Keith Robbins knows bars and dance clubs.
Robbins, a Magnolia resident and owner of Tini Bigs martini palace on the corner of First and Denny, has also run a dance club and/or bar in the adjoining space just north of Tini B's for the past 17 years.
You might remember the space as the Romper Room. Or maybe you were a customer for its latest incarnation, Watertown. Or it's even possible that you ate some gourmet burgers there when the name was the Hardened Artery.
All of that is history now.
Welcome to the Hula Hula-a tiki bar, not a dance club.
"The Watertown was a dance club; now it's a lounge serving food and drinks because [tiki bars] are fun," Robbins said early one recent evening as his new (opened this month) lounge was filling up. "Everybody in this business tends to be really serious-we just wanna have some fun."
Robbins, born and raised in Seattle and a Queen Anne High School graduate, is a youthful-looking man pushing, but so far not quite reaching, 50. He currently lives in Magnolia, and he has been in the restaurant-bar business for the past 20 years, starting his career as a waiter and bartender before switching to the ownership side of things.
"It [the bar business] has been good to me," he said, laughing. "I like it. I like the creative side of it, and it keeps me out at night."
Business is already building at Hula Hula, located at 106 First Ave. N. It's open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. seven nights a week.
But there are still a lot of people showing up with their dancing shoes on.
"There's a preconceived idea about what happens in this space," Robbins explained. "It's food and drink, no longer a dance club-although occasionally we have entertainment. We've already had a Tahitian dance group a couple of times."
Hula Hula features a bevy of tropically inspired drinks. There are a lot of rum potions and plenty of other cocktails including Blue Hawaiians and pina coladas, as well as original Hula Hula creations such as the Curvy Scurvy Bowl-$12 for two people-featuring banana liqueur, rum and sweet and sour. There's also the tasty Crazy Sleeping Monkey-dark rum, coco cream and cola-for only $6.
All pupus (ono food, baby) are $8.
There is pan-seared ahi tuna encrusted in macadamia nuts, a mini roast Kahlua pork sandwich with shaved red onions, a Hula steak roll and a North Shore burger, not to mention rotating daily specials.
The décor at Hula Hula is also uniquely itself.
Like ferinstance: a 22-foot-long, hand-painted black velvet tropical mural; citrus walls accented with bamboo; and puffer-fish lights, all adding up to an enhanced, hipsterish, island-inspired feel.
Robbins had help with Hula Hula's design. "Edie Whitsit of the Children's Theatre and I did it. People are often surprised when they walk into the space," Robbins said proudly.
Oh yeah, in addition to the good, the fancy and the unique, Hula Hula serves PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) on tap for $2 a pop, and all well drinks are always $4, in lieu of (so far) a happy hour-something currently under debate with his staff of nine new employees, according to Robbins.
Anyone wishing to know more before stepping inside Hula Hula can call 284-5003 for more information.
Dennis Wilken is a freelance writer living in Queen Anne.[[In-content Ad]]
