The Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar ( *Image Heavy* ), San Francisco, CA (restaurant)

So who's been lately?

A drink and snack menu folder spotted with Mischa Novy on the strings.

And those great drink names!

Zombie portside would have you leaning!

DC

Dusty, I thought some one had posted this menu, But after reviewing the thread I see it hasn't been posted yet
Must say it is nice when I can add something new,now & then.

ATP,

Nice frame job on that menu! I have one of those some where in the collection.

I spotted this postcard on-line looks to be from the 1970s.

Check out the Tiki mug swag on the tables!

And the floating bandstand.

DC

And here is one of the umbrellas you can see in the postcard shots.

DC

Wow. I've never seen a customized drink umbrella before. What a great idea!

In yesterday's (Sunday, Feb. 24) L.A. Times' travel section, Tonga Room was listed as on of the "49 Places You Might Have Missed" in San Francisco, and includes a nice color photo of the restaurant.

On 2013-02-25 10:16, arriano wrote:
In yesterday's (Sunday, Feb. 24) L.A. Times' travel section, Tonga Room was listed as on of the "49 Places You Might Have Missed" in San Francisco, and includes a nice color photo of the restaurant.

Good find. Here is the story online.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-49-places-1-20130224,0,1432246.story

[ Edited by: kenbo-jitsu 2014-02-27 16:00 ]

The Tonga Room is Still Alive & Doing Very Well......WooHooo!

SoccerTiki's Holy Grail find from The Tonga Room

You found the mug at the "Tonga Room"?"That's Amazing!"

It warms my heart to see this great place still alive and well in all its original glory. It must be noted that the Tonga Room is among the original Top 5 surviving Tiki Temples left in the U.S.

So given that the Mai Kai, Bali Hai, and (I'm assuming) the Hale Kahiki are the other 3, what's the 5th ??

Don's!

Trader Vic's Atlanta?

On 2013-03-24 15:52, Bora Boris wrote:
Trader Vic's Atlanta?

You must have meant to say Trader Vic's Emeryville!

A no doubt top 5.

DC

OK, so maybe six. But Emeryville is not unchanged...it was first de-tikified in the 80s, and then re-tikified in the 2000s. And the Bali Hai was majorly modernized - both in a good way, though.

I was thinking TV Atlanta, indeed. Survived without any major renovations since the 70s.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2013-03-24 16:37 ]

Just for reference, here is what the Tonga Room looked like in 1945:

In 1953 it was remodeled Hawaiian/Tropical style:

The 1967 remodel brought us the Polynesian palace we have today:

Here is the floor plan from the 1967 remodel:

There is a detailed history here:

http://sanfrancisco.grubstreet.com/20090915_tongaupdate.jpg.pdf

A postcard of the Tonga Room dated July 12th, 1947. It's for sale on etsy and it's not my listing.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/125434062/1947-famous-tonga-room-at-the-fairmont?ref=sr_gallery_36&ga_search_query=tonga&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=all

1947 ad

70th Anniversary cake for the Tonga Room.

Did you take that picture recently? Weird that they didn't have that at the 70th party.

Took it last week, it was sitting across the way from the hostess desk.

On 2016-11-10 11:07, mikehooker wrote:
For what it's worth, Tonga revamped their menu at the end of October. Last week my wife had the Tonga Kong and I the Planter's Punch. Both very good. Then we shared a Rainmaker bowl which wasn't bad either. I had gone in with very low expectations on the drinks and was pleasantly surprised. They weren't Mai Kai level great but enjoyable nonetheless. If their prices were lower we would have continued drinking but with pupus, dinner and dessert we were in for over 200 bucks. Oh, the mai tai creme brule was phenom.

mike hipped me to the fact that Tonga Room had just redone their cocktail menu, so i had to walk over and see for myself. sure enough they done did. it's limited and it's still not quite up to the craft cocktails you would expect at higher end bars, but it is definitely an upgrade. they have a lot of premixes and a fairly narrow rum selection, and don't appear to use much if any fresh squeezed juice, but this is a welcome step in the right direction. they appear to use a lot of bacardi and hamilton products.

the menu is fairly limited, but the bartenders were working their butts off and doing a great job when i was there. i had the "1944 Mai Tai," which was good not great, and the "1934 Zombie," which tasted really hot at first but got a lot more balanced as the ice melted. my companion had the Jet Pilot, which was probably the best drink either of us tasted all night. other menu items include the Jungle Bird, Fog Cutter, Planter's Punch, "Hurry Kane," and "Spice Killer" (a Pain Killer with allspice dram) et al.

the food is always great at the Tonga Room, and makes the drinks taste better, but unfortunately we were unable to partake on this visit. hopefully we will be back soon.

Just read through this entire thread and I'm so glad my wife and I had a really positive experience a couple weeks ago being that the place has been so hit or miss over the past decade or more. It appears with the revamped cocktail menu they're taking steps in the right direction, as Oro stated. I agree the drinks aren't craft quality but they're still better than the majority of the non-tiki craft bars we have in Austin that do 'tiki nights' every summer. The three we had, which didn't overlap with the ones Oro tried, were perfectly enjoyable.

Here's a recap of my experience that I posted on the Visiting San Francisco thread...

We got there just after 6 and got a table by the water. Our waiter addressed me as Mr. Hooker and demonstrated that old school hospitality that is so lacking in this age. He thanked us constantly and took amazing care of us. According to their Instagram, they launched a new drink menu the week before so I was excited to see if they were any good as I'd heard the drinks there left a bit to be desired. I began with the Planter's Punch which was served in a tiki mug and had falernum, allspice and grenadine in it. It was sweet, spicy and delicious. Wife had a Tonga Kong which had nice flavors and was really nicely balanced.

For starters, we ordered the pupu platter with chicken wings, crab rangoon, spring rolls and pork rib. It was all very good.

Prices were pretty hefty there so we decided to order just one more drink, the Rainmaker bowl for two. It wasn't as good as either of our previous drinks but was certainly passable as a nice tiki drink. No complaints at all with the drinks here.

For our entrees we both went with pork, my wife had the smoked Kalua pork and I had the red curry pork loin. We both enjoyed our meals and the service there. Decided we couldn't pass up trying their Mai Tai creme bruele and so glad we got it. Heavenly.

After our meal we walked around and scoped out the decor. They had some nice pieces but the walls and ceilings are definitely more scarce than say the Mai Kai, Trader Vic's or some of the modern day revival bars. But overall I give this place a solid A.

The rain seemed to go off every 20-30 minutes. Not sure if it's automated or goes off whenever someone orders the Rainmaker bowl.

This guy was in the actual hotel near the bathrooms

We got out of there at a quarter to 8 so didn't have to pay the cover or be tormented by the house band.

So there you have it. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience and I'm so glad a place like this has stood the test of time. It was nice to learn more of the history of Tonga in this thread and see some of the awesome artifacts and photos.

I good article about the Tonga Room. (Picture - The pool that would become theTonga Room)

http://www.messynessychic.com/2018/01/26/theres-a-63-year-old-tiki-bar-hiding-in-this-hotels-basement/

Just found this April 2019 Imbibe article about the Tonga Room:

SAN FRANCISCO’S TONGA ROOM IS STILL A TIKI STAPLE
http://imbibemagazine.com/tonga-room/

New Cocktails at San Francisco’s Tonga Room are a Hit

San Francisco’s Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel has a long history and a well-earned reputation for fine food and incredible Polynesian decor, but the cocktails have been poorly regarded by many. The Tonga Room has quietly completely revamped their cocktail menu and friends I’m here to tell you that the new cocktails are really good.

While Mrs. Mai Tai misses the old Tonga Kong, we did find all five cocktails that we tried to be good to great. The Zombie and Mai Tai from the old menu have even been redone with different spirits and ingredients. The price for cocktails at the Tonga Room remain high, functioning as a sort of cover charge for the venue’s amazing decor, but at least you’ll be impressed by the cocktails in a good way now.

The previous Mai Tai was very limey but the new Mai Tai leans more in the sweet direction and uses Bacardi 8 and Don Q. These aren’t bold Jamaican rums but most certainly the drink is better balanced and perfectly approachable for the Tonga audience. If you’re looking for something more complex, the Tiki Hunter will be more your speed, a delicious and complex punch made with Jägermeister, coconut rum, Wray overporoof, spices, juices, and an edible pinecone. The Banana Bread Old Fashioned blends Jamaica rum, bourbon, and banana into a satisfying twist on the classic.

There’s a healthy mix of cocktail styles, including a blue Margarita with salt inside the cocktail rather than on the rim. Mrs. Mai Tai loved the Seafoam Espresso Martini that includes spiced rum, orgeat, and topping of sea foam cream and black lava salt. Really great. The Tiny Bubbles is a fun tropical Mimosa featuring sparking rosé and Tonga POG juice. There are a couple of alcohol free options and the focus on glassware means the cocktails are made to be seen and appreciated rather than hidden in a mug or pineapple.

If it’s been a while, now is the time to revisit the Tonga Room and experience their wonderful new cocktail menu.

Photos and more here:
https://ultimatemaitai.com/2023/10/21/new-cocktails-at-san-franciscos-tonga-room-are-a-hit/
https://ultimatemaitai.com/2023/10/22/the-grand-spectacle-of-dinner-at-the-tonga-room/

[ Edited by kevincrossman on 2023-10-29 17:01:49 ]

[ Edited by kevincrossman on 2023-10-29 17:01:57 ]