Post #777305 by Ragbag Comics on Wed, Jun 28, 2017 10:32 AM

We haven't made it here yet (and... frankly based on the pictures of the inside, I'm not really jonesing to go anytime soon, but will stop in if we're in the neighborhood.) I do know some folks who have walked through it before it opened and they know the owners.

From what I heard, it is very clean and very safe in terms of decor... the pictures I've seen remind me of a hotel bar at a brand new Hilton in Hawaii or something. Or like what Best Western did to completely bastardize the Islands at the Hanalei (only without the handful of remaining Tiki elements from the Islands that are still clinging on there.)

The food menu looks wonderful, actually, and one of the owners (and I believe the chef) also owns Black Sheep here in town, which has good food. The drink menu also seems well researched, mostly, from what I can tell.

But yeah... the decor... is kinda non existent from what I've been able to surmise, insofar as what makes Tiki TIKI. This seems to look/feel more like Roy's in Chicago (high-end Hawaiian restaurant... wonderful food, not a Tiki bar) or a place like Bob Chinn's with better drinks (where they do have the "Bob Chinn's Mai Tai" which is very fruity and sweet, and they've made them, served in big plastic Tiki cups for probably 30+ years.) Again... not a Tiki bar.

The owners here are totally different from Lucky Joe's. The main man, in terms of Tiki, from there, Lee, now owns/operates Lucky Joe's Alchemy & Eatery in Wauwatosa (not a Tiki bar... more of a higher end craft cocktail place.) He's also starting up a Tiki Tuesday deal at Boone & Crockett in Bay View (a great craft cocktail bar) that just had its inaugural run last night... Dave Hansen was there carving Tikis, and it sounds like it was a great time (I was working, so I didn't go.)

We'll give a full run-down when we visit here - I suspect I'll feel almost identical to how I felt about Wauwatiki when they opened - Good food, decent drinks... not a Tiki bar, and (for me at least) not really worth the effort to go all the way there if I want an actual Tiki experience.

For that, we have Foundation.

And our basement.

-Pete