including their juicy Mai Tai that includes some pineapple juice in modest amounts plus Appleton rum and Cachaca that I didn’t really get major notes from but overall felt balanced pretty good. Mrs. Mai Tai was impressed by her flaming Toasted Marshmallow that included rum, vodka, Licor 43, spices, and apple juice. This cocktail had a great visual interest and the taste was pretty good too. We spotted a few nice rums but a lot of the back bar was filled with rums I don’t normally see there (I see you, Captain and Kraken). I’d come back for more drinks on future visits to LA.

The music at Tiki No deserves special mention since the music spanned many popular genres (though not surf or exotica, sadly). It was like all of Spotify was on shuffle as we heard these artist in consecutive order:

  • Hip Hop song (didn’t catch the artist)
  • The Cure
  • Motörhead
  • Cher
  • Delta Spirit
  • Miami Sound Machine
  • No Doubt
  • Sixpence None the Richer
  • Foreigner

Quite the collection, including This is Spinal Tap on the TV. Not really my preference for a tiki bar and I’d prefer pre-80s, but all in all not terrible. We enjoyed our short visit, though not as much as the couple in the booth next to us who were getting very… cozy.