The Tropics

Route 66 was commissioned in November 1926 and the Illinois alignment through Lincoln was paved and signed by 1929. The Tropics opened that same year — within months of the new federal highway designation — at a location that the original founders correctly anticipated would become a sustained traffic corridor between Chicago and Springfield. The early restaurant was a small operation with perhaps 30 seats, serving the supper-club menu of the era: chicken-fried steak, pork chops, fried chicken dinners, club sandwiches at lunch, and a small selection of seafood available a few nights a week when ice deliveries permitted.

The 1929 timing was both fortunate and difficult. The federal highway designation brought sustained traveler traffic that helped The Tropics survive the early-1930s Depression years when many smaller Route 66 restaurants closed. But the Depression also meant that the original founders had to operate conservatively — the building was not expanded, the menu was not significantly upgraded, and the restaurant essentially treaded water through the 1930s. Survival was the achievement; growth came later.

World War II changed the trajectory. Rationing made full-service supper-club dining difficult, but the Lincoln-area population grew with wartime industrial activity at the nearby Logan County agricultural-supply facilities and at the railroad freight yards in Lincoln proper. The Tropics emerged from the war years with a stable customer base and the operating capital to begin expanding the building and updating the menu. The next two decades — the 1950s and 1960s — were the restaurant's growth years, and the tiki-themed identity dates specifically to this postwar boom period.

Lewis Johnson acquired The Tropics in the early 1950s after returning from military service in the Pacific theater. Johnson had spent time in Hawaii and other Pacific islands during and immediately after the war and had developed a strong personal attachment to Pacific-island visual culture — palm trees, bamboo, tiki carving, the woven-grass aesthetic of beachside bars and restaurants. When Johnson took over The Tropics, the postwar tiki-bar phenomenon was just beginning to sweep middle American supper clubs (Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic's had been operating on the coasts for two decades; the trend reached the Midwest in the early-to-mid 1950s) and Johnson recognized an opportunity to lean into the tiki aesthetic in a way that would distinguish The Tropics from every other roadside Route 66 restaurant in central Illinois.

The dining-room renovation began in 1954 and continued in phases through the late 1950s. The first phase replaced the original wood-paneled walls with bamboo coverings and added woven-grass sections to portions of the ceiling. Tiki carvings — purchased from specialty Hawaiian importers in Chicago and Los Angeles — were installed at the bar and at strategic points throughout the dining room. The palm-frond accents and the rope-and-net decorative elements were added in the second phase. The dining-room aesthetic that visitors see today is substantially the 1950s Johnson renovation, with periodic maintenance and replacement of worn elements but no fundamental redesign.

The neon palm-tree sign — green-and-yellow palm trees with 'TROPICS' lettered above in red — was installed in 1956 as the visual capstone of the renovation. The sign is one of the most-photographed Route 66 neon signs in Illinois and is genuinely visible from a substantial distance along Woodlawn Road at night. The neon has been maintained continuously since installation; replacement gas-tubing has been swapped in as needed but the original sign housing and the 1956 design have remained intact.

The Tropics menu has evolved gradually since 1929 but retained the essential supper-club structure. Steaks are the menu's primary identity: hand-cut bone-in ribeyes (typically 16-20 ounces depending on the day), New York strips, filets in 8-ounce and 12-ounce portions, and a 22-ounce porterhouse for two. Steaks are cooked over a charbroil grill and the kitchen consistently executes ordered doneness levels. The beef sourcing is USDA Choice with periodic specialty cuts available on the daily specials.

Beyond the steaks, the menu includes a substantial seafood program (Maine lobster tails, Alaskan king crab legs, sea bass, daily fresh fish), a famous Tropics fried chicken (the half-bird preparation has been on the menu essentially unchanged since the 1940s and is one of the restaurant's deepest signature items), pork chops, prime rib (Friday and Saturday nights only), and a roasted half duck that appears as a weekly special during fall and winter. The Friday seafood night is the standard weekend recommendation for non-beef diners.

The cocktail program leans into the tiki theme genuinely rather than ironically. The Tropics tiki menu includes classically-prepared mai tais, planter's punches, scorpion bowls (for two or four people), and a selection of rum-forward house specials that the bartenders have refined over decades. The wine list is moderate (about 60 bottles) with strong concentration in California Cabernet and a respectable selection of off-dry Riesling and Gewürztraminer that pair well with the seafood. The beer selection is standard Midwestern supper-club — domestic taps plus a handful of regional craft options.

Reservations are strongly recommended for Friday and Saturday evenings — The Tropics is a small restaurant (about 90 seats including the bar) and frequently books out 1-2 weeks ahead on weekend nights during peak tourism months (April through October). Weekday evenings (Tuesday through Thursday) are easier to book on shorter notice and are arguably the better visit-time anyway, with quieter dining-room rhythm and the kitchen operating at peak unhurried quality. Reservations are made by phone; The Tropics does not use OpenTable or similar online platforms.

Dress code is casual to business-casual. The customer mix includes Lincoln-area regulars in everyday attire, Springfield-area diners dressed up for a special-occasion drive, and Route 66 travelers in road-trip clothes — and the management welcomes the range without pretension. Closed-toe shoes are appropriate; jackets and ties are welcomed but not required.

The single best time for a first visit is a Tuesday or Wednesday evening between 5:30pm and 7pm, when the dining-room lighting catches the bamboo and tiki elements at their warmest, the kitchen pace is unhurried, and the bartenders have time to walk first-time visitors through the tiki cocktail menu. Plan two hours for a complete dinner — drinks, appetizer, entree, dessert — and don't rush. The Tropics rewards an unhurried pace.

For Route 66 travelers driving south from Chicago, The Tropics is the natural dinner anchor for an overnight in Lincoln. The standard sequence: arrive in Lincoln by mid-afternoon, photograph the World's Largest Covered Wagon (15 minutes), walk through Postville Courthouse and the Lincoln Heritage Museum at Lincoln College (90-120 minutes combined), check into the Best Western Lincoln Inn or the Holiday Inn Express, and have a 6:30pm or 7pm Tropics reservation as the evening anchor before continuing south to Springfield the following morning.

For travelers based in Springfield who want a half-day Route 66 side trip, The Tropics is a 35-40 minute drive north via I-55 and is one of the genuine reasons to make the side trip rather than treating Lincoln as a 15-minute photo stop. A late afternoon at the Lincoln sites followed by an early Tropics dinner (the 5pm or 5:30pm seating) and a return drive south to Springfield by 9pm produces a satisfying half-day side trip without requiring an overnight.

For families, The Tropics is genuinely kid-friendly despite the supper-club aesthetic. The tiki decor produces immediate visual delight in younger children, the menu includes a competent kids selection (chicken tenders, smaller-portion steaks, pasta), and the long-tenured staff handle families with the practiced patience that comes from decades of repeat visits across generations. The earlier seating times (5pm to 6pm) are the family-appropriate windows; later evenings shift toward an adult dinner pace.