Post #796464 by tikitonga on Fri, Jul 26, 2019 5:01 PM

I didn't see this bar come up in a search here, so I thought I'd give it a mention. Just got back from a 3 week vacation in Italy and we had set aside a few days to hang out in Rome. And any time we visit a new (to us) city, we do a quick search for Tiki Bars and this place seemed to be really interesting. The Makai Surf and Tiki Bar. They "claim" to be Rome's first TIki Bar. While I'm sure that's up for debate, they certainly did their best to deliver. We arrived 45 minutes before the downstairs bar actually opened, but they were nice enough to let us in anyway. We had the whole place to ourselves. They really put an effort in to getting the grotto feel going. It's interesting to see the Italian take on the genre, and they did a better job than some bars I've been to here in the States! The other great touch was their music selection. All the music they played had some connection to either Tiki or rum culture. A nice touch. The drink menu came on parchment that had been burned around the edges...again, nice attention to detail. And the drinks were really well done, comparable, if not better, than some of the top tier bars here in California. Speaking of which, once they realized we were from Cali, they treated us like royalty and started naming off all the local bars; "Smuggler's Cove! Forbidden Island! Trader Vic's"....they obviously had done some homework and it showed. They even treated us to a round of rum shots before we left. I had so much fun I paid through the nose for a mug....my only souvenir from the entire trip. Great people! So if you ever find yourself wandering the ancient cobblestoned roads of Rome and want a little Tiki infusion, I recommend this place. We really had a great time.