Tiki Philly opened in July 2016, near the Philadelphia City Hall. The decor is simple: an orange wall covered with brightly-painted inexpensive tiki masks, and a painted mural on the side. A short menu of tiki drinks is offered, a mix of traditionals and new creations, and there is a small selection of food.
We got here shortly after 5pm. Upstairs its a small bar with only one bartender working but she did a good job for happy hour. The drinks are pretty generous and fairly priced considering. The Pain Killer was not so close to the original recipe and the Zombie tasted like mostly rum. The music, I don't what it was, I had to keep asking Siri to name the songs, none of which I ever heard before. One thing I can say is the decor was pretty cool including original artwork on the wall on the way to the upstairs bar.
We got here shortly after 5pm. Upstairs its a small bar with only one bartender working but she did a good job for happy hour. The drinks are pretty generous and fairly priced considering. The Pain Killer was not so close to the original recipe and the Zombie tasted like mostly rum. The music, I don't what it was, I had to keep asking Siri to name the songs, none of which I ever heard before. One thing I can say is the decor was pretty cool including original artwork on the wall on the way to the upstairs bar.
I very much agree with "The Nerdy Monkey"s comments. Definitely more hipster. I still liked it in its own way, though. My drink was really good, and I had some yummy potstickers. They had pictures of more types of food on their website, but that's only for private party catering. Otherwise it's only potstickers. It's not too pricey and it's pretty casual, so it's good if you're in the neighborhood and want a good tiki cocktail.
This place isn’t for those of us on critiki, those of us in the tiki community. This place is cool and I would call it “hipster tiki”, it’s not classic Polynesian by any means, has some surf and tiki stuff. The music makes me feel like I’m at a gay club back home in New York, not that’s a bad thing, I liked the music and vibe here. But I wouldn’t recommend it to someone looking for a tiki joint. They have two floors AND a rooftop patio. Bartenders were great at mixing drinks, but otherwise very impersonal. I didn’t have a bad time, I just know the tiki folks aren’t going to like this place very much.
Decent mai tai but rather heavy on the orgeat. I didn't get food. Loud, inappropriate music. Light tiki decor. The staff working the evening I was there was unaware that the owners had published a discount for attendees of the conference I was in town for, and it took a bit for the bartender to find a manager (who also had not been informed) to straighten things out, but once she was able to come down and check out the coupon she told me the first drink would be on the house.
The decor was simple.it could seems sparse if you are used to the classic ultra tiki soaked decor (which I am) the drinks were not great, my zombie tasted like a grapefruit moonshine mess. The food was ok, summer rolls were adequate, chicken satay skewers a bit undercooked, pork belly buns were great. The service was great, the bartender seemed like being there was annoying him, but it was either a bartender trainee or a Busby was amazing. Friendly, helpful, chatty and really went out of his way to ensure we were having a great experience. The music had no connection to tiki at all, not even anything sprinkled in. The crowd was well behaved.
An okay place. The drinks are what hold me to a bar and the Mai Tai was just adequate. The orgeat was super thick - honestly it tasted like rock candy syrup. I know this because the first Mai Tai I got had a distinct coconut flavor. The bartender agreed it tasted off so he remade it and offered me an explanation in the way of a taste. He was a good guy and very friendly so I wasn't going to argue with him.
We also had a daquari that was also meh. They did coat the rim with toasted coconut, which was a nice touch.
The place feels a bit corporate for a Tiki bar, but the drinks were well made, and the (small) food selection was quite yummy. I hope they last long enough to establish an authentic vibe!