Post #353244 by Registered Astronaut on Sat, Jan 5, 2008 10:33 PM

Reading those citysearch reviews had me thinking i should share my recent Emeryville Trader Vics experience. I went two days after christmas with my family. I live in LA and I wanted to see the oldest TV location before it disappears (not that it is scheduled to, but it will be gone soon seeing as how things are going with the company). My trip was prefaced by a story a few Berkeley friends told me: They tried Emeryville on night, the food and service was bad, the lights were too bright and it was depressing. But I thought I should go anyway. We had to be at my cousins house in Alameda at five p.m., we got there at four with just enough time to get a drink and let it metabolize before getting back in the car. We sat down, it was cold as hell, which considering my mother and uncle are very frugal with the heat in their private homes, must have been pretty damn cold. Long story short, a surly old lifer waitress took our order. We were one of three parties in the bar.Nobody was in the dining area. it was dead. The bartenders seemed to be having fun making jokes and talking about stolen bicycles, I thought maybe the drinks were being prepared in the service bar. I excused myself to survey the decor and explore, expecting my drink to be waiting when I got back. I was fortunate enough to witness a bartender flush and not wash his hands when I used the men's room, and when I got back to the table the drinks had still not arrived. I had to grab a busboy, it was like four-thirty. After five minutes our surly waitress came over and asked what the problem was. As if we needed to explain, we did, and she headed over to the bar to ask the bartender about our drinks. "Oh, I didn't see this order at all." It as the only one in front of him, I don't know how he could have missed it. We got up and left and told them we needed to be somewhere but thanks anyway.
Most all my experiences at Trader Vic's follow this storyline. I liked going to the original Beverly Hills location because I used to work at the Getty and it was close enough to slurp a drink after work. The bartenders knew the menu and could mix a damn good drink. Beyond that, dining there sucked and the service was always abysmal. Trader Vic's, as Martiki pointed out, is overlooked by inquiring minds on the very drink they invented. Why? Who cares! They have no business sense and, I've said this before, coconut shrimp, crab rangoon and chow mein ain't fine dining any more. It certainly isn't worth the money they ask for it. Only the drinks demand top dollar, even then, it's a stretch when the he/she bringing it to the table is a crotchety old scrooge. I'm glad S.F. closed.