Seattle – The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai

April 4, 2025April 4, 2025

Frozen Mai Tai at Bahama Breeze

After my conference in Redmond was over around Noon, I had a few hours to kill before heading to SeaTac airport for the trip home. After a few twists and turns I found myself in Tukwilla at the Westfield Southcenter, at which point I realized there was a Bahama Breeze restaurant in the back parking lot.

Entering Bahama Breeze was a tropical respite from the cold Seattle rain, and I found a table in the bar and free WiFi to actually do a little work before my flight. The place was pretty busy for a Friday afternoon with several large groups and a bunch of people meeting up in the bar as well.

Scanning the menu I spotted the Ultra Chill Mai Tai in the frozen section, featuring Appleton Signature rum, orgeat, pineapple, passion fruit, and lime juice – plus an Appleton floater. This seemed like an elevated version of what you might expect at a place like this and I’m pleased to report this frozen Mai Tai was pretty damn great. It tasted like a Mai Tai and there was plenty of booze in there, too. The Ultra Chill Mai Tai is highly recommended.

For a second drink I noticed they had Appleton Estate 8 on the list of premium rums, so I asked for their “Ultimate Margarita” but to sub the Appleton 8 for the tequila. The result was pretty close to a 1944 Mai Tai and plenty of flavor (should have asked no salt on the rim, though). The server was super fast and responsive and the island vibe inside was inspired.

It is too bad there aren’t any Bahama Breeze locations near me, but I’ll never skip this place on the way back to SeaTac.

March 31, 2025March 31, 2025

Mai Tai Shakeup at Inside Passage and Rumba

Ray suggested checking out Seattle’s “almost tiki bar” Inside Passage, so we popped in around 9:00 on Thursday to find a few spots at the bar and a couple open tables. As I scanned the menu I saw they have Kiki’s Premier Mai Tai, made with a symphony of rums including house barrel-aged Rivers Royale, Appleton 15, Chairman’s Reserve 1931, Rhum JM Terroir Volcanique, and Saint James 110 – plus two orange liqueurs. This premier Mai Tai has a premium price, $26, though the quality and price of the rums used means this is still a great value.

Having previously loved the Rumba Mai Tai that’s in the same venue as Inside Passage, I was looking forward to trying this monster and it exceeded my expectations in every way. So rich and flavorful, a Mai Tai that’s worth savoring every sip. I was very impressed.

I decided to order a Rumba Mai Tai to do a head-to-head comparison and the sister cocktail was delivered in short order. The richness of the Premier wasn’t present in the Rumba Mai Tai that really leaned into Martinique Agricole as the predominant flavor. The menu says this includes aged Rhum JM and a house barrel aged Wray & Nephew, but I didn’t taste oak or Jamaican notes as I would have expected. The overall mouthfeel wasn’t as great as I remember and I kind of ended up being disappointed with the Rumba Mai Tai.

So, sadly, we’re going to remove the Rumba Mai Tai from our list of Top Mai Tais in the world – to be replaced by the Inside Passage’s Premier Mai Tai! Sometimes you have to pay a little extra to get a lot better Mai Tai and Inside Passage really delivered.

Inside Passage remains impressive on the eyes, with nods to Seattle landmarks such as the World’s Fair and the old Trader Vic’s, even though it technically isn’t a tiki bar. Lots of fun and nice to see you might not absolutely require a reservation.

March 30, 2025March 30, 2025

Power Outage at Nui Nui / North Shore Lagoon

Thursday was a night out with Tiki with Ray and wanted to visit again the McMenamins Anderson School location in Bothell, where there’s a tiki bar now called Nui Nui that sits over the North Shore Lagoon indoor pool. Once again I was so impressed by the quality and quantity of the Polynesian artwork, and the overall bamboo-heavy decor. We took a table by a window overlooking the busy pool.

Shorty after receiving our first round of drinks, the power went out in the entire building – with some skylights, emergency lighting, and candles being the only thing illuminating the venue. The staff did an exemplary job reassuring customers and stated that while no new food orders would be taken they were still ready for additional drink orders. Turns out someone hit a telephone pole right outside the venue, toppling the pole and sending wires to the ground. The pool remained busy for a while and then was shut down a little while later.

I very much enjoyed the Mai Thai Steak Salad and paired it with a pretty reasonable Mai Tai made with light leaning McMenamins’ North Shore Lagoon rum blend and house orgeat. I followed that with Fashionably Tiki, an excellent and satisfying Old Fashioned riff made with the same rum, house Falernum, tiki bitters, and an orange peel. I really enjoyed both cocktails.

By the time we left it was well past sundown and some portions of the venue were extremely dark, a bummer for me because I couldn’t appreciate the vast artwork as well. Nonetheless, the patrons seemed to be in great spirits and once again we have to salute the staff for making the situation comfortable in the darkest of dark tiki bars.

June 2, 2024June 2, 2024

Custom Tiki Goth Club Shirts

Tiki Goth Club creator Tiki with Ray came up with a great idea where the shirt could be customized with a city or other location, which also allows for any bit of text.

There is nothing goth about my hometown, Fremont CA, so I went with Member Zero instead. That’s my membership number in the club, even lower than Ray who’s the founder and number one. For a time this was the most goth member number, though that distinction now goes to Devil’s Reef owner Jason Alexander who scored the coveted 666. We saw Ray in Seattle for Tiki Fest a couple months ago and there were several folks sporting Tiki Goth Club branding and Ray sold a bunch of membership kits. Thanks to Sean for the photo.

Custom Tiki Goth Club shirts are available for $38 including shipping. Contact Tiki with Ray for sizing and details. And go to tikigothclub.com to learn more about this fun extension of the tiki subculture.

April 2, 2024April 2, 2024

Tiki Palooza Seattle

Still catching up on the backlog of posts from mid-March but didn’t want to go without mentioning Tiki Palooza that was held a few weeks back in Seattle.

This event was hosted at Tim’s Tavern and started with a small tiki marketplace under the tavern’s covered patio area and some tiki drinks were served out of the adjacent trailer bar. The Tikipalooza Mai Tai was what it was, though I really enjoyed the Singapore Fling. We got to hang out in the marketplace with Andy Nazzal of Tiki Joe’s Ocean fame and bought the new CD single “Two Voyages.” Great exotica music if you haven’t heard. There was also a vendor selling Tiki Palooza swizzles.

The event transitioned indoors where Stephen Curran did a presentation about his travels to Papua New Guinea. This allowed attendees to order food or more drinks from inside the tavern, and Stephen’s presentation was top-notch with some great cultural details. With so much PNG artwork in so many tiki bars, it really was a treat to learn more about the people of the region.

The event then transitioned back to the patio for a paid/wristband entry for some live music from Tropical Itch and the Tikigraphs. The patio was in full swing, despite the cold and rainy weather, thanks to some heaters and the crowd that was filled with aloha. The bands sounded great and were very entertaining.

I lucked into being in town for this event, and it was modest in scale but was a really nice event for the Seattle crowd and a few interlopers like me.

March 28, 2024March 28, 2024

Midcentury Charm at West Seattle’s Three 9 Lounge

Three 9 Lounge is located in West Seattle and connected to West Seattle Bowl, offering an entrance off the street as well as from within the bowling alley. The lounge offers vintage decor and booth and lounge seating. The venue offers a variety of Polynesian inspired bar bites and a healthy number of classic and signature cocktails. The outside world is well camouflaged but this lounge does lean towards midcentury modern rather than classic dark tiki.

The Mai Tai is done a little differently, despite leading off the “Classics” menu, featuring aged rums, lime, almond, and a dash of coconut cream. The use of coconut cream is controversial, even in a small amount, though as a finished product thankfully this isn’t a Colada wannabe. The Mai Tai was pretty good, though weirdly not as bad as I expected given the use of coconut cream, but also not quite as good as I expected given the other ingredients and what I’ve heard about cocktails here.

I don’t hear tiki people talking much about Three 9 Lounge but I thought it was a nice destination and our service was pretty good even though it was Saturday night and fairly busy. The decor and seating do offer opportunities for a relaxing time with friends, and I’ll be happy to visit again the next time I’m in Seattle.

March 21, 2024March 21, 2024

Devil’s Reef Remains one of the Best Tiki Bars in America

Last year I was scheduled to do a Tiki with Ray Live interview at Devil’s Reef in Tacoma. That event was cancelled when I got COVID, so I made sure to visit on my recent trip. We arrived at opening on a Friday.

The venue remains largely the same as my last visit several years back. This is a dark immersive space, with nautical elements combined with tiki and horror. There’s a large bar along with several large booths and tables in the rear. Dark mood lighting and exotic mood music are in full effect. It is very relaxing inside and you’ll totally forget the rain or whatever is happening outside in downtown Tacoma.

The bar program is led by co-owner Jason Alexander, and incredibly leans on just a few Planteray rum expressions for nearly every cocktail. We were considering our order when Jason popped in unexpectedly, as he wasn’t scheduled for that shift. We caught up for a bit and when I asked about the relatively new Ferrand Dry Curacao Yuzu he immediately whipped up an incredible Yuzu Daiquiri that totally blew me away.

After Jason departed we were left in the capable hands of Gamaliel Giron who prepped great cocktails for our party. I thought that the Devil’s Reef’s Officer’s Mai Tai was fine but it didn’t blow me away. This cocktail isn’t beloved by Jason Alexander and I guess they’ve bowed to pressure to include it on the menu, but I give a wide berth considering how fantastic all the original cocktails I’ve had here are. I truly loved the Special Dry Planter’s Punch featuring Jamaica rum, falernum, and grenadine.

We didn’t try the food but we’ve heard good things, and there’s a set of non-alcoholic cocktail options on the menu as well. The Friday crowd was going pretty good by the time that we left around 7:00, so its great to see that one of the best tiki bars in America is still doing everything right. This place is a gem and to paraphrase the old Herb Caen line about Trader Vic’s (“the best restaurant in San Francisco is in Oakland”) we agree that the best tiki bar in Seattle is Devil’s Reef in Tacoma.