Yoonie L.
Yelp
My friend and I stumbled into Tiki's Bar and Grill (TBG) looking for some late night eats! My friend is Filipino and she said that the food was pretty good at TBG, so off we went! Goodness, ever since we all started going back to our normal lives of getting out and about, some restaurants have kept their reduced hours so it's been so difficult to find places to eat that close late, but thankfully not TBG! Thank you TBG, for hanging on! My belly thanks you!
When we arrived, it's one of those don't-judge-a-book-by-it's-cover-type places. The windows are covered, so you can't see inside and all you see is a "Open" neon sign above the door. Well, I guess that's all I needed to know! As soon as we opened the door, we were transported into (yes, you guessed it) a tiki bar. It's so fun in there! There was only one couple when we arrived, so we basically had the place to ourselves. There were 2 staff members working, one for the bar and one for the dining room, both good vibes.
Our waitress greeted us right away and gave us a menu. Super chill vibe, just like in Hawaii! Since it was late, we decided not to pig out too much, although I was rather starving, but I refrained. We decided on two dishes.
Pupu Platter - This platter is quite the show-y dish. It comes equipped with a mini fire pit/grill thing. It comes out flaming. The waitress said it was meant to keep the food warm and if you wanted to "warm up" any of the items, we could use it for that. It's fun to look at and I guess it would come in handy as a hand warmer in the cold months haha. The platter includes: crab cake balls, wings, chicken skewers, lumpia and coconut shrimp. Served with a tray of four sauces. It's a decent portion and I ended up taking a portion of it home. I loved the crab cake balls and lumpia! Oh the lumpia! We got the pork kind. It was just so nicely wrapped, crispy and so tasty!
Sisig - This was my first time eating sisig. My friend pointed out that their rendition of the sisig at TBG is with pork belly, but it's traditionally made with pig ears and cheek meat. I bet it would be tasty with cheek meat, but not sure how I feel about pig ears. I would have tried it if that was the case, but to be honest, I'm glad it wasn't that night. I don't particularly feel adventurous late at night when I'm just super hungry. This is a warning to all the folk that are not used to eating animal fat though. The pork belly is cut into big chunks and you will get the occasional piece that is purely fat. I think it's tasty, but you might not. The sisig is served with rice and an egg over easy (kinda like bibimbap, but not really haha), but we opted for garlic rice. I loved this dish! We broke up the runny yolk and just mixed the sisig, rice and egg! It had this buttery, yet not overly garlicky flavor (I LOVE garlic, so I wouldn't have minded if it had more).
The service was amazing. The waitress seemed like a super chill, genuine person!
I guess the word is out that they stay open late. I felt bad for the duo because 15 minutes before closing, a couple walked in looking for some drinky dranks and we were on our way out. They didn't huff and puff and kept on keeping on. The couple ordered one of their show-y drinks too.
Overall, 5 stars all around for the ambiance (it's sooo cute in there), the TLC and the bites!
Will definitely be back, late night or not!