Shipwreck Tavern

The Shipwreck Tavern has two tiki bars: one outside the restaurant entrance and the other on the roof of the Tavern building, accessible via an exterior stairway. The Tavern interior is maritime themed, with models of tall ships, figureheads, a large fish aquarium, and so forth; all of the tiki is outside and thus presumably seasonal. Both tiki bars feature thatched huts, tiki posts linked by net fencing, and bamboo landscape edging. Children under 13 aren't allowed in the rooftop area, perhaps because the staff worries about them toppling over the net fencing to the pavement below.

The food is American with nothing exotic beyond the merest nod to Asia (e.g., eggroll appetizers). They do offer a wide selection of beers both draught and bottled, though the afternoon I went the bar seemed on the edge of implosion: the taps were broken and the place was under assault from a swarm of yellowjackets, so much so that my sister-in-law twice ordered pina coladas and twice received them with exoskeletal garnishes. Disgusting, certainly, but I would like to think the Tavern was having an isolated bad day.

There are two things to recommend the Tavern's tiki bars: the adjacent Bayville Adventure Park (also O&Oed by the Jekyll & Hyde Entertainment Group) and the public beach directly to the north. You could do worse than baking on the shore of Long Island Sound before flip-flopping across the street to sip Zombies under the thatch.