Category: Tiki Bar

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Party Night at The Kon-Tiki Room

A big week for The Kon-Tiki room at Palmetto, Oakland’s newest tiki bar. They opened on Wednesday this week to coincide with a show at the Fox Theater across the street. Sounds like business was booming, which is the whole idea of the bar in this location.

Thursday wasn’t a show night but the Oakhana brought the party over from the original Kon-Tiki on 14th and Webster. Lots of fun.

The Grogs were a suggestion and were spicy and boozy. I also tried the Hash Browns that had a lovely sauce. Bar staff remains super friendly and accommodating, even making some off-menu Mai Tais with Saint Benevolence aged rum. Thanks to Bob Stear for the pour of Foursquare 2009, a very fine rum.

Longtime readers know we try to keep reviews and trip reports fair handed here. And despite my frequent advocacy of the Yacht Rock that is often played at The Kon-Tiki, I was not loving the 80s top 40 being played at Kon-Tiki Room on Thursday. I shouldn’t hear any Phil Collins songs in a tiki bar, much less four.

The Kon-Tiki Room is a lot of fun and the cocktails continue to impress.

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Mount Gay Rum Night at The Kon-Tiki

First brand sponsored rum tasting at The Kon-Tiki in quite some time. Mount Gay is a great choice, and I’m a big fan of their XO expression.

The special menu had some nice offerings. I’ve had the copper still rum expressions before so I tried the Barbados Slim; very good up cocktail with rich flavors of honey and Falernum.

The rum tasting was outside and we got to sample small portions of a cognac barrel aged sample. Hey, Mount Gay this rum is delicious, make it a limited edition retail product, please.

The food menu seemed a little larger than last time. In addition to the always fab Kon-Tiki Burger, I sampled the Calamari and Pork Bellies and both were great. More great service and a goovy vibe that Kon-Tiki is famous for.

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Pagan Idol Visit

Another bar it’s been too long since I visited. Very welcoming vibe inside Pagan Idol and service remains stellar, along with an exotic music program that plays well for newbies and tiki bar snobs (like me).

I didn’t love the Mai Tai. Like sister bar Zombie Village, this was too Agricole forward for me. But it was more tart than Zombie Village’s so really not in my wheelhouse. I only stayed for one drink, though, and didn’t lean into menu favorites such as the Day Walker which are always on par.

I see that Pagan Idol is starting up some live music performances coming up, featuring the Alcatraz Islanders who play some great swing era Hawaiian and jazz. I took BART for the first time in forever and it was a pretty good experience (everyone wore their masks) so more Pagan visits may be in my future.

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Return to the Village

Made a return visit to Zombie Village after a long absence and was pleased to see the vibe and overall service levels are still quite strong. On an early Saturday evening the music was peppy but exotic and instrumental, so still in line with the tropical aesthetic.

My Mai Tai was fine – a little heavy on the Rhum Agricole for my personal taste, but quite reasonable. I only stayed for one cocktail but it was nice chatting with some of the staff.

Zombie Village is still one of the key tiki bar destinations for anyone visiting San Francisco. I always love my visits to the village.

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Trader Sam’s Straw Handbag

Our newest Disney treasure.

Mrs. Mai Tai really liked this bag, which features the HippopotoMai-Tai mug as one of it’s design elements. There’s a nice pattern on the inside too. It looked very nice at the bar next to a Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum.

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Trader Sam’s: Easy Peasy

Trader Sam’s is under the Disneyland Dining reservation system, but @oldmanmerrell put out a note this week that the bar seats are NOT currently part of this. Which means that despite the app saying there were no reservations and that the “walk up list was at capacity” we can tell you that between checking in at the Tangaroa Terrace and being seated at the bar it was maybe 15 minutes at 1 pm Sunday.

Which is to say that if you go early it shouldn’t be a problem to get seated inside. We saw bar seats and a couple two top tables go unoccupied for 20 minutes or more!

We had some great cocktails starting with my Zambezi Sour with Bourbon, Grapefruit, Lme, and Falernum. Delish!

The rest were Sam’s classics to us, including the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum (not pictured), Piranha Pool, and (Shrunken) Zombie (Head).

We had a great time avoiding the heat, and even saw @downladdertiki (cheers!). Though the small child with healthy lungs kind of spoiled the mood. That can sometimes happen at a Disney resort.

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Hot afternoon at Tangaroa Terrace

It is hot in Anaheim, 97•. So we bailed on the parks and took showers back at the hotel. While Mrs Mai Tai took a nap I walked over to Tangaroa Terrace for a couple cocktails.

There were a couple bar seats available and I took one mostly in the shade right next to the to-go line. Very interesting to hear what people were ordering: lots of Dole Whips, with or without rum. Kudos to Skipper Joey for answering “Dark Rum” when a customer asked what kind of rum to add (Myers’s). So much better than Coconut liqueur.

I started with the Safari Swizzle, which is the Trader Sam’s version of the 151 Swizzle, made with Hamilton 151 rum. I enjoyed the mint and Ango, it’s a very nice cocktail.

Next up was a Mai Tai (ne HippopotoMai-Tai, note the emphasis on “Mai-Tai” on the menu). Regular reader will know that I detest the use of Bacardi Superior in the Mai Tai at Trader Sam’s so I asked to sub Appleton Reserve instead. It is sooooo much better with an aged Jamaican rum to compliment the Coruba Dark Jamaican rum that is normally called for. This was a fantastic Mai Tai.

Hanging out at the Tangaroa Terrace for the afternoon was quite a delight. They have some pretty good spirits here. Thank you Skipper Joey for the great cocktails.