Ground has been broken on Portland's newest tiki bar

On 2006-10-15 16:34, Robertiki wrote:

Had to yell at 3 adults as if they were small children on touching the velvets.

Sounds like you need some velvet ropes surrounding them.. :wink:

I am selling one of the outriggers:

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/fur/221346893.html

Call me at 503.267.2800

Robert

On 2006-10-16 10:11, Robertiki wrote:
I am selling one of the outriggers:

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/fur/221346893.html

Call me at 503.267.2800

Robert

HA! If I had the money, and a place to put it, I would be all over it. However, my sister just smacked me and told me no. Personally, I was hoping to use it as some form of interactive coffee table. Oh well.

Anyway, regardless of that, still looking forward to eventual opening! A time will come, when I can enter, and order me a mai tai. I look forward to that day!

I'll link this to the tiki marketplace forum. It would be nice to see this go to a TC member. Good luck with the sale and your new bar.

I can't wait for it to open....and we are moving to Portland soon :)

I just got around to blogging all of the tiki places I visited in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia in early October. Here are some images from the tour Robert and Theressa were so kind as to give me.

Black Velvets from the Pander Brothers, above and below. Their previous credits include artwork for DC comics' Batman.

Armet and Davis booth from a Dennys

Robert said this intimate area would be called the The Velvet Hut because it'll be lined with black velvet paintings.

This is the main area; remember, I visited almost six weeks ago so it'll look much farther along by now.

One of the artifacts from The Jasmine Tree

http://www.thelope.blogspot.com

[ Edited by: tikijackalope 2006-11-11 16:03 ]

Looks like it is making progress, thanks for the pictures!

Has anyone heard of an estimated opening date?

[ Edited by: MikeyTiki 2006-11-11 22:39 ]

Yeah, does anyone know??

On 2006-11-12 09:21, Robertiki wrote:
Yeah, does anyone know??

If you don't know I don't know who would. :)

Did the bar arrive on time?

the bar is installed. Gleaming stainless, 2 jockey boxes. plenty of rum room.
Robert

Wow. Nice score (again!) We will be in Portland for holiday visits in November and December so if Thatch be open, we be there.

http://blog.humuhumu.com/

[ Edited by: mrtikibar 2006-11-13 16:26 ]

Wow! Looking good. Those pictures are great. The wait is killing me :wink:

Best four words I've read in a long while:

plenty of rum room

And great to see art from the Panders.

[ Edited by: Rum Balls 2006-11-14 06:54 ]

A few Pander Bros fans have emailed me since my blog post to ask if I had any more pics of Pander velvets to post; I don't. I had no idea they had such a following. So, this reminds me, sometime ago...

Robertiki wrote

The Velvet Paintings, done by whiz kids Pander Bros. came out so much better than imagined. I almost peed myself at their unveiling. Ask me about the naked chick story sometime.

A naked chick story? That's the best kind...do tell.

'Lope, just a note to say as a child of sagebrush and the high desert of Eastern Oregon, I truly appreciate your nickname!

Robert,

Do you think that Thatch will be open before Christmas or New Years?

Hey Robert,

If you drop us an email or PM when you're ready for your opening we TIKI HUNTER would love to come back up to Portland from the Bay Area and vend at the opening to draw even more attention and customers for you! :D

Besides, we would love to see what survived from the Jasmine Tree! :tiki:

Vend???

We looked in this weekend while the door was open. It's come a long way since June. We also saw all the tiki statues in the empty space next door. is there going to be room for all those? Yowzah! I'm looking forward to many fine rum drinks there!

I have a goal.

New Years.

Robert

So are you going to make it for NYE?

well, after a long and hard work day. I realize that Thatch will not be open for NYE, especially since someone rented out POUR for big bucks and that will take all attention/staff.

I am looking at VIP/TCers party on Jan 5th. You have to send me a personal message to get on the list. I figure that way I can can keep out the rifraf/Jimmy Buffet fans.

Robertiki

On 2006-12-26 21:24, Robertiki wrote:
well, after a long and hard work day. I realize that Thatch will not be open for NYE, especially since someone rented out POUR for big bucks and that will take all attention/staff.

I am looking at VIP/TCers party on Jan 5th. You have to send me a personal message to get on the list. I figure that way I can can keep out the rifraf/Jimmy Buffet fans.

Robertiki

Aloha Robertiki,

Wish we could make it but looks dim. Might be able to Jack a Car Stereo for ya though!! lol!!
( remember your first-ish post??)

Anyway....Congrats on your almost opening!!!

Can't wait to see some pics!!!

Maybe we will meet in person some day and have a laugh, over a cocktail or 6!!!

May the powers of Tiki be in your Bar!!

Congrats on the opening Robert! Can't wait to check it out this summer.

Damn, the 5th? I don't move to Portland until the 11th. Oh well, I'll just have to go the following weekend.

Friday the 5th works for me, hope all goes well, I can't wait to see it finished!

You sure looked worn out the other day, so I hope you get some time to rest up before opening!. :wink:

Beyond exited to hear you'll be opening!

We've been hearing updates from Maori Man,
but haven't been able to stop by and see progress (since the crawl stop last June at least:).

Yeppers - the boss man and I put up the VIP hut roof yesterday. Looks great if I do say so myself. Tipsy factor is in full swing here folks - you will not be dissapointed! Lots of Jasmine tree artifacts to be seen also!

WOOOO!

Having a new local tiki bar is going to be the hilight of my year. Cannot wait!!!

Aw yeah! :D

I'm in, and I'll bring my camera!

On 2006-12-26 21:24, Robertiki wrote:
well, after a long and hard work day. I realize that Thatch will not be open for NYE, especially since someone rented out POUR for big bucks and that will take all attention/staff.

I am looking at VIP/TCers party on Jan 5th. You have to send me a personal message to get on the list. I figure that way I can can keep out the rifraf/Jimmy Buffet fans.

Robertiki

I've been hoping to find a tiki bar in Portland since I moved here from Hawaii in July.

When will Thatch be open to the public? I suspect I'll become a regular real quick!

I don't know if this is the official ad or a mock-up, but I ran across this today on a Portland design company's website ( http://www.gideonklindt.com/design.htm ), and I'm lovin' it!

All right, no Karaoke and no smoking!

Gideon, a friend of ours, did that for last year's TIKI-KON program. He did a great job.

I was thinking of the tag-line...

"The other 'Only' tiki bar in town"

Robert - play nice! Don't make me start a "drink" rumor about your bar now - and you know what I mean!

Oh man, I just saw the pic's of Thatch on Critiki. I am soo pumped to see the place when I move up there this Sunday. I might have to have my first drink in P-Town at Thatch this Sunday night...

I think Thatch is closed Sunday and Monday, so if you can't make it here Saturday you will have to wait until Tuesday. :(

Tiki gods must sleep. But yes, will be open tue through sat.

Until then, go to the Alibi, Old school.

And Thatch's hours of inebriation, er, operation are? :wink:

Tue through Sat, 5pm - late.

Late is subjective, but last night late = 2am.

soon will be 7 days a week. Right now gotta make repairs, more varnish on tables, get water feature pumps working, Etc.

water features, huh?
Here's some water features....

http://www.tikisbyseamus.com

just noticed this was post 420 - dude!

[ Edited by: seamus 2007-02-02 10:17 ]

I just made reservations to visit my sister in PDX weekend of February 17 - can't wait to see the new tiki bar!

This past friday, I pulled together a bunch of coworkers, a sister, and so on, and rolled out to Thatch.

Oh hell yes. The place isnt huge, but it is awesome. the ambiance is spot on. The drink menu isnt long, nor are the food choices, but they're just opened, so bearing that in mind, I had no complaints. Here's a list of things I noticed.

My Mai Tai came in the right kind of glass, was the right color, and tasted good.
My Blue Hawaiian wasnt too strong on the coconut, and was also, the right color.
the background music was good, and while the bar is noisy, as bars are, I was able to hear all the conversation within my group.
Not sure yet, but we think the combination of the cooking area, and the oil in the lamps on the table, caused my sister's eyes to sting. a periodic trip outside solved the problem.
The place felt like a tik ibar. No video poker, no TV's. There were some beer drinking hipsters, but they were the exception to the general crowd.

While sitting and talking, a group of us who had been to the old jasmine tree, were noticing various objects that had populated the old Jasmine. I was pleased to see them carrying on in a new tiki bar.

On the whole, I think the place has huge potential. As their food and beverage menu expands, and some minor operational kinks get ironed out, I could see the place becoming very popular. Other than an expanded menu, the only thing I think I could really wish for, would be some kind of patio for the place. In the summertime, that would be a complete winner for me. Regardless, I have a feeling that I'll be at Thatch every week :)

Thank you Robert!

On 2007-01-22 13:06, halicarnassus wrote:
Not sure yet, but we think the combination of the cooking area, and the oil in the lamps on the table, caused my sister's eyes to sting. a periodic trip outside solved the problem.

We have noticed the same thing, only since we came in at opening time, the stinging didn't start until much later when it got busy and they were making lots of food, so I don't think the lamps on the table are the problem. I'm not sure if it is the deep fryer, or the contact grill, but I think they need to put an exhaust fan over the kitchen area. What do you think Robert, is it in the plans?

wow, thanks for the great comments.

Yup, I don't ever want Lottery or TV's. Or Budwiser. I urged a young woman to leave after 15 minutes of her kvetching that we don't have bud or coors. I suggested she try Denny's.

The menu will get expanded, the plan is over 30 drinks, each day we try to add one or two as they get perfected.

Plus, the plan is 42 differnt types of rum. We already have a couple rare ones in there, like El Ron of Cuba.

The patio won't ever happen. Behind the back wall is, well, a house. I don't think busy Broadway is anyplace to enjoy a drink so out front is a bad idea also.

So the burning eyes sensation isn't from the lil' oil lamps, but a combination of the fire retardant material and moisture carrying it about the room. For something that isn't supposed to burn , the stuff really stings. I only had direct contact with it while hanging lights, I can't imagine what Mark (Maori man) went through spraying the stuff and later installing it.

Nine gallons of the stuff was sprayed to make it past the fire marshall.

The HVAC stystem didn't kick in and today I have someone coming out to not only fix it, but increase the fresh air return.

In all, thanks for the commennts and I'll keep trying to iron out the wrinkles.

Adding a new drink every few days...a goal of 42 types of rum...let's see, if I try to stop by once a week, that should keep me occupied through the rest of 2007! :)

So TC'ers, if you live in the Portland area and haven't been to Thatch yet, get on it! If you're out-of-town, make sure you stop by when you visit the Rose City. This place is great, and it keeps getting greater-er. And with no smoking, you can wear your fancy clothes and not go home stinking.
:drink:

I have to admit, not only do I like Thatch quite a bit, but I'm equally impressed with our proprietor, Robert, who's so interested and accepting of our constructive criticisms. I think that an owner who listens to his customers and does so in a positive way, can only win. To that end, I felt very welcome at thatch, and was pleased to see Robert's responses to what we have to say. For me, thats a business earner, no question.

I talked a bunch of coworkers into heading to thatch last friday night, and they all loved it. As I sit on my couch right now, I know that in ten minutes, me, my sister, and her boyfriend, are gonna get in the car, and drive over to thatch. We already have plans to meet people there for the evening's drinkings. I cannot wait.

I've also been working to convince all my coworkers to come out on friday nights by declaring Tiki Bar Friday. My shop is a combination Apple Computer dealer/design firm, so we're all a bit nuts. If I can get everyone out on a friday night, I like to think I'm doing my part to support the place!

Other thoughts:

as far as drinks go, I'd love to see a good, and I mean good, singapore sling on the menu. Others would be a zombie, some sort of mystery bowl drink, and maybe some incarnation of the hundred dollar mai tai, courtesy of Beachbum Berry. As far as foods go, teryaki skewers would rock, and Rumaki. My sister is vegetarian, so maybe fruit kabobs? My high hopes would also be on some form of pupu platter, but I'm not expecting the world :)

Robert, if I can help in any way, let me know. Even if its just burning CD's of tiki music, or posting flyers. You've got the support of this portlander, 110%!