Big Bamboo Bayside is a tribute in some ways to “Big Bamboo Lounge” that used to exist in Kissimmee, Florida near Disney World.  The current owner of Big Bamboo Bayside grew up in Orlando and worked at a couple of the Disney theme parks and often hung out at Big Bamboo Lounge…often referred to as “the ‘Boo”.

The owner of that establishment was Bruce Muir (an old WW2 pilot), and he themed it after a little tiki bar found in Hawaii a day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  It was stuck in time.  Always Dec 6, 1941 there.  It always had Big Band music playing on the speakers, it was always decorated slightly for Christmas, and they had an old look-out tower built outside.  It was a local hang out for the Houston Astros in their Spring Training Days before Disney, then a Disney employee hangout once the college dorms were built down the road in “Snow White Village”.  The signature drink was called “The Big Bamboo”, tables were old wooden cable spools, napkins were toilet paper rolls and the glasses were mason jars.  No food was served.

At Big Bamboo Bayside, we don’t have the actual recipe for their original Big Bamboo drink, but ours is pretty close.  As a tip of the hat to the original, we play Big Band music on our speakers during breakfast time.

An old website still exists for it.  Check it out: Big Bamboo Lounge