The Yachtsman

It would be really cool if they had a website that had more than a logo, address and phone number. Have been interested in checking the place out but no idea of what they have going on other than karaōke on Wednesdays from Facebook. No desire to hit up the unknown with out of town friends or clients from the boat.

I have some friends who are nuts about this place. I like it, but do not have as strong an opinion as they. The Yachtsman definitely has a unique atmosphere with its Hawaiian theme. This tiki bar goes hard on the décor and serves the whole gamut of island cocktails. And they are good. Very good. These are not your watered down chain restaurant pina coladas here. They use fresh ingredients and plenty of booze. Enough so to make the price tag understandable if not reasonable.
While a small place, if you’re lucky the back room will be open where a larger group (read 5 – 6 people) can sit comfortably and in relative privacy. It’s this great little round room with a table in the middle. It’s separated from the rest of the place with a beaded curtain and just great.
The reason my friends’ enthusiasm exceeds my own is that the Yachtsman is pretty small if you can’t get that back room and as good as the drinks are, I can only drink one or two before I have a belly full of sugar and a considerably lighter wallet. Perhaps sweet drinks are your thing or you desperately yearn for the islands, either way the Yachtsman is definitely worth checking out if you haven’t been.

–1 star for no hooks under the bar. –1 star for aloof staff. Drinks are good. Bathroom has yet to be observed. +1 star back… The staff redeemed themselves.

I do love the Yachtsman! How can you not love it with a tiki god in the corner, tropical drinks in the dead of winter, great djs circulating, and good vibes. I personally feel that it’s one of the best kept secrets here in my Fishtown neighborhood. It’s been my favorite place for a night cap after dinner and I often recommend it to others.
I would have given it a five star rating except that I had one bad experience there around the holidays. A bartender was slightly rude to me the first time I went up to the bar and I wasn’t sure why. I just wrote it off as, «maybe he’s having a rough night.» Then, he told my boyfriend that I was flagged and he wouldn’t serve him two PBRs. He gave no explanation of why or what I did to get flagged. My boyfriend didn’t push back at all, but he was annoyed. It was the first bar that we went to that night and so far, I had been sitting down laughing with our two other friends just finishing the one Mai Tai I ordered since we arrived.
While the bartender’s behavior didn’t put a damper on our night together, it was unnecessary. I’ve been drinking for more than a decade and I’ve never been flagged from any bar. I was also a bartender for more than five years and while I appreciate the decisions that professional bartenders need to make in order to serve responsibly, I think this particular bartender was unprofessional and unfriendly; neither fare well in the service industry. Sadly, we haven’t been back since.

This place has devolved. They now apparently only put a few drops of booze in their drinks. I won’t be back, and I used to go there all the time to get my drink on.

This is a one of a kind place in Philadelphia. Our friends like to call it the Tiki Hut. Very fun fruity drinks you would typically find on vacation. They pour lots of booze but that also means the prices aren’t exactly cheap. Their drinks are in really unique tropical glasses, one you can even get in a coconut. The Mai Tai was one of the more pricey but delicious and very alcohol filled. I recommend this spot if your looking to try something new or maybe get a drink on a nice sunny day during the weekend.

Solid drink menu that was well executed during my trip. Nice décor and good use of a small space. Were playing exotica and other Tiki-​related music during my visit as well, so that’s a plus. The only recommendation I have would be to block off then entrance with an «L» shaped areaway, or darken out the glass, so that you don’t lose the «escapism» feel that’s so important to Tiki bars.
Mahalo!

This may be the only tiki bar in Philly? The décor is fabulous and the drinks delicious, albeit a little expensive. It’s good for one while on the Fishtown Bar Crawl. Piña Coladas are $ 10 and fabulous. All drinks have elaborate fresh ingredients and garnish that may take longer to make, but be patient and you will not be disappointed.

This place is off the beaten track. It’s a weird, small, neighborhood dive but it’s one of the coolest neighborhood bars I’ve been to.
You have to take it for what it is, can’t expect it to be more than that. However the tiki theme is pretty cool– the decorations are cool and the drinks are good, however not cheap, which is what keeps it from being a true dive and getting the five stars it would have otherwise.

I love the yachtsman, it’s easily my favorite bar in Philly (probably ever).
I used to live right around the corner and so my ex and I would come on snowy Tuesday’s and drink Hawaiian beers and momentarily forget that we were living through a 10 degree Philly winter. It’s a really great space, sort of small but very cozy and intimate, with pineapples and LED lights and a thatched awning lining the walls. The bartenders are really awesome as well and they’ll chat with you on quieter nights. The space really fills up on weekends so I never really enjoyed going except for on weekdays, but you do you.
Tree frog and missionarys downfall are my favorite drinks. They’re both the perfect mix of sweet and tangy and after one I’m already tipsy (maybe important to note that I’m 5’1 and don’t drink very often, but the drinks are pretty strong I promise).

The Yachtsman, what can I say about this place. It has great drinks! First drink on hand was Trader Vic’s Mai Tai, properly mixed; excellent taste. We moved on and I end up getting a Missionary’s Downfall. Another great drink, properly mixed. A really cool place. Cool atmosphere. I could watch the bartender all day.

Bad service, worse drink. We walked in and stood by the bar waiting to place our order. We were there pretty early and there were only two other patrons there. I watched the bar tender close out the other two people’s tabs and run their credit cards before even considering taking our order.
After finally taking our order, it took no less than ten minutes to get our drinks (yes I was timing it). Shouldn’t take that long to get our drinks when there’s six people in there total. When our drinks finally arrived, mine was too weak and my friends was too strong. Was my alcohol accidentally added to my friend’s drink?
They must have recently started cracking down on IDs as I was carded twice in five minutes. It seems to little too late. As I was trying to close my tab (slow service) an older gentleman came in requesting to see the manager. Manager was not there and was not answering any of his calls. The gentleman claimed to be returning today «with the police to seize their liquor license!» Good riddance is what I say. A swift end for this kick starter project.
Two stars but only because the décor was pretty cool.

My friend I and popped in for a birthday cocktail. I knew this was a tiki bar but, wow. Just wow. There was nothing subtle about the theme. It was a 70s tiki bar on steroids. I half expected Jack Tripper to saunter up to the bar and slide into a seat next to us. But it worked.
It was fun and quirky. Our happy hour cocktails were fantastic and only $ 6. Both were on the regular menu and cost $ 12 during non happy hour times. Definitely not a $ 12 drink though. The bartender was pleasant and the music wasn’t blaring (yay).
It was fun to hop in for a happy hour cocktail but pretty sure that’s where my interests ends.

When you think tiki bar in Philadelphia, I get the tacky vibe. I was almost scared to go in because goodness knows how much tacky Hawaiian/​Boca decoration I could handle. However, this place is far from tacky. The backlit bottles pop under a palm tree style roof with the low light settings they have inside. There is a fat head sunset on a far wall. One of those huge Polynesian heads in one corner. This place works. Somehow some decorative mastermind took a potentially tacky idea and made it work!
The cocktails are blended right in front of you and lord have mercy, sweet baby Jesus. I could have stayed their all night with my eyes closed pretending I was somewhere warmer. They were also garnished with fresh pineapple, mint, and a mermaid glass with some big… coconuts. on them.
Best of all, it was not an overly syrupy sweet cocktail. This was a real cocktail — fruit and booze. Not fruit, corn syrup, yellow dye 22, and rum.
They have plenty of beer for those who choose not to partake in the island drinks. I also love the idea of their dark and stormy drinks at a discounted price on a rainy day!
I think this place is a fascinating addition to the staple, somewhat hipster bar that exist in the Fishtown/​NoLibs. It’s has it’s own identity, and I think it works it well.

Super cute and fun. Great bartender Josh let us taste things and amused us with his witty banter. He made amazing fun and delicious drinks with flowers and umbrellas. What more can a girl want. Pinkys up. This place is awesome. Drink specials and you can follow on Instagram to see what they are. Can’t wait to come back

Dude.
Duuuuude.
I wasn’t expecting such a fantastic time at the Yachtsman. A tiki bar? On Frankford Ave? I was all, «shades of Bamboo Bar, no thanks!»
But.
The cocktails.
They are strong, and delicious, and frankly, just super fun. Not overly sweet, they taste fresh and not-​from-​concentrate. This spot is definitely worth checking out.

Very expensive drinks, but these are STRONG, mostly delicious, drinks made with fresh fruit.
Excellent Mai Tais, not too sweet, strong, and well made. One of the pricier drinks on the menu.
The Pele’s Embrace was also very good. Made with two kinds of rum, papaya, lime, and cherry bark bitters.
I also got a sloe gin fizz, made with Plymouth Sloe Gin. This is only one of two places that I have ever seen this spirit before. Very well made. I’d love to see more bars stock this drink.
I did not like the Zombie Punch. I had always heard of Zombies, and wanted to try one. It tasted like straight black licorice, which is far from my bag.
Getting a drink can take some time, so be prepared. It should be expected because everything is made to order, they aren’t serving out of slushie machines here. There is fresh fruit everywhere, you can smell it as you walk in.

I don’t even know how to write this review. I was certain I was going to loathe the Yachtsman, and here I am giving them a 4 star review. Damn you, Tommy Up.
Alright, here’s the story.
A few weeks ago it was one of my best friend’s birthdays so we did some NoLibs barhopping. Emmanuelle, Bottle Bar, then finally, the Yachtsman.
I was dreading it.
I expected wall-​to-​wall white-​girl-​wasted hipsters ironically drinking tall multi-​colored rum drinks and eardrum-​shattering surf rock under inflatable palm trees.
Maybe it was the cold weather. Maybe it was the time of night. But the Yachtsman was actually. really chill.
Don’t get me wrong, it definitely wasn’t dead. It was actually kind of the perfect amount of busy. A few spots open but most seats had people in them. It wasn’t deafening but it also wasn’t quiet. And the décor was actually really fun. We snagged a bench area and admired some of the interesting lighting fixtures and hanging decorations above the bar.
Guys, I drank a piña colada out of a pineapple. And I liked it.
I found the prices reasonable and the vibe pleasant. To be fair, I think we caught this place on a very low key night, but I was legitimately impressed. I’d probably avoid this place on weekends just because my loud bar tolerance is non-​existent, but when this place is chill… it’s actually nice. I… I think I actually recommend it.
Oh god who am I.

I really enjoyed my brief visit to this tiki bar last weekend. It was fun to pretend that it wasn’t raining and chilly outside as I sat at the bright bar with my super girly pink drink.
I’m a fan of Emmanuelle, and the cocktails here appear to be just as good. I had the Bird of Paradise Fizz: London Dry Gin (always the gin, always), lime, cream, soda, raspberry syrup, egg white, and orange flower water. It was so pretty, and it was even topped with a pink flower! At $ 12, this was one of the more pricey drinks, but I thought it was worth it. I could definitely never replicate *that* at home!
Something here almost reminded me of the now-​shuttered Rum Bar. Maybe it was those glasses? The theme? I don’t know. I can’t place it, because they definitely have different vibes. This bar is much brighter.
Also to note: Comfortable bar seats. Cheap, but small beer list. I’d say come for the cocktails. No food menu.
I hope to stop back soon. Best of luck, Yachtsman!

What a great addition to the Philly drinking scene! As far as I know, the Yachtsman is the only tiki bar in Philadelphia. In a city of craft beer bars and cocktail bars aplenty, this is a welcome change of scenery. The cocktails are made with care from fresh ingredients. Both the Tree Frog and the Pina Colada were absolutely delicious. Maybe next time I’ll splurge and get the drink that is served in a coconut.
The fist time I went it was a Saturday night right after they opened and we were lucky enough to get a spot at the (uncrowded) bar. Fast forward a few weeks later on a Friday night and the place was totally packed. The vibe is fun and a bit kitschy. They do have some beers on tap if you’re not in the mood for a tropical drink.