Don't let the photos fool you. Anyone who's stopped by the NJOY parties presented by Vertical Junkies and Architechs at Chai's Island Bistro knows that the Saturday late-night scene there gets a lot more crowded.

Try, say, 250 or more casually stylish twentysomethings, easily filling Chai's furniture-cleared interiors and summer-steamy makeshift outdoor lanai.

Arrive early enough to secure a candlelit table under the lanai's large gold umbrellas — perhaps near one of Chai's outdoor waterfall fountains — and it can all seem surprisingly semi-intimate.

Get to NJOY before 11 p.m. and a table is likely yours. Arrive just afterward — when NJOY fills quickly and a line snakes past the restaurant — and you'll be getting the burning, are-you-leaving-yet eyes we did.

Funny I should mention burning eyes. Scanning the lanai for assurance first, Kyle Kwan of Salt Lake raved about enjoying NJOY for regularly attracting "too many honeys ... too many!" Sadly, I never got a female patron to confirm the same.

NJOY's crowd early on is mostly a mingling one, content to chill in the outdoor lanai area chatting, imbibing and checking each other out to a soundtrack of smooth hip-hop and R&B.

The interior of the bistro picks up just before midnight as patrons lured by the combo of a dance floor and air conditioning move in for mainstream hip-hop and R&B.

A smoke machine, multicolor bits of light from a mirror ball and Next's club perennial "Too Close" set the mood for much dance-floor grinding. A remix of Method Man and Mary J. Blige's sublime love jam classic "I"ll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" put a swift and nice end to that.

Keep a close eye on the proceedings and you might catch chef Chai Chaowasaree himself moving about, making sure the club beam lights illuminate the lanai just right.

Entry is $10. But you get a card for a free well drink or domestic beer — a nice touch. Refreshingly missing? Anything resembling a pretentious VIP section.

A small line of patrons was still waiting to get into NJOY when I exited 'round 12:30 a.m. No one seemed to appreciate a spin of The Roots' and Erykah Badu's sweet ballad "You Got Me" drifting over the lanai, save for a pretty girl alone at a corner table, nodding to the beat, gazing soulfully into the crowd.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.