KAHALA KOA is the Chicago area’s REAL “must-see” tiki bar.

This past fall, I had the opportunity to visit Chicago. As soon as I knew I was going, I started researching places to visit, things to do and see…and tiki bars to check out. As with any trip, there’s always much, much more to do than there’s time for. But I tentatively planned things anyway. 

My search for tiki showed surprisingly little for such a large metropolitan area. However, the outlying areas had a few promising spots. As I searched, I disregarded places that didn’t look like they were worth my time. There was a place in Arlington Height, Kahala Koa, that looked interesting, but it was so far from the center of Chicago where I’d be staying. That one I mentally checked off as being a “maybe, but probably not” spot. 

Fortunately, just a couple of weeks before I made my trip, my friend (Tiki With) Ray Wyland happened to be visiting the area. He told me he’d visited Kahala Koa and that I really should make an effort to go. Hmm.

My time in Chicago flew by. I had visited the city’s big tiki bar (Three Dots and a Dash)—and been severely disappointed. I’d gotten to check out a vintage tiki time capsule (Hala Kahiki Lounge in River Grove) and had a marvelous evening at the tiny Tiki Tiki on the outskirts of town. There were a few other places I’d like to hit, but would I have time?

The last full day in the city was filled with activity for me and my friends. Once we got back to our hotel late in the afternoon, I knew it was now or never. I bid my friends farewell and jumped into an Uber. I was going to make the trek to Arlington Heights after all. 

The ride there took about an hour! This was compounded by the fact that when I left the hotel, it was rush hour. Ugh! It would be a long trip there and a long trip back.

When the driver pulled up in front of Lola’s Pizza, I was a bit confused. Huh? That Kahala Koa was a bar inside of the restaurant was not the problem. What bothered me was the exterior of the place. It looked like someone’s house with some cartoon-y palm trees and tikis painted on. Oh no. Was this going to be a cheesy Chuck E Cheese-like tiki pizza parlor or, worse yet, some yahoo’s lame attempt at a tiki bar with bad drinks and Dollar Store décor? Had Ray steered me wrong?

I thanked the driver and got out of the car. Although I had considered just going back to the hotel, I was there. I should at least go in.

The vestibule just inside the door was a little better, but I still wasn’t convinced that this place was worth such a long trek to get to.

Then I stepped through the other door and into the restaurant itself. Was I ever pleasantly surprised.

I was there alone. The hostess seemed to be holding the tables in the dining room for larger groups. Would I mind sitting at the bar? No. Of course not. I actually preferred that—and it put me right where I needed to be for a most enjoyable evening. 

As I usually do when at a tiki bar alone, I tried making conversation with the two ladies working behind the bar. They were very busy, but also very friendly and happy to chat. 

As it was nearing Halloween, there was a special Halloween drink menu. While I certainly wanted/needed to try this place’s take on classic cocktails, I couldn’t resist trying some of their seasonal specialty drinks. I jumped right in and ordered a Grim Reaper. 

The Grim Reaper was surprisingly tart and sweet at the same time. It was a blend of rums mixed with berries, citrus, and cranberry bitters. It was garnished with what looked like a creepy eyeball of sorts, but was actually a slice of the rambutan fruit. How fun and clever!

As I sipped, I perused the restaurant’s menu and watched the bartenders in action. Kimmy was wearing a cool T-shirt featuring tiki drinks in a spiral. Kimmy, I found out, was one of the owner’s sisters. Jordan was wearing little devil horns on her head. She’d been a customer of the place for some time before getting a job there. Both women had learned their remarkable bartending skills while working there. Ha! They were pros by the time I’d gotten there, and their work seemed effortless. But they were very busy.

There was a space next to me at the bar where specialty drinks were placed for finishing touches to be added to them. I was fascinated. This older woman named Barb was working on those. She was very friendly and very proud of the owner. (It turns out that she is his aunt.)

One drink that landed at her station a lot while I was there was a Witches Brew. Oooo. I didn’t try it, but it sounded intriguing. It was a mix of pear, cranberry, sparkling apple, vanilla, spices, pear vodka, and rum. 

I had to applaud the creativity of the seasonal drink menu. I believe Kimmy said they created all of the drinks on the special holiday menus themselves. She also told me that they make their own in-house mixers, syrups and juices on site. Nice!

By the time my pizza (jalapeño, mushroom, and pineapple) came, I was ready for another beverage. This time I went with a Sleepy Hollow, which was a creepy-cool blend of rums, citrus, berries, pineapple, and vanilla. It came garnished with a skull toothpick, a pumpkin-shaped piece of candy, and a little plastic bone. Ha! How morbidly marvelous.

The pizza was great, too. Oh my stars! Instead of Polynesian / Asian-inspired pupus all of these years, why hadn’t someone paired pizza and tiki drinks before? It was a brilliant combination!

“This place is fascinating,” remarked a customer who was asking me about the plastic bone that had been in my Sleepy Hollow drink. It is a very nicely done place. Although it was obvious this wasn’t some sleek business venture and was more of a mom & pop-type place (aside from Kimmy and Aunt Barb, another brother and sister, Jimmy and Katie, also work there), you could tell the place had been a labor of love. The effort really showed.

A young couple sitting next to me at the bar, Caitlyn and Mike, felt the same way. They are locals who visit the place several times a year. Friendly people, great food, creative drinks, and fantastic ambience. What’s not to love about the place?

When I’d put my Sleepy Hollow to bed, I decided to have just one more drink before my long trek back. I asked Kimmy and Jordan what one drink from the regular menu they would have. Simultaneously both answered, “The rum barrel.” So, I ordered the Kahala Koa Rum Barrel. This was a delicious concoction of lime, orange, pineapple, passion fruit, guava, and a house rum blend. It was a fitting finale to a fantastic evening.

At some point during my visit there, I walked around to get a good look at the place. The Lola’s Pizza aspect of the business had been up and running for years. However, the Kahala Koa part had only been operational since the restaurant had moved to its current location during covid. The tiki had taken over the entire place yet looked great and like it had been there for decades. There was even a water feature in one far corner of the main dining room. I later learned that the owner had bought furniture, lamps and other décor from fallen, long-gone tiki palaces and repurposed them in his new venture. In other words, it truly is vintage tiki. Bravo!

Just before I was ready to leave, the owner, Bruce Barton, came out to meet me. It seems Aunt Barb had told him about my enthusiasm and coaxed him out to say hello. He surprised me. I don’t know what I was expecting, but that this soft-spoken, quiet, and seemingly shy man had somehow saved all of these tiki artifacts and created Kahala Koa in such a wonderful way, floored me. I couldn’t be happier for he and his family’s success or to have been able to visit their bit o’ faux Polynesian paradise. He didn’t say much, but I do remember him saying that the pizza parlor had been a way to get his foot in the door of the restaurant business…but tiki had always been the goal. Clearly, he has succeeded. 

I’d had a marvelous time at Lola’s Pizza/Kahala Koa. Of all of the tiki I’d experienced in the greater Chicago area, it had been my favorite. Although I have no business buying any more mugs (I have way too many), I couldn’t help but buy the one signature mug that Kahala Koa offered. Other, more interesting but generic mugs were offered (from Tiki Farm, Munktiki, etc.), but I wanted something specific to this place.

The Kahala Koa mug features a cartoon-y blue-ish fish. This actually makes sense, as kahala is a type of fish. Koa has several meanings, but here I believe it means strong, resilient, or a warrior. Kahala Koa is proving itself to be as strong as its namesake. It’s had to swim upstream to make a name for itself in the tiki world—and has done a great job.

It really is a nifty, comfortable, unassuming place. You couldn’t ask for a friendlier spot (with or without extra cheese.

CHEERS!

Kahala Koa/Lola’s Pizza

1612 E. Rand Road

Arlington Heights, IL. 60004

(847) 873-1125

www.kahalakoa.com