Bahi Hut Lounge

i have been a fan of the Bahi hut for over 3 years. Love the Mai Tais. However if Frosty is bartending do yourself a favor and order a beer. Maybe it will be cold. I typically have 2 Mai Tais. But lay week Frosty made the worst Mai Tai ever. Took 1 sip and gave it back to her. Ordered a beer instead but she still charged me for the Mai Tai and the beer was warm.
So if you are going there tonight find out who the bartender is. If Frosty is Bartending find another place.

Bahi Hut, as many other reviewers note, is a real dive. Smoke-​filled, dirty-​looking, cigarette machine, tiki décor straight outta 1958, they have it all.
I love this place & we go every year while vacationing in Sarasota. A tradition.
Two Mai Tai limit makes good sense!

Drinks are cheap and strong. Great place to pre game if your with a group. I would discourage women going alone. You never know the clientele in there. I’ve walked in and walked out a couple times because I didn’t feel safe with just one other girl with me.
Dive bar with strong drinks and free pretzels.

Well — we live in Nokomis now and had to try it — wow — this is an old timey hagged out dive bar — not for the lily-​livered or clean freak — retro MCM people will love this place — they even had a cigarette machine — my husband and I arrived at 5 PM — he was driving, so I had 2 Mai Tais — holy you-​know-​what! by the time we left around 6 PM I thought I was hallucinating — I must have stayed drunk for 3 hours after — not sure if we will ever be back but we had to experience it at least once. Highly recommend!

Why one star? Because I don’t have the zero star rating to choose.
I wound up here after doing a Unilocal search of local «Dive» bars and after reading the reviews of this place, I thought my wife and I should check the place out. I suggested we try it seeing as we need to adopt a local watering hole we could call home anyway.
I first want to say, I respect the patrons, employees and management of this place and the people that take the time to write reviews here. I’m sure Bahi Hut is a great dive bar and the people there are cool. I’m giving the benefit of the doubt here. I have to because it wouldn’t be fair to critique something without experiencing it.
I don’t have an experience to review here because I was told I had to go when I tried to order a drink. I’m not going to complain about a dress code rules at a dive bar bar. Maybe it’s a city ordinance or the owners thing but apparently, men can’t wear a tanktop at Bahi Hut. I didn’t walk in there with a wife beater. I walked in wearing my sleeveless Tee sporting my Marine Corps pride on it. My dear friend Doc, the man with two purple hearts (Beirut) was with me so he had too leave as well. I was floored to say the least. My girlfriend was wearing a spaghetii strap thing so was a little confused by that but I understand that.
On the way out after being ejected we talked to a couple on their way in. We just told them we were kicked out and they were shocked at the reason why. They said check out Memories but that they had a dress code too. I figured maybe the first bartender to see me would know what a freakin’ tank top is. But, I know that’s not the real reason.
We ended up there, at Memories. We had fun. I got served. Word of mouth is something every business owner should be concerned with.
A h o l e s

Possibly the only real tiki bar within at least a 60 mile radius from Tampa.
The décor is real deal late 40’s unlike all of the wannabe beach tiki bars. I would add some pufferfish lights, shark jaws, and glass orbs in fishing net hanging from the ceiling of the bar. Otherwise, never change a thing.

This place is great except non-​smokers beware!!! You have to fight your way in the door with cigar and cigarette smoke in the face. We went for one drink and left smelling like I have been smoking all day and night long. I wouldn’t mind this bar on occasion but not somewhere I could visit to a lot because I am a non-​smoker. Otherwise the drinks overall were pretty good.

I freaking love the Bahi Hut. It is a gem in the land of nasty weirdness that is north Sarasota. Please go for happy hour! Ask for as many pretzils as you want and tip well because the bartenders, however grumpy they may be, don’t have it easy.

Bahi Hut is my favorite bar.
Ok, I should mention that it was within walking distance of my college house (so you can imagine the drinking I did there), but there are several things I love in particular. The waitstaff are typically very nice and attentive, the drinks are strong, the ambiance is fun and dive-​y, and the free pretzels, oh the free pretzels! Many say try the Mai Tai, which is true, but their other specialty drinks are equally delicious and strong! I am more of a tequila girl, so I always went for the tequila sunrise (usually several of them!) I’ve since moved from Sarasota and the Bahi Hut is one of the top three things I miss about living there.

This place is great. A real gem. We always make sure to stop in here whenever we come down for Orioles Spring Training. Best Mait Tais. Staff is always friendly. It is smoker friendly though, don’t let that discourage you.

Very Very Interesting! Strong drinks and a unique crowd of locals, snowbirds, hookers, and pimps… I was a little intimidated being by myself but I had no problems. would visit again if I was with someone but not so much alone

Mai tai at the ‘Hut will cause your evening to spiral out of control. People there are weird, mainly hookers getting off work or pimps waiting on their money. Staff is great. Drinks are awesome. Must see visit in the SRQ

I was interested to try this place, since it was touted as some secret local hotspot. We met up with another couple to check ou ttheir infamous mai tais.
Phew. They were good, but holy smokes they were STRONG. No one could complain that this place serves weak drinks. I was expecting that going in, so I ordered the smaller version of the mai tai; I had to be up early the next day, don’t judge!
Despite all the notoriety, the place was pretty dead despite the fact that it was New Year’s Eve. The outside was a bit strange, and it’s next door to a really sketchy hotel (we saw plenty of escort ladies milling about outside the window). Nothing really terrifying, just a bit strange. If smoke bothers you, you might have a little trouble in this joint… I live in Michigan and was totally unprepared for inside smoking.
This is the type of place where you could easily find yourself making very bad decisions…

This is one of the great starter bars in Florida have two mai tais and you’re set for the night

This place is strange because you could love it or hate it. I could see either way. I went here a bunch in college.
It’s not particularly nice, I mean, a «hut» is an appropriate descriptor for it. The lighting is really dark and it’s kind of got an old smoke smell but it for some reason is kind of a landmark and the Mai Tai’s being so strong makes it so you don’t really care where you are anyway. You’re only allowed 2 and that’s probably a good thing.
Overall though, if you’re into divey-​sports this is one to check out.

Horrible… as a real tiki enthusiast, this mai tai should not be called a mai tai. Absolutely junk, all rail crap booze, no fruit flavor… no acid, if Don the beach Beachcomber or the trader (trader Vic) could taste this they would be horrified… serious folks you want old school Tiki drive three hours South East to the MAI KAI… now that WILL NOT Disappoint!

This has been a classic lounge on the North Trail for decades, but now apparently experiencing fading glory.
I took my wife there long ago when it was still sorta classy and we had potent mai tais that she remembers to this day as a caution against drinking too much. More recent reviewers throw the «dive» label around too loosely*, but it seems few would not consider it classy. Just glad to see some institutions prevail even through geriatric evolution.
*real dives rarely serve mixed drinks and sometimes little other than copious beer.

This place was suggested as a good tiki-​ish dive. It did not disappoint. The drinks were *whatever* but they were cheap and the unusual crowd made up for the so/​so drinks. If you’re looking for someplace hip, trendy, slick… clean…then go somewhere else. If you’re looking for adventure-​this is the place…

I was lucky enough to try this place before moving, not! We came to Bahi right after work on a Monday and the mood was very calm, and not too smoky inside yet. I think that we paid $ 6.50 for a Mai Thai, even though it was happy hour, which does not include their specialty drinks that they are known for. The drink did not taste good, since it tasted of straight up alcohol. It did not mix well with my already existing heartburn from the night before and I am not going to drink something that tastes bad.
Maybe I am not a fan of strong drinks. If I want to taste straight alcohol, I will go home and take shots of rum. I guess taste and enjoyment is more important to me than getting wasted at a shady place on Ho Row.
A place that does all of this Tiki stuff correctly is Waterworks… www​.yelp​.com/​b​i​z​/​w​a​t​e​r​w​o​r​k​s​-​t​a​l​l​a​h​assee
So call me spoiled.

The bahi hut is a total dive bar, but for some reason I tend to frequent this place after formal parties. Something about hanging out in this dark divey place all dressed up is just funny, but somehow it almost always happens. It is a Sarasota institution though — you have to go at least once!
It’s a good start to a 21^st bday or a bachelorette — one of those nights you KNOW you are going to drink way too much.