Cat Eye Club, tips for first visit

Walked out of my hotel to find the Cat Eye Club next door in Gaslamp District of San Diego.

Critiki's info is sparse.

Any recommendations for a first visit?

I also see that False Idol opened nearby and is rated highly.

That and Bali Hai mean I'very got my own personal crawl to do.

My advice, go to False Idol.

Cat Eye Club is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights only. Thursday they have Karaoke. They have some cool garnishes, but that is about it.

If your hotel is right across from Cat Eye, Fairweather is really close with better drinks. Some other good bars within walking distance - Rare Form, Nolen, El Dorado and Noble Experinment. Noble Experiment is a speakeasy in the back of a bar called Neighborhood. Go to the bathrooms and push the fake wall of kegs. They can make some of the best tiki drinks there as well as anything else you can come up with. Fairweather is through Rare Form, go to the back and head right. You will find steps up that will take you to Fairweather. Cool rum bar with great drinks.

As far as tiki in SD, False Idol and Bali Hai are not to be missed. You can make reservations on False Idols website too at http://www.falseidoltiki.com

Hope this helps! Enjoy SD!

Wow, what a coincidence, I am heading down to San Diego on the train tomorrow for the weekend. Thanks for the tips on the bars. Will definitely be trying False Idol. What about the Grass Skirt in Pacific Beach? Or the High Dive?

DC

I second all of his recommendations.

High Dive is a pinball bar. I think they make drinks, I would recommend beer or Plantation Pineapple if you are there. Not very tiki, if that is what you are looking for.

Grass Skirt is in PB which doesn't offer much else for food or drinks and is out of the way for easy travel. Cool to see at least, some good artist designed tikis there. Most drinks are sweet but the Daiquiris are tasty. Great food.

False Idol is not to be missed. DC, how long are you in town? I have a bunch of friends in town so I am pretty busy over the weekend, otherwise I would for sure offer to get a drink with you, but maybe we can still make it happen.

The Cat Eye club is really tiny, try and get there early.

The High Dive has decent drinks and two custom mugs available. The bar is more of a sports-bro kind of place.

Kindred is a heavy metal vegan faux-tiki bar. They have awesome drinks and an amazing mug.

Kindred does have their "tiki" night on Thursday.

Ironside is another great bar/restaurant close to False Idol with lots of rum drinks and great seafood and lobster rolls. Craft & Commerce is really great as well, which is the bar on the outside of FI.

Kindred is out of mugs and High Dive is as well last I heard. Kindred is getting more soon, you may want to call if that is what you are after... actually I just saw that someone bought a High Dive mug today so they must be in stock there.

[ Edited by: LunaVideoGames 2017-04-06 00:45 ]

On 2017-04-05 15:05, lunavideogames wrote:

False Idol is not to be missed. DC, how long are you in town? I have a bunch of friends in town so I am pretty busy over the weekend, otherwise I would for sure offer to get a drink with you, but maybe we can still make it happen.

Thanks again for the tips. Lets try to meet and False Idol, I'll bring some paper for the display case! I sent you a PM.

DC

Thanks all!
Made it to False Idol.
This is great!

I can't add much to Luna's expertise, but I'll say I've been surprised at how much I like Grass Skirt. We've had really good experiences with the bartenders there - great service, and some nice drinks. If you head over there, get there before 5 (when they open) for a chance to sit at the bar. I don't like getting stuck away from the bar (or the fact that I can see outside, but I'll take what I can get.)

For Cat Eye, I'd also recommend going early. It's a really small room and in my experience they tend to have loud promotional nonsense going on.

On 2017-04-05 20:21, bamalamalu wrote:
I can't add much to Luna's expertise, but I'll say I've been surprised at how much I like Grass Skirt. We've had really good experiences with the bartenders there - great service, and some nice drinks. If you head over there, get there before 5 (when they open) for a chance to sit at the bar. I don't like getting stuck away from the bar (or the fact that I can see outside, but I'll take what I can get.)

I would not underestimate the Grass Skirt's relevance in current Tiki establishments either. We had a great experience sitting at the bar. You have a slight speakeasy entrance through the Poke shop, and the decor is what I'll just describe as modern Tiki, reminiscent of Three Dots and a Dash in style, to me anyway. The drinks I had were balanced and well crafted. The food was a huge hit. I'll be here in a few weeks, and will certainly do False Idol again as well. For Tiki, those are my top 2 choices in San Diego, with Bali Hai at night my third (although it is an emotional favorite having grown up here).

[ Edited by: W8N2Surf 2017-04-11 06:02 ]

I believe the Cat Eye Club is now deceased, RIP

CEC is definitely closed - bummer as it was great to go there and have a MaiTai right before a baseball game (block away)... Wasn't a top level place, but will be missed. We love the Grass Skirt as well and the bartenders and staff are all great. Really good food selection as well. It can be described as 'Modern Tiki' but I like that fact that they aren't just trying to look like so many other places and have their own style and it works.