The Tilted Tiki Tidbits and Cocktail Lounge, Stillwater, MN (restaurant)

Name:The Tilted Tiki Tidbits and Cocktail Lounge
Type:restaurant
Street:324 Main St S
City:Stillwater
State:MN
Zip:55082
country:USA
Phone:(651) 342-2545
Status:operational

Description:
A brand new tiki bar in the Grand Garage building in historic downtown Stillwater!

The drink menu has four sections: Tiki Classics, Tilted Originals, Smooth Delights and Tilted Exclusives. The Classics are authentic Don the Beachcomber/Trader Vic style drinks made with authentic recipes (Mai Tai, Navy Grog, Zombie, etc.) The Originals are drinks inspired by the classic tiki bars--The Kapu Kai is similar to Tiki Ti's 151 Swizzle, the Big Kahuna is similar to Mai Kai's Barrel O' Rum. The bottom half of the menu consists of drinks that are sweeter and less rum-forward (for those who prefer a sweeter, more Caribbean style tiki drink). Drinks contain real lime and other citrus, as well as genuine falernum, cinnamon syrup, passion fruit syrup, honey, etc. Rums used include Myers's, Lemon Hart 151, Sugar Island Spiced rum and Trader Vic silver and gold rums.

The food menu includes Hawaiian-inspired pork sliders, spam sliders, coconut shrimp, meatballs, wings, sweet potato fries with hoisin sauce, and more.

They also have live music throughout the week. They will be booking Exotic-a-Go-Go for upcoming events as well as exotica-exclusive DJs. For the parrotheads, Jambo Joe Bones (a Buffet-inspired acoustic performer) also plays there frequently.

Full disclosure--I created/adapted the Classic and Original drink sections of the cocktail menu, and did the design and photography (excluding he logo). This was a launch project for my design and consulting agency, Chalet Group.

http://www.thetiltedtiki.com

My daughter ran across this place while searching for vegan restaurant options in the Minneapolis area, and knowing of my love for all things Tiki, she suggested we go there and check it out. After doing some antiquing in downtown Stillwater this afternoon, we stopped by for a late lunch/early dinner and were very impressed by the quality of the food and drink. I ordered a "Vic's" Mai Tai, because let's face it, if a Tiki bar can't get that right, there's no point in sampling anything else on the cocktail menu, and I was not disappointed. While it followed the original recipe pretty closely, it featured a delicious little extra twist to the classic recipe that had me scratching my head through most of the meal, until it finally dawned on me that it was Allspice liqueur. As for the food, I had the Tilted Tiki Sliders with pulled luau pork, my daughter had the Tropical Tofu Poke Bowl, and we both split an order of Fiji fries. Everything was delicious (even the tofu), and while I would've loved to have stayed for another drink, I had to drive the 70 miles back home, but I may just have to book a room in a nearby B and B one of these weekends and go on an extended bender there.

As for the ambiance, The music playing in the background during our meal was quite acceptable; lots of Hawaiian slack-key guitar tunes mixed in with other traditional Polynesian music. The decor was appropriately dark, with plenty of thatch and bamboo, but it was also plastered with a bunch of tacky Party City/Margaritaville-ish signs featuring slogans like, "Come Classy, Leave Trashy", which brought the TILT factor down a bit for me, but the cocktails and cuisine more than made up for Parrothead vibe.

Oh, and Quince, nice job on the menu! I almost stole one...:wink:

I'm 3000 miles away but just happened upon their website. Nice to see that the Tiki torch burns in the Great White North

I'm 3000 miles away but just happened upon their website. Nice to see that the Tiki torch burns in the Great White North

It isn't high tiki, and the owner has a sweet tooth when it comes to recipes, but they treated us very well when we visited and it is in a good location in the town. Food was pretty good and they do have a decent rum selection.

We were in Minneapolis recently and finally swung by this place to check it out. They are still open and the descriptions of the decor above are still accurate. I had checked this thread just prior to visiting and was looking forward to it after seeing MrBaliHai's review. Ted tried the Rum Runner and it was OK - sweet for my taste, but you could taste the individual flavors and it wasn't bad.

Unfortunately, the Mai Tai I ordered was painfully sweet. Like... Instant Headache In A Glass sweet. When our server came by and asked how the drinks were, I politely admitted that mine was "Really sweet." She immediately offered to swap it out for something else, which was very nice. I went for the Hemingway, based on both my gut feeling and her recommendation. It wasn't the greatest drink I ever had, but was a big improvement.

For food, we both had Asian Chicken Tacos - they were really tasty, if a bit small. We considered ordering a bit more food, but decided to move on to a nearby brewery we were interested in instead (Pitchfork in Hudson, WI - HIGHLY recommended!)

Overall, it was pretty much what I expected. Worth a shot if you're in the Stillwater area anyway, but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit.

https://www.thetiltedtiki.com/