First, you should know a few specifics about real tiki bars.

Actual tiki bars are an incredibly fun environment if you know what you are getting yourself into before you actually visit one.  For example, you can get great drinks and cocktails at a tiki bar along the lines of things that you would not be able to get in other normal bars. Few bartenders are familiar with the many tropical drinks, and some will flat out tell you that they have never heard of them before. As a result, an actual tiki bar may give you a chance to try some new stuff.

What can you get at a tiki bar?  Well, generally speaking, a tiki bar will specialize in anything that is exotic.  So, if the drink is very colourful or, on the other hand, if it has a lot of multi-syllabic words that sound foreign, you can definitely expect that drink to be on the list of drinks served in a tiki bar.  The idea is to use an exotic image to bring customers in, and because the bars themselves are so fun, it is an image that is usually successful for most of the bars that go in that direction.

You need more than just drinks to create an image though, and that is why the décor in most of the tiki bars you will visit is also décor that emphasizes the exotic nature of the bar.  You might find a number of masks around reflecting different gods from different cultures including the very famous ‘tiki god’ mask that most tiki bars seem to have somewhere within their restaurants.  These masks alternate from being very ornate and beautiful to being very dark and disturbing and a good bar will have a wide selection of different moods in their masks.  The really good bars will coordinate their mask placement with the lighting in different areas to create ‘up’ and ‘down’ mood areas for people to take advantage of depending on the kind of day they have had.

These types of drinks and snack servings combined with the décor really tends to draw people from all different walks of life.  Blue collar workers that are looking for a relaxing time after a hard day mingle with office workers that work a 9-5 job in a cubicle and people seem to have an easy time meeting new people because of the generally boisterous atmosphere you will find in one of these bars.  If you have not had a chance to experience the tiki bar atmosphere before, then you should go as soon as possible; it really is quite extraordinary.

If you are interested in reading more about the world of tiki, please check out this articles:

Ideas for tiki party decorations

Information on building a tiki bar