JERSEY

Tiki.head wrote:

New Jersey seems to be a bit of a Tiki wasteland with the exception of Tiki Murph, who has a stand where he sells his chain saw tikis off of route 72 near Long Beach Island. Any one else know of any other worthy tiki spots in the Garden state?

What?!?! Jersey a tiki wasteland? Surely you jest! Chan's Dragon Inn (630 Broad Avenue/Ridgefield, NJ - 201-943-1276) is one of my favorite places on earth!!!

I could rave on about Chan's but if you haven't been there - just go & let it be a surprise (the waiters are reason enough to go!)

There are also the two Lee's Hawaiian Islanders, one in Clifton & one in Lyndehurst. They're okay & worth the visit (the one in Clifton used to have a free weekend hula show a couple of years ago) but not as excellent as Chan's.

If you happen to go, I'd love to hear how those places are doing.

Good Luck,
Tiki Chris

[ Edited by: Tiki Chris on 2002-06-11 16:09 ]

Thanks, Tiki-Chris, I will try to get there next time I'm in the neighborhood.
Tiki.Head

My brother and I made a trip to Tiki Murphs on route 72 on the way to Long Beach Island. He is now building tiki huts and bars, which was nice, but the quality of the carving has gone down, and he is doing crappy stuff like fisherman (imagine the Gorton's man) and pelicans as well as tikis. He has been expanding each year, though, so Tiki must be smiling on him. Too many pelicans, though, and I think he is tempting the Gods...

[ Edited by: Lance Samason 2007-07-06 15:19 ]

Photo of Tiki.Head (on right) and brother in front of TIki Murphs. Note the crappy bears surrounding us, although you can see some grinning teeth behind the hula girl.
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b304bdb36596

Tiki.Head

[ Edited by: tiki.head on 2002-08-19 17:49 ]

[ Edited by: tiki.head on 2002-08-19 17:50 ]

Anybody know anything about these miniature golf courses in New Jersey?

Gilligans Island Miniature Golf
406 E 10th Ave
Wildwood, NJ 08260-5758
Phone: (609) 522-5049

Hawaiian Rumble Pancake House & Miniature Golf
25th & Surf Ave
Wildwood, NJ 08260-0000
Phone: (609) 522-2449

South Seas Miniature Golf
2309 Dune Dr
Avalon, NJ 08202-2008
Phone: (609) 967-4288

TikiChris: I have been to South Seas Miniture golf in Avalon several times. It is only about 3 or 4 years old. The holes are named after south seas islands, like Tonga and Bora Bora. There are some nice carvings about the place, and there is a bit of a volcanoe that you play through that has some tikis hidden within the cave itself. The volcano emits smoke, but never erupts or anything. There is a head in a glass case on the final hole, where you need to putt into the tikis mouth to win a free game. My son won one. He was just telling me today that he missed going to tiki golf this year. Overall, I would say it is in better shape than the tiki golf that is in Tucson, but that one has a thirty foot moai that you can actually climb to the top of. Better carvings on the Avalon course.

On 2002-08-28 18:55, tiki.head wrote:
I have been to South Seas Miniture golf in Avalon several times.

I know this thread is about New Jersey, but this made me think of another mini-golf course in another Avalon. Has anyone else here played that mini-golf course on Catalina Island?

--cindy

I ate in Chan's Dragon tonight on my way up to Connecticut. Tiki Chris, you were right about the waiters, there were two of them on duty, both were looking real good. The decor was also excellent, although the food was in the Chung King class. Maybe I should have ordered something that came to the table in flames, although the drink that I ordered did come with a floating half lemon filled with flaming rum.
There was not much of a crowd eating, just a few tables besides myself, although the guy at the bar (Chuck) said business has been okay. They did quite a few take outs while I was there. A few folks were at the bar, including a lady who got a flaming virgin, which happily was loaded with rum in spite of the name. I am happy I made the trip, although they didn't light up the tikis in the back booths when I asked about them. It's nice to know that Jersey has an authentic establishment like Chan's. We should try to have a meeting there sometime, boost the spirits and the economy of the place...

yep, i highly recommend chan's but (ahem) not for the food!

glad to hear you enjoyed yourself & that business is still good at chan's!

that's for the update!

next time you're in that area, check out one of the lee's hawaiian islanders!

I took a group of people over to Chan's this weekend and we all really enjoyed it. The staff is classic indeed! The drinks were delicious. We had a full vegetarian meal because of the dietary choices of my guests. It was tasty, even though I normally crave the meat, meat , meat. But, I was satisfied with the food. Decor and ambience--beautiful!

I took a group of people over to Chan's this weekend and we all really enjoyed it. The staff is classic indeed! The drinks were delicious. We had a full vegetarian meal because of the dietary choices of my guests. It was tasty, even though I normally crave the meat, meat , meat. But, I was satisfied with the food. Decor and ambience--beautiful!

[ Edited by: Lance Samason 2007-07-06 15:17 ]

No, no, no I don't want to suggest that Tiki Resort is no good. I just didn't like dinner and drinks. But the Polynesian show and decor is well worth a visit!

and by the way, Waikiki wally's is now open in the east Village. (let me post on the NYC thread)

Donhonyc, you beat me to the punch over in the 'more NY tiki' thread :) I was going to write up a little bit on Lee's Hawaiian and suggest NY crawlers make a point of checking it out. Both of the two Lee's are within 2 or 3 miles of one another and Chan's is roughly 12 miles away. Assumedly, all three could be done in one evening if you wanted.

Mike and I have checked out both Chan's Dragon Inn in Ridgefield and Lee's Hawaiian in Clifton (haven't been to the Lyndhurst location). Both are nice and dim (a plus in my book) with excellent decor!

We visited Chan's last fall. It's already been described here pretty well- lots of little nooks and crannies to eat in wonderful vintage atmosphere, excellent staff, lots of Tikis, blowfish, etc. I recommend it!

And we visited Lee's Clifton just a few weeks ago in December as we made our trip down from New England.
http://www.njdiningguide.com/lees.html

The Lee's we visited was wonderful! Also VERY vintage, big comfy booths in little thatch roofed 'shacks', see the back of the top picture- http://www.njdiningguide.com/leespics.html_. Just out of that picture and to the right in the main dining room is a large waterfall running down a wall- very soothing, I believe there was a Tiki or two in the arrangement as well.

Lee's Food was tasty and fresh, the pupu platter comes flaming, and my drinks arrived in Tiki mugs (See the Exotic Island Drinks section- http://www.njdiningguide.com/leeswines.html, I recommend the "Tiki Tiki"!). The bar area is separated from the main dining room by a wall of bamboo and thatch, there was a small but inconspicuous TV very quietly playing the late afternoon game- easily ignored.

While Lee's didn't strike me as 'dripping with Tikis' there are some, and the atmosphere evokes true aloha spirit. The staff was just great too- friendly and laid back. It felt very much like a spot locals 'in the know' had been coming to since back in the day. Plenty of flaming rum sauces and broad smiles.

As for the physical building, from the outside it looks a bit like a gigantic old house, the bar area is to the left as you enter the main dining room. Off to the side there's another side room we barely peeked at, and a small area in the back off the main room with sort of a stage, which brings me to perhaps the most important point about Lee's Clifton, which is also mentioned on their webpage-

"Come join us every Saturday evening with Genuine Hula Dancers from Hawaii. Show Times: 7:30 & 9:15 pm."

Which, after a brief web search appears to be this group from New York- http://www.hawaiianartistsshows.com.

Now does this sound like a Tiki-must, or what? Need I saw more?

More evidence that you East Coasters don't have it so bad compared to us West Coasters! I have to go back there soon.

LEE'S in Clifton has been gone for awhile . My Granny took me there as a kid in the 70's . Going to have to go on a trek thought that was the only tiki in NJ

The only place I've heard of called a 'tiki' bar is Martells

http://www.tikibar.com/

but one could hardly consider that a proper tiki bar IMO. :(

I have to agree with Jersey beng a wasteland in general.

[ Edited by: Bau 2010-07-27 10:53 ]

Jersey is not the biggest fan of the Tiki it seems which I totally don't understand. There are those out there that do embrace the Tiki as I am renting bars in Central Jersey.Business has been ok but when I started this business,I thought there would be a demand I couldn't keep up with,,,Not the case. I've only had to refuse one weekend setup so far.I enjoy setting up my bars for customers,knowing that I'm providing a cool atmosphere for them,while making a few bucks.The Tiki craze hasen't gone away,it's just hopefully laying low because of the economy.
It is to this end that I will probably lower my prices soon to make a Tiki weekend more affordable to the masses. I'm open to suggestions if anyone can help to enlighten Jersey to the Tiki lifestyle.

Somebody on here is just gonna have to team up with the Doo Wop league and open something in Wildwood!
Wait, let me think about that for a minute.... Ahhh.