West Kelowna restaurant owners take over Tiki Bar at Lake Okanagan Resort

Photo: Contributed

Okanagan Beach Club June 2021

The Lake Okanagan Resort Tiki Bar is back just in time for summer.

The Tiki Bar closed after the 2022 summer season when the previous operators, Okanagan Beach Club, which had a 10-year lease to operate most of the resort’s amenities, walked away after just two years.

Now the Tiki Bar has been taken over by the owner-operators of the popular Two Brothers Mexican restaurant in downtown Westbank.

"We have a Mexican restaurant in West Kelowna and we're trying to expand. And I thought that this will be a great spot for us," says Antonio Ortega.

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The Two Brothers restaurant in West Kelowna is family-run and Ortega hopes to keep that vibe going at the Tiki Bar.

"The only thing that we don't want is like these crazy parties here. We are looking to do family things."

In June of last year, the Tiki Bar was the subject of a vote by the Regional District of the Central Okanagan board following complaints related to the resort and the Tiki Bar due to, "noise, unsafe boating, fire safety and inadequate emergency plans." In the report, both the West Kelowna RCMP and the RDCO's fire service manager pointed the finger at the beach bar.

Despite the letter, the RDCO board unanimously supported an extension of the tiki bar’s liquor licence.

Ortega says they had a soft opening over the May long weekend and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

"Honestly, it was really good. It was busy. People love it. We will have to change the bad reputation that it has," Ortega says.

The Tiki Bar on the beach is licensed for 86 people and Ortega says he has signed a two year agreement. He's hopeful that if everything goes well, they will be able to provide a water taxi service from the Tiki Bar to across Okanagan Lake, "we want to make this feel like a destination point."