anything TIKI in St. Louis?

I might have to leave my hut and venture to St. Louis. Anything Tiki good there? I'm sure there are posts, but time is of the essence.
mahalo,
Ben boo Bam

Just wanted to see if there was any updated information about Tiki in St. Louis. I will be there later this week until Saturday morning. I have seen the reference to Ken's Polynesian Room in the Tiki Road Trip and will stop by there and check it out. So, please pass along any other info that concerns tiki places to visit in St. Louis.

if i had a time machine i would go to the mainlander and trader vic's...

as for now, i'd say pickens are pretty slim...

Tikisobayli, you mentioned "Ken's Polynesian Room"; did you mean Terry's Polynesian Room? If so, I'm pretty sure its gone as the phone # does not work and they are not listed with any directory assitance I've checked.
I've not personally explored St Louis for tiki, but have researched it a bit and the only sign of current tiki I've seen is a reference to a Venice Cafe which I posted at: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=7987&forum=1&vpost=79563. The referenced review of the Venice Cafe implies a tiki presence, but others I've seen don't mention that; just Google it, and you'll see. I did just call and confirmed it is still in business.
Fyi, here are some shortcuts to TC posts
that mention St Louis. Unfortunately, most of the references are to things that are past-tense:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=7987&forum=1
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6138&forum=1

There is a tiki spot with nearly all the original decor intact (except for tikis) but it is no longer a tiki bar. The restaurant is India Palace and it's on the top floor (11th) of the Howard Johnson's near Lambert Airport.

As soon as you walk in off the elevator, you encounter a full lava rock wall fountain with a pool at its base. There's a pedestal where a Ganesh idol stands but I imagine it held a tiki at one point. As soon as you walk in the door to the dining area on the right of the waterfall, look at the door trim on your right and you'll see a tiki carving that someone failed to remove.

Once in the dining area, you can see booths with thatched roofs and tapa-looking wallpaper on the wall. There are also outrigger lamps and other clearly tiki lamps that appear identical to the kinds listed in the BOT. The dining area also has large windows overlooking the airport where you can see planes come and go.

There are also fake aquariums built into the back wall although they are currently not on.

In the center of the restaurant is a bar with lava rock walls. If I remember correctly, the wall behind the bar still has netting, shells, lobsters and other props you used to find in old school tiki bars.

As a lifelong tikiphile, this place is definitely worth a visit and I go there from time to time, especially to whet my appetite for an occasional visit to Chicago (the tiki capital of the Midwest). Also, if you like Indian food, this place is generally regarded as the best in St. Louis in several reader polls (the chicken tikka is my favorite).

As far as what this place used to be, I asked the manager and he confirmed that it used to be Polynesian but he couldn't remember the name. I know that there's a Waikiki Supper Club at a Howard Johnson's in New York, so my current theory is that it may have been one of those.

This is really your best hope in St. Louis. I can confirm that Terry's is closed and in a life-threatening part of town. Also, Venice Cafe is nothing like a tiki bar. It's more like a T.G.I. Friday's on acid.

Here are two links about India Palace.

http://www.digitalcity.com/stlouis/dining/venue.adp?vid=63874

http://stlouis.citysearch.com/profile?id=5720888

Maybe it will find its way into a revised version of Tiki Road Trip

for non-tiki but sheer fun, i suggest blueberry hill.

http://www.blueberryhill.com/

Thanks everyone for the information. Sorry to hear that Terry's has shut down. I will be flying in to St. Louis WEd. afternoon for the annual Southeastern Archaeological Conference and it is to bad that I will not be able to take them to a tiki bar as they have all enjoyed our Wiki Wiki Room.

As we'll be flying in, we will check out the India Palace Again, thanks for the information and I'm glad to see the thread about the Mainlander come back to life...Tiki Central at its best.

[ Edited by: tikisobayli on 2004-10-19 14:43 ]

Just wanted to thank everyone again for the St. Louis information. We had a great time up there and wanted to pass along that we did find some tiki there. After dinner at the wonderful Mt. Everest Cafe we walked a couple blocks to the Pepper Lounge. The back bar is very nice and had a great collection of swank 50's style lamps on all the walls. there must have been 20-30 of them. The overall atmosphere was great until the DJ showed up...just simply did not fit in with the rest of the scene. The bar was perfectly suited for some Dean Martain or even some Denny.

Anyway, the bar serves top shelf martinis that were not bad. They have an extensive list of martinis, many to fancy and seemed more like a dessert. I got to talking to one of the bouncers and he opened up a door that led outside to a small enclosed "alley". They had a nice bamboo finshed bar/stools. The exposed brick walls maintained an number of Bosko masks mounted on bamboo matting. Overall, pretty nice place that is wort a look if close by. The bad news, no tikis and no Polynesian cocktails. Some of the martinis they served were "polynesian influenced" and were not bad.

Here is the info:
The Pepper Lounge
2005 Locust
314-241-2005

Thanks for the report; did you happen to get to India Palace this time?

Thought I'd bump up this post from awhile back, with some new info from recent finds. I got some menus not too long ago from St. Louis area tiki bars & restaurants, and 2 were from Polynesian World in Bridgeton. The address on the back of the menus is the same for the Howard Johnson's, where India Palace is now located. So it looks like the Executive International Inn became Howard Johnson's, and Polynesian World became India Palace. Here's a few menu pics :

Dinner menu:

Drink menu:

Here's a menu from another place in St. Louis, the Luau West Port, at West Port Plaza:

Wow, these look so late 70s/80s! Definitely from the Tiki-devolution period, when the style had gotten tired.

Outside of St. Louis is a bar called Chicken Bones... not sure where.
They described the theme as tiki/voodo.

Last spring I did an order of tiki poles from 4 foot to 8 foot for them.

looks like the only thing really tiki in st. louis will be YOU!!!!...........

I know this is an old thread but i was looking for something in the St. Louis area. I do know that Harrah's Casino just opened up a Sammy Hagar restaurant. Its not totally Tiki but definately is unique and is worth trying out.

Thank you so much, puamana, for clearing this mystery up! I've been wondering forever what lost tiki wonder used to live at the India Palace location. Judging by the menu, it looks like it was a classic.