Category: Tiki Bar

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Wilfred’s Lounge

The soft open for tiki ohana was tonight and it is time to add Napa to your Northern California tiki tours because Wilfred’s Lounge is fan-tastic!

Uma Ube and 1944 Mai Tai

Decor? Amazing. A few special effects but mostly some classic Polynesian decor and nautical elements. Lots of details.

Music? Lovely retro music including a variety of styles. Totally on point.

Food? Ranged from good to amazing. Fairly priced considering the quality and quantity. The Salmon Rangoon was the highlight.

Cocktails? Doc Parks’ cocktails were amazing. The Mai Tai was very good and several others were even better. Great mugs and cocktail glasses.

Service? Even during a soft open the staff were totally on point, super friendly and very attentive. Table service was very pleasant and easy. The bar was a little tight with packed attendance but the bar staff were very responsive.

Soft Open Cocktail Menu


More about Wilfred’s in upcoming posts, but suffice to say that this new tiki bar in downtown Napa is a hit. Wilfred’s officially opens on Friday, November 12.

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Kona Club

The 25th tiki bar I’ve visited this year is the Kona Club in Oakland.

Good news: The Kona Club hasn’t changed.
Bad news: The Kona Club hasn’t changed.

Which is to say that The Kona Club remains a curious example of Bay Area Tiki since it eschews the craft cocktail sensibilities of the most well-known tiki bars in the region. Kona Club’s interior decor is a gorgeous bamboo explosion and so nicely laid out (except for a few tiki tacky elements), including a large second room and a pool table room. The Hula Girl remains a central focus, though not animated while decked out for Halloween.

But Kona Club’s longstanding shortcomings remain present: rock music, pretty bad cocktails, and service that… isn’t awesome. My Mai Tai was only $10 (cheap!), but very forgettable.

They were training a new bartender and while she seemed earnest and attentive, the lead bartender was less so. I entered shortly after opening along with two other groups. As the first round was almost all delivered I asked the bartender a bar-related question and he gave me an answer that said “I don’t want to talk to you.” It was not busy (again, only three parties, most of which already had their drinks) so I don’t know why he was so short with me. Maybe because I wasn’t a regular. Maybe the Aloha shirt I was wearing branded me a snob. I mean, sorry for wearing an Aloha shirt in a tiki bar and taking an interest in your business.

There’s no reason a neighborhood / dive bar can’t adjust to be “more tiki” in this writer’s opinion (Bamboo Hut and Tiki Tom’s have transitioned to this approach in recent years). It takes less time to make a measured 1944 Mai Tai than the Mac Nut Chi-Chi the Kona Club is famous for. If the place was always busy I could maybe get behind “count pours” rather than measured pours, but as it stands I’m perplexed why there isn’t even an attempt to do better.

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New Cocktails at Trader Vic’s Emeryville

The new cocktail menu at Trader Vic’s Emeryville leans heavily on Trader Vic’s favorites, including “the Original Mai Tai” which is a Mai Tai made from scratch and not from their Mai Tai Concentrate mix. But there are a few new cocktails that were developed with Vic’s alum Brent Harris. I was able to sample three of this on a recent visit.

Vic’s Itch
This is a Tropical Itch riff that includes Dark and 151 rums, bourbon, passion fruit, fresh lemon, and fassionola. This was quite tasty and most definitely boozy.

Vic & Dotty
Supposedly a There Dots and a Dash riff, though without Rhum Agricole in my opinion it has strayed pretty far off. Contains Royal Amber and Appleton rums, falernum, grog mix, citrus, and honey. Very flavorful and totally felt like a classic Trader Vic’s cocktail, including orange and lemon. So it fits in nicely alongside favorites such as the Eastern Sour or Fogcutter.

Trader Vic’s Painkiller – not pictured
Features dark and gold rums, orange and pineapple, and Vic’s “coco-nutty house made Mandalay mix” with a dash of cream. Painkiller fans will feel right at home, but there’s definitely something different here – and I like it. Just a bit more complex than your typical Painkiller. Curious if our friends in Emeryville are playing with fire legally, though.

I wasn’t able to sample the other new cocktails:

Banana Dreams: rum, pineapple, grapefruit, lime, banana, fassionola. Also available without rum as the Dreamless Banana.

Drunken Monkey: blanco tequila, cachaca, citrus, banana, and orgeat, topped with lime zesty banana whipped cream.

For lunch I had all-time favorites Crab Rangoon and the Trader Vic’s Salad. It was nice to see the restaurant pretty full, too.

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Shag Menu at Trader Vic’s Emeryville

Quite the event on Thursday to celebrate the release of a refreshed cocktail menu at Trader Vic’s Emeryville. Don’t worry, Mai Tai and Navy Grog fans, those are still on the menu along with nearly all of your Trader Vic’s favorites. There are several new items developed in conjunction with Vic’s alum Brent Harris. Some of these are riffs on classic cocktails, and we’ll have more about that in tomorrow’s post.

The event Thursday featured Shag who did the cover for the new menu. The design is inspired by Trader Vic’s classic cocktail menu cover, done in Shag’s style and including a bunch of Trader Vic’s icons. Notably, this design omits the sexualized elements – but also women entirely. This is the first of a series of cocktail menu covers designed by contemporary artists.

Shag was also available from 6-9 pm to sign menus ($20 with donation to Easter Island Foundation) and any other Shag items. I arrived at around 7:40 and got the last menu available for sale. There were Aloha Shirts available in the same design but those were sold out well before I got there. True Trader Vic’s fans will have an opportunity for an additional batch of shirts.

The restaurant and lounge were totally packed, with DJ Otto spinning tunes. If future events come up again, be sure to plan ahead and make reservations.

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Happy Hulaween

Had to stop by @thekontikioakland for their Hulaween festivities last night. Some great rum samples and cocktails from O’ahu rum favorites @kohanarum. I enjoy their rum expressions, though their heavy cube-shaped bottles are… divisive. But the juice is fab, no doubt. I also hear great things about their distillery tour, so check them out the next time you’re on the island.

The Oakland Ohana costume party was in full swing and I came up with a simple but effective costume to pay tribute to Kon-Tiki’s co-owner @christaivaliotis, who’s well known for his amazing hospitality but also his amazing chest hair. Thanks @laurasmurphy for the photo.

The music was a spooky playlist covering a variety of genres and I really dug the mix. I was going sans-glasses for the costume so I think there was some Halloween decor but I can’t be sure.

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Tiki Tom’s

We’re late to the reopening party, but perhaps that helped our experience on Sunday. Mrs. Mai Tai did some shopping in Walnut Creek and we hit Tiki Tom’s for dinner and drinks. Everything they say about the remodel is true and even more so. It is gorgeous inside with all kinds of cool Hawaiian and Tiki elements. I loved the mug displays and nods to Disney and TV shows, plus some very immersive lighting and Hawaiian music that was totally on point.

Several people have told us that drinks were inconsistent, but my Mai Tai was really quite good. Mrs Mai Tai had the Dole Whip with a Dark Rum float that tasted very nice, and I also tried the original cocktail Blowfish Intoxica. This Hemingway Daiquiri riff with Rhum Agricole was really well prepared and balanced.

For food, I had the Shrimp and Pork Lumpia and also the Kalua Pork Sliders, while Mrs. Mai Tai had the Beet Salad and Coconut Nice. All the food we had was great, though since the kitchen is small the plates came out in pairs. Our server was quite earnest and friendly.

Patrons seem to be digging the new Tiki Tom’s. There weren’t any Frat bros or jocks on our visit, and one group even asked to be seated in the fantastic nautical-themed booth just past the bar.

If there’s a downside, the food and cocktail prices are at least ~$3-5 more than you’d expect to pay. We know the rent in downtown Walnut Creek is high, but prices seemed higher than Oakland or San Francisco. Nonetheless, we loved our visit to Tiki Tom’s and can’t wait to return.

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Boozy Cocktails at Forbidden Island

Had a really great couple of cocktails at Forbidden Island the other night. I started with a vintage cocktail, the Tradewinds. FI’s preparation was quite nice and I enjoy this cocktail that’s a combination of citrus, coconut creme, rum, and apricot brandy.

Next up was the Bombo, an old fashioned riff that features Forbidden Island’s barrel selection of Balcones Rum from Texas. The rum is high proof and very full flavored similar to Jamaican or Demerara rums. The cocktail features the Balcones rum over crushed ice along with dark brown sugar and fresh nutmeg on top. It was really outstanding.