Tiki Tiki Bang Bang Is The Escape We All Need
Written By: The Gnarly Gnome
Photography By: The Gnarly Gnome
Sometimes, you just need to escape from the world around you. I think that’s a big reason that so many of us love bars in the first place the more that I think about it. We use the places as an escape. Tiki bars are designed to do that in a significantly heightened way. You SHOULD feel like you’re stepping through a portal into a different place, a tropical wonderland. That’s probably why I love them as much as I do.
Cincinnati has a really incredible one hidden away in Walnut Hills. If you don’t already know about it, hold on tight.
From A Fake Video Store To This?
When Tiki Tiki Bang Bang opened its doors, it wasn’t a tiki bar. The bar opened as a place called ‘The Video Archive’ – a location from the same company that brought you Overlook Lodge and has since brought you a ton of great bars around Cincinnati. This Tarantino-themed fake video store was the front for an incredible speakeasy that won fans over in a huge way.
Things were outstanding – and then there was Covid.
As soon as things started opening up, the bar needed a new experience, so it transitioned into a tiki bar, a reservation-only experience that the community seemed to love just as much, if not more, than the original themed bar.
They announced in January of 2021 that the branding was going to go full-time. Video Archive was going to become Tiki Tiki Bang Bang.
In 2023, the tiki bar was sold off to its long-time manager, who we’ll call “The Skipper” – because that’s what he goes by – and the transition was, in my mind, officially complete. Tiki Tiki Bang Bang became the tropical, rum-filled escape that Cincinnati needed.
What Should You Expect?
If you’ve never been to a tiki bar, I hope this will inspire you to make it happen. When you step inside the space, you’re transported somewhere else—somewhere warm, tropical… vacation-like. You hear the sounds of the jungle, and you are met with a whole wall of bottles of rum and people who are as obsessed with them as the city of Cincinnati is with its beer.
Everywhere you look, there are details that make you want to ask questions – where did this come from? What is that? Can I get a cocktail that comes in that? It’s a perfect way to grab a drink that lifts you away from whatever was happening before you stepped across that threshold.
With That, What Are You Drinking?
I don’t judge anyone for their drink choice. That’s important to me. That said, when you walk into a tiki bar – you should probably be drinking a tiki cocktail. When the menu is spread out in front of you, it reads like a map to some lost continent – the drinks are categorized by alcohol strength (or, as I put it, how far away you want your journey to take you) – and I implore you to get out of your comfort zone and order something that sounds fun.
If you’re already a fan of tiki bars or tiki drinks, don’t be afraid to leave the safety of the menu. The folks who have set up camp behind the bar at Tiki Tiki Bang Bang have done so for a good reason. They LOVE this stuff.
Stay tuned here for more information about Tiki Tiki Bang Bang, but you should 100% visit the place to form your own opinions. You can find them at 965 E McMillan Street in Walnut Hills.