Trader Dick's Restaurant and Aquarium bar, Sparks, NV (restaurant)

Name:Trader Dick's Restaurant and Aquarium bar
Type:restaurant
Street:1100 Nugget Ave.
City:Sparks
State:NV
Zip:89431-5750
country:USA
Phone:1-775-536-3300
Status:operational

Description:
I am going to go check this place out this Saturday. I remember it from a previous visit but never really explored it. It is located in John Asquaga's Nugget. It was originally on an adjacent corner but moved inside the Nugget around 1974(?) If anyone can give me any suggestions on what to try I would appreciate it. I may have lunch and also return for dinner. It is sure to be packed this weekend with ''Hot August Nights'' in full swing. There is suppose to be a huge aquarium running the length of the bar....Bottoms Up!

I love Trader Dick's, despite the hit or miss (mostly miss) drinks.

Check these out:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=3100&forum=1
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1885&forum=1

Thanks ''Jab'' for all the great info with the links..I am salivating here now. Can't wait to go...I will have to bring the camera and try and give a 2006 update.

When I was there at the end of June, the giant fish tank was being redone and was empty. I believe it should be back-in-action by now.

Be sure to order a few drinks with the souvenir mugs you can take home...when you subtract the cost of the drink, the mugs end up being about $5. Can't beat that! Right now you can get a peanut mug w/ emerald eyes, surfing wahine, moai head and scorpion bowl. The scorpion bowl drink itself was mighty tasty!

And one more tip: drinks are cheaper before the "entertainment" starts in the evening...be that the live cover band, karaoke or DJ dancing.

When I was there last spring, the tank was out as well. The Mgr said it was the original tank and was quite old. When they were doing work on the building, there had been two power surges which he said caused large concussions in the tank which killed all the fish larger than the size of your palm (hand, not tree)

He said they were having a new one made, and that he thought it would be up and running by June. (which it sounds like it's not)

The place is truly a gem.

There is also a Sushi Bar at the Reno Hilton (If it's still called the Hilton, it was purchased by Caesars) and they have Ceramic Buddha, and FuManChu mugs with certain cocktails.

There is also a Sushi Bar at the Reno Hilton (If it's still called the Hilton, it was purchased by Caesars) and they have Ceramic Buddha, and FuManChu mugs with certain cocktails

Reno Hilton is still there, so I'll have to check that out when I'm there next summer. Thanks for the heads up.

:drink:

Those big columns that run through the aquarium are supports for the freeway (I80) that runs right over the casino!

Well I made it to Hot August Nights and Trader Dick's at The Nugget in Sparks, Nevada. My wife and I drove over very early. We picked-up a ''local'' and headed to Sparks. I think we parked the car at 8a.m....We looked over some cars on the way over to the Tiki Bar. The restaurant itself was not going to open until 5pm!!!!!!..luckily for us the bar opened at 11:00am when we went back by. The fish tank is 40 feet long and approx 4ft tall. We only counted about 25 fish...hey, not a great job but somebody had to do it. The bartender came over to us... We were the only ones I saw drinking tiki drinks. We started with a Scorpion. I thought the drink tasted great. I said to Beth it didnt taste like it had any alcohol in it...she said ''oh yes it does''. The scorpion for two came in a generic glass bowl with just ''The nugget'' on it in 3 places. We traded it for a scorpion bowl for one...that looked more like what I wanted. We then had the bartender show us the mugs. We needed to order 3 more drinks to get em all.....darn...My wife had the ''aku-aku'' complete with flaming sugar cube...Tasted pretty strong for her...SHE LOVED IT...I ordered the ''wahine''..I guess this might be considered a woman's drink, but while I drank it no other women approached me...My last drink was a'''navy grog''....GOOD NIGHT!...I thought this thing had been made wrong...strong and not very tasty...well of course I finished it!....we then cruised around and saw the cars for a bit more....had a bite to eat in the sportsbar where I placed a bet...we actually headed home around 3:30...just in time to see my last game finish up on the tube...with 2 outs in the 9th inning ''pudge'' Rodriguez hit a 2-run homer and paid for my trip!!!!!1 tiki gods?!!?!?!?.....me thinks!!!!
I would go back there in heartbeat (well I have to, to cash my ticket)...actually a band I like called ''Southern Culture on The Skids'' are playing on 9-16 and 9-17 across the street at the great basin brewerey...anybody wanna tiki on the 16th?
.....oh yeah I've included a couple of pictures of cars from the event.