New Tiki Bar in (of all places) Fairfax, CA!

....tiki scoop....tiki scoop....tiki scoop....

"Mr. Vise Grip's" Bamboo Bar has opened in Fairfax. (This is NOT the Fairfax part of LA) Located downtown, it shares space with 19 Broadway, a bar & niteclub. It's open from Thursday to Sunday and looks pretty darn good. A couple of lit puffers, several Mai Tiki-looking wall tikis, two 4' guys on the floor, and killer ceiling fans painted like palm fronds. Small, but acceptable drink menu, the bartender pours a little loosey goosey, but they use fresh lime. Mai Tai recipe is bizzarely accurate except for pineapple juice. Zombie tasted OK, though a splash too much grenadine. Chi Chi was solid and served in a coconut. All others served in hurricanes. One bowl drink on the menu for $22 served in regular volcano bowl- a nice suprise.

Has been open for two months now, and is doing very well. Suggest we assemble a NoCal assualt team at earliest convienence to descend on Fairfax and investigate in more detail. Perhaps June 21st, when we will be able to enjoy the always seductive sounds of Project Pimento, playing right next door.

-martin

[ Edited by: martiki6 on 2003-06-09 10:38 ]

We saw that advertised over the weekend in the Bohemian, and were pleasantly surprised.

I'm in! June 19 is my birthday, you know, in case anyone wants to bring a present/buy me a bday drink. :P

Where is Fairfax? I guess I don't know my California geography as well as I thought I did.

On 2003-06-09 10:42, PiPhiRho wrote:
Where is Fairfax?

It's in Marin County.

--cindy

Hey, June 19 is MY birthday!!!!

Happy birthday to us all!

I will be in Cannes that day, looking for the elusive french tiki bar... actually more like watching hours of incomprehensible Brazilian and Japanese TV commercials and listening to keynote speakers discuss whether Diet Dr. Pepper indeed tastes more like Dr. Pepper...

I will try to find SOMEWHERE to have a Mai Tai on my birthday though!

And all you folks can have one for me too.

Whee!

Local locales rock.

Stopped for a quick visit to the Bamboo Room yesterday after seeing Junior Brown at Rancho Nicasio. I was impressed with the decor and atmosphere. Lots of bamboo, rattan furniture, thatched roofs over the bar and tables, a few lamps and illuminated puffer fish, and of course several tikis. One of the wall mounted tikis has red illuminated eyes.

The drink menu was small, only having a few classic tiki drinks such as the Zombie, and a bit of a disappointment as every drink except the daquiri had pineapple juice, even the Mai Tai. I was driving back to Oakland and I had already had a few beers at the show so I didn't get to sample the drinks. I'll be back though and I'll probably start with the banana daquiri that's made with fresh lime (as are most of the drinks) and real banana, or a mojito, that I saw the bartender making with fresh mint.

The bartender John, formerly at Club Deluxe, was very friendly and professional and he took great pride and pleasure in making the drinks. I saw him make a volcano bowl drink ($22) and he seemed more excited with the flaming presentation than the customers he was serving. I wished I could stay a while and sample his craft.

In addition, there was good classic lounge music playing the whole time at a nice low volume and no TV in sight!

All in all, it's one of the best executions of a small new tiki bar I've seen yet. They only need to work on the drink menu, adding a few more classics and refining the current offerings. I'll definitely be back. I'm looking forward to seeing the place at night as there are windows in front and it was light still when we stopped in.

Unfortunately I'll be out of town this weekend so I won't be able to attend the Project Pimento show there (as posted in Tiki Events).

That's a solid review from El Jabbo! Now you Bay Area types know you you gotz to go out on Saturday the 21st to check it out.

Check out: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=4270&forum=4&1

*On 2003-06-09 10:42, TikiMama wrote:*I'm in! June 19 is my birthday...

Hey Tiki Mama!!! We have the same birthday!!! I am going to quietly (psuedo anonymously) celebrate with friends at Tiki Ti on the 18th.
We definitely gotta have a drink together sometime when North and South meet again.

EDITED and ADDED....
I just read further down the thread - Tiki Fish on the 19th, too!!! no way - this is getting wierd! (And you know that Holden of Tiki Farm fame is the 15th...)

Happy birthday fellow tiki girls!

[ Edited by: Futura Girl on 2003-06-16 19:10 ]

Woo-hoo! Fairfax! That's kinda sorta right on my way home from work.