Psycho Susie's Motor Lounge

I have no idea how it came to pass that I am the first person to write a review on Psycho Susie’s Motor Lounge. (Well maybe it is so fab that no one else wants to share it.) It is very, very tiki. It is very fun. They have done the theme to the hilt. Bamboo, 70’s decor and cute tiki glasses really bring it all together.

I had a tiki drink that was very yummy, part of an order of fried asparagus and The Barris pizza. It was all very good. The pizza, however, was the best part. It had carmeleized onions, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh oregano and goat cheese. Wow, so very good. I can’t wait to go back.

As far as service goes it was a little slow at first, but I am chalking it up to being early in the evening and things seeming a bit confused up at the bar. Once they brought us our menus all was very well.

A small warning: Parking is atrocious in this area. Go early or plan on a bit of a walk. (Though you might be lucky and find a spot behind the restaurant.)

What’s better than a tiki bar you ask? Psycho Susie’s Motor Lounge and Tiki Bar! I couldn’t believe that I had never visited before. It was definitely one of the most fun restaurant experiences I’ve had in Minneapolis. One highlight was the awesome mullet I saw, more on this later.

Psycho Susie’s is located in NE Minneapolis. Open everyday from 11am to 2am, it’s a bar, restaurant and hang out for the coolest of the cool. It looks like the 50s and a pineapple exploded inside, but in a good way. The crowd is equally as fun and trendy as the restaurant. Always packed to the prim, you may end up waiting, but it will be worth it! They also have a patio that is open year round, no kidding!

The menu is actually very reasonable, but when your goal is to try as many of their tiki drinks as possible you may end up splurging a bit. I have to admit that when my sister suggested Psycho Suzi’s I wasn’t totally sold. It’s a tiki/motor lounge/pizza joint in NE Minneapolis…Interesting? Yes. Also scary? Maybe. I had also been warned that it gets busy so I was worried we wouldn’t get a table (they do not take reservations). To my surprise this place was awesome and I will definitely be back and/or name drop and suggest this place to friends.

I didn’t get a full look around, but the inside is small. Good for ambiance, not so great if you go on a weekend and don’t get a table in time. A grass hut surrounds a big grey steel entrance door which reads something like ‘kids not allowed after 9’. No kids? This is not your family Perkins which to me equals awesome. It’s not that I don’t like kids, but excessive amount of rum + kids = __________ (insert adjective here).

The inside is dimly lit with large black leather booths and bamboo curtain dividers. My mom got a kick out of the ‘Chicks’ and ‘Dicks’ sign on the bathroom doors as well as the very nostalgic 50s era lamps. It was noisy, but a good noisy like everyone was having a good time. I also saw the best mullet I’ve seen in a long time. It literally could have been Billy Ray Cyrus himself. (ps, don’t correct me if I misspelled his name. I often look up words or people’s names if I’m unsure, but Billy does not warrant me wasting that sort of time).

Back to the tiki. You get two menus, a food one and another dedicated strictly to booze, CHA-CHING! The booze menu is also bigger than the food menu which caused my mom to look repeatedly through the beer and cocktail list before saying ‘I can’t find the food!‘. Good work Suzi. The food menu is simple with sandwiches (some hot and some cold), pizza, a few salads and an interesting assortment of appetizers or as they call them ’pu-pu’.

I would tell you all about the drinks, but I think you should go experience them yourself. The ones we had were good, but there is a lot of rum going on. All regular sized tiki drinks are $7.95, each comes in a different mug that you can keep for $5 extra. The One Eyed Willy is probably not one you want to start out with…I made that mistake. In addition, they have a large selection of bottled beers, plus a few on tap, wines, liquors and even champagne and a couple ciders.

Happy Hour from 4-6 (I think) and daily drink specials after 10pm.

Defined by their exotic-themed cocktails made from rum, Cantonese inspired food, and adorned with South Seas island decor, the first tiki bar in the U.S. sprouted in Los Angeles in 1933. Ernest Gantt created “Don the Beachcombers” as an homage to life in the tropical Pacific Islands. A few years later, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, the other iconic bar of the genre, “Trader Vics”, was opened by Victor Bergeron.

The format spawned other outlets and imitators, and was largely in favor in the US until the late 1960s, when the concept fell out of popularity for several decades. Independent operators, looking for new concepts, revitalized the idea in the 1990s, and both of the original bars started reinvigorating their own brands. Today, there are innovative tiki bars across America, and in Northeast Minneapolis, Psycho Suzis Motor Lodge sprouted in 2003. With three differently themed bars on the premises, and a raft of signature cocktails, PSML offers you and your pals an afternoon or evening away from Minnesota’s tundra landscape.

Veering away from the traditional Cantonese inspired food menu, Psycho Suzi’s food offerings lean more towards the traditional bar cuisine Minnesotans are used to – appetizers, wings, pizza, sandwiches and burgers. Saturday and Sunday middays sees brunch entrees added to the choices, like biscuits and gravy, or chorizo benedict.

Pizzas come in two crust varieties, a deep dish, or a hand-stretched thin crust, about the thickness of your standard Pizza Hut pie (for comparison purposes only). Toppings are plentiful and high quality. The fennel sausage is a delight.

Psycho Suzis is open until 2AM daily.