Post #79563 by tikijackalope on Fri, Mar 5, 2004 10:48 PM

I'm often in Joplin MO, which is only 5 hrs from St. Louis; I may have to go on a photo safari soon.
Also, tikibars asked:

...please do tell us what Terry's Polynesian Room is like (3930 N. Kingshighway Blvd.)?

I posted about this last fall:
https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic-new.php?topic=6138&forum=1

Armed with Tiki Road Trip, I called the only entries for those states. Aloha Kai in Shawnee (near Kansas City) KS is apparently out of business as the number was disconnected...same with Terry's Polynesian Room in St Louis. Directory assistance has neither restaurant. Can any locals confirm they are gone and tell us what they were like?

At that time I also asked about the Venice Café, 1901 Pestalozzi St. in Soulard. Now that we have some new members, has anyone been there?

Here is the text of a review I ran across for the Venice Cafe' last fall at http://www.garagepunk.com/lowlifeguide/eat.html :

"The really, really sad thing about the Venice is that it is probably thee closest thing we St. Louisans have to an honest-to-god tiki bar (at least in atmosphere), but get this: they play reggae music. Ugh. Oh well, maybe that's your bag, but to this lowlife, if you've heard one reggae song, well, you've heard enough, LOL! That aside, the Venice is a pretty cool place. It's not one of my favorite hangouts but it's a neat place to take visiting friends and maybe even your more daring relatives. They'll at least be too busy studying the odd decorations to complain about the music.

I just called Venice Cafe' (314-772-5994), for the third time in several months and was not able to get a decent description of the decor.