Riff Raff's, New York, NY (bar)

Name:Riff Raff's
Type:bar
Street:360 Park Ave South
City:New York
State:NY
Zip:10010
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational

Description:
info@riffraffsnyc
Below the Hurricane Club. There's not much information out there about the place, so I thought I'd start this thread. Opens today 01.11.11. The info out there mentions tiki mugs and volcano bowls (but also coconut bras and neon orange Wayfarers so we'll see if it's truly tiki), the photos show lots of tapa and bamboo.

I am curious about this new "hip" N.Y. night spot, too. On closer perusal of this photo though, I have to say that though the architecture looks Poly pop, the patterns are not Tapa, but some other (Asian?) folk style, and the framing is not bamboo:

humorous review from UrbanDaddy.com

RiffRaffs
Tropic Thunder
Part Tiki Bar, Part Underground Nightclub
Your average dinner, cocktail or massage menu can be broken down into three main components.

The regulars. The specials. And the unnamed, unpublished, dare-not-speak-them-aloud offerings.

Today, we’d like to address your penchant for the latter.

Introducing Riff Raff’s, an absurd experiment in tiki room/nightclub crossbreeding, with a mysterious selection of outlandishly gigantic punch bowls available only to those in the know, opening tomorrow.

The space really can’t be pinned down to one style. You’ve got a neon tiger over the door. A disco ball strung up next to an ultramodern light fixture. And embroidered walls imported from a Malaysian village. But when you’re sharing a rum concoction that’s served in a life-size mannequin, it just makes sense.

Yes, they stock coconut bras and monkey hats behind the bar. Yes, plastic fruit figures to play a huge part in your night here. But before you get the wrong idea, let us assure you that this is the type of scene you’re looking for. Leggy brunettes. Identical twin DJs. Dark corners. Secret taco-filled driftwood. It’s all just the right amount of crazy.

What this results in is the kind of evening that begins with you sipping highball cocktails in a banquette and ends with you dancing to live music while drinking from a gargantuan plastic flamingo punch fountain. That’s ablaze with sparklers.

You can probably guess where the straw goes.

http://www.urbandaddy.com/nyc/nightlife/12287/Riff_Raff_s_Part_Tiki_Bar_Part_Underground_Nightclub_New_York_City_NYC_Midtown_South_Central_Nightclub#ixzz1AppL5Gv7

"Identical twin DJs." now thats weird... and amusing

I couldn't get the picture to open that large, nope, that's not tapa. It looks like it's taking a cue from the pan-Asian Hurricane Club they're below. But somewhere they said tapa.... hmmm, not here:
Randolph Team Opens Riff Raff's Below Hurricane Club
Thursday, December 16, 2010, by Scott Solish
With Hurricane fully up and running, we were wondering what ever happened to Tiki Disco, the restaurant's basement space that the Martignetti Brother's were planning on operating. It seems that one Broome Street operation got swapped out for another, as Hari Kalyan and his friends from the Randolph assumed the Martignetti brother's place and have recently opened Riff Raff's. The change has not gotten much coverage, and Anthony Martignetti did not respond to emails and the Riff Raff's team isn't talking about why they were no longer involved with the project. As for Riff Raff's, Hari tells Eater that he partnered up with the Fourth Wall restaurants people a few months ago on the project and the space is still in preview mode and is only hosting private events and not open to the public for the time being.
http://ny.eater.com/archives/2010/12/randolph_team_opens_riff_raffs_below_hurricane_club.php

nor here:
Hurricane Club's Basement Club Riff Raff's Opens Wednesday

Riff Raff's, the subterranean club beneath the Polynesian themed Hurricane Club, officially opens for business on Wednesday night. The club, which is operated by Hari Kalyan from the Randolph, had been in preview mode since early December, but will now open its doors to the public on Wednesday through Saturday nights. According to the release, Riff Raff’s "specializes in tiki service with over-the-top Polynesian presentations while also offering tchotchkes of all shapes and sizes, including coconut bras, Etro pocket squares, and Riff Raff’s own customized neon orange Wayfarer sunglasses." Coconut bras and Andrew Andrew? That's tough to beat.
http://ny.eater.com/archives/2011/01/hurrican_clubs_basement_club_riff_raffs_is_now_open.php

Maybe it was my fever driven dreams...

Oooooh, they "stock coconut bras and monkey hats behind the bar" !!! How cra-zeee! Sounds to me like a pretty fey attempt at something that those kids have no clue about, bartering around with such foreign words as "Tiki" and "Polynesian" - those wild and crazy New Yorkers! :)

sigh.

at least we still have painkiller, lani kai and otto's....

In the search to do something "different", Riff Raff's may represent NYC Tiki approaching the ramp...

Oh man, it gets worse

a menu with banana-flavored condoms and bowl drinks at bottle service prices.

including this beauty....yes, for $375 american dollars.

oy vey.

On 2011-01-13 14:03, leisure master wrote:
Oh man, it gets worse

a menu with banana-flavored condoms and bowl drinks at bottle service prices.

including this beauty....yes, for $375 american dollars.

oy vey.

Why would anyone want to pay for anything at a bar or restaurant called 'The Shit Show'. Sounds like it was invented by and for one of the people from 'Jersey Shore'. This place totally sounds like a must avoid.

I am surprised to think that anyone willing to pay almost $400 for 1 cocktail would want to rock a free coconut bra....

I wonder if "Our Lady Friend" ($1,200!) is their version of a Mystery Girl...

It does get worse and worse. I almost didn't post again, If we ignore it it will sink to the bottom like it should :(
Then again, Donhonyc, maybe you need to take one for the team and go experience it and tell us how bad it really is :)

On 2011-01-14 19:55, Pittsburgh pauly wrote:
It does get worse and worse. I almost didn't post again, If we ignore it it will sink to the bottom like it should :(
Then again, Donhonyc, maybe you need to take one for the team and go experience it and tell us how bad it really is :)

Maybe I just will do that...

Could the over-the-topness of it all be rooted in wanting to create a parody of Polynesian pop? Who would get the joke?

Wow, this is getting soooo crazeeeeee! Painted faces and sparklers!!!:

"Bartenders wearing black T-shirts spun bottles and mixed cocktails inside coconut shells. Like the waitresses, they had stripes of colorful makeup dabbed on their left cheeks. “We paint our faces and go all crazy,” said Hari Kalyan, the club’s operating manager..."

"Vaulted ceilings, exposed beams and an expanse of Malaysian tapestries depicting dragons and roosters create the feel of a ceremonial chief’s tent, where sparklers waved around by the wait staff have supplanted peace pipes."

Well, at least now we know what those patterns on the ceiling are!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/fashion/31boite.html?_r=2

A place for trust fund kids who want to impress with paying ridiculous bar bills - and the girls that are turned on by that. The surroundings are "whatever" -as long as it's "different".

Gee, this all sounds like material to be included in an appendix to the updated and revised Book of Tiki...

:roll:

Tiki for the Ke$ha crowd??
But the worst has to be the carnations in the drinks!
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/03/31/fashion/Z-BOITE/Z-BOITE-popup.jpg

You'd think with those prices they could spring for some orchids!