I have a deep, profound love for tiki drinks, instilled in me by my parents who built a tiki bar in their basement as their pandemic project, so here’s a guide to some of the best tiki drinks around town. All of these recs are in East Nashville, which means you could even do a tiki bar-hopping night!
🏝️ The Tiki Bars
Me in my natural habitat: Enjoying my signature drink at Chopper. (Grace Fuisz / City Cast Nashville)
I ought to disclose that I am a regular at Chopper to the degree that I begged them to give me the recipe to their Dopamine cocktail so I could make it for my birthday. The Dopamine is a bourbon, coconut, and coffee cocktail … and I will not be giving you the recipe. (I’m sworn to secrecy.)
The menu changes seasonally and for major holidays (like May 4, as in “May the fourth be with you”), so there’s always something new to try. They have non-alcoholic versions of a bunch of their cocktails, too. If you’re hungry, the Maiz de la Vida taco truck outside is a late night food option I would be smitten with even if it didn’t come alongside tiki drinks. You can order at the food truck and have your food brought to you inside the bar. I’d highly recommend the birria tacos.
Side note: I’m very excited to hear Maiz de la Vida is opening a brick and mortar shop soon in the Gulch! Yum.
The Yum Yum at Pearl Diver. (Grace Fuisz / City Cast Nashville)
Pearl Diver has a really cool, retro aesthetic, with comfy seating and a photo booth (which I am a sucker for). There are a ton of tiki drinks on the menu, as well as shareable snacks. I had the Papas Bravas as a snack and, while it is meant to be shared, I ate it all. I’m currently obsessed with the Yum Yum, a creamy coconut rum drink with a little bit of Thai basil, Thai chili, lemongrass, and lime. It comes in an adorable (tiny) glass, so it’s a sipper. They also have an outside area in the back that’s lovely on a nice night.
The Blue Hawaiian at Hubba Hubba getting leid. (Whitney Pastorek / City Cast Nashville)
Billed as “a bit tonk, a bit tiki, and a lot of rock n’ roll,” this hole in the wall joint crammed between a UPS Store and the pinball hangout No Quarter on a tornado-damaged stretch of Main Street that used to house a chiropractor has made a name for itself thanks to bizarre events (wrestling tournaments, an above-ground swimming pool in the parking lot), great live music, and a suspicious number of ALF dolls. But the staff knows their stuff — co-owner Dave Young’s previous venture was East Nash mainstay Crying Wolf — and the drinks are on point. Order a Blue Hawaiian, and try to let your eyes absorb all the meticulously chaotic knickknacks behind the bar. Stick around late night on Tuesdays to grab street tacos from pop-up Echoes. — Whitney Pastorek
👀Tiki Drinks at Non-Tiki Bars
Take your life into your own hands and just ask for a tiki drink at Attaboy! Attaboy is the bar I take my parents to when they visit, just because the premise is so cool. There’s no menu, but the bartenders know an insane number of cocktails — when you sit down, your server will ask you what you’re in the mood for in terms of flavor profile and liquor, and they’ll whip something up specifically for you. The same folks that own Attaboy own Lakeside Lounge and Hearts, and even though the Lakeside parking lot is cramped and inadvisable for anyone with a car larger than my Mini Cooper, I’d recommend putting your name in at Attaboy and waiting for your table at Lakeside Lounge with a Bearded Iris Homestyle and a patty melt, if you’re hungry. It might be a while.
Hawkers is a great spot if you’re with a group and your main priority is food. They’ve got dim sum on the menu, shareable dishes, and lots of noodles and curries. You can get a Painkiller, or what they call a Tacky Tiki, which is Blue Hawaiian-adjacent. The patio is nice, too, and they have fire pits if you decide you want to go when it’s chillier out later in the year.
Inglewood Lounge has a cool, mid-century aesthetic, great cocktails, and limited indoor seating – I would not suggest taking a big group. I’d recommend going when it’s nice out so you can sit out on the covered patio or at the picnic tables. You can get a Clarified Mai Thai or a Painkiller. It’s a quiet enough space most evenings that it would be a nice date night spot, and their in-house menu features terrific tacos, sandwiches, and fries.
What’s your favorite tiki drink around Nashville? Let us know!
