Post #781096 by Wearefunkytiki on Sat, Nov 4, 2017 11:58 AM

Found myself in Houston for the last three days and unfortunately our group didn't have enough time to go downtown to the Lei Low. So, being that the Volcano Room was only 1.5 miles from the hotel ... off we go.

Inside decorations were nice, but spartan. The floor was bare sealed concrete but the ceiling was filled with hanging bamboo poles, there were several Moai, and a nice little secluded lounge area with upholstered furniture. Unfortunately there was Hip Hop playing for music and the dozen or so people inside were not sporting any kind of a tiki vibe. Can't judge a book by its cover ... but a middling first impression.

The bar itself was a non-tiki in style with metal stools. However there was a nice selection of rums on the wall behind and the bartender greeted us warmly. I had looked at the Yelp and Facebook posts and had been expecting good things. The drink recipes seemed honest and pictures of the cocktails looked like some effort had gone into crafting them. I liked the garnishes, flaming limes, etc..

What better way to gauge things but to order a Navy Grog to start off? You can tell much about a bar by how it goes about slinging one of these together. It's a good drink to test the tiki waters needing a selection of rums, funky and otherwise, spices and a balance of grapefruit and sweet.

Mine was was served in a tall blue tiki mug with no garnish. From the first sip something was very much wrong. Thin. Really thin. No sour from grapefruit, no heady rush from the rum, and just the barest hint of allspice. So I asked CJ, our bartender, for how he made the drink (in the nicest way). He explained with great earnestness how he used Meyer's rum and Tito's Vodka with a splash of this and that. Uggg. Vodka? In all my days .. in all my travels ... I've never had vodka in a Grog. I slipped my stool a little bit away from the bar in fears of the Tiki Gods smiting this poor fellow due to his blasphemous concoction. It didn't even follow the ingredients on the menu!

Call me a glutton for punishment but I went back to the well one more time and requested the Mai Tai. What's the old adage? Fool me once...shame on me. Fool me twice ... well ... it was bad. Not OJ in your Mai Tai bad ... but really incredibly sweet. No mint garnish as well. I didn't see what orgeat he used, but I suspect Torani (or something similar) due to the sweetness. Maybe someone will tell me that CJ was not the typical bartender or that I should try it some other time ... but these drinks were killers (and not in a good way)

The positives were definitely the food. We had pulled pork sliders and tacos with Jerked Chicken Quesos. Very tasty.

We did not stay for another drink. We paid up and left via Uber to stop in at the Nobi House (one of my favorite places in Clear Lake) to watch the Dodgers lose the World Series.

So. Overall for the Volcano Room. Grade D. DO NOT RECOMMEND

[ Edited by: Wearefunkytiki 2017-11-04 13:19 ]