Any good Tiki bars gulf side florida ????

My family and I are doing vacation from dec 18th to jan 1st this year on Anna maria island florida, now the big question is can I find some good tiki bars on the gulf coast. I would love to get some mugs and tiki stuff for my tiki bar I built in the back yard this year. If there are no bars you can think of any good places for tiki items, flea markets, places to lookfor possible deals??? Thanks in advance from the new LaVa LoUnGe mid Michigans newest tiki hot spot!!!

[ Edited by: wentiki 2009-02-11 05:23 ]

short answer; No.

Nothing - I had to build my own getaway.

I was trying to find out the appropriate place to post this because the bar I was at over the past weekend doesn't measure up to the standards of what TC considers to be a tiki bar. However, it is a thatched roof bar (and a very large, impressive one I might add) and it did contain several tikis in the bar (although they were the painted tikis which many purist TC'ers find to be tacky. And neither the drinks nor the music were reminiscent of the South Pacific. In any event, having issued the foregoing disclaimers, without any further adieu, I present to you. . .

http://www.rumriverbarandgrill.com/

Joefla70:

Granted such a place may not be considered truly tiki by many here, but it looks like a fun place to go. Thanks for posting the link.

Ed (TT)

That area gets picked clean on a fairly regular basis when it comes to vintage stuff.
As for bars, The Bahi Hut is an oldie while the Trader Vics is a newbie. Both are in Sarasota, within a short drive from there.
Tiki Road Trip may have some other suggestions...

You will find out that on the Gulf coast anything with a thatch roof is called a tiki bar.

You might want to contact this carver on the island:

http://www.annamarikitiki.com

1. The Bahi Hut-Established 1956 and totally intact-mid century modern tiki bar, a little light on tikis but they are working on that now.
2. Trader Vic's IB&G -has original recipe drinks

Both in Sarasota

Was out to Anna Marie this week and there is a massive new thatched hut on the beach with signs of a tiki bar coming soon.

As far as tiki questing, there are several shops that have the indonesian tikis along with nautical stuff for your fish nets:

The Green Turtle, Anna Maria Island
The Beach Bazaar, Siesta Key
The Red Barn Flea Market, Bradenton (Large booth of indo carvings)
Just got wind of a store called the Hive on Bridge Street Bradenton Beach that might have Tiki Farm mugs and such.
As for original stuff, I've been sometimes lucky at Sarasota Architectural Salvage on 11th street and Central in Sarasota

Robotiki
Mira Mar League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

[ Edited by: robotiki 2010-07-29 04:30 ]

The Hive on Anna Maria does have Tiki Farm mugs, and they carry copies of Tiki Magazine (at least they did when I visited a few months ago). There's also a great place to eat, with a surf motif but I can't remember what the name is. I do remember the burger was great, the beer was cold, and the folks were as friendly as anyone could hope for.

TT

[ Edited by: Tam Tiki 2010-07-29 12:13 ]

Okay, I remembered the bar/restaurant; it's called "Feeling Swell" and it is about a block from The Hive, on the opposite side of the street.

TT

Has anything changed on this front? New bars or such? My wife and I had planned to drive the three hours to the Mai Kai while visiting relatives but that may not happen.

gabbahey

well i used to hang out at the bai hai hut in the 80'-90's...strong drinks but its not very tiki bar....it is smokey as hell just to warn you and thats why i stopped going......youll get lung cancer just sitting in there. the trader vics on fruitville rd in sarasota is ok.....chain like but the food is good..staff is friendly. as a previous poster said...ANYTHING WITH A THATCH ROOF IS TIKI IN FLORIDA.....but we all know better....

there is a new tiki bar out on anna maria island (again just a thatch roof) called gulf drive cafe (link below). its on gulf drive in between the mantee and cortez bridges. oh there is a another place that opened recently called tarpon point grill....in bradenton....

http://www.gulfdrivetiki.com/

http://www.tarponpointegrill.com/index.html

none of this is even in the same category as the mai kai in ft lauderdale....enjoy our warm weather....its not normal this time of year

its NOT tiki but it cool and if you have kids they will love it......it feels like old south florida. its called LINGER LODGE!!!!! full of 1000s of taxidermy gators, snakes, and just a million other florida animals.....creepy and cool at the same time and you can eat gator too...good old fried food.....

http://www.lingerlodgeresort.com/index.asp

[ Edited by: Creative Chimp 2012-01-20 08:54 ]

the Trader Vic's is its "Island Grill" incarnation, they've got some of the classic drinks, but mostly its a casual family-friendly island burger/sandwich restaurant. check out their website for more info.

its NOT tiki but it cool and if you have kids they will love it......it feels like old south florida. its called LINGER LODGE!!!!! full of 1000s of taxidermy gators, snakes, and just a million other florida animals.....creepy and cool at the same time and you can eat gator too...good old fried food.....

http://www.lingerlodgeresort.com/index.asp

Love the Linger Lodge! It's right around the corner from our place in Bradenton.
Yes it's not Tiki but it is worth the trip for the Old Florida feel. Not many places left like this joint.

Murph

WaikikiWomb

[ Edited by: Murph 2012-01-20 13:40 ]

Thanks for the heads up. That place looks awesome. My wife is preganant so we will probably not make it the the Bahi Hut but maybe. I went to the Mai Kai for the first time a few months ago on a business trip so I know it is worth six hours in the car but it is difficult convincing the rest of the family that.

gabbahey