Tiki Bar's daytime ambience irresistible

Walk into The Original Tiki Bar and Restaurant on a late Sunday afternoon and the fun of a Saturday night lingers. But it's ratcheted down in daylight: restrained a little, not rowdy. Heavens! You can actually have a conversation.

My friend and I sat at a table so close to the Indian River Lagoon in Fort Pierce's marina that I feared we might fall in. But we could always grab on to the tiki-hut palm fronds drooping all over the place. Watch a magnificent sunset, order some seafood tidbits and bask in the ambience of this bastion of Florida in the day.

The food has an oldtime feel as well. There are fish-fry baskets ($12.99$14.99), burgers ($10.99), and a host of preparations for the catch of the day (in our case, a nicely broiled grouper for $20.99, served with still-snappish mixed veggies and a huge portion of black beans and rice).

Sweet Florida lobster ($14.99) was lightly breaded and deftly sauteed, but the french fries in the basket were crinkle-cut, more Bird's Eye than slivered Idaho.

Raw bar offerings turned out to be the ticket: uniformly fresh, a perfect munchie for this nautical setting. Also celebrating the ocean deep are brightly colored, exuberant murals, including one with the happiest shark I've ever seen. We enjoyed the combination of toothsome shrimp, briny Gulf oysters, and crab claws. Sadly, the latter were hard to crack, but we persisted. We wanted every morsel.

Corn and crab chowder (cup $4.99, bowl $6.99) was thick and tasty — steamy, creamy, with a touch of thyme.

Fishhead Gumbo, an excellent guitar duo, played Jimmy Buffet and Simon and Garfunkel, which added to the laid-back charm of the place.

Who needed dessert? Instead, my friend knocked back a drink, Tiki Tea (don't ask). I was the designated driver.

Diana Foote dines anonymously at the expense of Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. Contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

DIANA FOOTE

DINING OUT