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The Saturn cocktail at Tiki Rock
The Saturn cocktail at Tiki Rock
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

Where to Find Tiki Drinks Around Boston

Sip on colorful, rum-filled cocktails while forgetting Boston’s weather

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The Saturn cocktail at Tiki Rock
| Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

Boston may be headed into colder months, but the city’s bars serve a taste of warmer climes year-round in the form of Tiki drinks. Tiki bars famously strive for an aura of laid-back escapism and island vibes, with drinks full of a whole lot of fruit and flowers in festive glassware. These colorful, often elaborately adorned beverages pack a punch (and in some cases are punch), and fortunately they’re not too hard to find around Greater Boston.

Find them right downtown, tucked away in a backroom bar in Central Square, inside of a Chinese restaurant in Brookline Village, and beyond. Plus, keep an eye out: More Tiki is on the way to Boston very soon, courtesy of forthcoming Bar Mezzana sibling Shore Leave, opening later in 2018.

Start your Boston-area Tiki journey with these 16 options.

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Kowloon Restaurant

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As if the visually striking exterior of Kowloon weren’t enough, this Saugus staple has been a mainstay of Greater Boston’s Tiki scene for decades. Its drink menu includes its most popular mai tais and scorpion bowls, plus blue Hawaiis and more. The restaurant doubles as a comedy club, and it has group-sized cocktails for the truly festive occasion.

Exterior view of a restaurant with a large A-frame entrance and red signage
Kowloon in Saugus
Terrence B. Doyle/Eater

Backbar

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Though hard to find for the uninitiated, Backbar is worth the hunt, hidden at the end of a hallway inside a door on the edge of a back parking lot in Somerville: The cocktail list is far from ordinary and often includes Tiki-style drinks — or an option to have the bartenders whip up a drink of choice, including something rum- or fruit-filled. The bar even has its own collection of Tiki mugs (including the pictured shark).

A Backbar Tiki drink called cashew at the beach
A Backbar Tiki drink called cashew at the beach
Backbar/Instagram

Highland Fried

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Highland Fried carries on the fried-chicken-and-Tiki Monday tradition of its big sibling, Highland Kitchen, all week long. The fried chicken-focused Inman Square restaurant has a full menu of Tiki drinks, including a navy grog, mai tai, and long suffering bastard. A few beverages come frozen, and many come in signature glassware.

Tiki drinks at Highland Fried
Tiki drinks at Highland Fried
Highland Fried/Facebook

Sumiao Hunan Kitchen

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Located in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, Sumiao Hunan Kitchen dips into the Tiki repertoire with its own take on a mai tai and a painkiller. The restaurant also has a shareable fishbowl full of rums and juices.

Mai tai at Sumiao Hunan Kitchen
Mai tai at Sumiao Hunan Kitchen
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

Brick & Mortar

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Brick & Mortar has no sign outside, but if you know which door to open, inside and upstairs you’ll find plenty of excellent cocktails. Tiki-leaning options include the Rockaway Beach, made with rum and toasted coconut, and the Singapore Sling, a classic gin and cherry brandy concoction.

Specialty bar glassware: a horse head with a pony head cozying up to it. A frozen cocktail and neon bendy straws are coming up out of the top. The glassware sits on a curved wooden bar with a brick wall in the background.
If you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of Brick & Mortar’s VIP “ponies in the surf” glassware
Emily Phares/Eater

Conspicuously inconspicuous behind a Roxy’s Grilled Cheese in Central Square is A4Cade, a backroom bar collaboration between Roxy’s and Area Four that’s full of arcade games and drinks, many of them Tiki-inspired. A drink dubbed “beach better have my mango,” for example, is a mango rum blend with vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, citrus, and bitters, while “patient zero” is “the original zombie.” Drinks are available for one or for groups, with extra straws.

A Doctor Who-inspired Tardis drinking vessel with bendy straws and figurines coming out of it.
One of A4cade’s many non-traditional drink receptacles
Zac Wolf

Tiki Rock

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Tiki Rock’s drinks are fancy, funky, and sometimes fiery — and they mirror the decor of the restaurant. Drink out of a pineapple, or sip on mai tais, punches, and more cocktails garnished with fruit and flowers. Several cocktails are modeled after the original Tiki drinks served at Trader Vic’s in California, while others feature Tiki Rock’s own spin.

tiki rock
Tiki Rock cocktails
Tiki Rock/Facebook

The Shojo cocktail menu typically has a few solid options on the Tiki front, such as a mai tai or the loneliest monk, made with rums, Frangelico, pineapple, and lime. Order some shadowless fries and bulgogi beef baos, too.

A painkiller at Shojo
A painkiller at Shojo
Shojo/Facebook

Drink in Fort Point is known for its lack of cocktail menu and its skilled bartenders’ abilities to craft the kind of beverage to best suit customers’ tastes. It also tips its hat to Tiki on the second Sunday of each month, where the bar showcases Tiki drinks and tropical snacks.

Drink
Tiki Sundays at Drink
Drink/Instagram

Blue Dragon

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Ming Tsai’s Blue Dragon goes all out with its Tiki drinks, featuring a standalone Tiki cocktail menu of all the mai tais, hurricanes, painkillers, and zombies imaginable. There are also shareable Tiki cocktails, including a dragon bowl with rum, passionfruit, cinnamon, and a special house-made gluten-free orgeat.

A Tiki drink at Blue Dragon
A Tiki drink at Blue Dragon
Blue Dragon/Facebook

From mai tais to Saturns to a big shareable portion of rum punch, boisterous Fenway restaurant Hojoko has its Tiki bases covered.

Four hands grab pink straws leading to a big glass of a shared pink cocktail, garnished with orchids. A bottle of champagne is tipped into the glass.
The royal waioli punch at Hojoko
Pierce Twohig

Lion's Tail

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The vast and frequently updated cocktail menu at Lion’s Tail features the creative whims of proprietor Jarek Mountain and his team, Tiki and otherwise. One example is called “Paul Rudd’s Hawaiian name from Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (yes, all the drinks have clever or wacky names), which is made with a rum base, pineapple, lime, and more. There are also daiquiris and an assortment of adventurous cocktails, along with some familiar bar classics.

This Lion’s Tail drink is called “Paul Rudd’s Hawaiian name from Forgetting Sarah Marshall”
This Lion’s Tail drink is called “Paul Rudd’s Hawaiian name from Forgetting Sarah Marshall”
Lion’s Tail/Facebook

Banyan Bar + Refuge

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With a focus on dishes from several different Asian cuisines, Banyan’s cocktails float along the equator across the Pacific and including some classical Tiki drinks like painkillers and mai tais. There’s also a scorpion bowl for two to four people that’s made with a rum blend, plenty of fruit, and curaçao.

Scorpion bowl at Banyan
Scorpion bowl at Banyan
Banyan/Instagram

Tiger Mama

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Tiger Mama’s cocktails span a large swath of Asia and the Pacific and include a mai tai inspired by the classic drink served at Trader Vic’s in California. There’s also a blue Hawaii Five-O and more.

Tiger Mama
Mai tai at Tiger Mama
Tiger Mama/Facebook

Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings

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The recently opened Feng Shui has a few riffs on the classic mai tai, including one that uses oolong-infused curaçao, and other versions with mango and Grey Goose. There are scorpion bowls and zombies as well.

A scorpion bowl at Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings
A scorpion bowl at Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings
Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings/Facebook

Blossom Bar

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Blossom Bar’s decor includes palm fronds and bamboo fixtures, and while the food menu leans Sichuan, the drink menu leans tropical and Tiki, with options ranging from the Bocadillo Sour with rum and guava to the Caracas Express with rum, brown butter banana, and lime.

Blossom Bar
Blossom Bar cocktail
Blossom Bar/Instagram

Kowloon Restaurant

As if the visually striking exterior of Kowloon weren’t enough, this Saugus staple has been a mainstay of Greater Boston’s Tiki scene for decades. Its drink menu includes its most popular mai tais and scorpion bowls, plus blue Hawaiis and more. The restaurant doubles as a comedy club, and it has group-sized cocktails for the truly festive occasion.

Exterior view of a restaurant with a large A-frame entrance and red signage
Kowloon in Saugus
Terrence B. Doyle/Eater

Backbar

Though hard to find for the uninitiated, Backbar is worth the hunt, hidden at the end of a hallway inside a door on the edge of a back parking lot in Somerville: The cocktail list is far from ordinary and often includes Tiki-style drinks — or an option to have the bartenders whip up a drink of choice, including something rum- or fruit-filled. The bar even has its own collection of Tiki mugs (including the pictured shark).

A Backbar Tiki drink called cashew at the beach
A Backbar Tiki drink called cashew at the beach
Backbar/Instagram

Highland Fried

Highland Fried carries on the fried-chicken-and-Tiki Monday tradition of its big sibling, Highland Kitchen, all week long. The fried chicken-focused Inman Square restaurant has a full menu of Tiki drinks, including a navy grog, mai tai, and long suffering bastard. A few beverages come frozen, and many come in signature glassware.

Tiki drinks at Highland Fried
Tiki drinks at Highland Fried
Highland Fried/Facebook

Sumiao Hunan Kitchen

Located in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, Sumiao Hunan Kitchen dips into the Tiki repertoire with its own take on a mai tai and a painkiller. The restaurant also has a shareable fishbowl full of rums and juices.

Mai tai at Sumiao Hunan Kitchen
Mai tai at Sumiao Hunan Kitchen
Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

Brick & Mortar

Brick & Mortar has no sign outside, but if you know which door to open, inside and upstairs you’ll find plenty of excellent cocktails. Tiki-leaning options include the Rockaway Beach, made with rum and toasted coconut, and the Singapore Sling, a classic gin and cherry brandy concoction.

Specialty bar glassware: a horse head with a pony head cozying up to it. A frozen cocktail and neon bendy straws are coming up out of the top. The glassware sits on a curved wooden bar with a brick wall in the background.
If you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of Brick & Mortar’s VIP “ponies in the surf” glassware
Emily Phares/Eater

A4cade

Conspicuously inconspicuous behind a Roxy’s Grilled Cheese in Central Square is A4Cade, a backroom bar collaboration between Roxy’s and Area Four that’s full of arcade games and drinks, many of them Tiki-inspired. A drink dubbed “beach better have my mango,” for example, is a mango rum blend with vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, citrus, and bitters, while “patient zero” is “the original zombie.” Drinks are available for one or for groups, with extra straws.

A Doctor Who-inspired Tardis drinking vessel with bendy straws and figurines coming out of it.
One of A4cade’s many non-traditional drink receptacles
Zac Wolf

Tiki Rock

Tiki Rock’s drinks are fancy, funky, and sometimes fiery — and they mirror the decor of the restaurant. Drink out of a pineapple, or sip on mai tais, punches, and more cocktails garnished with fruit and flowers. Several cocktails are modeled after the original Tiki drinks served at Trader Vic’s in California, while others feature Tiki Rock’s own spin.

tiki rock
Tiki Rock cocktails
Tiki Rock/Facebook

Shojo

The Shojo cocktail menu typically has a few solid options on the Tiki front, such as a mai tai or the loneliest monk, made with rums, Frangelico, pineapple, and lime. Order some shadowless fries and bulgogi beef baos, too.

A painkiller at Shojo
A painkiller at Shojo
Shojo/Facebook

Drink

Drink in Fort Point is known for its lack of cocktail menu and its skilled bartenders’ abilities to craft the kind of beverage to best suit customers’ tastes. It also tips its hat to Tiki on the second Sunday of each month, where the bar showcases Tiki drinks and tropical snacks.

Drink
Tiki Sundays at Drink
Drink/Instagram

Blue Dragon

Ming Tsai’s Blue Dragon goes all out with its Tiki drinks, featuring a standalone Tiki cocktail menu of all the mai tais, hurricanes, painkillers, and zombies imaginable. There are also shareable Tiki cocktails, including a dragon bowl with rum, passionfruit, cinnamon, and a special house-made gluten-free orgeat.

A Tiki drink at Blue Dragon
A Tiki drink at Blue Dragon
Blue Dragon/Facebook

Hojoko

From mai tais to Saturns to a big shareable portion of rum punch, boisterous Fenway restaurant Hojoko has its Tiki bases covered.

Four hands grab pink straws leading to a big glass of a shared pink cocktail, garnished with orchids. A bottle of champagne is tipped into the glass.
The royal waioli punch at Hojoko
Pierce Twohig

Lion's Tail

The vast and frequently updated cocktail menu at Lion’s Tail features the creative whims of proprietor Jarek Mountain and his team, Tiki and otherwise. One example is called “Paul Rudd’s Hawaiian name from Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (yes, all the drinks have clever or wacky names), which is made with a rum base, pineapple, lime, and more. There are also daiquiris and an assortment of adventurous cocktails, along with some familiar bar classics.

This Lion’s Tail drink is called “Paul Rudd’s Hawaiian name from Forgetting Sarah Marshall”
This Lion’s Tail drink is called “Paul Rudd’s Hawaiian name from Forgetting Sarah Marshall”
Lion’s Tail/Facebook

Banyan Bar + Refuge

With a focus on dishes from several different Asian cuisines, Banyan’s cocktails float along the equator across the Pacific and including some classical Tiki drinks like painkillers and mai tais. There’s also a scorpion bowl for two to four people that’s made with a rum blend, plenty of fruit, and curaçao.

Scorpion bowl at Banyan
Scorpion bowl at Banyan
Banyan/Instagram

Tiger Mama

Tiger Mama’s cocktails span a large swath of Asia and the Pacific and include a mai tai inspired by the classic drink served at Trader Vic’s in California. There’s also a blue Hawaii Five-O and more.

Tiger Mama
Mai tai at Tiger Mama
Tiger Mama/Facebook

Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings

The recently opened Feng Shui has a few riffs on the classic mai tai, including one that uses oolong-infused curaçao, and other versions with mango and Grey Goose. There are scorpion bowls and zombies as well.

A scorpion bowl at Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings
A scorpion bowl at Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings
Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings/Facebook

Related Maps

Blossom Bar

Blossom Bar’s decor includes palm fronds and bamboo fixtures, and while the food menu leans Sichuan, the drink menu leans tropical and Tiki, with options ranging from the Bocadillo Sour with rum and guava to the Caracas Express with rum, brown butter banana, and lime.

Blossom Bar
Blossom Bar cocktail
Blossom Bar/Instagram

Related Maps