The Waterworks, tallahassee, FL (bar)

Name:The Waterworks
Type:bar
Street:1133 Thomasville Rd
City:tallahassee
State:FL
Zip:32303
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational

Description:
Really neat tiki bar, turns club after a certain time at night. Exterior has a thatch roof and bamboo walls. Inside is nice, has an island bar and tiki support beams. Windows double as sheet fountains. Good drinks and friendly service.

Thanks, Swanky Tiki

I had never heard of this one. Sounds like a nice place. Is it a vintage tiki establishment, or a newer, neo-tiki place?

Sabu

I think they tried to go vintage tiki, though the place has only been there for maybe 3 years, it used to be located downtown, next door to where I used to work, at that time it was all burnished aluminum, glass block and blue neons, they were a jazz club, but when they moved the whole thing changed, they got their own building and went tiki! now they play some jazz, but it's different than the style they used to play, older style now as opposed to the Branford Marsalis style they used to play before they moved.

Here's some photos of Waterworks in Tallahassee, FL with a few comments too...
Cheers!
Brian
The Intoxicators!

This is the view from the short end of the bar. The owner Don Q is standing near the entrance to the kitchen.
The eggplant sandwich is AMAZING! but don't ask for Texas Sheet Cake... or live music... They have neither...

Is it raining... No it's just the fountain windows... Very cool!

Here are several tikis carved from palm trees at the south end of the bar...

This is the view across the room in Waterworks. I especially love the toast art portrait of Prince Murat.

The Intoxicators! love to hang out at Waterworks...

The drink menu at Waterworks has many drinks like The Polynesian Princess, The Key Lime Pie, The Old Man And The Sea, The Mystery Drink, and The Blue Hawaiian.
On the night that I was there there rum selection was pretty much Bacardi, and Captain Morgan so I opted for several gin and tonics and a PBR...
Still a very cool place...
If you are ever in Tallahassee, drop in...

[ Edited by: Tikigoob 2014-09-10 18:35 ]

Here is a pic of the outside of the building. When its open, the windows have water cascading down them, giving the impression of it raining when you are inside.

Here is the best business sign in Tallahassee.

Have any Blindy Pirate tiki's secretly made it on to Waterworks property yet? Hmmm...
It's worth a trip to grap a Capri (The best damn eggplant and goat cheese sandwitch around!) and a PBR...

Cheers!
Brian
The Intoxicators!

Here's a few more photos from when The Intoxicators! and The Disasternauts have played at Waterworks






On the back side of Waterworks is a Space Themed room called Spaceport.

On a trip with my wife and daughter visiting prospective colleges we quite accidentally fornd this place in Tallahassee on Wednesday. There was a sign on the door informing that it was 21 and up after 5pm, so like any good parents we ditched the kids at the hotel so we could go back and check the place out.

The thatch on the storefront is gone and some tall mass-produced Tikis have been added. The sign out front was encouraging and they got bonus points right off the bat for having the artificial rain coming down the front windows.

The interior of the place would be considered very respectable home Tiki bar decor. Some nice MCM light fixtures,some fish trap lights, pufferfish lamps, and a respectable number of pretty well done palm Tikis.

The Tiki cocktails, all served in fun Dynasty mugs (availavle for purchase, naturally), were respectable. Better than I had braced myself for at any rate. I had a Kung Fu Punch in a bucket mug that had fresh lime and other juices and good rum flavors though it was a little thin with maybe too much soda and ginger beer. My wife had a better than average Zombie that was pretty tasty despite the mystery rums that went into it. For our second round of drinks, I had a Mystery Drink served in a skull mug that was very heavy creme de cocoa and creme de banana. Decent enough but not quite what I was in the mood for. My wife had a Mai Tai that we knew up front was going to be a low rent Amaretto and orange/pineapple juice dive bar rendition, but she didn't take too long to finish it. The rest of the Tiki-type drinks on the menu looked a lot less promising, but they did have a pretty ambitions menu of classic cocktails including a Manhattan, Negroni, Sazarac and a Boodles Martini, among others.

I'm going to give them decent marks, all in all. And they've been at it for @15 years now so they seem to be getting something right. If my daughter ends up a Seminole I'm sure we'll be back.

Waterworks is no more. They closed, tikis, equipment, and decoration was sold off. The building has been demolished to become a parking lot.