The Grass Skirt

Looking for a hidden tiki-themed restaurant and cocktail bar? If so, The Grass Skirt in Pacific Beach is the perfect place for you! Hidden in a dark-lit strip mall, the entrance to the speakeasy is through the door of a massive walk-in freezer that’s inside of a poke shop. As you walk in, you are transported into a completely immersive Polynesian experience with live music, tiki drinks, bamboo decor and sometimes even live hula dancers. The creative drinks and Southeast Asian-inspired dishes are a huge hit, along with the fun colorful lighting that adds to tiki-vibes. 

One unique aspect of this speakeasy that keeps customers coming back is that certain drinks set off different special effects around the restaurant, like flashing lights, thunderstorm audio or different sound effects. Customers are completely submerged into the funky speakeasy experience when dining at the Grass Skirt, and some have said that it feels like a mini vacation. 

Part Time Lover

Part time lover is a record store and listening speakeasy bar in the North Park neighborhood in San Diego. Although it presents as just a record shop from the exterior, there is a hidden speakeasy bar once you enter the shop. This speakeasy entrance might differ from others though because the entrance is not completely hidden but still gives the speakeasy ambiance once you enter the bar. The Japanese-inspired bar has a vast collection of vinyl records on display and playing on the speakers throughout the night to bring together the whole experience. Alyssa Matyskiewicz, a 22-year-old student living in San Diego, frequents Part Time Lover every month and touched on why she thinks San Diegans are drawn to speakeasies.

“The atmosphere at Part Time Lover is unlike any other speakeasy that I’ve been to,” Matyskiewicz said. “People come here to actually engage in conversation with others while listening to vinyls. The music played here is what really brings the customers back, it creates a community.”

Prohibition Lounge

Walking down the streets in the Gaslamp Quarter of Downtown San Diego, you’d never look twice at a building called “Eddie O’Hare’s Law Office” right? Well I would advise you to look again because inside of that building is an extremely special 1920’s themed speakeasy called Prohibition Lounge. Every night, this speakeasy offers live music in the soul, jazz or blues genre to add on to the nostalgic, vintage atmosphere. The ambiance is perfected through the intimate lighting, vintage look and craft cocktails changed seasonally. Visiting the Prohibition Lounge feels like stepping in a time machine with its velvet booths, jazzy live music and classy attire. 

Customers gravitate towards this place because you really have to know what to look for to find it, making it feel more exclusive and more like an authentic night out. With cocktail attire encouraged on weekends, it kind of gives more of an elegant vibe and filters the crowd of people who might just be stopping on a bar hop. Customers feel as though it is more than just a bar, it is an experience. It is special because it is like stepping into another era for a night.

Noble Experiment

If you are a cocktail enthusiast, then this is the place for you! Located in the East Village neighborhood of San Diego, The Noble Experiment is an intimate speakeasy-style cocktail bar that prides itself on sophistication, expert bartenders and moody ambiance. The entrance to the speakeasy is disguised behind a wall of beer kegs right next to the bathroom in the Neighborhood restaurant. Fitting only around 30 persons in the bar, it offers a personal and captivating experience with the customers and bartenders. 

With leather booths, beautiful glass chandeliers and an entire wall of gold-painted skulls, the bar resembles modern-day style. One thing that the Noble Experiment is known for and why patrons love it so much is that the bartenders provide a very unique dining experience. Not only do they serve classic cocktails with their own twists, but they also offer the “Dealer’s Choice”. The Dealer’s Choice allows the veteran bartenders to create your very own personalized cocktail based on your own preferences. This brings so many customers back because their dining experience becomes an adventure and it feels so much more intimate than many other places in San Diego. 

Raised by Wolves

Have you ever seen those rotating doorways in movies or tv shows and always wanted to go in one? Well, you’re in luck because that is exactly how you enter the Raised by Wolves speakeasy bar in the Westfield UTC mall in La Jolla, San Diego. It is disguised as a high-end liquor store, but there is so much more lurking behind it. If visiting the speakeasy, the host of the store will bring you to the fireplace, which serves as a hidden rotating doorway that leads into the speakeasy bar. The lavish decor of Raised by Wolves is inspired by early 20th-century Europe, with imported “claw and ball” bar stools imported from London, which surround the 22-foot African gold marble bar. When sitting at the luxurious bar, you can look up and see a beautiful grand stained-glass dome, which catches your eye right when you enter. 

Elena Moorehead and Dani Moreno, two young adults who love everything about Raised by Wolves, explain why they became regulars at this speakeasy. 

“We love this place because it transports you to another world,” Moorehead and Moreno said.  “Another world where people are as classy as they used to be, where cocktails are appreciated and not chugged and where you can take a step back from your current life and enjoy this one for a bit.”