Rock A Tiki Chicago Review & Pics + Trader Vic's Chicago Pics

Hey all... went to the Rock A Tiki last night and have mixed feelings... first of all it was a bear to find parking. The other bars around there have valet for $7. There are a lot of homes around the area and at night all the streets are full of cars. We got lucky and found a spot a block away, after driving around for 10 minutes. Easy to find the bar though... here is a picture of the front...

As you walk in you can see the shrunken head lamps above you...

We were greeted and carded and by 10 pm there was no place to sit so we headed back to the bar with the menu we were given. All drinks except for beer are $10. We decided to order a bowl which I think was $18. The bartender looked at us odd when we ordered, then informed us that they didn't have bowls in yet to make those drinks. Oh, well. So I forked over the $20. I had a Suffering Bastard... yes their drinks were very strong... maybe a bit too much... not always a bad thing depending on your taste.

Atmosphere was cool... nice lighting, good thatch...a bunch of Mai Tikis everywhere... barely saw one barstool tiki until the guys at the bar had all of them covered with their jackets... nice booths too. At the front was a giant Moai that hid the front door... the sculpting was a little rough but neat concept...

Interesting bathrooms... the guys said He-Ki on the door and the girls She-Ki and the door handle of each was a tiki of a male or female... the inside was painted with tikis and had bamboo on the walls...

Drawbacks were... A bit too smokey for me... not real good ventilation... too many party guys drinking beer at the bar and hogging bartender's attention... tough to get a drink as a couple... the music... oh, boy...
heard Beachboys, Elvis Blue Hawaii... then Nirvana... by the time two Guns and Roses came blaring on I had had it with the music... and it was way too loud... it was a shame... it really ruined the mood. I was happy I checked it out and it had some neat features, but at midnight we dashed out to the westside to visit Hala Kahiki and had a tiki bowl. I relaxed with the atmosphere and the soothing sounds of hawaiian music and we closed the bar... I even got to meet the elderly woman who owned the bar at the end of the night...

It's your call... its neat to see a new tiki bar open and i hope it does well, but they need to change a few things...

Oh, stoped by Trader Vic's Downtown for a few pics and picked up a flyer too...

Here's more pics of Rock A Tiki...

Trader Vic's...
Sorry this is blurry... Front Entrance Outside...

Downstairs...

One of the party rooms...

Aloha All!

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer on 2002-12-08 18:30 ]

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer on 2002-12-09 12:28 ]

lake surfer,......thanks for postin yer pics.....i was going to, but never got to it(i'm a total novice with digital cameras/posting photos..)......the rock a tiki has some downfalls, as you mentioned (parking,space,etc...) but i think the good out weighs the bad, and i'm really glad theres another tiki bar in downtown chicago......i'll be back up right after christmas, and may be at the palmer/trader vics for new years eve........so did rock a tiki have their mugs that they're gonna sell yet??.....

let me get this straight,ROCK-a-tiki, loud music......nirvana.......hmmmm,did i miss some kind of hint?. oh,to be a purist!.

Wow! It sounds like you had a great time in Chicago.I envy you.Don't take any Tiki bar for granted, man.Enjoy the experience while you can, and it sounds like you sure did enjoy it. That's the way to spend a few days in Chicago.

Cheers!
Slovak

Thanks for the review, Lake Surfer. I appreciate you honesty and your criticisms. I don't think it's too much too ask for good music and drinks at those prices. The drinks were strong but how did they taste?

Hopefully the management is listening and can correct those things that it can. The lack of parking and the frat boys are beyond anyone's control.

...having found a parking space after ten minutes on a weekend is actually pretty damned good. I live in this town, and in that part of the city on a weekend, I'd plan on 20-30 mins.... and I know all the 'tricks'!

I will pass the critiscisms of this thread and the other one which also dealt with Rock A Tiki on to the management... but it is what it is... don't expect anything to change.

I am off to Chicago in April...so I hope to see the new place, as well as the other must-see spots. Seems Rock-A-Tiki has a bit of the Taboo Cove in it...loud music. I can more readily accept the type of music at the new place...as the post said, it is ROCK-a-Tiki.

Still, it would be the decibel level of the music that may get to me. Why must these places play "fill in whomever" so LOUD as to prevent normal conversation with a person next to you? That is the bigger complaint I have about Taboo Cove...fine, play crappy music for an "authentic" Tiki bar, but at least turn it down from "11" so we can talk.

Overall, the pics look great. Maybe not as good as Bosko's work at Taboo Cove, pretty cool nonetheless.

Rant over...go Cubs!

midnite

My pal Warwick writes...

"Know anyone that would want rockatiki.com ?

I got it a while ago when there was a rockatiki in town, and I put up a note on the site where the bar was, and apparently the owners didnt' want the domiain name, then the place died.

Anyway, if I "let it go" then the domain name vultures get it, and they don't give it up easily to anyone, and they charge a boatload id you want to buy it. I have about 100 domain names, and I know what the vultures are like. You may as well just think of a new name, cause trying to get an expired one, that a vulture stole, is next to impssible.

Anyway, wanted to know if you know anyone that wants it for like $100 bucks?"

Email him at [email protected]

watch out, cause there already is a rockatiki.com website out of europe somewhere..they contacted the owner after he named his place rockatiki and they were a little upset by it claiming they had dibs on the site name and all....don't know if they still have a site of up or if it's just a different spelling...you almost have to secure all variations on a domain name cause someone could always just add a period or a hyphen or change the spelling just alittle to get around it and it's recognized as a whole new site.....

check you out james, i didn't know you were a cyber squatter!! good for you! hope you sell some domains..

duh..never mind james...now i understand it's your pal that's the cyber squatter... I read your other post.....

double duh!! now i understand that your friend IS the guy in europe with the rockatiki store.....man, i'm sometimes real dumb on a good day.