By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Nightlife Blogger and Tiki Bar Aficionado
Hermosa Beach has a tiki bar.
My first thought is this: what took so long? After all, the South Bay Beach Cities of which Hermosa is a part, is full of tropical-seeking rum-drink loving locals (the numbers of souvenir glasses in everyone’s cabinets from the Old Tony’s Fire Chiefs are evidence of that fact) who savor the leid-back lifestyle. Heck, just look around and see the number of people wearing Aloha shirts and flip flops.
And now there is one. Tiki Kai is open on Pier Plaza in the former Mediterraneo space. I expected it to be well done, some tropical decor with a few tiki torches outside, but what is there blew my top like an exploding volcano. It is a full-on Polynesian paradise with tropical lushness on the walls up to its high ceilings. About all that’s missing is a waterfall. It is also dimly lit to the point I could not get good photos of it even after some Photoshop enhancements. It brought to mind Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar at Disneyland because of the decor and the legendary Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas for the menu of drinks.
The real test, tho, comes not with the look but the execution. The staff seems well trained and is friendly. I can happily report that the Navy Grog is spot-on and strong. In fact, upon the first couple of tastes, I had Habatchi flashbacks, which was my first real taste of that tropical treasure. People would stumble out of that place laughing and talking to everyone they encountered. It was such a South Bay legend that when Rock’N Fish took over the spot the first thing it did was recreate that cocktail.
A friend, who has spend a lot of time in Hawaii, said the Mai Tai is better than any she has had there. That is high praise.
Now all that being said, this place is not cheap. The cocktails are around $20 and some have a lot of ice so you only get four to five good sips out of it. I do reason that the amount of alcohol in the drinks somewhat makes up for the price and $20 is not outrageous. I do recommend staying away from the beer; I paid something like 12 bucks for one and could have gotten a cocktail for a few more dollars. Apparently there is no Happy Hour. I did not eat there but a couple at a table told me the items on the Pupu Platter were very tasty.
Overall, I was impressed with Tiki Tai. It’s really more of a splurge place than a regular go-to bar. It is also, at least for now, mostly a place for dates and friends, which kind of goes against the singles mentality of Hermosa and the South Bay as a whole.
In fact, when you look on Tiki Kai’s website, one of the first things you see is a Reserve a Table button. I had a friend tell me when it first opened, he even had to reserve a seat at the bar and they told him which seat to take. He did not like that because he wanted to survey the scene but was placed next to an older woman who he said complained about everything. Now, when I went in with a few friends we walked right in with no problem and were happily served by the bartenders. There’s not a lot of standing-by-the-bar space so we were constantly moving out of the way from a lava flow of servers going past us but eventually, two barstools opened up and we were able to take those.
The bottom line is that Hermosa Beach has a tiki bar. The only other ones in the area are the much more casual Purple Orchid in El Segundo and the Hale Hawaii Lounge in Torrance but frankly driving that busy part of PCH, especially when rum drinks are involved, pretty much makes it a non-factor. Tiki Tai adds to the Hermosa Beach nightlife scene and that’s worthy of an “okole maluna.”
Kevin Wilkerson has several years of experience in the Hermosa Beach and Beach Cities bar and lifestyle scene, as well as an extensive knowledge of rum drinks, tiki bars and tiki culture. He has also covered Tiki Oasis for several years for his blog, PubClub.com.
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