Post #783095 by Tiki Doug on Sat, Jan 13, 2018 7:13 PM

Behold! Below are pictures of Tiki Rock.

First impressions:

The drinks are good. Very good. I'll quibble over the Mai Tai. It was a little light on orgeat. The Rum Barrel, Donga Punch, and Saturn were top notch.

The food was not as good as the drinks. Sushi is good, but they're not taking away any business from Oishii. Dumplings and pork buns are very good. Other items were nothing to write about.

Service was excellent. Food and drinks came out quickly. The staff was really interested in seeing we had a good time.

The decor. This is where the tiki meets the road.

• There is one tiki. Decor reads a little more oceanic than tiki with lots of fish. Very little bamboo and no tapa.
• The lighting level is good, but the open kitchen is glaringly out of place (literally).
• Simple lighting scheme.
• There are two TVs. Normally, for me, this would be an automatic "not a tiki bar", but to their credit the brightness and sound are turned down.
• Up until 8pm, the music was a decent mix of Hawaiian, exotica, and Elvis. After 8 it was hits from the 80's. I'm talking Duran Duran, OMD, and Simple Minds. I'm not sure what the thinking is. Right demographic, wrong audience.
• Large windows work in the dark of Winter. Not sure what the plan is for Summer when the sun will ruin the place.
• Bathrooms are tasteful and not out of place with a few bamboo accents.

Overall, I'd have to call this tiki-light. It's better than Kowloon, but the Mai Kai it ain't. Put it dead in-between.