Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar

The Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar is a tiki bar inside the Fairmont San Francisco on Nob Hill, and it is one of the most theatrical places to have a drink in the city. It opened in 1945 in the space of the Terrace Plunge, an indoor swimming pool installed in the hotel in 1929, and the old pool became the bar's lagoon. The room was redesigned in 1967, and the city's Planning Department has described it as a historical resource of exceptional importance because of its rarity.

The setting is the reason to come. A band plays from a boat on the lagoon, and every so often the room is hit by an artificial thunderstorm, with rain falling over the water. Lava rock completes the scene. It is pure fantasy, and it is all the more fun for that, especially for visitors who enjoy mid-century kitsch.

In 2024 the bar introduced new glassware, moving away from the ceramic tiki mugs it had used before, so do not count on taking one home as a souvenir. The bar is named after the South Pacific nation of Tonga.

Reservations can be made through OpenTable, which is worth doing at weekends and for groups, and the bar handles group events through a separate request form on the Fairmont website. For questions, the bar has its own email address, [email protected]. Opening hours and any cover charge for the band are not listed on the hotel page, so check the booking page or call the Fairmont before you go.

The Tonga Room suits groups of friends, couples on a night out and anyone looking for something different from a modern cocktail bar. Allow an hour or two so you can see the storm and catch the band. If you are staying at the Fairmont, the bar is an easy evening out without leaving the building, and non-guests are welcome too. It is at the Fairmont, 950 Mason Street, at the top of Nob Hill; the cable cars on California and Powell streets pass close by, but taxis are easier late at night. Combine a visit with afternoon tea or dinner at the hotel, or with a cocktail elsewhere on Nob Hill earlier in the evening.