Run by Major Food Group (The Grill, The Pool, Carbone, and Dirty French) The Polynesian is a handsome tiki bar in Hell’s Kitchen located in Pod Times Square Hotel.
Awash in deep-turquoise walls and old-world landscape murals under high ceilings with wooden beams, it's the crown jewel of tiki-themed bars, where there's actually buried treasure inside. Heads turn as the waiters carry the Exotica Bowl, a very large-format pearl-in-the-oyster cocktail smoking with dry ice, and the fruity Barbossa’s Punch, a ceramic treasure chest filled with splashes of pineapple rum, apple brandy, grenadine and curaçao.
And while a bar serving drinks in conch shells, boats, and skulls in the heart of Times Square might sound tacky, it's just as elevated and exciting as Major Food Group's other sought-after establishments.