UnderTow

UnderTow is reached by a staircase down from the Century Grand complex on Indian School Road, and the descent is the point: the room is built as the below-decks of an 18th-century sailing ship, portholes showing water and weather, ceiling low enough to matter. It seats very few people, runs in timed sittings, and had a cult following in Phoenix well before the two bars upstairs existed. Reservations are not a formality here — walking in is rarely an option.

Tiki is the hardest category to do without alcohol, because the classic builds lean on rum for body and the obvious substitute is more fruit juice, which produces something closer to a smoothie than a drink. UnderTow avoids that by using the non-alcoholic spirits the Century Grand team distils in house, the same ones running through Platform 18 and Grey Hen Rx. The Shipless Sailor is the clearest example: a rum substitute layered with cinnamon, clove, orgeat, hibiscus, lime and pineapple, which keeps the spice and the weight that make a tiki drink work rather than just its sweetness. Phoenix New Times named the drink when it surveyed metro bars with real alcohol-free options in January 2024.

The practicalities matter more here than at most bars. The room is small and hot by design, sittings are timed, and there is a second location in Gilbert if the Arcadia one is booked out — which it usually is. And the venue is a full-strength tiki bar: the spiritless builds are a proper part of the menu rather than the character of the room, so expect to be surrounded by rum drinks while not having one. For anyone who finds that hard, the room upstairs at Grey Hen Rx is quieter, better lit and pours from the same house-made alcohol-free range.