The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar
San Francisco, CA 94108
Phone: (415) 772-5278
- Cross Street:
- California Street
- Hours:
- Sun-Thu 5pm-11:45pm, Fri-Sat 5pm-12:45am
Message from The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar
Exotic Asian cuisine & "the city's best Mai Tai" - Conde Nast Traveller
- Happy Hour 5pm-7pm
- Dancing at 8pm--Live Band
- Great for groups
Paid advertisement by The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar.
Editorial Review for The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar – by Eric Puchner
The Scene
This spot attracts a combination of visiting seniors, fun-loving business types and young ironists looking for a campy night out. The bar itself is splendorous, with fake lilacs vining down from a waterfall guarded by an Easter Island-like totem. Ritualistic masks, puffer fish hanging from the ceiling and grass huts shaped like giant beefeater hats complete the tropical theme. A Spanish galleon run aground forms the dance floor, which overlooks a shimmering tropical pool.
The Draw
The most impressive attraction is the tiki-boat-cum-stage, which floats across the pool with a full band aboard. Dancers take in the island air and gyrate to cheesy pop songs. Be prepared: Every 30 minutes or so, a monsoon pours from the ceiling, spraying unsuspecting dancers with tropical mist.
Editorial content is independent of paid advertisers. Any expenses are paid for by Citysearch.
Insider Tips
What to DrinkUmbrella-laden intoxications include the "Takes Two to Mango" and a "Zombie," which comes in a miniature Easter Island head.
ParkingPatrons do have access to the hotel parking lot, which costs $4 (every 20 min), a with maximum of $39-per-day.
User Reviews for The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar
04/11/2008 Posted by hobotourist
It feels like like the perfect venue for a Goldman Sachs office party or something. We could picture a senior VP getting drunk on Mai Tais (which are quite good actually) and hitting on an intern as the faux Polynesian band belts out Journey. Nothing against Goldman Sachs really. We were just being juvenile and imaginative (drunk). I guess the festive mood does have an effect. Just remember to visit this place with low expectations and take in all the cheese. It's like an episode of Montel. You want to turn it off but your having too much fun enjoying how bad it is. And for that it get two stars instead of one.
03/23/2008 Posted by OaklandCocktailian
They just reopened Thursday after renovations, seems unchanged. 6 of us, we ordered ~10 drinks over the course of the evening. The Singapore Sling and Mai Tai were terrible, the French 100 - a champagne cocktail - was totally flat - no sparkle at all, the service was so slow that it was too difficult to send the drink back. The bus-boy cleared away my 'souvenir glass' without asking. The Planter's P*nch was pretty good, the shitake egg rolls were excellent as was the almond garlic tapenade on flatbread. The band was entertaining, some of their songs were quite good - fun to dance to. The decor is incredible, the monsoon rain is fun - if heavily chlorinated. It was $245 for 6 people - two appetizers, 10 or 11 drinks, and the $7 per person cover charge for the live entertainment. How can this place have a 5 star rating when it gets so many well deserved bad reviews? FWIW, we throw cocktail parties and really know good cocktails, we have all of Jerry Berry's recipe books, we know what they are supposed to taste like.
Pros: the most amazing faux polynesian bar I've ever been in
Cons: bad drinks, overpriced, poor service
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