Trader Vic's Reviews

I've looked through the different threads on this but I'm just wondering if people can give reviews of the various Trader Vic's or of the chain in general. What I'm wondering is how good the drinks are (must be strong), don't care so much about the food but you can talk about that, and if they're all basically of the same quality.

And then how would you compare them to say, Tiki Ti's in L.A. I really want to go to the one in Bellevue, WA (I live in Seattle).

Thanks,
Erik

Trader Vic's has made a name for itself with flavorful, high-end cocktails, rather than straight out strong drinks. TV is the place if you are looking for quality. If you want quantity (i.e. potent drinks), you may want to go elsewhere, although I usually found TV drinks to be sufficiently strong (see paragraph below).

I used to go up to the Palo Alto and Emeryville locations fairly often, and found that the food and drink in both locations were approximately the same in overall taste. However, there was certainly some degree of variation, depending on the bartender. But this is pretty much true for any chain restaurant.

TV in Palo Alto used to have selected 1/2 price drinks during happy hour, but the potency of those drinks were inferior compared to their full priced brethren. So in that respect, you can get good or less good (I wouldn't say bad) drinks at TV.

So, from my limited experience at Trader Vic's:

Palo Alto - Good to excellent drinks, very good food, mediocre decor
Emeryville - Excellent drinks, excellent food, excellent decor
Beverly Hills - Very good drinks, good food, excellent decor.

Hope this helps!