The Reef: Happy hour Tiki bar in Palm Springs

The Reef is a tiki bar connected to a pool and hotel in Palm Springs, California. I came here for their happy hour deals during a bachelorette trip with 4 other ladies. We were looking for affordable drinks and food after a day lounging at the pool.

We were seated outside on the patio which is under cover and in the shade. We had a long picnic table seat that could comfortable fit 6 people.

Drinks

Happy hour specials are only available Mon-Thurs from 1-5pm. Note all currency in this post is USD.

Mai-tai ($8)

A mai-tai usually has rum, Curaçao liqueur, orgeat syrup, and lime juice. This mai-tai was especially strong so either they were generous with the hard liquor or it was just a bad-tasting cocktail lol. Really depends on what you are looking for.

The rest of my table ordered drinks as well but I didn’t taste them so I’m not sure how tasty or strong they were.

Palm springs punch ($9) and Hot hula hibiscus ($11)

Food

We ordered some from the happy hour menu and regular menu to share.

Chips & salsa ($5)

This is a pretty simple dish. The chips and salsa are pretty average but our server was really nice and gave us more salsa and more chips, so it was kind of like we had 2 orders of chips & salsa.

Fish & chips ($8)

The fish & chips came with 3 pieces of battered and fried fish, which I think is a stellar deal for $8. Fries were crunchy, fish was fried well – no complaints and a great price for this entree-sized dish.

Musubi tacos ($8)

We ordered this because it sounded interesting – I’ve never heard of a spam taco before. But in the end, there is probably a good reason why I have never seen a spam taco before. The combination was strange and didn’t really work. The spam was also chopped up in smaller pieces, making it a little difficult to eat the taco as it can spill out easily.

Loco moco ($12)

This is from their regular menu, which at $12 is still a good price. For the protein, you can choose between beef, Kalua pork, vegetable patty or spam. We chose the Kalua pork since the loco moco is a traditional Hawaiin dish and it is served on rice and a fried egg.

The Kalua pork is very tender and flavourful. I’ve never tried a loco moco in Hawaii before, but I was told by the other girls at my table that it tastes very similar to the ones they’ve had in Hawaii.

Coconut shrimp ($14)

This is also from The Reef’s regular menu. This dish comes with 5 coconut shrimps, fries, coleslaw and a sweet chilli sauce. The coconut shrimps were really tasty, battered and fried well with some sweetness from the coconut. The shrimp is big because they kind of beat it up before they fry it, but it’s a classic combo with the sweet chilli sauce.

Caliente salad ($12)

This salad is in a takeout container because it took too long to get to our table so we just packed it to go. A little strange why the salad took so long (maybe because no one orders it? lol). This salad has chicken, lettuce, Mandarin oranges, pineapple, crispy noodles, and a sesame dressing. I’m not a big fan of salads but this one is below average in my opinion. I would definitely skip ordering this.

Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐

We had a good happy hour at The Reef. The servers were really great, especially during a busy time of the day and I am pretty sure they were understaffed but worked really hard.

The food was pretty good – I liked the coconut shrimp, fish & chips and the loco moco the most. The chips & salsa were also nice to munch on and we loved the free refill since our salad was taking so long. Prices were really affordable and portions were big for what you are paying for.

Sincerely, Loewe