Hunã After Dark

The opening brief I wrote on March 4 told you the facts: a tiki bar in the basement of Echelon, rum-forward cocktails, Polynesian bar snacks, the same team that runs the James Beard semifinalist upstairs. Two weeks and three visits later, I can tell you what it actually feels like to drink down there.

You enter through a discreet door on Washington Street, just west of South Main. There is no sign that announces itself. You go down a staircase into a room that has been fully committed to the bit: bamboo walls, thatched ceiling panels, stone accents, greenery tucked into every corner, and lighting dim enough that your phone camera will struggle. Seventy-eight seats. The bar runs along one wall. The rest of the room is tables and booths arranged for groups of two to six.

The space succeeds because it doesn't wink. A lot of tiki bars in 2026 treat the concept ironically, with kitschy decor that signals "we know this is silly." Hunã plays it straight. The bamboo is real. The thatched elements are carefully built. The stone accents look like they were set by someone who cared. The room feels like a place, not a theme.

The Drinks

The cocktail menu is rum-forward by design, which is what separates Hunã from the cocktail bars upstairs and elsewhere on South Main. The Last Word, Spencer, Echelon itself — all excellent bar programs, but none of them are built around rum. Hunã is.

The Strong Island is the drink that anchored my first visit. Gin, rum, vodka, lemon, cinnamon, curaçao, grapefruit soda, and bitters. It is strong in the way the name promises, and the cinnamon gives it a warmth that tropical cocktails often lack. Two of these is a complete evening.

The Iguana riffs on a green Negroni: gin, Midori, dry vermouth, green Chartreuse, and Salers aperitif. It is bitter, herbaceous, and not what you'd expect from a tiki bar. That range is intentional. Hunã's menu reaches from classic tiki formulas (Mai Tais, Zombies, daiquiris) to original creations that borrow from other cocktail traditions. The breadth works because the bartenders know what they're doing.

Large-format shareable drinks are the group option. The ceramic vessels and elaborate garnishes commit to the tiki tradition without being embarrassing about it. If you're going with four people, order one. It's more fun than four individual drinks and cheaper by the round.

Non-alcoholic options exist and are taken seriously, which is not always the case at cocktail bars.

The Food

The bar snack menu is short and designed for sharing. Polynesian-inspired bites rather than full meals. This is not a dinner destination. It is a drinking destination with food that keeps you from making bad decisions on an empty stomach.

The right play is to eat dinner upstairs at Echelon, then come down. Chef Joseph VanWagner and his team designed the two venues as complements. Echelon is the composed meal. Hunã is the second act: darker, louder, more playful.

The Membership

Hunã offers tiered annual memberships: $150 (casual explorer), $250 (tiki enthusiast), and $395 (founders' club). Perks include priority reservations, member-only events, skip-the-line entry, and a dedicated lounge area. Whether the membership model sustains long-term depends on whether the bar builds the kind of regular clientele that a basement speakeasy needs. Two weeks in, the Thursday and Friday crowds suggest it will.

What It Means for South Main

The 200 South Main block now has Echelon upstairs (James Beard semifinalist, wood-fired kitchen), Hunã downstairs (rum-forward tiki bar), and Pretzel Bell next door. Add The Last Word around the corner and Spencer a block east, and this stretch of downtown Ann Arbor has become the densest cocktail corridor in the county.

Hunã fills a specific niche: the late-night, mood-driven, occasion-feeling bar that Ann Arbor has lacked. The Last Word is serious and small. Spencer is a wine bar with food. Echelon is a restaurant that happens to have a great bar. Hunã is a bar that happens to be underground, and the experience of descending a staircase into bamboo and rum is different from walking into any of those other places.

Thursday through Saturday, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Closed Sunday through Wednesday. Go on a Thursday if you want to actually talk to the person next to you.

Hunã Tiki Bar is at 200 S Main St (basement), Ann Arbor. Enter via Washington St, west of Main. Thu--Sat 7 p.m.--2 a.m. Memberships available at huna.bar.