Category: Tiki Bar

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New Menu at Boo Loo Lounge

It’s been a few months since our last visit to Orinda’s small tiki bar, Boo Loo Lounge. Of interest on our latest visit is the new and expanded cocktail menu that launched a couple months back and the first revision since the venue opened in 2023.

The menu format takes inspiration from Boo Loo’s location in the Orinda Theater complex, laying it out like a screenplay with red editorial notes in the margins. It’s a clever way to draw in many of the patrons who are new to tiki and visiting due to the proximity of the theater or the local restaurants and shops. There are 14 cocktails plus three NA options, plus beer and wine, and is a nice mix of classics along with a few originals and some good options for tequila, gin, and whiskey drinkers.

I’d heard the Mai Tai’s rum blend was reformulated but after scanning the menu I couldn’t help but get a Donnie’s Element, a banana/coconut/coffee cocktail with spiced rum that was developed by Chris Day and served at The Kon-Tiki during Day’s tenure there. It’s a truly fantastic cocktail and am so glad to see Boo Loo Lounge serving it. Mrs. Mai Tai ordered the Voodoo Grog that surprisingly is pretty heavy on the Rhum Agricole and so not really to her liking (or mine, really), though she did love the Donnie’s Element.

Those were the only cocktails we tried on this visit, though was interested in the special Halloween menu from Kriss “Cucuy” Gonzalez that’s also movie inspired. Check it out while you can.

Boo Loo Lounge is doing a lot of things right given the confines of their small space and sleepy suburban location. We arrived on Friday well before 5:00 and had the place mostly to ourselves but by the time we left there were several parties inside and there was a lot of great energy from the crowd and surf music playlist.

IYKYK
Donnie’s Element and Voodoo Grog
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Return to Tiki Pete

Longtime readers may remember my 2019 trip report from Tiki Pete, San Jose’s once singular tiki bar. Cocktails took 45 minutes to be delivered and we had a weird interaction with the owner, though not as uncomfortable as his replies to my post where he outed his server as trans amongst other transgressions. This has been one of the few places on our “do not recommend” list ever since.

But sometimes second chances are worthwhile and we like to stay open-minded. We found ourselves in downtown San Jose on Saturday at 8 pm so popped in to the sparsely attended venue to see how things were going. The space originally opened as Da Kine Island Grill restaurant but it has fully transformed into a weekend-only nightclub with almost all the space devoted to VIP Bottle Service, plus purple and red lighting, and most tiki elements stripped.

The Mai Tai is terrible

We sat at the bar and ordered a Tiki Pete Mai Tai, made with Nohia dark, gold, and 151 rums (Nohia must be a private label for this venue), and a Shirley Temple for Mrs Mai Tai. We try to grade on a sliding scale depending on the venue but this was a terrible Mai Tai that tasted like plain sugar and didn’t even have any rum flavor. Arguably worse was the Shirley Temple that tasted like overripe fruit and nothing like cherry or pomegranate. It bears repeating: they can’t even make a Shirley Temple correctly.

The Shirley Temple is worse

The cocktails are almost as worn down as the rest of the venue which lacks any charm and seemingly no budget for restroom maintenance or anything Hawaiian. The giant TV screens seem to be in working order, though, if UFC or college football is your thing..

The takeaway is that Tiki Pete’s heel turn is fully complete. Do not recommend. Still.

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The Last Rites Mai Tai

A bit unusual for us was that we were out fairly late in San Francisco last Saturday, after dinner and couple bars. There was interest in keeping the party going and we settled on Last Rites, arriving just before eleven. There was a short line outside but we were seated in about ten minutes.

There was good energy at Last Rites even as some of the crowd dispersed during our excursion. The great looking menu has been revised since our last visit and it’s somewhat easier to read than past editions. The manifest style design with blood stains really conveys the downed aircraft theme that Last Rites is famous for.

While David and Amy smartly went with the namesake Last Rites cocktail (still very good) I tried the Mai Tai to see if it was improved from the so-so versions I’ve had over the years. The menu says this has high ester rums, cashew, American triple sec, and lime and unfortunately found that I didn’t really get cashew or high ester flavors at all. Basically flat, like the one I had on my previous visit last year. Not terrible but not in line with the other great cocktails I’ve had here before or compared to Mrs. Mai Tai’s coffee-forward Permanent Midnight that was delicious.

The atmosphere inside Last Rites was a welcome respite from the high energy venues we’d visited earlier, one of the key reasons we love visiting this adventure themed bar.

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Witches Brew at Hula Hoops

While attending brunch we saw that Hula Hoops has a couple seasonal offerings and the Witches Brew was recommended. The ingredients are black rum, citrus, and charcoal syrup meaning this leans tart but overall pleasant. It’s served in a little cauldron and contains a little dry ice inside a metal tea bag, so it bubbles ever so subtly as you drink it!

The presentation is pretty interesting and the hanging witches hats throughout the venue make for fun photos. Check it out in South San Francisco while you still can.

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Twisted Tiki: Cozy Cocktails in Santa Ana

After our dinner on Saturday at Strong Water Anaheim, some of us wanted to keep the tiki thing going so we ventured out to see what else Orange County could offer. We attempted Stowaway in Tustin, where Mrs. Mai Tai and our friends had pre-gamed earlier, but when we arrived it was mid-evening and around an hour wait. Since none of us had been to Twisted Tiki in nearby Santa Ana we thought we’d give it a shot.

The Twisted Tiki is inside the McFadden Public Market, right off the main entrance on Main Street. The moai is your hint there’s something behind the door, and we were able to get a table basically right away inside the Bamboo Room where the bar is located. The Shipwreck room is across the Foyer and is used as an overflow space. Both rooms are small but nicely appointed with no windows to keep things dark and cozy, and for a food hall the decor is pretty reasonable – this certainly isn’t a million dollar build but for this type of venue we’ve seen far worse.

Trouble presented itself in the form of the headline for the first classic drink – the “Mai Ta”. Yeah, spelled like that. We try to set our expectations for places like this accordingly, and the cocktails here are – well, they’re okay. Not terrible but not nearly as good as the other tiki venues in the O.C. My Mai Tai and David’s Three Dots were both too diluted and Julie’s Purple Polynesian Sunset was too sweet. They can’t all be winners.

Mai Ta

If I was a local I’d give this place another shot, though, since the staff was friendly and the cozy interior is still pretty nice. Maybe try to come not at the busiest time of the week and try to sit at the bar to strike up some conversation with the bartender.

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Halloween Cocktails at Strong Water Anaheim

Many bars are celebrating Halloween with a specialty cocktail menu and decor, but few have as many interesting cocktail options as Strong Water in Anaheim, no surprise since they already have a stellar reputation for consistent quality. The Halloween menu is a series of nicely designed tarot cards that are also available for purchase.

My first cocktail was the Black Magick, a nod to the Mai Kai’s famous Black Magic, made with Jamaican rum, blackstrap rum, cinnamon, honey, grapefruit, lime, espresso, and bitters. Cruzan’s Blackstrap rum is not my favorite due to its weird maple syrup flavor, and you can taste it in this cocktail – but just a hint. This is a pretty good cocktail and not as coffee forward as some drinks, more of a coffee leaning grog.

Even better for me was the Dead to Port, featuring bourbon, Jamaican rum, and spiced cranberry. The wonderful blend of flavors were highlighted by the cranberry, making this seasonally appropriate and really delicious. Mrs. Mai Tai tried the Devil’s Corn, which reads as a Painkiller with candy corn syrup, but somehow manages to not be sickly sweet and is balanced well. Also delicious, with a fun presentation.

The interior of the bar has some spooky elements but this is a restrained overlay. We made a reservation for Saturday with a large group celebrating a birthday, and I had the pleasure of sitting the Beachbum Berry booth. Strong Water’s food and cocktails remain consistently great, and this Halloween menu is no exception.

Black Magick and Dead to Port