Clifton's Pacific Seas

I finally went to Clifton's Pacific Seas. I read some very mixed reviews before going, but, wanted to see for myself. I got right in at opening, so there was no line, and it was an unusual day in that all of Clifton's opened at 6, so many of us were able to walk right to Pacific Seas....no doubloon required.

Above all, I have to say that the décor is amazing. The space is very well done and Bamboo Ben did an amazing job as always. I fell it is worthwhile going if for no other reason than to see the décor.

The drinks I thought were good, the bartenders service was nice, and accommodating, although it got very busy quickly and they only had a few bartenders, so the line for another drink got long quickly.

As others have mentioned, the music started getting louder as more people arrived, and was a bit overwhelming, but, it seemed that most people enjoyed it.

Overall, it was very enjoyable for me, and I will definitely be back.

Disappointing. A bar for "clubbers" not tiki-lovers. Tiki is all about the ohana vibe and great drinks, and Pacific Seas was lacking in both in our opinion.

Nine of us, with high hopes and the warmest tiki wishes, visited Pacific Seas last night. We had all read the reviews, which without exception have been sparklingly positive. Well, what I'm going to write about Pacific Seas is not supportive of that idea.

All of us had been to Clifton's before, and without fail we loved the food and drinks. So, we all thought Pacific Seas was going to be a similar or better experience. Pacific Seas certainly leads you to believe it's going to be something special. After all, they've got a serious dress code. They only take reservations for 10 or more. They impose a $300 minimum on that reservation as well. They also say that they limit the number of people, without reservations, getting in. The entrance is hidden behind a mirrored panel and the attendant insists on collecting your gold admission tokens, before allowing you to proceed. Well, all of us slightly inebriated boozy tiki-philes found this just great and we were completely amped as we were led through the map room to our table.
The music seemed a little loud, but it was right in the exotica and tiki groove. The DJ, situated at the cut-down motor boat was pumping out The Tiki Tones, The Hula Girls, and a bit of Martin Denny. The decor is Phenomenal. Really Really great. However, things went quickly downhill from there.

1. The music got progressively louder necessitating yelling attempted conversation amongst our group...and we were well away from the speakers

2. The server, which we got since we reserved a large group, knew nothing about the drinks they served beyond what was written on the menu. Not the rums, not the flavors. A great thing about most tiki places is discussing these things with the bar staff...after all Tiki is at least 50% about the drinks. Shouting over the music just to hear that he doesn't know and have to ask...ugh.

3. The drinks. A small selection (10?) of classics and uninspired slightly altered classics. Only two (2!) mocktails...alcohol-free versions of the Pina Colada and Painkiller. (Come on guys! It's the same freaking drink!). Our group had every drink on the menu, some twice and three times (because of the $300 minimum). None were anywhere near the quality or taste of the cocktails you'd get at other LA tiki bars (e.g. Tonga Hut, Tiki Ti, Tiki No, or Lono's). They weren't even as good as the drinks you'd get at the other bars in Cliffton's itself!

4. The drink garnishes. There weren't any. A single forlorn cherry or small wilted orchid blossom is not a garnish. This tells me lots about a tiki bar. It says we deal in FAST VOLUME and don't really care about the barcraft.

5. The crowd. It was already crowded at 9pm, when we started. At 10pm though the "clubbing" crowd started to arrive en-mass. Where was the supposed intimate pacific Seas setting now? The music changed from the prior exotica to 80% clubbish dance music. As such, The great hula / island singer-dancer floor show was jammed incongruously into the crowd and bookended by the poor music.

I will not be going back to Pacific Seas. Cliffton's certainly. It's other bars and food really are nice. But Pacific Seas is not a tiki destination. It's a pretentious downtown bar for people who like pretty South Seas decor. 4/10

Awesome spot well worth the visit, but if anyone knows the owners/mangers PLEASE ask them to change the music, Clifton's has 5/6 other bars in the same building to fit the mood. The music was club loud, not bar loud, and the music although I liked it KILLED the escapism of all the visual aesthetic. Will definitely go back again; and hopefully things will be even better!

I went with a couple friends (who know nothing about tiki) kinda on the spur of the moment- we were in dtla trying to decide where to hang out so I suggested we go here since we were only a couple blocks away. I had been hesitant to make a special trip just for this because some of the reviews didn't sound so hot, and also because I read about a 'dress code' and we were in jeans and shirts, but 1 friend by some miracle had worn a tropical print collared shirt, so we put him in the front of us lol. There were what felt like 1,000 people inside of Clifton's but hardly any queue for the door (most of the ppl were at the other bars which you have to push your way thru to get to pacific seas on the 3rd floor). We did wait for P. S. in a separate line inside for about 10 min. There was a very curt bouncer for the line, but I'm sure its hard to deal with a queue amongst a stampede of tipsy people.
Boy I'm sure glad I gave it a shot! It definitely has some of the best ambiance I've ever experienced. We shared a scorpion bowl ($40) and I had a zombie afterwards.
Drink taste was average-good, although my friend had a painkiller and was obsessed (not sure if because of tiki drink noob or just good).
The service was average-quick (we were not ignored, but they def. needed more than 1 bartender per bar)
The decor and atmosphere is EXCELLENT! I don't think Disney could've done a better job (they set the standard for theme-ing in my book lol)
The music was mostly 60s surf, they even had 'hula' performers and a limbo competition, I assume cause it was Saturday night.
We even found a small corner table/seats and didn't get kicked out haha!

I have only a few annoyances and they're really not that bad. The pre-mentioned bouncer being one of them. There are no signs or indications to where Pacific Seas is inside the building. The queue is not marked either. I had to worm my way through the crowd to 3 separate employees to figure out which door to stand at. Then the bouncer comes around after 5 minutes to tell us 'If you don't have a doubloon you can't get in.' ha! at least she told us where to get them: downstairs at the entrance. ha! So after we made our way back with our coinage we re-queued and finally got in. This may be a really busy night thing or it may be an every night thing, whichever it is, it needs to be a done-away-with thing. I know its probably in their minds 'part of the experience' or an attraction for the young hip crowd, the but its very convoluted and almost pretentious feeling if you ask me, esp for a tiki bar. And I'm a millennial!
So, positives to offset other reviewers' bad experiences:
Dress code was pretty lax (did have to remove my beanie tho which is ok)
Service was fine considering how many people and employees were helpful.
Overall- it was worth a few negatives for the experience!

NO NO NO! My husband and I tried to visit this place THREE times in the last year, and there has been a road block EVERY time. First time, unreliable schedule of hours. Second, closed early, THIRRRDDDDD, a new dress code that required men to have collared shirts...at a TIKI BAR. And I was wearing a really nice pin-up dress myself. Turned down... That was a 300 mile drive wasted..

Good tiki feel etc. Problem I experienced was super slow service at the bar. Only one bartender serving a very crowded bar. Not good. Took forever to get drinks. Also they say they don't take reservations, but they kicked us off of two different tables saying they were reserved. When I called before hand they said no reservations. We had 4 people. Then the server that kicked us off the table told us if you call ahead you CAN reserve a table by calling ahead. This was several months ago...hopefully they have improved these things.

If you are familiar with the basic tiki drink menu, there is no reason to try it here as the same drink will taste different every time and not be close to the actual drink recipe. They list exotic rums which they don't actually stock. The only reason to go here is to see the old place and drink some straight rum while leaning on a vintage Chris Craft boat which is a wonderful piece of eye candy and horribly misplaced in the center of the room. Very pretentious staff who will have no problems letting you in if you wear some cheap piece of plastic tat from Warren Buffet's Oriental Trading Company but will have issues about the "tikiness" of what you're wearing if it's a $1000+ item made in Hawaii before World War 2. These same people cover up the magnificent Art Nouveau and American Encaustic tile that is more than a 100 years old and located on lower floors. The staff doorway through the old boat air intake is a nice touch. Thus, if you've never seen Clifton's or a vintage wooden Chris Craft, go and drink straight rum. If you're familiar with these items, no reason to visit. Given all the excellent surf bands in SoCal, putting the Hula Girls on stage is a tragedy other than their cute dancers. Strictly for clueless tourists.

Wife and I went last night, July 27th to catch the Hula Girls show. It was our first time at both Clifton's and Pacific Seas. We were a bit disappointed when we showed up and was told the cafeteria was not open on Thursdays as we were looking forward to having the full Clifton's experience. The host at the "travel desk" was very helpful in recommending a few places in the vacinity to grab a bite. Upon our return we located the secret door and made our way up to Pacific Seas. Once we walked through the door our mouths dropped to the floor at how amazing it looked. Bamboo Ben did one heck of a job with all the decor. The mural behind the bar done by Sammy Bean was amazing as well.
My wife had the Painkiller and the Singapore Sling. While I had the Pacific Seas Mai Tai and the Navy Grog. Out of all 4 drinks we liked the Painkiller the best. The Mai Tai was ok but the Navy Grog and Singapore Sling were super tart. The Navy Grog more so than the sling which was a bummer. I've had other Navy Grogs and they were excellent. Overall the atmosphere was top notch and the music was excellent (the Hula Girls were great as always). We are already trying to figure out when to go back and try the other drinks on the menu. Definitely worth checking out if not for the history alone

Worst Mai Tai ever. Tasted like pure margarita mix from a plastic bottle.

Now the best reason for me to make the trek to Clifton's (not that there weren't enough already). Surprisingly painless to get in if one is willing to wait a little bit. Love the pirate doubloon they give you to gain access. Matt the bartender was a real delight and sure knows how to mix some delicious concoctions. Also come here regularly for the Coconut Club events, which couldn't be more entertaining, though they have gotten extremely crowded of late.

Avoid this place like the plague.

So after all the build up and hype, my girl and I went to Pacific Seas. We arrived about 7pm on a ssturdy night. We wandered around while the ultra-cool waitstaff were too busy to greet us. Finally a very nice guy named Marcel set up a two-top for us. He was great. The ambience is good-ish. There's a boat in the middle of the floor, which I guess is supposed to be cool. It's just in the way.
Ordered a Mai tai and a painkiller. Mai-tai was swill....sour and pale. The worst mai-tai ever. I swear Smart and Final makes a better mai tai mix.
Meanwhile , this hostess chick "Eena"(porn star name?)...was running around taking selfies with customers and sounding like she owns the place. Mid way through our second drink (no more mai tais), Eena comes over and smugly says to me "I'll be needing this table. It's reserved now. ". Wow. Thanks, bitch for making me look like a jerk to my date.
I said "can we finish our drinks"?..she says with a typical millenial smirk: "those other people didn't complain when I moved them". This is when I see red. So we move to adjacent stools, drinks in hand. The table we were just bumped out of stayed vacant for a half hour.
The way to handle a table conflict is to warn the customer ahead if time, give them a chance to finish their drinks, and offer them a free drink. Getting kicked off my table was embarrassing and ruined my experience there.
We will never return. There's five other tiki bars to choose from. I suggest you do the same, and not bother with this place. It's the opposite of what a good tiki bar should be.

The Pacific Seas is clearly improving since other negative reviews. We arrived at 6 pm on a Wed. and were let in after about 15 minutes with no waitlist. There were about 12 other people when we arrived. The place is sumptuous with numerous tiki details (some from Bahooka) in every direction creating a vibe that is very close to tiki perfection. I particularly dug the music selection, which contained no exotica or Hawaiian music, but everything else one might consider appropriate or groovy at a tiki bar from bossa nova to swinging '60s to surf and cha cha cha, a very thoughtfully rendered mix of ultra-groovy songs. The drinks were exceptional (they have a great menu now) and the whole experience, otherworldly. I have been to numerous tiki bars in the U.S. and Europe and this place is among the swellest, certainly the finest current tiki bar in the L.A. area.

Holy cow! This experience could not have been worse.

Warned on this site and others, I tried to get a reservation, but none were available. Instead, I got a very nice note saying I should show up about 15 minutes before the bar opens at 6 pm and put our names in with the hostess. If we did this, I was told, it should be no problem to walk right in.

We arrived about 5:30 pm so that we could be first in line. Twice, my wife and I approached the hostess and were told there was no need to put our names in because walking in at opening should be no problem. We were told, however, the bar didn't actually open at 6 pm, but rather 6:30 pm.

No matter. We grabbed a seat near the staircase to the 3rd floor and watched as the crowd steadily began to build up. Worried that we wouldn't be able to get in right away, we queued up with everyone else. The group was then approached by a manager who said that we couldn't congregate around the stairs and that - lo and behold - we all needed to put our names in with the hostess. Ooooookay ...

When approaching the hostess AGAIN, she still insisted that we need not put our names in. When I explained that the group was sent down by the manager, she seemed incredulous. After a few minutes of debating this with the assembled crowd, the hostess was finally approached by the manager ... and then THEY debated having us put our names in.

Finally the hostess took our names and c ell phone numbers. I was first in line (thank goodness), and I was told that I'd get a text in 10 minutes to go into the bar. Finally feeling confident, we wandered and paced for 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, then a half hour. At this point, I went back down to the hostess stand and was told that I should already have received my text. When I said I hadn't, the hostess said that something about the building's construction killing cell phone reception. Huh?!? (as I noted the 3 bars on my phone).

Fed up, we finally tailgated a large party that was headed in, and yes ... we made it!!! AND, the place was nearly empty. Sweet! We approached a manager to tell him (very politely, I might add) how frustrating the process was. First he said something about the staff being discombobulated because their shift was just starting. (Seriously?) Then he said the owner wanted it this way to keep the riff raff out. (Really?) Finally, I assume noting our slack jaws and the WTF looks on our faces, he gave us two free drink tokens.

Sounds like things were looking up, right? Well, as we spoke to the manager, a large group had walked in and gathered around the bar. Didn't seem like a huge deal, but one bartender was assigned to wait solely on the large party we'd walked in with (he angrily told a couple of the folks ahead of us). That left one bartender to handle the overflow, which at this point was about 10 deep in front of me.

I stood in line patiently for 15 more minutes (I timed it) while a group of young LA partiers ordered painkillers ("To kill the pain," I believe every single one of them said) and Scorpion Bowls (because they get set on fire). When I finally dragged my beleaguered body up to the bar, I gloomily ordered a Mai Tai and a Navy Grog. The Mai Tai was pretty bad. The Navy Grog was okay, except for a mild taste of banana. But hey, they were free!!!

We drank our drinks, pretty much in demoralized silence, then left. On our way out, we saw a very earnest looking group of tiki enthusiasts (which were completely absent from the bar, as far as I could tell) that had been there before us but were still waiting with hopeful looks on their faces for the chance to go in. We gave them our warning, wished them luck, and said goodbye.

As I drove out of the parking garage at about 8:15 pm (nearly three hours after we arrived), I got a text that my "Pacific Seas experience was about to begin." Well, not exactly ... but thanks anyways, Clifton's.

Wow, this was a terrible experience!

We called early in the day (getting an uninformative voicemail) and researched extensively online and we still ended the night without actually being able to get into the bar.

There was a huge line to get into the complex and nobody outside seemed to know or acknowledge that there was a tiki bar inside. We got confusing directions from multiple bouncers which eventually ended in us waiting 45 minutes in the general line.

Once inside, after much confusion and poor signage, we found another line on the third floor to get into the Pacific Seas area. After waiting in this line, we were told that the bar was full tonight and closed to walk-ins.

This could very well be a fine tiki bar, but it's enclosed in a tower of nightlife and unhelpful employees. After trekking across town to see this, I could not have been more let down.

Who gives you a clear drink, tasting of banana, and tells you its a zombie? These guys. If you are into physical appearance with a crappy personality and no substance.. this is the spot. Here is to hoping they find their footing better.

Drove down from sf to try it out and was turned away at the door. Private party on a Saturday night. It would be nice if that was listed on the website. :(

We managed to get in on the official opening date (12th of November. It seemed as though they were trying to keep the bar from being overcrowded so we were let in little by little.

The decor is top notch and there are enough hallways to walk around and gawk about at the history on the walls and ceilings. The craftsman boat in the center hub served as a DJ booth for the time being.

The drinks were good but the drink selection was a whole different story. It seems as though there is no menu yet but you are left with questioning the bartender as to what they can and can't make for the time being. Mai Tais, Navy Grogs, Singapore slings, Fog Cutters, Painkillers, Cobra's Fangs (!!), Scorpions and of course Daiquiris were all on the table for now.

I only asked about the barrel mug for purchase but they did have a three Ku bowl with Clifton's on the side, whether or not it's available for purchase is a mystery to me. I will be back soon to check the bar out again!

I was at the new Pacific Seas on Halloween night for a pop up dinner with the Coconut Club. I can't rate on food and drinks though because they were provided by the club and not the restaurant as far as I could tell. The decor was amazing! One of the best in terms of tikiness. There also appears to be plenty of room for the throngs of tikiphiles sure descend upon it. The bar is behind a false door that looks like a larger mirror in the 3rd story bar area. There are parking garages and nicer hotels within walking distance but it did seem to be in a regentrification zone. Not only is the Pacific Seas a sight to behold so is Clifton's in general. There are 5 different bar areas in the multistory location. One of them even had a cool Art Deco black bear tiki mug! I can't wait to go back