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The Saturn cocktail at Tiki Rock

Where to Find Tiki Drinks Around Boston

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

by Dana Hatic@DanaHatic Nov 2, 2018, 12:32pm EDT

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The Saturn cocktail at Tiki Rock

| Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

by Dana Hatic@DanaHatic Nov 2, 2018, 12:32pm EDT

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

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.

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948 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906

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Exterior view of a restaurant with a large A-frame entrance and red signage — Kowloon in Saugus

Also featured in:

20 Giant Boston-Area Cocktails to Share With Friends

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).

7 Sanborn Ct, Somerville, MA 02143

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A Backbar Tiki drink called cashew at the beach

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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.

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1271 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

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Tiki drinks at Highland Fried

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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.

270 Third St, Cambridge, MA 02142

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Mai tai at Sumiao Hunan Kitchen

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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.

567 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139

Visit Website

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

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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.

292 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139

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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

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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.

2 Broad St, Boston, MA 02109

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tiki rock — Tiki Rock cocktails

Also featured in:

20 Giant Boston-Area Cocktails to Share With Friends

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.

9 Tyler St, Boston, MA 02111

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A painkiller at Shojo

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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.

348 Congress St, Boston, MA 02210

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Drink — Tiki Sundays at Drink

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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.

324 A St, Boston, MA 02210

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A Tiki drink at Blue Dragon

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Hojoko

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

1271 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02215

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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

Also featured in:

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.

Open in Google Maps

354 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118

Visit Website

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

Also featured in:

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.

553 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116

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Scorpion bowl at Banyan

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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.

1363 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02215

Visit Website

Tiger Mama — Mai tai at Tiger Mama

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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.

1926 Beacon St, Brighton, MA 02135

Visit Website

A scorpion bowl at Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings

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.

295 Washington St, Brookline, MA 02445

Visit Website

Blossom Bar — Blossom Bar cocktail

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Kowloon Restaurant

948 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906

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.

Open in Google Maps

948 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906

Visit Website

Exterior view of a restaurant with a large A-frame entrance and red signage — Kowloon in Saugus

Backbar

7 Sanborn Ct, Somerville, MA 02143

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).

7 Sanborn Ct, Somerville, MA 02143

Visit Website

A Backbar Tiki drink called cashew at the beach

Highland Fried

1271 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

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.

Open in Google Maps

1271 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

Visit Website

Tiki drinks at Highland Fried

Sumiao Hunan Kitchen

270 Third St, Cambridge, MA 02142

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.

270 Third St, Cambridge, MA 02142

Visit Website

Mai tai at Sumiao Hunan Kitchen

Brick & Mortar

567 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139

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.

567 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139

Visit Website

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

A4cade

292 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139

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.

292 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139

Visit Website

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

Tiki Rock

2 Broad St, Boston, MA 02109

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.

2 Broad St, Boston, MA 02109

Visit Website

tiki rock — Tiki Rock cocktails

Shojo

9 Tyler St, Boston, MA 02111

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.

9 Tyler St, Boston, MA 02111

Visit Website

A painkiller at Shojo

Drink

348 Congress St, Boston, MA 02210

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.

348 Congress St, Boston, MA 02210

Visit Website

Drink — Tiki Sundays at Drink

Blue Dragon

324 A St, Boston, MA 02210

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.

324 A St, Boston, MA 02210

Visit Website

A Tiki drink at Blue Dragon

Hojoko

1271 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02215

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

1271 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02215

Visit Website

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

Lion's Tail

354 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118

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.

Open in Google Maps

354 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118

Visit Website

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

Banyan Bar + Refuge

553 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116

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.

553 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116

Visit Website

Scorpion bowl at Banyan

Tiger Mama

1363 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02215

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.

1363 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02215

Visit Website

Tiger Mama — Mai tai at Tiger Mama

Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings

1926 Beacon St, Brighton, MA 02135

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.

1926 Beacon St, Brighton, MA 02135

Visit Website

A scorpion bowl at Feng Shui Sushi & Dumplings

Related Maps

Blossom Bar

295 Washington St, Brookline, MA 02445

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.

295 Washington St, Brookline, MA 02445

Visit Website

Blossom Bar — Blossom Bar cocktail

Related Maps