The Shameful Tiki Room

Address: 4362 Main St, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Email: theshamefultikiroom@gmail.com
Website: view The Shameful Tiki Room’s website
Door: Open door
Style: Tiki bar

Review

Make the journey from the downtown core to Main Street to be transported to a totally tropical place. Once your eyes have adjusted to the darkness of the 50-seat room, the details emerge: raffia chairs, carvings on every wall, pufferfish lights and a tufted roof over the red-lit bar where old black and white movies play on a screen. Hawaiian shirts are not mandatory, but you may wish you'd worn yours once you settle in at the L-shaped bar or in one of the cosy booths.

Drinks on the well-illustrated menu are divided into 'mild, moderate, strong and yowza' (pay attention to the latter, these guys are not messing around). The 32 drinks cover familiar ground by way of Trader Vics and the Kon Tiki with the juices freshly squeezed and syrups home-made. Thanks to an old milkshake maker drinks are aerated and diluted to the perfect consistency. Flashing lights and thunder effects accompany the Volcano Bowl and a gong sounds for the Mystery Bowl. One sour note? Thanks to a sometimes too-cool-too-whoop crowd, even on nights with live entertainment it can sometimes be bafflingly atmosphere-free.