Address/phone/web: 431 E. Central Blvd., 407-839-0080
After work or after hours? After hours
Beer/wine or liquor too? Cocktails, baby
Check all that apply: (X) fancy cocktails ( ) make ’em strong and keep ’em coming ( ) wine list (5 choices or more) ( ) craft beer ( ) beer: the usual suspects (X) wide selection of bottles (more than 15) ( ) wide selection on tap (more than 15)
Food? N
Smoking allowed inside? N
Outside drinking? N
Dog-friendly? N
Bathrooms: nightmare or not bad? Not a nightmare exactly, but the ground-floor shared bathroom is kind of grotty.
TVs? Y What’s on? On the night we visited, Point Break.
DJs? N
Loud music or background music? A tiki-appropriate soundtrack of mento and calypso mixed with oldies and ’50s lounge tunes
Games? Check all that apply: ( ) pinball ( ) video ( ) pool ( ) darts (X) other: tropical fish tank
Essay question: Why should I drink here? It’s a dark, intimate lounge ripe for a takeover – a group of a dozen could own the place. Comfy 1950s rattan furniture, a giant tiki idol, leaning surfboards, and hanging blowfish and glass floats set the scene for sweet-but-not-too Zombies, Singapore slings and Volcano bowls. Try (not to fall over after finishing) the Tigerfucker, built from 44 North huckleberry vodka and house-made blackberry-jalapeño syrup, topped with a flaming sugar cube and served in a huge glass goblet.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2015.
