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!