The lights go down. A weird hum reverberates through the room. Suddenly, a glowing ball seems to float across the room, emanating light and fog.
I tap the man of the date-night couple next to me on the shoulder and silently direct his attention the right way. They’re missing the arrival of an S.O.S – Stranded on Saturn, one of the signature shareable beverages at Tiki Tatsu-Ya.
It’s not just like having one of those giant fishbowl drinks arrive at some shot bar, with a pineapple slice dunked over the side and a handful of hastily grabbed straws falling overboard. This is a show, and all the regulars turn to watch the ethereal globe as it descends to the table of eagerly waiting drinkers. Newcomers like that couple are a little in awe, but it’s still a thrill for the regulars too, all of whom will look up from their rum-based libations for the excitement of an alcohol-amplified alien invasion, a rum-soaked storm, or even a pirate ship crewed only by dead men who tell no tales.
General manager Matt Williams explained, “There are different levels of people who enjoy Tiki. There’s ‘I came here to get the show cocktail and put it on Instagram.’ Then there’s other people who say, ‘I really like these things and I want to explore all these flavors,’ and then there’s the rum aficionados.”
Tiki Tatsu-Ya opened in 2021 as the latest experiment by chef/owner Tatsu Aikawa and his brother, Shion, the men behind Austin’s Ramen Tatsu-Ya mini-chain as well as Japanese/Texas barbecue fusion restaurant Kemuri Tatsu-Ya, and the Michelin-recognized DipDipDip Tatsu-Ya, which will close later this month to become a new concept. Yet even with all that success and acclaim across the Tatsu-Ya portfolio, Tiki Tatsu-Ya is still special. There’s something intoxicating about getting a seat in this shadowy realm of tropical fantasies, and that’s an experience Williams knows well. The first time he came through the door, he said, “I had to work here.”
But what is Tiki? Well, it’s the sound and look and taste of the perfect midcentury Pacific vacation. It’s rum and coconut, pineapple and brandy, port and pomegranate, served in beautiful glasses and unique mugs decorated for that particular drink. It’s fish and rice served fresh like it just came from the luau. It’s aloha shirts and comfortable shoes, beach dresses and up-dos. It’s wooden carvings and flickering torches, the lapping of the waves and the strange calls of unseen jungle birds, and a soundtrack that drifts from the lilting gentleness of Hawaiian musical giant Israel Kamakawiwo’ole to the delirious fantasies of Martin Denny’s Exotica. It’s a secret club that welcomes everyone, and Tiki Tatsu-Ya is part of that tradition.
The history of Tiki is the history of the 20th century American cocktail, and its exact details have been a matter of great debate since the first stick was swizzled. Some say the first real traces of Tiki were etched in the bar of Clifton’s Cafeteria in Los Angeles, which opened in 1931 with an undoubted South Pacific flair. Others argue that the first real Tiki bar was another LA mainstay, Don the Beachcomber, opened by Ernest Gantt (aka Donn Beach) in 1933, followed by Trader Vic’s in Oakland three years later.
The nascent scene grew but then exploded in the post-war period, with increased access to imported rums and returning service personnel that had acquired a taste for Asian and Polynesian cuisine during their time away. The aesthetic spread through the 1940s and 1950s, with legendary bars and restaurants like MAI-KAI in Florida, Montana’s Sip ‘n Dip Lounge, Alibi Tiki Lounge in Portland, Oregon, and the Windsor Hotel up the coast in Seattle. Even Austin had its own Tiki-themed restaurant: Steak Island on East Riverside, where one could sometimes find LBJ taking supper in its palm-covered dining room, stretching out onto the waters of the Colorado River.
Each spot had their signature drink, and real Tiki heads know who mixed ‘em. The Blue Hawaii, for example, will always be synonymous with Harry Yee, who created the drink as head bartender at the Hilton Hawaiian Village when a sales rep for Bols asked him to make a cocktail highlighting their new, cool blue Curaçao. Many drinks on the Tiki Tatsu-Ya menu come credited to their inventor, so every time you sip on a Jungle Crane, you’ll be raising a glass to the genius of Jeffrey Ong. (That said, never get into an argument with a bartender or bar fly about whether it was Donn Beach or Vic Bergeron of Trader Vic’s that came up with the Mai-Tai. You will never hear the end of it.)
Some drinks were retroactively added to the Tiki bar regulars, like the Singapore Sling and the Corpse Reviver. Similarly, while the first Suffering Bastard was mixed by chemist-turned-bartender Joe Scialom in Cairo at the Shepheard’s Hotel, it was greeted into the Tiki family so warmly that it even got its own signature mug, a Polynesian-influenced depiction of a man with his head in his hands and a Force 10 hangover wreaking havoc.
The new menu is the work of Corporate Chef Rich Reimbolt, who has been what he called “Tatsu-Ya-adjacent” since the Aikawas were launching the original Ramen Tatsu-Ya off Research and he was a line cook at Uchiko, “and we would drink at the Draught House on Medical.” He kept in touch even while he worked at other eateries, including Jeffrey’s and Better Half & Hold Out Brewing. When the position at Tatsu-Ya became open in 2024, he immediately jumped on the opportunity and took on the menu revamp as one of his first tasks.
Unlike the Aikawas’ other adventures, Tiki Tatsu-Ya has always placed more emphasis on the drinks than the food, but that ratio felt like it was getting really unbalanced. The problem was simple: the food menu was too small. People could eat the entire selection in one sitting, Reimbolt said, leading to a feeling of, “now I don’t got to come back for a couple of months, because I already know everything.” Now the balance has been restored, with the food as important as the drinks. “It’s a well-thought-out menu with categories and subcategories. You can come in for anything, from little pupus to a full meal, coursed out.”
Of course, this means balancing the food against the drinks. “Subtle food doesn’t play in a Tiki bar because it’s going to get lost,” Reimbolt said. “It’s all about big flavors, a lot of freshness, a lot of citrus, a lot of sweetness in the food to match the drinks, and a lot of creaminess will go a long way against some of these drinks that are pretty booze-forward.”
One word dominated his thinking when it came to revising the dining selection: “Fresher – more raw applications rather than everything being crispy and brown and fried. Nothing wrong with fried stuff, but there’s a time and a place.” Of course there’s still the classic pupu platter – octopus karaage, wings, pork gyoza, crab lagoon, taro tots, and house pickles – but the new menu also includes an extensive poke section, “which is kind of important to me, especially in Austin. A Tiki bar in Texas, it’s 100 degrees outside, you want something crisp, refreshing, cold stuff to make you feel like you’re on the beach.”
Creating this selection was actually a three-fold process. First, Reimbolt had to work out what not to change, like the beloved taro tots with their fermented coconut ranch. Second, he revisited old favorites like the Crab Lagoon, a riff on the classic crab rangoon but replacing the monochromatic lump crab with brighter, colorful snow crab, with its distinctive long muscle threads, and placing the meat on top of – rather than inside – the wonton chips. Third, he balanced out the menu with new items, from crowd-pleasers like the miso salmon poke to something more unexpected to Austin diners, like a Filipino sweet shrimp kinilaw. The truly daring can even indulge in the exotic delights of tempura blowfish tails, creamy and lush with an acrid Japanese tartar sauce offset by a squeeze of lemon. Don’t worry – Reimbolt isn’t serving deadly fugu. “Everyone goes straight to the Japanese preparation,” he said, “but this is an Atlantic, non-venomous puffer fish from the Chesapeake Bay.”
Williams grinned. “It’s like fish and chips – but Tiki!”
“Some of our options are super-combinable,” Williams added. “You can make a meal out of any of these sections.” A favorite approach is mix-and-matching the lettuce wraps. “Same thing with all the musubis,” he said. “You can get one of everything – just go ham with them and try ‘em all. It’s like a sushi flight.”
The new menu also includes dishes that can be served gluten-free upon request, including the kalua pork lettuce rolls, all the poke dishes (including the poke cruise sampler), and the yellowfish aburi rice, as well as the spam, spicy salmon, and snow crab musubi. Plus, Williams said, “for dessert, the butter mochi is gluten free because it’s rice flour.”
They’re also looking to add more in the future, with Reimbolt planning to experiment with gluten-free tempura batter. “It’s on my to-do list,” he said.
Tiki’s on a bit of an uptick. Bars like Tiki Tatsu-Ya have maintained a healthy regular clientele while still being a tourist destination and still retaining their relaxed vibe. They’re not the only Tiki-friendly establishment in town: The Long Goodbye has its Tropical Tuesdays, while the Roosevelt Room has a whole Tiki section on its menu. Nickel City melds new additions to the cocktail canon, such as Snakes on a Plane and its distinctive flash of Falernum, with blue collar deals like the Recession Special (a High Life, a shot of Benchmark, and a Fried Mortadella Sandwich). Meanwhile, Blue Owl Brewing has featured Tiki-tasting specials among their seasonal beers, like the award-winning pink guava-flavored Kokomo Royale and the pineapple-y Tiki Hop Totem.
Elsewhere, classics like Fort Lauderdale’s MAI-KAI are still mixing the lime and the coconut. At the same time, there are new Tiki bars across the nation adding to the tradition in their own unique ways, so that New York’s shi shi Paradise Lost is staggering distance from both the punk rock Otto’s Shrunken Head and the Tiki/British pub hybrid of Kingston Hall. Down in Galveston, Pineapple Parlor has a speakeasy cool that sings of both South Pacific relaxation and Florida Keys rum runner mystique. Meanwhile, Strong Water in Anaheim is now James Beard-recognized, and is a trip to Disney World really complete without grabbing a seat at Trader Sam’s?
Drop by any of them and mention you’ve been to Tiki Tatsu-Ya, and someone there will know all about it. This little two-level bar in the back of a tiny strip mall just outside of Downtown is a national treasure, but no one is resting on their laurels – or palm fronds. Aside from the new food items, the menu now has its first tequila beverages (because Texas) as well as the Dirty Mar-Tiki, a tropical twist on the Dirty Martini for newcomers who may find all these rums and wild flavors a little too exotic. There are even some new signature beverages, including show cocktails with the accompanying son et lumière experience, in development. Williams said, “We’re always trying to innovate.”
Tiki Tatsu-Ya
1300 S. Lamar, 512/772-3700
tiki-tatsuya.com
This article appears in August 8 • 2025.