The Lucky Tiki in Highland Park is the sister location of the original Lucky Tiki in West…read moreHollywood. This spot opened about a year ago, and has a cool speakeasy style entrance at the Highland Park Bowl bowling alley. It is a small space, and I would highly recommend making a reservation on Resy. You have 90 minutes to drink and dine. I parked behind the bowling alley where there is a medium sized pay parking lot. Park in a space, remember your space number painted on the ground, and go to the pay station at the end of the lot. I found the parking machine to be extremely finicky as did other people. After ten minutes of failure, I ended up moving my car to another space, and then it worked. This has nothing to do with the Lucky Tiki, but FYI if you park there. We walked around to the front of the bowling alley, and checked in. Seating options include at the bar, tiki hut booths, and high top tables. The décor inside is a tiki lovers paradise. The room has a high ceiling with many tiki lamps, floats, puffer fish, tiki huts, thatch, ropes, barrels, netting, carvings, a hanging canoe, and a large tiki right in the middle of the space. In addition to the great décor, when you order certain drinks, special effects are triggered. There was also great tiki music playing all evening. We sat at the bar since we always enjoy talking to the bartenders. We actually ran into Skipper Christian in the parking lot on the way in, and he ended up being our main bartender, with Nick and Jo also working behind the bar. We put in a food order right away. The chicken potstickers ($12) came with five tasty bites, and the garlic teriyaki dipping sauce was good. We also had the giant pretzel ($16) which comes with mustard, beer cheese, and ranch sauces. This was excellent, and the perfect filling snack before a bunch of drinks. My first drink was the Siren's Song (Flor de Cana Eco rum, lemon juice, cassis, Oloroso sherry, apricot foam topper, $19). This drink is served in a great mermaid with skull mug and triggers special sound effects and bubbles fill the air. Those bubbles on top of the drink had a great light citrusy apricot flavor, probably the best flavored bubbles I've ever had. The drink itself was very good and balanced with some complexity. She wasn't sure what to order at first, and Christian asked her what flavors she liked. He ended up making a spin on a Tradewinds with some mango and pineapple to go along with the apricot and coconut. It was nicely balanced and not too sweet, even with all that fruit in there. My second drink was the Sun of Suns (Tierra de Acre mezcal, coconut cream, Giffard mango liqueur, pineapple juice, lime juice, $17). This was coconut and pineapple forward with some good smokiness in the background. Her second drink was the Whatever Floats Your Boat (Ford's gin, lemon juice, velvet falernum, orgeat, passion fruit syrup, guava soda, topped with hazelnut passion fruit foam, $19). It is served in a cool boat mug, and triggers thunder sound effects and lighted mechanical Polynesian tiki characters paddling a canoe over the bar. This was another good balanced drink. It was a little gin forward and the passion fruit popped out, maybe from being both in the drink and the foam top. That creamy hazelnut passion fruit form on top is delicious. I'd happily have a glass of that on its own. We were still a little hungry so we ordered the Hawaiian pizza (marinara, diced pepperoni, red onion, pineapple chunks, hot capicola ham, $16). It was another good tasting, perfectly sized snack, and the crust was light and airy. We were already fifteen minutes over our time limit, but we got the green light to stay longer to order a third drink to share. We ordered the Tiki Diablo (Flor de Cana Eco rum, Worthy Park 109 rum, Alma Tepecha chile liqueur, orange juice, lime juice, mango syrup, guava soda, $24). This drink serves two people, is served in a cool volcano bowl with glowing red lava around it, and comes with a fire show. Unfortunately, right after it was served, the host came over and said we were over our time and had to leave shortly. Christian made up for it by giving us two tall pours to go enjoy in the bowling alley bar area which was fine. We were happy we got some extra time inside. The drink was also very good, balanced with a little complexity. We had a great time. There is so much great décor to look at. The drinks and food were very good, and some of the the drink presentations and special effects were the icing on the cake. All of the bartenders were very friendly and a lot of fun. We purchased up a few zombie glasses to take home as a souvenir. I'd definitely recommend visiting the Lucky Tiki in Highland Park!

Adorable speakeasy with a fortune teller as a doorbell…read more Drinks 3/5 Painkiller $18 - This drink comes out with a show as they light a part of it on fire. I didn't fancy the flavor and this is a very popular drink so it stinks up the place every time it gets served to someone. Dark Magic $18 - Objectively not a bad drink but too tart for my partner and I didn't prefer the flavor. Service 5/5 Standard service. Our waitress got us some free shots, very kind. :) Ambiance 4/5 I love the vibes, the darkness, the decor. It's just too stinky and smokey whenever they serve the Painkiller.

Meme her customer service was excellent she's the best the boss was great the food was fireread more

Super cool and lowkey spot. The bar is very dimly lit, giving it a speakeasy feel. They had a wide…read morearray of cocktails, all music themed and the bartender was super nice. The best part was that they had an assortment of records you could play.

Matt B. and I are living with my parents these days, and one of the benefits of this arrangement is…read morethat we can leave the house quite easily after the kids go to bed. We decided to get a drink to celebrate Father's Day, only to strike out at the first two bars we tried--I guess a lot of places are closed at 9:30 on a Sunday. This is how we ended up at Thunderbolt, a buzzy bar in Echo Park, just far enough away that we'd never made our way over. I loved it immediately. Thunderbolt has the friendly, comfortable atmosphere of a neighborhood bar and the hip aesthetic and high-level cocktails of a millennial boozer destination. (Not that young people can't or shouldn't hang out here, but it seems especially geared toward people like us, who drank at Walker Inn a decade ago.) We ended up sitting next to a guy who regularly drives up from Palos Verdes. I guess the place gets pretty busy, but it was ideal on a Sunday night. Happening but not crowded, with just enough space at the bar for us to grab two seats together. The bartender was great, super helpful and welcoming. He also made excellent drinks. Thunderbolt is one of those bars with an encyclopedic illustrated book for a menu. Not a long menu, just a detailed one, with a lot of information available about each drink. We got a Liquid Picnic and a Barcelonnette--just one round to close out the weekend. Both were delicious. The Liquid Picnic was a smooth, savory gin martini made with London dry gin, tomato, citron, vermouth, rosemary, and black pepper. I learned from the book that it used clarified tomato water. (There was also further reading about the clarification process.) The Barcelonnette was a mezcal sour with Suze, passionfruit, and lime, the foam made without egg white through some geeky mixologist process. Thunderbolt is not our neighborhood bar, but we plan to go back when we can to check out the rest of the menu. It's a wonderful place, well worth a jaunt on the freeway.

Was charged three times, totaling hundreds of dollars, and waiting for the pending transactions to…read moredrop (or stay :/) in 3-5 business days is no fun. We can't all be made of money, but this shouldn't have happened.

This place is awesome…read more First off the ambiance is like Disneyland (in a good way). It feels like you're in Encanto or Coco. Very cool. The service and staff is top notch as you would expect in this part of town. The food is absolutely incredible the steak was cooked perfectly, the appetizer are delightful and plentiful. Great place for a meal or a party

OMG! Are you serious?…read more Service - 0/5. Train your staff! Our order was forgotten every single time. They don't pour wine or takes more than a half an hour to bring any drinks, so there was absolutely zero service and I don't even know why we are tipping at this point. Food - 3/5. Very mediocre food for overrated price. Ambiance- 5/5. We are definitely paying only for the ambiance. If you don't care about the quality of food or service, this place can be a romantic date place. Otherwise, I do not recommend this place at all.

Her Little Bar is a great spot and the vibe is significantly improved under the new ownership. It's…read morealready attracting a fun and friendly mixed crowd of locals as well as people from across the city looking for an agro-free good time. The bar staff know what they are doing and they are welcoming, chatty and chill. It feels like they actually want you there! My wife and I already love to swing by for a couple of post dinner drinks but we'll be back for some game day fun too - they have a bunch of screens. They don't do food BUT the couple who now own Her Little Bar also own a bunch of the restaurants nearby (Her Thai, Met Him At A Bar, and the recently opened The Night We Met). There are other great options too and whatever you go for, you can eat it in the bar. There's a good selection of drinks and the cocktails are solid. We already have a solid pub/microbrewery but this is a great bar with a different vibe. A bar has been in this location for years but we really love this new incarnation. The corridor between Wilshire Blvd and W 9th is becoming a great pocket for food and drink with good people looking for BS free good times and the Her Little Bar crowd, staff and management are a great example that. A welcome addition to the neighborhood.

Came here for the World Cup final, the bar is small and intimate and the drinks are cheap, so…read morepoints for that. However, I had a pretty awful experience with their red headed bartender, the one with the long beard. I waited at the bar for 10mins and watched him take several drink orders from people who arrived after me. I put my hand up to try and get his attention, only to hear him shout "YOU DONT NEED TO WAVE AT ME, I CAN SEE YOU!", all while not looking at me and continuing to serve everyone but me. Eventually one of the other bartenders came out from the back and helped me. Definitely put a damper on my afternoon. Why work in customer service if you're going to hate customers for no reason?

This place offered an amazing overall experience in a dark and relaxing atmosphere, seasoned with…read morestories on the drinks that they offered and backstories on the establishement. This was an amazing value for the price, and you may not ever find anything that offers this impressive of an experience.

Stepping into the venue felt like crossing a threshold into a world that operated on a different…read morewavelength--and honestly, it was exactly the shift I didn't know I needed. It wasn't your typical corner haunt. There was an intentionality here that turned a simple evening out into a genuine education. The curation of spirits was nothing short of impressive, but what set the experience apart was the conversation. I arrived knowing the difference between a glass and a bottle, but left with a newfound appreciation for the nuances of rum, the craftsmanship behind a smooth whiskey, and the unexpected complexities hidden within a well-made vodka. Each pour came with a story, a history, and a level of expertise that transformed every sip into a lesson. The atmosphere was the perfect anchor for it all--utterly chill and devoid of the frantic, forced energy you find elsewhere. It was the kind of place where the music sits at just the right volume and the lighting invites you to actually linger. It was refreshing to find a spot that treats its craft with such respect while keeping the vibe completely grounded. I walked out feeling a little more cultured and a lot more relaxed. Consider this my official notice: I'll definitely be back.

Unique and relaxed environment, attentive staff, tasty tacos, unusual drinks. Cool view from the…read morefood area. I need to go again soon.

Such a great spot to stop by for a drink! In my experience it has always been busy and lively,…read morethere's indoor and patio seating. It smells great inside, they have candles lit on every table and incense on. It's a Mexican fusion cocktail inspired menu and all the drinks I've tried have been delicious! Bartenders are busy but once you order, your drinks comes out pretty fast. Bonus points for the cute stairwell

Sleek cocktail bar located smack dab in the center of the high foot traffic area of Little Tokyo…read more A great selection of whiskey and a solid cocktail menu with good happy hour specials. It's not surprising given the neighborhood and decor, but I think they lean towards more Japanese spirits and beers. For someone like me who's never been to Japan I feel like there's a traditional Japanese theme going on inside with lots of wood. A few friends and I came here on a holiday before dinner. Happy hour specials were still going on. I'm not sure if they thought they were gonna get that much business on a holiday but I think there's only maybe one or two people behind the bar. Since it was early when we got there, it was still not that crowded. I got the special which was a shot of Japanese whisky and a beer. Great price! Haha. I've walked by before where this place is really crowded so I assume there's a lot more people working behind the bar during the regular busy hours. Just a great place to grab drink drinks.

We were at Little Tokyo over the weekend and saw this business with the catch-y name and had to go…read moreinside. You must be 21 to enter. No exceptions, as I witnessed a family who really wanted to come in but had an 18 yr old so they weren't allowed in and because they had a minor with them they couldn't even sit outside in their seating area. Always good to know. Inside the bar got super busy. The inside was a bit dark but again it is a bar. I like the decor and the bar seating was packed. The drinks were good if you like whiskey they have it along with lists of beer options. Nice spot to try out.