Trader Vic's Downtown Los Angeles!, Los Angeles, CA (restaurant) - Locating Tiki

T TropicDrinkBoy Member Joined: Feb 27, 2011 Posts: 277	T TropicDrinkBoy Posted posted on Mon, Mar 24, 2014 8:41 AM I'm sorry to hear that the Trader Vic's LA Live location has closed. The restaurant business is a very competitive and tough business even in good economic times, which many of us haven't experienced during the last five or six years. Just as tragic are the general sweeping statements here condemning Trader Vic's for the closure, many made by people who rarely if ever have patronized one. It's not like the Mai Kai concept or the Donn the Beachcomber concept is taking the world by storm, yet Trader Vic's continues to be the most successful company at introducing tiki to the masses, worldwide. With 24 locations, more than the peak during the heyday of Tiki, they must be doing something right. There are a few things about Trader Vic's that evidently are not understood here. Emeryville is currently the only Trader Vic's owned and operated by the family, all the other locations are franchises. The owners of those locations have significant latitude to adapt their restaurants to their local market. You can't judge Trader Vic's by one location. The Emeryville location definitely has that "it factor" for me. I visit frequently and each time it's as if I've taken a mini-vacation and escaped the drab concerns of everyday life. For the full experience one should have a drink in the lounge and then a full dinner in the restaurant while watching a beautiful sunset over the marina, after which the spirit of TV Emeryville really comes to life. The décor, location, service, food and drinks are all wonderful. As Sandra mentioned, the new cocktail menu is fantastic and business is booming. To those of you who think I don't know a good tiki drink when I have one, I have to mention that in my home bar I currently have a library of over thirty cocktail books, an inventory of 45 different rums, many other spirits of all types and enough high end liquors to make nearly anything I want, from pre-prohibition to modern. I also frequent Smuggler's Cove and Forbidden Island, which also serve fine drinks, but with little or no food one misses out on the complete Tiki experience as originally created by Donn the Beachcomber and Trader Vic. Trader Vic's may never be able to please the "I'm more tiki than you are" crowd, but for all the limitations as perceived by some of you it remains the most successful tiki establishment in history. If you like another place better then extol its virtues but you don't have to run down Trader Vic's. Let the newbies visit TikiCentral, learn of tiki establishments, patronize them and make up their own minds without being tainted by the negativity as expressed in some of these posts. If you can't or don't want to be a frequent patron of a particular tiki establishment at least give tiki businesses every chance to succeed. To do otherwise does no good for the tiki community. [ Edited by: TropicDrinkBoy 2014-03-24 09:07 ]

I'm sorry to hear that the Trader Vic's LA Live location has closed. The restaurant business is a very competitive and tough business even in good economic times, which many of us haven't experienced during the last five or six years. Just as tragic are the general sweeping statements here condemning Trader Vic's for the closure, many made by people who rarely if ever have patronized one. It's not like the Mai Kai concept or the Donn the Beachcomber concept is taking the world by storm, yet Trader Vic's continues to be the most successful company at introducing tiki to the masses, worldwide. With 24 locations, more than the peak during the heyday of Tiki, they must be doing something right.

There are a few things about Trader Vic's that evidently are not understood here. Emeryville is currently the only Trader Vic's owned and operated by the family, all the other locations are franchises. The owners of those locations have significant latitude to adapt their restaurants to their local market. You can't judge Trader Vic's by one location.

The Emeryville location definitely has that "it factor" for me. I visit frequently and each time it's as if I've taken a mini-vacation and escaped the drab concerns of everyday life. For the full experience one should have a drink in the lounge and then a full dinner in the restaurant while watching a beautiful sunset over the marina, after which the spirit of TV Emeryville really comes to life. The décor, location, service, food and drinks are all wonderful. As Sandra mentioned, the new cocktail menu is fantastic and business is booming.

To those of you who think I don't know a good tiki drink when I have one, I have to mention that in my home bar I currently have a library of over thirty cocktail books, an inventory of 45 different rums, many other spirits of all types and enough high end liquors to make nearly anything I want, from pre-prohibition to modern. I also frequent Smuggler's Cove and Forbidden Island, which also serve fine drinks, but with little or no food one misses out on the complete Tiki experience as originally created by Donn the Beachcomber and Trader Vic.

Trader Vic's may never be able to please the "I'm more tiki than you are" crowd, but for all the limitations as perceived by some of you it remains the most successful tiki establishment in history. If you like another place better then extol its virtues but you don't have to run down Trader Vic's. Let the newbies visit TikiCentral, learn of tiki establishments, patronize them and make up their own minds without being tainted by the negativity as expressed in some of these posts. If you can't or don't want to be a frequent patron of a particular tiki establishment at least give tiki businesses every chance to succeed. To do otherwise does no good for the tiki community.

[ Edited by: TropicDrinkBoy 2014-03-24 09:07 ]

Post #711963 by TropicDrinkBoy on Mon, Mar 24, 2014 8:41 AM