Post #242033 by rupe33 on Mon, Jul 10, 2006 11:56 AM

Vera’s update July 10, 2006

Well, we took a trek out to Vera’s White Sands on Sunday the 9th of July to see what changes were wrought with the place. As is usual in a situation like this, there’s both good news and bad news.

The good news:
-the dining room is essentially intact, with what appears to be all new bamboo and some sort of heavy-gauge thatch up there. The shell outrigger, the little marked off booths, all that stuff is still there. The room seems very much identical to how it used to be, although some of the “Morticia Adams”-style highbacked wicker chairs are gone.
-Mr. Moai Head is still on-site, just off to the left hand side of the hill, overlooking the water.
-the place has gotten some much-needed groundskeeping and a lick of paint. The outside area looks much more inviting than it used to. The banana trees and other faux-palm sorts of flora are still around.
-off to the right side near the water’s edge there is what appears to be some fake palm trees with hammocks and maybe same chairs and such.
-the place was more crowded than I’d ever seen it before. We went at about 6pm on a Sunday evening, and the dining room was full.
-the big sign on Route 4 has been repainted with a colorful parrot logo that looks pretty good on t-shirts the staff is wearing.
-Miss Vera herself was in attendance at dinner, seated in a booth by the window.
-the booths in the front room are still there, intact.
-the bar itself is still bamboo-ish, with the leopard-print stools still in evidence.
-the outside porch has been redone with seating of various kinds: umbrella tables, some casual chairs, and even a chaise lounge were in evidence. There’s even a lemonade-stand-style “Tiki Bar” out there. It looked kinda plasticky like the ones Target has been selling recently.
-there are a pair of tikis out in the pool area.
-the carved tiki door handles are still there on the front door.

The bad news (for tikiphiles):
-The drink menu isn’t finished yet. But we tried their 2 “signature drinks,” being a Big Kahuna (pineapple juice, dark rum and a few other things that escape me) and Vera’s Pink Lady (frozen drink not dissimilar from a strawberry dacquiri, topped with whipped cream). Neither of these was that amazing. To be perfectly fair, since the drink menu’s not finished, it’s hard to know what else we could’ve compared these to. In addition, for no apparent reason, the Big Kahuna comes in a glass… while Vera’s Pink Lady comes in a plastic cup. Perhaps this will be cleared up when the drink menu is ready.
-service speed is still slow, both in regard to food & drink. Since our appetizer & first drink took so long to get to us, we declined to eat dinner there.
-the bar area and front room has changed dramatically in character. The large portrait of Vera was not in evidence (although we could not explore this area fully). The bar has given way to loads of beer-branding: giant Bud surfboards, flip-flops, neon signs and such.
-one interesting thing about the bar area: several new murals have been painted up on the walls.
-some of the umbrellas outside were beer-branded as well: Corona, etc.
-in the front room when you first come in the door there now exists a low stage that comes right up to the glass wall that separates the dining room from the front room. During the dinner hours on Sunday when we were there, a bar band was playing. VERY LOUD. Every time the dining room door opened to allow for someone bringing in drinks or food, we were blasted out of our seats. Miss Vera was seated as far away from the band as possible, as the windows were rattling with their volume. I’m all for loud rock music, but when playing in buildings smaller than the 9:30 Club there comes a time to turn it down to a level which suits the venue.
-there are now flat-screen TVs in the bar area.
-I did not see the piano anymore, so am not sure if the piano player is out of a job. That being said… we really did not explore the bar area too much due to the extreme audio levels going on in there.
-the bathrooms have yet to be decorated, they’re still just white. The doors no longer say “Buoys” and “Gulls” though.
-the new parrot logo gives a big hint to the type of crowd the place is trying to pull in: pretty much the same crowd that frequents the Tiki Bar at Solomons Island. Boat drivers, Harley drivers, people who are able to spend their weekends on the water. It is a marina after all. They’re obviously looking to make much more on beer than they have in the past. It's a bit of Buffett-style tiki bar, which I know will stimulate some discussion among the denizens of Tiki Central. The Buffet influence even extends to some of the painted adirondack chairs on-site: the arms have a shark along with the lyrics from "Fins".

While I’m a fan of Vera’s White Sands for the décor, I’ve never been all that impressed with the food or the drinks. Obviously the changes being made by the new owners are an effort to bring in more people to their place. I hold no grudge on that account – they’re doing what they need to in order to be profitable. A restaurant/bar owner in rural Maryland cannot necessarily survive on the patronage of the occasional tikiphile event. In the 3 or so years since I’ve been going out to Lusby, this year’s visit was the most crowded I’d ever seen it – it was difficult to find a parking place! While Vera’s White Sands Beach Club (the new full name) isn’t the same as it once was, the changes wrought aren’t as devastating as they might’ve been. They seem to be having success, and for that's reason to be mildly excited for them - at least the place has not been wiped off the planet lilke so many venues. In fact, if you’re in the dining room facing the water, you’d not really notice many of the changes.

My recommendation if you're driving way out there - make a day of it and hit both the Tiki Bar at Solomons Island, eat a meal, then hit Vera's. One bit of advice: call first to see if they’re having music. Seriously, it was absurdly loud.

Photos to come...
~Rupe

[ Edited by: rupe33 2006-08-07 05:40 ]