Tiki Rock, Boston, MA (restaurant)

Name:Tiki Rock
Type:restaurant
Street:2 Broad St
City:Boston
State:MA
Zip:02140
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational

Description:
Classic and new drinks, with sushi bar and polynesian cuisine. Opened in January 2018.

I shall have to alert the friends I have in the Boston area. The descriptions in the articles below have me thinking "tiki modern" but they name-check enough history in the article quotes to make me think they're embracing the tiki legacy, as opposed to just giving it lip service.

Tiki Rock Opens Downtown With a Polynesian Super Burger and Mai Tais
Tiki Rock Bar Brings Island Life to Boston
Oisa Ramen Slurp & Go and Tiki Rock Bar Are Opening in Downtown Boston

[ Edited by: Prikli Pear 2018-01-12 11:46 ]

Their drink menu looks pretty solid. Looking forward to checking it out.

On 2018-01-12 11:45, Prikli Pear wrote:
I shall have to alert the friends I have in the Boston area. The descriptions in the articles below have me thinking "tiki modern" but they name-check enough history in the article quotes to make me think they're embracing the tiki legacy, as opposed to just giving it lip service.

Straight from their website.....

"Colorful, over-the-top fun of tiki cocktails. TikiRock.
“It’s an ode to the old world of tiki while still doing something new. There are no rules when it comes to tiki, you can
interpret it however you want."

I found One picture of the inside of the place ..not a tiki to be seen in it.

There are a few pictures in this article. The description is promising, but it looks bright. Too bright. I'll try to hit it this weekend and snap a few of my own.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2018/01/12/tiki-rock-bar-open-photos/

Behold! Below are pictures of Tiki Rock.

First impressions:

The drinks are good. Very good. I'll quibble over the Mai Tai. It was a little light on orgeat. The Rum Barrel, Donga Punch, and Saturn were top notch.

The food was not as good as the drinks. Sushi is good, but they're not taking away any business from Oishii. Dumplings and pork buns are very good. Other items were nothing to write about.

Service was excellent. Food and drinks came out quickly. The staff was really interested in seeing we had a good time.

The decor. This is where the tiki meets the road.

• There is one tiki. Decor reads a little more oceanic than tiki with lots of fish. Very little bamboo and no tapa.
• The lighting level is good, but the open kitchen is glaringly out of place (literally).
• Simple lighting scheme.
• There are two TVs. Normally, for me, this would be an automatic "not a tiki bar", but to their credit the brightness and sound are turned down.
• Up until 8pm, the music was a decent mix of Hawaiian, exotica, and Elvis. After 8 it was hits from the 80's. I'm talking Duran Duran, OMD, and Simple Minds. I'm not sure what the thinking is. Right demographic, wrong audience.
• Large windows work in the dark of Winter. Not sure what the plan is for Summer when the sun will ruin the place.
• Bathrooms are tasteful and not out of place with a few bamboo accents.

Overall, I'd have to call this tiki-light. It's better than Kowloon, but the Mai Kai it ain't. Put it dead in-between.

I concur with Doug, who I must have missed since I also went yesterday. The pork bun I had was incredible though I have to say. I also had a jet pilot that well secured me for takeoff; the lady had a straight up Saturn and Eastern Sour that were quite
good (she’s not into ice when it’s 20 degrees outside). It’s a fully regulation bar, FTW.

Here’s a peak at part of the drink factory:

Brother Cleve told me it had been all surf all the time so the music caught me off guard. I did catch myself singing some Phil Collins after the Rum Barrel ($22) but that’s not entirely odd is it:

Mr. Ho will be back. Could use some exotica.

Sorry to have missed you, Mr. Ho!

Frankly, I don't know what my frequency will be. It's not fair to judge so early on, but so far Baldwin & Sons and Barrel House both make a better tiki drink. And they put them in a tiki mugs. I forgot to mention, no tiki mugs!

The Boston area is a tough place to run a tiki bar. There are already a couple of places that call themselves "tiki bars" that serve boat drinks and have no tikis. The more serious bars with tiki drinks call themselves "rum bars", Baldwin & Sons included. Barrel House doesn't even go that far, calling itself a "whiskey bar."

I see Tiki Rock as being right in between being a tiki bar and just being a random cocktail bar. I'll find it interesting to see how long they can ride the fence. Given that their location offers no element of escapism, I'm guessing it will quickly become tiki in name only.

My jet pilot came in an approved container actually :) They had a stock of mugs at the bar when we arrived. Apparently, the 3-Dots cats are behind this from Chicago so , while I haven’t been there, I expect the drink quality might stay put even if it’s a bit light on darkness (hah!)

Spent about 5 hours here last week, and every drink was amazing.

Sat at a table in full tiki outfit, and the GM and head bartender stopped by to say thanks, overall service was incredible. Drinks were all awesome, and while it wasn't slow, came pretty quickly.

Switched to the bar and that's when the night really took off. Got lots of really nice off menu cocktails, tried lots of rums, and got to try some drinks coming out soon (a tiki martini!)

Saturn was probably the best, until we tried a variety of daiquiris, each showcasing a different rum.

Look forward to having a tiki style of this quality in my home base!

I am headed here tomorrow afternoon for a late lunch! Will try to take tons of photos.

Good Afternoon,
I decided to go down yesterday as Snow was in the forecast today!
It was really cool place with great friendly staff. I had a Mai Tai and Jet Pilot and both were very good. No food this time around.
My one big complaint would be the sign out side: it's just printed on a vinyl banner and tacked up. Would look really cool if it were carved wood and painted!
Here's some photos, it was a bit darker than the photos let on, but because the majority of the windows are uncovered, there was a fair amount of daylight.

Love the up-lighting on the tin ceiling panels. Kinda gives the place a modern speakeasy-meets tiki vibe.