The estimated opening date is this fall
With growing community interest and a soon-to-be-announced opening date, Cane Tiki Room is close to welcoming visitors into a tropical world. Progress on constructing the vibrant island bar and small bites location in downtown Paso Robles is nearing completion. Cane Tiki Room will be the fourth sister restaurant from owners Donovan Schmit and Troy Larkin; the ‘restaurant family’ includes Fish Gaucho, Pappy McGregor’s, and Eleven Twenty-Two Speakeasy & Cocktail Lounge.
“Anyone who has been to any of our places knows that we do everything one hundred percent. Cane Tiki Room is going to really transform you into Hawaii or Tahiti when you walk in; the decorations, the food, the drinks, everything is going to take you off the streets of Paso and on to a vacation,” said Schmit, who also serves as the president and CEO.
The idea of opening a tiki bar was sparked during the pandemic when the Eleven Twenty-Two Speakeasy was moved from its intimate indoor location to the patio at Pappy McGregor’s. After a few weeks in the summer, Schmit and others saw the demand shift from the 1920s romantic lounge aesthetic to a more outdoor, summer drink feel on the patio.
“It’s the middle of summer, people love frozen cocktails and mai tais and all the fun stuff, so we basically did a really quick one week flip where we bought some blenders and tiki decorations and threw it out on the patio. It lasted for over a year and people fell in love with it,” Schmit said.
Six months later, the location next door to Fish Gaucho opened up for lease; Stein’s BBQ was the previous restaurant at that spot. The process of opening up a permanent space for Cane Tiki Room began while the temporary location was still happening on Pappy McGregor’s patio. Along with a full menu of 15-20 custom tiki cocktails, various types of beer will also be offered. Around eight to ten Polynesian-inspired menu items will be served, such as Kalua pork sliders, ahi poke, and spam musubi.
“We’re bringing something fun, vibrant, and different to downtown to give not only our locals but also our tourists just something new and exciting to do. I think the people we have heard from are so excited that this is actually happening and anticipating a huge success,” said Schmit, noting that there are just a few tiki inspired places between Los Angeles and San Francisco, making Cane Tiki Room a truly unique experience for the Central Coast.
“We have some really cool features in there that I think are going to blow people’s minds that they’ve never seen anything like it around. It’s definitely going to be a place to stop in and see,” Schmit said.
The opening date is projected for middle to late September. To stay updated on the opening date, check out the Cane Tiki Room on Instagram @canetikiroom or www.canetikiroom.com.
