Last Rites

San Francisco Tiki Bar Last Rites Debuts New Cocktail Menu on August 1 | Eater SF

"Tucked in Duboce Triangle, I find Last Rites a self-described “adventure bar” where the low hum of a plane, lighting effects that create sunsets and storms, and a strong service ethos set the scene for a new, story-driven cocktail program. The menu debuting August 1 is only the third in the bar’s history and was inspired by dime-store novels and Choose Your Own Adventure stories; every cocktail is paired with fictional characters, backgrounds, book covers and snippets you can read. I was struck by the Emerald Eclipse — a lush drink born from an imaginary jungle where snap peas overgrow stone walls, and those snap peas run rampant on the rim — and by other standouts like Grifter’s Game (Steph Granados’s whiskey, coconut, and passionfruit cocktail topped with a coconut tuile and noted as one that “doesn’t play by the rules”) and the Long Goodbye (Gabriel Chavez’s gin, strawberry, and coconut mix, described as containing “rose-colored memories” beneath a hulking strawberry garnish to make the “lingering echo of a final farewell”). Owner Justin Lew and GM Thomas Bermudez say the team intentionally moved away from heavy multi-spirit tiki layering toward more nuanced, whimsical drinks; after opening in 2018, closing for over a year during COVID, popping up with to-go cocktails in 2020, and re-opening in June 2021, this menu feels like both a homecoming and a reintroduction. The staff still prioritize proper service at the door, and the bar’s hours are 6 p.m. to midnight Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday." - Paolo Bicchieri