Hula's Island Grill

Tickets for the Santa Cruz Warriors game? Check.
Excited it's Friday? Check.
A hunger and a thirst bigger than the state of Texas? Double check.

Well, how about happy hour at Hula's?

We parked in the pay lot across the street and sauntered over. All the staff were wearing their Warriors garb and the party atmosphere was rolling. We got a table in the Tiki room, which wasn't too full. Liza our waitress asked if we wanted drinks. Actually, just one between us would be fine... the Scorpion Bowl!

A 30 oz. bowl of rum, brandy, Orgeat and juices. With a flaming 151 volcano. Two long straws made it a lot safer to drink, but Liza said we should blow out the flame since it was burning off the 151. Thanks for the tip! We still managed to melt part of a straw and we hadn't even started drinking yet.

We looked at the happy hour menu and picked a few treats: sweet potato fries, chicken skewers and potstickers. The fries were wonderfully tender on the inside and crunchy on the out. It had a sweet and tangy dip that reminded us of an Asian 1000 Islands sauce. The potstickers were good, not great, but we both liked the soy/lemon sauce with it. And the skewers were tasty, but not as hot as we would have liked. It also came with a large chunk of pineapple, that was also grilled. The peanut dipping sauce with it was very good.

The place was lively and everyone was in a good mood. After the eats, we asked Liza if there was any room at the bar. She had ordered the Pink Bikini Martini that last time we were here and wanted to see it being made. She tried to replicate it at home, but it wasn't very close. Liza said even though it was packed, she'd try and find us room. A few minutes later, she came over and told me to "Get up there, Tiger!"

Is that another Scorpion Bowl??
We brought the fries with us to the bar. The bartenders were friendly and we squeezed in on the end. It turns out the martini was done with a pre-made infusion with pineapple and watermelon. That's hard to recreate at home! It was fun watching a busy place in full swing. We saw a tray of Mai-Tais go by and then some tequila shots. We chatted with the staff about the game. At one point, my guest asked the bartender what was with the cherries and the tray of salt. She dipped one in and said "try it, it's good". The look on her face would beg to differ...

Hula's happy hour (shouldn't it be "hours"?) is Sun - Mon 4-6pm and Wed -Sat 2-6pm and all night Tuesday 2pm to close. Here's the happy hour menu. Next time, we said we would try the sit down menu since it all looked good. Another reason to go back... and we will.

All scores out of 10:
Food: 7
Drinks: 10
Service: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Price: 8
Overall: 8