Was it just us or was January the longest, coldest month ever?? It really had us itching for a tropical vacation where we could layout on the beach with a few cocktails, soak up the sun, and leave our worries behind. Since we are far from a summer vacation, we had to do the next best thing.

We hopped in the car and headed North. After 50 minutes of driving we finally reached our destination, Last Rites in San Francisco. Not sure why it took us so long to check this place out, but we’re glad we made the time to take not one, but two trips in the last month.

This is a whole new type of bar experience for us when it comes to Tiki. All we kept thinking is “are we on the set of Lost? Did our plane crash land and we now have to live off with bottles of rum?” While the thought of a wrecked plane is a little dark, it’s part of the appeal of it all.

We must say, the eerie vibe is a nice change of pace for Tiki goers who are used to the campy, kitschy vibes of the original Tiki bars here in the Bay Area. The bar itself is made of an airplane fuselage, and it get’s even better when you go to sit in the bar stools and realize they’re made from actual airplane seats! When you look up you see parachutes lining the ceiling accompanied by all the tropical foliage you could ever dream of.

At this point we’ve gone to a lot of Tiki bars, tried a lot of drinks, some originals, and some classics with a twist. Since Last Rites isn’t technically a Tiki bar, we thought we’d continue to go down the non-traditional path. And while we do have an affinity for rum, we can’t deny our love for gin, so for the first round we ordered the Kali Ma’s Doom and the Rings of Saturn.

Kali Ma’s Doom made with gin, pisco, sauvignon blanc melon syrup, grapefruit, lime, vanilla cream topped off with a toasted marshmallow and watermelon.

Rings of Saturn was made up of gin, falernum, lemon, passionfruit, cashew orgeat, bitters.

Two good choices to start off the evening. Tangy and refreshing. The marshmallow definitely sealed the deal on the Kali Ma’s.

We then moved on to a more Tiki forward palette. We wanted the rum, the pineapple, the coconut! We got that and so much more with round 2. They both packed tropical punch, but were not drowned in sweetness. The rum blends really shine through. It’s no wonder there is a 2 order limit on these guys!

Last Rites, their signature cocktail made with an overproof rum blend, pressed lime, passionfruit, molasses, and their secret mix.

Zombie Killer combines an exotic rum blend, lime, coconut, pineapple, grapefruit, falernum, and absinthe.

It feels like we’ve made a pretty good dent in their menu over our last couple visits. We probably could have had a third round, but then we would not have made it to our dinner reservations! But no worries, just another reason to come back soon.

Speaking of coming back. Have any of you guys been? If not, we’re planning on putting together an official Tiki Collective bar crawl and you can bet Last Rites will be at the top of that list. Stay tuned!

P.S. We also wanted to mention their Golden Hour menu, which runs everyday from 5pm-6pm.

LOCATION

718 14TH St.

San Francisco, CA 94114

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HOURS

Monday - Sunday

5PM–2AM