The Steelers, the Penguins, the Pirates, Pirmanti’s, and Tiki? That’s right! Pittsburgh is known for its sports teams, food, and its steel industry. But most people wouldn’t know that it has one of the coolest Tiki bars there is.
I live in Seattle now, but I actually lived in Pittsburgh a few years ago. I was only there for a year, but while I was there I discovered the Tiki Lounge!
The Tiki Lounge is located in the South Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The South Side is the center of Pittsburgh’s night life. It’s packed with tons of coffee shops, bars, and good places to eat. All the action in the South Side takes place on Carson Street, which is almost three miles long! That’s a pretty long pub crawl! Carson Street is home to the Tiki Lounge.
The Tiki Lounge opened around 2000 and it has some of the best Tiki decor I’ve seen. You literally walk through the mouth of a Tiki god as you walk into the bar! Take a close look behind the glass and you’ll see him…
Check out the bar and the front room…
Tiki decor doesn’t get much better than this!
This is some of the seating…
The Tiki Lounge is actually a pretty big place. It has this back room…
Downstairs is another bar and more seating. It was so dark I couldn’t get a good picture. But when you walk back up the stairs, you run into these guys…
Everywhere you turn there’s cool Tiki stuff…
Okay, so the Tiki Lounge has the decor dialed in, but what about the drinks?
The drink selection is pretty big and what’s really cool is that you get to keep the Tiki mug! Needless to say, I have several!
Behind the bar was a really cool dude named Jim…
He was playing some great surf rock and exotica. We chatted it up for a while and he asked me if I wanted something special. I said, “Hell yeah!”
So he made me a special drink called “Jim’s Killer”.
The drink was great! It was along the lines of a Painkiller, but this beats any Painkiller I ever had!
My buddy David ordered a Bikini…
He’s giving the metal horns, so it must be good!
The first time I stepped through that Tiki god’s mouth was back in 2009. Here is an old picture of me from 2011 with one of my newly acquired mugs from the Tiki Lounge…
I have since moved to Seattle, but every time I come back to Pittsburgh I always pay a visit to the Tiki Lounge.
The Tiki Lounge is actually one of the first Tiki bars I’ve ever been to. If you’re like me and love Tiki bars and Tiki culture, your love affair had to start somewhere. My love affair with Tiki started in Pittsburgh at the Tiki Lounge!
Here is the Tiki Lounge’s website.
And the Tiki Lonuge’s Facebook page.