The food, drinks, and service is amazing!!!…read more The ambiance of this place makes me feel like I've been transported to Hawaii.

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!

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.

Thunderbolt has been on my list for way too long! I was trying The Parks Finest next door and lo…read moreand behold but what did I see? Thunderbolt!!! Post dinner drinks had me very excited! We walk in and the place is beautifully done inside! Chill ambiance, nice materials, cool tile and artwork . We chose a booth, but there were plenty of seating options on a Sunday earlyish evening. The menu? Whoa! Wtf in a great way!!!! They explain the science behind how they create every elixir aaaand how they are so sustainable! #1 sustainable bar in North America and apparently #24 of top 50 bars in North America! We tried the: Fu Gwaa Falsetto: SO cool! They used a bitter melon, which is hard to include in things, and made a dope drink! The sprinkles on top were my fave and tied the drink together. Koji Killer: dessert drink for sure, but I kinda needed a second one delicious! Barcelonette: refreshing, light, lovely P Town Boxing Club: a little disappointed that I couldn't taste the pandan as much, didn't get as much of a distinct flavor Hops Don't Lie: canned, refreshing, my partner like it! The servers/bartenders were so cool and knowledgeable about the menu, they even brought us samples and let us know if we didn't like something they'd replace it! And did! Will definitely be back to try more concoctions

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.

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.

Cute place to go when all seasons is too crowded and you want a more chill vibe. Staff and…read morebartenders are awesome, they have treats for dogs, you can queue up music, just a nice small bar that I hope is open for many years to come. Has a classic feel to it

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?

Made right and made up for a mistake. The distilled and manager Theron is amazing and super…read morehelpful. I truly appreciate what he did for us. Thank you, Theron

Like many of those around us, we all had seen the Social Media posts and videos on this place. So…read morewhy not try it! It was actually a secret date my wife had set up for us and I literally had no idea until we entered and sat down. Even then, I was curious if this was the same one I was going to plan for us as well! I don't want to divulge everything, but can just say the atmosphere is just cool as you can see in the pictures. This one is for Season 1 (there are two more seasons you can go to with different drinks and stories). You are taken through a journey of the alcohols they produce and the drinks that they prepare. Without a doubt, the most unique 3 drinks you will probably taste. My wife wasn't much of a fan but I just loved the experience and the different flavors.

Best drinks and service in echo park! They put on the best events and are such a great spot for the…read morecommunity!

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

Been here plenty of times in the heart of little Tokyo. Ambiance is amazing! Brilliant set up and…read morelots of whiskeys. Just wish they a monthly menu with different drinks to complement their usual ones.

Super cute bar that lowkey turns into a live music venue on Saturdays, located in the heart of…read moreLittle Tokyo. Went for drinks in the evening and was able to snag a table, later in the evening a DJ popped up and it was a vibe! Cute for intimate groups and date night at least before live music starts- it got a little loud at the end. Drinks were good, lots of sake and overall alcohol options!