Live, local, late-playing acts at Tiki's

Photos by Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser Almost Famous band members Jack Ofoia, left, Eric Ho and Chris Mercado entertained the weeknight crowd at Tiki's Grill & Bar in the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel.

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Brandon Gibson, left, of Waikiki, and Patrick Harrington of Punchbowl enjoy food from the "beach menu." The crowd at Tiki's is mostly tourists with a scattering of locals.

Jack Ofoia of Pearl City and Rose Baraquio of Salt Lake entertain at Tiki's, which has made showcasing local musicians part of its appeal.

Tiki's Grill & Bar Where: Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, second floor, 923-8454 Hours: 10:30 a.m.-midnight Age of crowd: 20s-60s Best bar-area seats: Along lanai perimeter overlooking Kuhio Beach and Waikiki What to wear: No loud aloha shirts? Go casual. Beachwear is copacetic. Greg Brady's Wipeout: vodka, coconut rum, banana liquer, passionfruit juice, Sprite ($5) Who's playing & when: See tikisgrill.com for schedule of performers.

As if the early-evening view from a corner lanai table overlooking Kuhio Beach and beyond at Tiki's Grill & Bar wasn't enough, it was also pau hana Friday.

My partner in Night Stuff and I were happy to be away from our respective workloads, strangely hungry for "bar food," and — given the surroundings — sort of in the mood for tropical drinks. Taking in some reader-recommended live music also was part of the plan.

Like Duke's Canoe Club — the retro-South Pacific-themed rival up the beach it has clearly taken a kitschy-kitschy cue or two from — Tiki's has made showcasing local musicians a serious part of its appeal.

Three live acts — four on weekends — are slotted seven nights a week, from 1 or 5 p.m. to 'round midnight. The roster of regulars includes Sean Na'auao, Kapena, Ka'ala Boys, Vaihi, Cory Olivares and others.

As if playing someone's backyard pa'ina, Almost Famous kicked back on some chairs for its set of often nicely reimagined mellow covers ("Ku'u Home O Kahalu'u," "Sailing," "What You Won't Do For Love").

The bar menu — or "beach menu," as Tiki's calls it — wasn't small-portioned or unnecessarily fussy. Our order of Island nachos ($9.95) arrived generous with crunchy tortilla chips, ripe tomato and juicy kalua pig. Though tasty, our poached peel-and-eat shrimp ($10.95) sadly didn't have as much lemongrass flavor as we thought it would. An order of Buffalo chicken wings ($7.95) was spicy enough to dismiss the last of Greg Brady's tropical appeal in favor of much iced water.

The near- capacity bar crowd was mostly casually attired, fresh-off-the-beach or fresh-out-of-the-hotel-room tourists, and scattered locals. All in all, a chatty but never rowdy bunch.

Grab your sunset table early.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.