Ed U.
Yelp
When I thought of Napa before, I can tell you the first thing that that came to mind was not tiki. That might've changed with the visit Jamie W. and I made during a particularly drizzly Saturday last month. We had just finished a visit to the Tiki Dreams exhibit at the Napa Valley Museum and thought it might be fun to complement that with an actual tiki cocktail.
Even though Jamie and I have been on a tiki roll recently, we had no idea this evocative two-floor lounge existed downtown on the edge of the Napa River. It's only been around since 2021, but it's named after a family member who ran a beloved Honolulu cocktail bar. It's all in the details, and the seafaring elements and authentic Hawaiiana really immersed us into the tropical atmosphere.
Wilfred's is a restaurant as well as a bar and offers all the expected dishes like pineapple fried rice, kalua pork, and mac salad. We went upstairs and settled ourselves on the plush loveseats in the corner, perfect as the rain was sprinkling on the shipboard deck outside. The cocktail menu was extensive and presented in a booklet. We started big with two winners. I had the $17 Hipa Hipa Hooray
It was a potent take on a painkiller with Overproof Jamaican rum, coconut, pandan, pineapple, and orange (photo: https://yelp.to/vRmuexUyQ6). Jamie had the $16 O.G. Grog described as a Groggy Rum blend, lime, grapefruit, spice #1, and a rock candy stick (photo: https://yelp.to/6JkYdRqvWr). We decided to share the $11 Spam Fries, panko-crusted fried Spam with mango habanero sauce and mustard (photo: https://yelp.to/bzmISMP8cw).
That was decadently indulgent but more than a second round of delightful libations. Jamie went for the $15 Uma Ube with white rum, cream of coconut, pineapple, and ube (photo: https://yelp.to/KjB0p0oK7G). I went a little more uptown with the $16 Espresso Tikitini, a smooth blend of vodka, Koloa coffee-infused rum, Copalli cacoa rum, macadamia nut liqueur, Griffo coffee liqueur, and coffee (photo: https://yelp.to/degQyriZCu).
Oh my, we were on a roll but we decided to shift gears to the mocktail page of the menu. We finished with a couple of $10 Ube-Bae-Baby! mocktails since I wanted an ube fix. Mixed with pineapple and coconut, it was the perfect ending to our tiki sojourn (photo: https://yelp.to/0RMwae5EHW). In fact, we were so pleased with our visit that we bought T-shirts to remember our tropical trip to the wine country.
COCKTAILS - 5 stars...extensive, refreshing and addictive
FOOD - 4 stars...just had the Spam fries, need to try more
AMBIANCE - 5 stars...pretty idyllic and tropical, not short on details
SERVICE - 4.5 stars...pretty attentive considering how crowded it was getting
TOTAL - 5 stars...a most compelling reason to come to Napa
RELATED: Looking for a tiki bar? Here's a collection of places I've tried and reviewed: https://bit.ly/3SpoS3c