Post #446975 by Dr. Zarkov on Tue, Apr 14, 2009 9:00 AM

Alas, I'm afraid it is all too true. My wife's family is from the East Bay (we currently live in northern Virginia), and we have been there a few times. Although I'm sure this will be heresy to all Trader Vic fans, unfortunately except when I was a kid I've always found these restaurants to feature over-priced, mediocre food. The Emeryville TV is the last one still owned and operated by the Bergeron family and I think your best bet would be to do what we do when we make our pilgrimages: Enjoy the atmosphere, ambiance and decorations (if you ask the host nicely, he may show you the other four Leetegs scattered throughout the restaurant like he did for me on one visit), hang out in the bar, order drinks and if you must eat, get appetizers or share a PuPu platter.

My father-in-law and mother-in-law grew up with Victor Bergeron and my father-in-law said that when he started with Hinky Dinks it was a lowdown place with sawdust on the floor and, as TV and his friends got progressively wealthier, the decor and prices increased. It might interest you to know that my wife and I took her parents to see Forbidden Island not long after it opened. They loved it and said it reminded them of the old Hinky Dinks. Also, my father-in-law, who turns 92 next month, remembers Emeryville when it was a wide-open town during the Depression, with a muddy beachfront where bootleggers unloaded their hooch and he and his friends used to catch Dungeness crabs to eat because they had no money.