The Atomic Tiki

We really wanted this place to be a good representation of Tiki. It fell short, but is mostly fixable.

The food was pretty good and on theme. Staff was attentive.

Drink menu had a good representation of classic and original recipes. But...

None of the drinks were well executed. Crushed ice is essential to the feel of a tiki drink. All four of ours were watery and only half full with standard bar ice.

My Zombie tasted like ginger ale with a dash of Pernod.

My Saturn was extremely sweet. Like drinking somewhat diluted passion fruit syrup. I could find no hint of lemon or gin, despite multiple attempts. I finally squeezed my lemon garnish slice in to provide a hint of sour.

My wife’s Mai Tai was similar. Very strong orgeat, with lime and rum MIA.

Therse are all fixable issues. Perhaps this is what their usual clientele like. But I wouldn’t take anybody there who wanted to see what we’ll executes Tiki can taste like.

As for the decor, it was much more “beach shack” than a traditional tiki bar look. Surfboard tables, a TV and Tom Selleck posters do not a tiki bar make. Sprinkling around some mugs does not a Tiki bar make.

As somebody who’s written extensively about Tiki, I know not every bar can be Smugglers Cove or Latitude 29. Still, this bar falls short of other neighborhood Tiki bars. However, it has some relatively easy course corrections that would help substantially.

Cool neighborhood bar with good food, drinks were forgettable, staff was very nice.

Revamp the drink menu with some real heavy hitters, and spruce up the joint with some more classic Tiki decoration and it'd be cool.

We really wanted to like Atomic Tiki more than we did.

The food was good (no pu-pu platter available both times we visited), the drinks were pretty good and the service was excellent.

What we were disappointed in was the overall Tiki-ness. It was more nautical than Tiki. The overall feel of the restaurant was Blue Whale from Dark Shadows vs. Classic Tiki.