San Antonio & Austin Texas TX tiki bars?

Hi everyone! Going out of town and was wondering if there's any tiki bars in the San Antonio/Austin TX? Would like to come home with a souvenir mug from TX

Thanks!

Nada - especially in the mugs territory.

We have a new Tiki Bar in Houston, but I do not believe they have their own mugs at this point, either.

But - we do have some good bars with excellent cocktails in both towns.
Weather Up in Austin has Tiki Night every Monday with very good cocktails.
The Brooklynite in San Antonio has Tiki Tuesdays - again, excellent cocktails.
drink. well. has an excellent MaiTai (they won last year's tiki week maitai contest)
Bar Congress has Tiki Weekdays (Tues, Wed, Thurs), but only in the Summer, so that has not started-up, yet.

So.....no tiki bars, but the above spots are where you can get a variety of very good cocktails & get your tiki cocktail fix on as well.

Have Fun!

Austin usually has Texas Tiki Week in June, but I haven't seen anything for this year. http://texastikiweek.com/

Texas Tiki Week is, indeed, happening again this year - in June

Thanks for the feedback, We will make sure to check these places out

I work at Peche in Austin, If you happen to stop by, my name is Trey. I brought in some tiki mugs and have been doing tiki drinks all summer. Also have some great rums to play with, and right now I have a macadamia orgeat that kills in a Jungle Bird, and a sassafras-cinnamon syrup for Donga Punch.

Hey Trey!

& WELCOME to TC!!
We live in Austin & we do occasionally stop into Peche - we were there a few weeks ago and sat at the far end of the bar - then went across the courtyard to check out the new Rum bar, too :) We'll see if you're working next time we stop in - shouldn't be too long....probably early June, as we're headed out on vacation shortly :)

Thanks, and cool to see you already visit! Yeah, I'm over at Pleasant from time to time, it's impossible for me not to.

Peche is always on my list of recommended cocktail bars in Austin. You had me at macadamia orgeat. I'll be in soon for one of those.

On 2014-04-13 17:37, croe67 wrote:
Texas Tiki Week is, indeed, happening again this year - in June

Yep. And here's the mug from it:

Yee Halo!

Luckily a friend gave me the heads up, otherwise would have missed out on this great mug!

On 2014-05-15 12:14, treizeplus wrote:
and right now I have a macadamia orgeat that kills in a Jungle Bird, and a sassafras-cinnamon syrup for Donga Punch.

:o :o

Austin's 3 hours away, but I'll be there in 2.

Is that a Tiki Farm mug?

On 2014-08-06 02:01, GROG wrote:
Is that a Tiki Farm mug?

Yep!

Wanted to bump this thread to see what's the latest in Austin bar options as I typically mix at home and haven't ventured out too much. My friend Aaron works at Contigo so I checked it out a couple months ago when they had a happy hour special with frozen Painkillers that were yummy. They also had a Planter's Punch on the regular menu that was OK and he made me an off menu Zombie and maybe something else. It's a bit blurry. I checked out Drink.Well one time cuz I heard they do tiki Tuesdays. I don't recall if that's an all day thing or just for happy hour but the one $10 cocktail I tried was not at all memorable so I didn't explore the rest of the menu. I've heard good things about Peche and Pleasant Storage Room so was thinking of checking either or both of them out tomorrow for happy hour. I guess more than just a "craft" cocktail bar I'm looking for places that do classic tiki drinks right, so I'm curious what the best options may be. I often find that the drinks or the ambiance aren't for me which is why I choose to make my own drinks in the comfort of my own home. But dammit I need to be more social.

Went to Pleasant Storage Room for happy hour yesterday with a couple friends and must say I had a wonderful time. Three different bar tenders served us and a fourth plus the bar back all chatted with us. I kicked things off with a simple Daiquiri. I asked what rum she was going to use and she showed me a white well rum I wasn't familiar with. She sensed my puzzlement and said she can use Smith & Cross to which I gleefully accepted. A heavy pour of S&C and for just 5 bucks we were off to a good start! Next ordered the $5 jerk chicken which was divine. Decided to order off the happy hour menu next. They have a long list of cocktails that I was unfamiliar with so I asked bartender #2 what she would recommend as a classic Donn or Vic style tiki drink and she said they could make us whatever we wanted, a Mai Tai, Jungle Bird, Zombie, Painkiller, you name it. I asked what she puts in the Mai Tai and she recited the original Vic recipe using Clement VSOP and Appleton. She first pulled down the V/X so I asked if she could use 12 instead and she happily obliged. Finished product was perfectly measured and mixed with a wonderful presentation (see below). She even gave it a LH151 float that maintained perfect balance throughout the drink. I asked how their supply of Lemon Hart was doing as I only saw a few bottles on the shelf and she wasn't sure if that was the end of the line or if they were somehow importing it. Bartender #3 overheard the conversation and joined in. He said, so you like Lemon Hart? And proceeded to make us what appeared to be a Kapu Kai but with homemade cinnamon syrup instead of sugar. Potent and very tasty drink! We continued talking rum and he pulled down some of his favorites, mostly small batch rums I'd never heard of, and gave us samples of atleast three or four different ones and explained where they were from and the process for each. Then he started whipping up another concoction with fresh mint leaves and chunks of pineapple and some other things that all went into the blender and came out deliciously green and slushy. Probably a Missionaries Downfall. It was a Tuesday night so it wasn't very busy and the staff was all attentive and knew their stuff. Everything I consumed was excellent and I definitely will be back for more.

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2014-10-22 11:50 ]

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2015-05-20 11:31 ]

Peche is doing some good stuff these days with Tiki Drinks. They have Tiki Sundays pretty much every Sunday & the drinks are exceptional. Also plenty of tiki mugs to serve from, too & a new custom mug coming soon as well. Trey is the guy passionate about tiki there, so if he's working, see if you can be at his end of the bar :D

Pleasant Storage Room can be good, but we have found that some of the bartenders are very good, while others seem to be going through the motions & it shows in their drinks. Glad to hear that you got a good one. My only challenge for them is that they should be more consistent.

Bar Congress will likely do Tiki weekdays again next Summer, but it's over for the season. But - they can still do GREAT tiki-style drinks & have tiki mugs as well. Atmosphere is less casual than what tiki folks tend to look for, but get a spot at the bar & chat with the bartenders - some very good people with some excellent drink mixing chops!

Drink.Well is usually very good. They have had some staff turnover of late, which has ben a challenge. They are currently getting their new staff trained-up, so hopefully better next time. It's still one of the best places in town for a well-made cocktail. They Tiki Tuesdays are over for the season to my knowledge.

The guys at Midnight Cowboy have some serious Tiki Drink Mixing chops, too, so most definitely worth checking out to see what you think.

There's also a Tiki & Vintage event this Saturday. Unfortunately we'll be out of town for the weekend so will not be able to go.

Hey, thanks for all the info. Will definitely check out those other spots. What is the event going on this weekend?

On 2014-10-23 12:28, mikehooker wrote:
Hey, thanks for all the info. Will definitely check out those other spots. What is the event going on this weekend?

It's an event for The Barman's Fund - I just sent you an invite for it on Facebook so you can check it out :)

Got it, thanks. Looks like it's Sunday not Saturday. Hope I can make it.

The new bar in Austin, Isla, is great! I stopped by a couple of times last week. As far as tiki in Austin, it is the best. I had the Lamb Stew a couple of times and I loved it. The staff was super friendly and very eager to chat about rum.

They have a Mai Tai and a Zombie on tap. I am not a fan of drinks on tap, but I tried a zombie and it was on par. They do serve some drinks in tiki mugs, Tiki Farm not cheap China knock offs. The only thing that I really feel that they need to improve on is the decor. No actual tikis just some cheap Indonesian masks (however I do hope that will change, they did just open. The rum selection was amazing, far better than most of the Southern California tiki bars. I talked with Tre who is the rum guy there as well as the owner. Quite a friendly staff!

To the drinks,this is a Painkiller. I subbed Smith & Cross.

This is a Saturn. Quite tasty!

This is a Zombie. You can tell by the photo that it was effective...

I would like to see some drinks custom for this place, but they all tasted great and the menu was vast with a lot of my all time favorites. Go check it out if you are in the area!

I had a lot of fun and good food and drinks at Bar Congress as well. This is a Queens Park Swizzle. They were happy to accommodate off menu drinks too. Had tiki drinks and mugs.

I found myself in Houston twice in the past few weeks so took the opportunity to check out the Lei Low and must say I had a really nice time on both visits. While Isla has been getting some rave reviews from tikiphiles and the press, my one experience there was very poor and it appears they're having an identity crisis as first they declared they are not a tiki bar, but an "island" bar, then a couple weeks later claiming to be the only tiki bar in Austin. Besides the excellent rum selection which they inherited from my beloved Pleasant Storage Room (RIP), the cocktails and decor left a lot to be desired in my mind.

Lei Low on the other hand, nailed it. Tucked on the end of an unassuming little strip plaza about a mile off the highway, you walk into the quaint space and are immediately whisked away. The outside world is forgotten as tributes to tiki temples of the past adorn the walls and several carvings are scattered throughout with some so inconspicuously placed I didn't even noticed them til my second visit. Travis was the bartender both nights I went and he proved to be knowledgeable about tiki history and quite skilled at making drinks. No, not everything was perfection, but nothing was even close to bad, and some drinks were incredible.

Night 1

Barefoot in the Sand
This one was rich and delicious, like a painkiller in overdrive. Their tiki butter consists of brown sugar, ice cream, bacon fat and some other things.

B-26 Marauder
Perfectly spicy and a great color thanks to their fresh made hibiscus grenadine.

Mai Tai
I was reluctant to try this based on it being Hawaiian style and not Vic but Travis insisted I give it a shot to see how it stacks up. They ordinarily serve this on tap but he made me one from scratch. It was OK, nothing like what I make at home, but certainly looked nice.

He sent me home with one of their new mai tai glasses, a bunch of swizzles, stickers, and a menu.

Night 2

Brought a friend along. He was equally impressed with the decor and quality of the drinks. We had...

Zombie
Didn't blow me away. Kinda slushie-like and not very complex but not a bad drink at all.

Mexican Flying Circus
I'm not much of a tequila drinker but I really enjoyed the flavors of this one and recommended it to a stranger who was undecided on his next drink. He loved it.

Fire at Aku Aku
That house infused Jamaican jerk rum is somethin' else. This was my buddies drink so I only had a sip but remember it being minty and spicy which I like. Bonus points for being on fire.

Rum Barrel
They ordinarily serve this in a bowl but Travis reworked the proportions for a single serving. Honestly don't remember how this one was.

I should also add I let him know how fond I am of Luxardo cherries so he made a point to disperse them to me at regular intervals throughout night. Now that's service! I might be back next week to try more of the menu.

Concrete Jungle in SATX opened a couple months back.
They're a self proclaimed tiki bar and while their menu doesn't immediately jump out as tiki, I'm holding judgement until I've actually been.

We went to the Lonestar RoundUp out in Austin in April and the ONLY remotely tiki place we found was the Hula Hut. The drinks were good, but no mugs and really not that "tiki-esque" either. It was more like fishing-style. Whatever that means. There is a group on FB called Texas Tikiphiles, they are great on giving you local happenings around Texas. But from what I can tell, most of it is happening in Houston.

I hear "Twin Peaks" in Waco is pretty crazy.

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2015-05-19 12:57 ]

Texas Tiki Week is right around the corner, August 2-9!

They posted this year's mug on their site.
http://texastikiweek.com/shop

$50 for the mug this year?! Wasn't it $20 last year? And Twin still had stock of the year prior when that one came out... Count me out.

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2015-07-27 22:33 ]

Went to Weather Up for the first time last night. Menu was short and only had two rum drinks so I asked if he could make anything off menu. He said he could but their rum selection was pretty slim. After naming what they had available I asked if he could make me a mai tai with Appleton 12 and Clement. It was tasty.

I still miss Pleasant Storage Room. Planning a field trip to Lei Low in a couple weeks. Sad to hear that Travis has left as he did some wonderful things behind the bar.

Darn, I'm missing Texas Tiki Week in Austin by one week this year! With a pop-up from Last Lake, too... Looks like a funny mug with an armadillo clulinging to to a tiki this year. Looks like Eekum Bookum did it, which might be why the cost is higher than Tiki Farm. I'd buy it if I was there, but then I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. :wink:

Thanks to all for the tiki commentary, pics, and details on this thread. I will be in Austin for a couple days for work the week of 8/17 and will now look forward to checking out Bar Congress, Isla, and Peche, among others (if time permits).

Finky, not tiki but... Casino El Camino has the best burgers I have ever had anywhere in the world. Midnight Cowboy was ok too, worth checking out. I had fun at Half Step when it first opened but skipped it this year cause they weren't open when they said that they would be. Craft cocktails, but I am sure they could do some tiki drinks.

On 2015-07-27 22:19, mikehooker wrote:
$50 for the mug this year?! Wasn't it $20 last year? And Twin still had stock of the year prior when that one came out... Count me out.

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2015-07-27 22:33 ]

Yeah, I'm not too crazy about the design this year and the price tag just further turns me off.

I think 2014's design was considerably better.

This years mug was made by Mulder. He made it himself and manufactured it himself all in the USA with his own 2 hands. The mugs from last year were sent out to China to be manufactured. That is why there is a price difference. Custom mugs always will cost more to make. When they are sent out to China or Mexico, the cost of labor goes way down (and so does the quality).

[ Edited by: lunavideogames 2015-08-05 11:16 ]

On 2015-08-04 16:14, lunavideogames wrote:
Finky, not tiki but... Casino El Camino has the best burgers I have ever had anywhere in the world. Midnight Cowboy was ok too, worth checking out. I had fun at Half Step when it first opened but skipped it this year cause they weren't open when they said that they would be. Craft cocktails, but I am sure they could do some tiki drinks.

Thanks, luna. I do loves a tasty burger, especially when it ranks on a global scale. Will look in to Half Step, too.
Cheers!
:drink:

On 2015-08-06 14:12, finky099 wrote:

On 2015-08-04 16:14, lunavideogames wrote:
Finky, not tiki but... Casino El Camino has the best burgers I have ever had anywhere in the world. Midnight Cowboy was ok too, worth checking out. I had fun at Half Step when it first opened but skipped it this year cause they weren't open when they said that they would be. Craft cocktails, but I am sure they could do some tiki drinks.

Thanks, luna. I do loves a tasty burger, especially when it ranks on a global scale. Will look in to Half Step, too.
Cheers!
:drink:

you cant go wrong ordering the verde chilli fries either if you do hit up Casino...

About a month or so ago, my girlfriend and I were in Austin just wandering aimlessly and decided to stop by Isla.
The drinks were good but definitely not what I was expecting as I've seen them advertising as a tiki bar, which I don't think is completely accurate.
We tried their painkiller, which wasn't bad, but mine was a bit flat on the flavor.
The one the bartender made my girl friend was very good though.
I also tried their rum old fashioned, I know not tiki, which I was very intrigued by and was not disappointed.

Overall, it's a very nice bar and the bartender was very cordial, as we were the only two in the bar, and even let me taste some of the rums he was using in there drinks. But a tiki bar it is not.

Last weekend, on our Valentine's date, my girlfriend surprised us on a detour home by stopping by the Concrete Jungle.
This is a cool little spot and their drinks were very good, but again it's just not very tiki.

While I would go there again to grab a tiki cocktail, the vibe we got was that this place is just a hipster bar that serves tiki cocktails.

The current trend here is that there's no straight tiki bar, like a Frankie's or a Don's, which I think needs to be rectified very soon!

I went here 2 months ago... http://www.hulahut.com and its ok. The mexican twist is interesting, being by the lake is great. Austin is cool, everyone has tattoos! Thats weird... The comformity of incomformity.