Hot and new can steal the spotlight, but what about longstanding local favorites? Each month, we’ll visit a Richmond-area restaurant that has been in business 15 years or longer.
Tiki-Tiki (Photo by Jay Paul)
You’ve definitely driven past it — the brick building with a green shingled roof tucked amid the suburban sprawl of Patterson Avenue.
Boasting a Chinese and Polynesian mashup menu seemingly bigger than the restaurant itself, Tiki-Tiki has been open for lunch and dinner since 1976. Regulars keep business steady, drawn by the rustic but cozy tropical interior, beloved General Tso’s chicken and low-priced Tiki cocktails ($8.95 each for nearly infinite iterations of rum-based, umbrella-topped drinks).
Affable longtime employee Mike Tat will whip up the “pretty strong” volcano cocktail for two, which includes four rums, one of which is 151, and brandy that is set ablaze just as easily as he’ll shake up his favorite drink to make, a martini, “like James Bond.”
A Vietnam native who moved to Virginia in 1978, Tat is mostly behind the bar, though he says he works “wherever they need me.”
On any given Tuesday before 5 p.m., you’re just as likely to find a gentleman who’s been frequenting the spot since its opening year (scotch on the rocks) as you are to find a young dad picking up a large hot and sour soup to go. They all know Tat, and he knows them, serving up a bowl of complimentary peanuts for one customer, cashews for another.
Of the menu at Tiki-Tiki, Tat says, “It’s all good,” but he does enjoy the thin, Singapore-style rice noodles, “if you like spicy.”
