Tag: SanDiego

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Confessing Sins at Oculto 477 Speakeasy

We had a great time visiting Oculto 477 in Old Town San Diego. The reservation-only speakeasy is located inside the Tahona restaurant and adjacent to the El Campo Santo cemetery that dates to 1849. After checking in, you are provided with the rules of the speakeasy (two drink minimum, 90 mins max, no flash photography) and then brought into a confession booth of sorts where you must confess to one of the seven deadly sins and also how you sinned before entering.

Lorona cocktail

There’s a small bar and some loungy tables inside, plus one booth for a larger group which is where we were seated. The cocktail menu includes signature cocktails named after each deadly sin, plus other thematic cocktails such as the Graveyard Shift and 1849 Zombie. I went with Greed, a funky Negroni with rye whiskey and Jamaican rum. I can neither confirm nor deny what sin I confessed to, but I’ll confess that I loved Greed.

Greed

Everyone in our group seemed to enjoy the cocktails, and there are some great non-alcoholic options. Julie enjoyed the Lorona with ginger and carrot – plus a great presentation in a skull mug with a flower. Unlike the bar in Tahona that basically was nothing but agave spirts, Oculto includes a large variety of “brown spirits” as well.

The cocktail list includes a Dealer’s Choice option, an indication they’re interested in going off menu. Noticing pistachio orgeat on the menu, I took a chance and asked for a classic Mai Tai with Mexican rum. After confirming that pistachio orgeat was okay, they delivered a fantastic Mai Tai that used Dakabend Oaxacan Pot Still Rum. This was really great, and that heavy but sweet cane-juice rum was a fantastic choice by the bartender. One of the top 10 Mai Tais of the year so far.

Mai Tai with Mexican Rum

After exiting we asked the host what 477 means in the name, and she said it was the number of bodies in the cemetery! Quite a unique adventure in Old Town San Diego.

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False Idol: Immersive San Diego Tiki Bar

We skipped False Idol last year but prioritized visiting this time, making a reservation on Wednesday before Tiki Oasis. The bar was super crowded, but tables are given to those with reservations which helped. We’re aways impressed by the small but immersive bar that features great music and a ton of fish floats and an elaborate number of wall carvings by local legend Bosko Hrnjak.

The cocktail menu now comes in a gigantic book, which sets a lot of tone including a fictionalized backstory for the bar but also means you have to constantly leaf through the pages to make a decision. I haven’t been happy with the Mai Tais here in the past so went with a False Idol original called the Chunky Dunk, featuring banana and sherry, served up. It was fantastic, another banana drink that I simply love. Mrs. Mai Tai had the Pearl Diver, also very good and on par with the compelling one at Strong Water Anaheim that we had a couple months back.

Besides tiki classic and False Idol originals, there’s a portion of the menu called the reserve section where cocktails are prepared with premium spirts with a price to match. Against my better judgment I ordered the Reserve Mai Tai made with aged Rhum JM and Appleton 15 rum, and it was good but not really with the $32 price tag. Every other drink I’ve ever had a False Idol has been a home run but the Mai Tai remains sort of a scratch single, not bad but not as amazing as everything else. San Diego is not a good Mai Tai town.

We had a great time seeing folks from Tiki Oasis, plus tons of non-tiki people packing the place on a Wednesday evening. False Idol is located inside Craft & Commerce with a separate host station, reservations recommended.

Chunky Dunk
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No Tai Bali Hai Visit

Tiki Oasis weekend in San Diego kicked off in traditional style with a quick visit to the Bali Hai Restaurant on Shelter Island with DJ Ship Rex who’d never visited before. I’d only ever been for lunch or dinner and the mid-afternoon vibe was a lot more casual, with seating at the bar and in the rear portion of the lounge (no window seats, sadly), accompanied by live music.


Rex and I both wisely decided to keep things in moderation by avoiding the Bali Hai’s infamous “no juice” Mai Tai made with at least five ounces of rum! We watched the bartender prepare these and after tiny splashes of orgeat, sweet and sour mix, and curaçao a bit of ice is put into the glass. Then bottles of light and dark rum are positioned to pour into the glass. As Rex described it, “pour until full” meaning that there is tons of rum in the Bali Hai Mai Tai. Limit two per customer, as they say.

Goof Punch


We stuck with the pleasant and juicy Goof Punch that’s sort of an island style Mai Tai with lots of pineapple juice and a ton of flavor. As we exited the venue we attempted to take a selfie with Mr. Bali Hai but the sun was basically blinding but still a fun focal point. We stopped at Trader Mort’s liquor store on the way out and found many bottles of rum for sale including some overpriced items but also some deals, plus tiki mugs and other Trader Mort branded merch.


Shelter Island is still high on our list of destinations in San Diego and the beautiful views remain breathtaking.

Trader Mort’s
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Tommy Bahama’s Amazing Frozen Mai Tai

Had to make time to swing by the Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar at the Fashion Valley mall while we were across the street at Tiki Oasis. This still impresses, it tastes like a Mai Tai and has plenty of rummy flavor thanks to the dark rum float.

The Marlin Bar has pretty good cocktails and I enjoyed some great sliders as well. There was even a couple playing live music during our visit.

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Improved Mai Tai at San Diego’s Bali Hai

As we left San Diego for the airport we swung by Shelter Island to have an early dinner at Bali Hai. The place was quite full at opening on the Sunday, perhaps due to an earlier private event that kept some revelers in the bar.

Our dinner was pretty great, including the Ali’i Tasting platter that included coconut shrimp, tuna poke, spinach lumpia, beef skewers, and firecracker ribs. Everything on here was really good, including the ribs which aren’t always my thing. We also shared the Honey Cashew Shrimp that was expertly prepared and was totally savory.

We’ve discussed the Bali Hai’s infamous “no juice added” Mai Tai in the past, a rum-forward cocktail with 5 oz of rum! I had asked for a Mai Tai with Appleton 12, but was told they don’t make spirits substitutions on the Mai Tai. Instead, I tried the new to us Cutwater Spirits Mai Tai, the same recipe but using local favorites Cutwater Bali Hai Dark Rum and Cutwater Three Sheets White Rum. I haven’t tasted a lot of Cutwater rums neat, but I would say the final product is worth the up-charge as I found this Mai Tai to taste much more balanced than the standard issue. Still very booze-forward, though; warning, limit two per person.

Waterfront views

Bali Hai sold their 3 millionth Mai Tai a couple months ago and they seem to still be going strong. We love the views of the harbor and the Polynesian decor inside.

Ali’i Tasting platter
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San Diego’s Mothership is a Tiki Bar Turned Sci-Fi

We missed Mothership on our last trip to San Diego so we made sure to snag a reservation when their 30 day window opened. This immersive bar draws from Science Fiction and presents the concept of a crashed space ship on an alien planet. The concept is the space counterpart to “crashed ship” tiki bars: a little bit of metal and glass, plus a little bit of rocks and strange alien plants. All with haunting and electronic music as the background.

None of that immersion would be worth the hype without good food and drink options. Mothership has a few small bites, including some soft-serve ice cream options. Each has an interesting flavor twist, such as Ube, which we thought help reinforce the concept of exotic flavors. There’s also a nice selection of non-alcoholic cocktails.

Heliotropic and Homing Beacon Cocktails

On the cocktail menu, everything is space themed and there is a booziness scale. So, the Saturn is represented in classic form as a lighter option. The Mindkiller takes obvious nods from a Painkiller but includes Tangerine, Amaro, and a Tang cordial. The Heliotropic is the very good Mai Tai riff, including tangy Kumquat, Piloncillo Orgeat, and Mole bitters. We really liked the cocktails here, but our favorite was Star Raider with rums, Crème de Cassis, Crème de Banana, Cynar, and a raspberry grenadine. So fruity with complex flavors.

Reservations are nearly essential for Mothership, though there’s a standing room area across from the bar that might allow for last minute entry. Our service was super friendly and efficient at providing multiple rounds during our 90 minute reservation. They even offered to split the check three ways for our part of five. The outside of Mothership looks like yet another Mission Style building but inside there’s so much more.

Star Raider
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Frozen Mai Tai at Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar

The bad thing about the Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai is that you sometimes have to take one of the team and try a cocktail that isn’t the best. Sometimes they’re the very worst. But sometimes these expected bad Mai Tais aren’t bad at all, in fact they’re great.

Such was the case at the Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar at the Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego. This bar and restaurant is attached outside to the Tommy Bahama clothing store and the mall is right behind the hotel where we’re staying for Tiki Oasis. “Why not, I’m on vacation” was the concept for ordering the Frozen Mai Tai and this cocktail was a total delight. Really good flavors that actually resembled a Mai Tai along with plenty of Trader Vic’s Dark rum meant this was plenty boozy and totally satisfying.

For lunch I did the Poke Bowl and this too was quite good with plenty of ingredients and complex but approachable flavors. The lunch was so good we made a second visit on the trip and found the results to just as great.

I didn’t have “Top 20 Mai Tai of the year” on my bingo card, but the Tommy Bahama Frozen Mai Tai is now in the running.