Post #286893 by The Granite Tiki on Tue, Feb 20, 2007 12:44 AM

I was tipped off about this place by sputnikmoss who found an old mug from there.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22988&forum=5&8

My wife works not too far from here so I picked her up after work and we set off to find hidden treasure!

Hidden treasure is exactly what we found in an unassuming strip mall smack dab in Newton, MA!

From the outside, you'd never ever guess that there was cool stuff within, with the possible exception of the very beat up, but clearly old and funky sign.

And again, when you walk through the door, it's like a tale of two restaurants, the right side (not pictured here) looks like any nondescript 80s strip mall restaurant, for a split second, my heart sank like a stone.

But then I looked to the left, beyond the front desk and small lounge area that seemed to be decorated at the same time as the right half of the restaurant, and I saw bamboo, lots of it.

Then the murals and lamps caught my attention, and the back room.

We were seated and got our colorful menus, and as soon as the waiter came over, I asked if the drinks were served in Tiki mugs. There was a slight language barrier (which I always consider a good sign) and he thought I was asking for a specific drink that wasn't on the menu and he assured me that the bar tender could make anything, once we straightened all that out, he told us, "yes, the drinks are served in tiki mugs, but no, they had none for sale" (then he told me I could just get one at the restaurant supply place in Boston, which gave me a chuckle on the inside a little)

I sat facing a nice mural, and directly above my head was a kind of A-frame overhang that stylistically divided the two parts of the restaurant. Over my head to the right was a Shell Lamp. In front of me and to the right, over a good size table where 3 couples were seated (so I couldn't just snap pictures like a madman) was the only other Tiki lamp I saw.

The food was traditional New England Chinese Food and very tasty! I liked everything, though we only got pretty standard appetizers. The drinks were good and strong but also tasty. I ordered a Fogcutter (Because the mug pictured next to it was the kind that spunikmoss found so very far away) but when it came, there was no name on it and it was actually in a different mug than the picture. I don't remember what my wife Kate had, but she liked it very much.

I'm always afraid to be very obvious with my camera, so my pics didn't all come out as nice as I wanted. I did use the flash now and then which got me the best results, but I didn't want to risk someone telling me to stop.

Once we ordered, I got up and looked around the corner into the back room. This was the highlight!

A longer room, with 3 Shell Lamps down the middle and beautiful, colorful Polynesian murals on all walls. Here in New England, we just don't see this kind of thing very often anymore. I was in heaven.

At the far end of the long room, there was doorway (leading to the ladies room sign and an exit)that had two Tiki poles on either side.

I really loved this place, and will definitely go back again!

I think that back room would be great for a New England Tikifile get together, although parking seemed limited (it being basically in a small strip mall).

I recommend South Pacific in Newton, MA!!!!

[ Edited by: The Granite Tiki 2007-03-16 13:39 ]