Lidiya G
Google
Don’t come to Skull & Crown if your goal is to get sloppy drunk on tiki drinks. Not because it can’t happen, trust me, the pours are generous, but because that’s not the point. In a city where every corner shoves a happy hour Mai Tai in your face (spoiler: those aren’t Mai Tais), Skull & Crown offers something different and memorable.
If you want the snob’s Mai Tai -- the kind reverse-engineered from Trader Vic’s original blueprint and balanced like a tightrope walk, you drink it here. My husband and his best friend are amateur mixologists with a copy of the Smuggler’s Cove cocktail book dog-eared and stained with every flavor of simple syrup known to man. The redacted Dagger Mai Tai on their menu (you'll know it when you see it) was developed with Smuggler's Cove. When you start making your own syrups, buying obscure spices no one keeps in their pantry, learning what "balanced" actually means in a glass, you stop seeing cocktails as alcohol delivery systems and start tasting them like cuisine. Listen, I still love a trashy happy hour with bottom-shelf booze, but Skull & Crown reminded me why it's called a CRAFT cocktail. If Olive Garden is the fanciest restaurant you've ever been to and suddenly you have some money to spend, you have to experience fine dining just for the sake of it. This is that equivalent. However, I'm just a stranger on the internet, so, do whatever you want. I'm not your mother.
That said, the cocktails are only half the story. What makes this place a hidden gem isn't just feeling like you're in the live action Scooby Doo movie, but the staff. Our host, Christopher, helped us shift a late-night reservation when we dropped by early after the Bishop Museum. Tina, our server, was stellar: attentive, honest, and sharp as a blade. She suggested we spike the Ube-Bae (listed as a mocktail) with a splash of rum, and I’m not exaggerating when I say it became the best drink I’ve ever had: a boozy "milkshake" made of purple dreams. I’m now on a personal mission to recreate it at home. It's going terribly.
Tina also suggested my second drink, the Pua 'Ula'Ula, based on what I liked: once again, spot on. She knows her stuff. My one regret is not getting the bartender or kitchen staff's name.
The food was great, too. Shrimp ceviche and squid skewers, if memory serves. We ordered mostly to avoid the spinning-room sensation after round two, but it was good, better than it needed to be. Do not skip dessert. Get the ube tres leches (you'll thank me!!)
My husband tried the Dagger Mai Tai, King Ko Swizzle, and the Clarified Zombie. We wanted to keep going, believe me, but we’re in our thirties now. There's a fine line between revelry and ruin.
Before we left, we picked up a bottle of their Traders Club Kila rum, partnered with Ko Hana (the local distillery) and a souvenir glass by a local artist. Skull & Crown is serious about drinks, serious about detail, and fully leans into the tiki camp with an intimate, local touch.