Zofia's Hideout is on East 84th Street on the Upper East Side, down a staircase into a tiki bar that doesn't make any apologies for being a tiki bar. The entrance and the descent give it a hidden quality that the previous bar in the same space, also called Not a Speakeasy, had been playing with. Zofia has kept that sense of arrival and filled the room with a tropical aesthetic.

Owner Zofia is known for her cocktails, and the tiki program is handled with real craft. The Blue Mojo uses rum and blueberries. The classic Mai Tai and Zombie are on the menu, with the traditional two-drink limit on the latter. Reviews from the soft launch were strong, particularly around the hospitality and the attention to detail in both the room and the drinks.

Tiki bars with quality control are rarer than they should be. This one opened with the right instincts.