Post #353840 by midnite on Wed, Jan 9, 2008 12:37 PM

A cursory obituary in the Chronicle. This was copied from the SFGate website:

*And over in the Civic Center, closed doors, at Trader Vic's (555 Golden Gate Ave., near Van Ness), presumably just for the holidays prompted concerned e-mails and phone calls.

Indeed, the mai tais will flow no more - the tiki restaurant with a long and storied background is no longer operating, and the answering machine says it's closed for good.

The San Francisco institution ran for many years in the space that currently houses Le Colonial. After closing 12 years ago, it opened in 2004 in its current location, the previous Stars. But it seems the reopened spot was never quite able to get on its feet.

Repeated phone calls and messages to Trader Vic's offices went unreturned, so it's anyone's guess as to what ultimately was the final straw. Two other Bay Area locations - one in Emeryville and the other in Palo Alto - remain open. *

I read a few pages of the reader comments, they were akin to an earlier age's "note tied on a rock thrown though a window" approach. While lacking in subtlety many made up for it with sincere ignorance and pedestrian bile safely administered behind a veil of internet anonymity. Suffice is to say the more reasoned opinions centered on the high-priced yet too common menu and the less than inspired execution thereof.

Nonetheless, it is sad to think SF will no longer have a Vic's and likely won't ever again. That said, support your, or better yet my, local tiki bar.

I come not to praise Frisco Vic's, but to...
midnite