I was astonished to see a tiki bar in Walnut Creek, so a friend and I stopped in. While the location is great, and it could be very cool, it is really (as others have mentioned) just a sports bar with somewhat of a Hawaiian/Key West vibe. While they don't have many standard tiki drinks on the menu, the drinks they had were fine (they weren't memorable but they also weren't all that expensive). They do also sell a commemorative tiki mug, which even better tiki bars sometimes don't. All in all, it's a shame that more effort wasn't put into it overall because it could really be cool, but I assume they know their audience in the area.
New (to me) tiki bar day.
Finally got out to Walnut Creek to check out Tiki Tom’s. After spending the week at The Kon-Tiki, Forbidden Island, and Trader Vic’s was I able to complete the “Alameda County Tiki Grand Slam”?
Hardly.
This place has lousy ratings amongst tikiphiles and for good reason. The decor is a mix of sports/dive and tiki, and embraces a working class vibe. It’s a little surprising considering it is sitting smack in the middle of Walnut Creek’s upscale shopping district. TVs over the Bar were showing Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (later, the Olympics) and there are game day Corona banners all over the place. There are quite a few tikis (none seem very authentic, though) with lots of Hawaiian elements. There is a nice stone feature at the entrance but mostly this feels like tourist-tiki circa 1999. The cartoony logo is consistent with this theme.
But, at 3:00 pm on Presidents Day I have to say the crowd was lively (mostly 20-30s crowd) and everyone seemed to be having fun. Music was reggae and the bartender was super friendly.
My Island-style Mai Tai was a mixed bag (remember, I don’t immediately disregard Island Mai Tais) but as you can see used low-ish end rums. At least the drinks are priced accordingly: the Mai Tai is listed at just $8 and my Mai Tai was just $4 (happy hour?).
Tiki Tom’s Mai Tai
Captain Morgan White
Orange Juice
Pineapple Juice
Grenadine
Float with Cruzan 151 and Myers’s
Garnish with orange, lemon, lime, cherry.
This is basically a low-end sports bar with some Aloha decor mixed in alongside promotional Budweiser sports posters. The specials mainly revolve around discounted aluminum bottles of beer and buffalo wings for game days. If you go on a very quiet day, you can sort of convince yourself it's a tiki bar, but you might have to explain to the bartender how to make a PainKiller, as I did.
I was astonished to see a tiki bar in Walnut Creek, so a friend and I stopped in. While the location is great, and it could be very cool, it is really (as others have mentioned) just a sports bar with somewhat of a Hawaiian/Key West vibe. While they don't have many standard tiki drinks on the menu, the drinks they had were fine (they weren't memorable but they also weren't all that expensive). They do also sell a commemorative tiki mug, which even better tiki bars sometimes don't. All in all, it's a shame that more effort wasn't put into it overall because it could really be cool, but I assume they know their audience in the area.
New (to me) tiki bar day.
Finally got out to Walnut Creek to check out Tiki Tom’s. After spending the week at The Kon-Tiki, Forbidden Island, and Trader Vic’s was I able to complete the “Alameda County Tiki Grand Slam”?
Hardly.
This place has lousy ratings amongst tikiphiles and for good reason. The decor is a mix of sports/dive and tiki, and embraces a working class vibe. It’s a little surprising considering it is sitting smack in the middle of Walnut Creek’s upscale shopping district. TVs over the Bar were showing Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (later, the Olympics) and there are game day Corona banners all over the place. There are quite a few tikis (none seem very authentic, though) with lots of Hawaiian elements. There is a nice stone feature at the entrance but mostly this feels like tourist-tiki circa 1999. The cartoony logo is consistent with this theme.
But, at 3:00 pm on Presidents Day I have to say the crowd was lively (mostly 20-30s crowd) and everyone seemed to be having fun. Music was reggae and the bartender was super friendly.
My Island-style Mai Tai was a mixed bag (remember, I don’t immediately disregard Island Mai Tais) but as you can see used low-ish end rums. At least the drinks are priced accordingly: the Mai Tai is listed at just $8 and my Mai Tai was just $4 (happy hour?).
Tiki Tom’s Mai Tai
Captain Morgan White
Orange Juice
Pineapple Juice
Grenadine
Float with Cruzan 151 and Myers’s
Garnish with orange, lemon, lime, cherry.
This is basically a low-end sports bar with some Aloha decor mixed in alongside promotional Budweiser sports posters. The specials mainly revolve around discounted aluminum bottles of beer and buffalo wings for game days. If you go on a very quiet day, you can sort of convince yourself it's a tiki bar, but you might have to explain to the bartender how to make a PainKiller, as I did.
Mitiki - since when is Walnut Creek across the estuary from Alameda? Your comments are clearly related to the Oakland version of Tiki Tom's, rather than the one in Walnut Creek that this page is about. And yes, I did actually go to both locations. And I stand by my review of the Oakland location.
As for this Walnut Creek location, I only went once and was not at all impressed by anything except the live hawaiian musicians who were playing the night I was there. The rest of it felt like a very cheap imitation sports/parrot-head (read: not real tiki) restaurant/bar.
This is the only tiki bar out here in the burbs, but my recommendation is to keep driving toward SF if you want a good tiki drink. Its a bar and restaurant, and the tiki decor and location are good. When we stopped in, a nice sounding island band was playing. But what disappoints are the drinks. The new owner actually re-made the menu (snazzy art, cute story printed on the back) and parred it down to 11 drinks with promising names: Menehune, Tsunami Slammer, Caribbean Hummer, Okole Maluna, Lava Flow, Kilauea Fire Bowl, Hai Tai, Cantiki, Coconut Monkey and Hula Bula. I have found some drinks to be far too alcoholic (Hai Tai) and others left me wondering if the bartender used any alcohol at all (Lava Flow). Many ingredients are not traditional tiki: Absolut Vanilla, Parrot Bay Key Lime Rum, Skyy Raspberry, Smirnoff Orange, Absolut Pear Vodka). And despite the promise of fresh fruit juices, the drinks are more candy-like than refreshing. The subtle complexities of a well-balanced drink tradition of Don the Beachcomber or Trader Vic are simply absent. Beware that right around 10 p.m., the clientele turns over to young 20-somethings drinking bottled beer.
I am always suprised on reviewer's information and how they obtained (i.e. did they even go to an establishment before the review?) Jen must have missed a few things (not to mention or assume everyone is going to go to dinner to drink alcohol...maybe a visit with Betty instead of Tiki would do her good - because:
Tiki Tom's has one of the largest surf board collections in the bay area. Did you miss the 50+ antique surfboards on the ceiling?
The night view is amazing. The bridges actually do have lights and across the estuary is Alameda which Nob Hill is prettier at night than in the day.
If a boat party blocked your view - it must have been a HUGE MONSTER CRUISE SHIP that was docked - because the pier (it is officially called Pier 29 and is a working Pier) is 15' below the main dinning room floor. So there is NO way that a party could have block the view of any of the guest.
Lastly, well regarding the sweat potatoe fries - the reason they have sugar is because it tastes great to those that still have taste buds. Love them just for a fun - nice afternoon treat....like today.
Torgny
KevinCrossman
bob
TikiTelly
JenTiki
Tiki Kim
Mitiki
Finally got out to Walnut Creek to check out Tiki Tom’s. After spending the week at The Kon-Tiki, Forbidden Island, and Trader Vic’s was I able to complete the “Alameda County Tiki Grand Slam”?
Hardly.
This place has lousy ratings amongst tikiphiles and for good reason. The decor is a mix of sports/dive and tiki, and embraces a working class vibe. It’s a little surprising considering it is sitting smack in the middle of Walnut Creek’s upscale shopping district. TVs over the Bar were showing Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (later, the Olympics) and there are game day Corona banners all over the place. There are quite a few tikis (none seem very authentic, though) with lots of Hawaiian elements. There is a nice stone feature at the entrance but mostly this feels like tourist-tiki circa 1999. The cartoony logo is consistent with this theme.
But, at 3:00 pm on Presidents Day I have to say the crowd was lively (mostly 20-30s crowd) and everyone seemed to be having fun. Music was reggae and the bartender was super friendly.
My Island-style Mai Tai was a mixed bag (remember, I don’t immediately disregard Island Mai Tais) but as you can see used low-ish end rums. At least the drinks are priced accordingly: the Mai Tai is listed at just $8 and my Mai Tai was just $4 (happy hour?).
Tiki Tom’s Mai Tai
Captain Morgan White
Orange Juice
Pineapple Juice
Grenadine
Float with Cruzan 151 and Myers’s
Garnish with orange, lemon, lime, cherry.