Tonga Room SF (Not) to be demolished?

Damn!

I've got to keep up on my Tiki Central cruzing. My brother flew into S.F. from Denver last week as a tourist and on my advice visited The Tonga Room with his wife. If I had only known about the T.C. special they're giving I might have met up with them, which I ended up doing later anyhow.

(The Tonga game chant)
Ton-ga, Ton-ga, Ton-ga, Ton-ga . . . .

Just returned from The Tonga Room's happy hour and buffet.
Herewith my unabashed review--be aware that I gave the discount
password on the way in, so they knew I was drinking and dining on
the cheap.

OVERALL---An excellent evening, definitely justifying my expressed
desire to keep The Tonga Room in operation.

DECOR---No huge tikis, just a comfortable South Pacific feeling with
even some sailing ship tackle and of course the pool. Basically red walls
seemed fitting. Thunderstorms as fine as ever.

SERVICE---Friendly and quite conscientious without feeling oily. They
did bring my tab without the promised discount, but when I held up
the offending tab to a passing waiter, he saw without a word from me
that the discount was missing and immediately had it applied. Best
waitstaff I've encountered in a while.

LIME DAIQUIRI---Well made, with premium quality lime juice.

EDAMAME---Freshest I've had in my recent restaurant experience. The
smokey and spicy flavor was quite appealing when I ate a few of them
shells and all, but disappeared when I ate just the hulled beans.

FRIED RICE---Superb. A variety of rice types and colors (even black),
each cooked to the right degree and fried with no obnoxious oiliness.
Pure rice; no vegies etcetera mixed in.

CHOW MEIN---The one weak link. Food-court quality.

SEAWEED SALAD---A mellow version with very good flavor, no excess
of vinegar, and no feeling of eating fish fodder.

EGG ROLLS---A rather good vegetarian version, with the insides done
to a nicely mushy, almost pureed consistency, and the very thin outer
layers fried crisp but not burnt. The accompanying sauce was the best
egg roll dip I've yet encountered! But note that there is no heating unit
under the egg roll plate, so they can be anything from piping hot to
luke warm, depending on how long ago they were put out. Not that this
bothered me--they tasted fine to me either way.

CHICKEN WINGS---Beautifully fried; meat falling off the bones without
being at all dry. I'm talking about the center section pieces (with double
bones in them) which fortunately were in plentiful supply. IMHO no
real chicken wing buff would waste time on the "drumstick" sections
with their dry, tough and flavorless meat. The ones with sweet chili
sauce were nicely flavored and not too sweet. Those with the hot sauce
also had good flavor and were of medium heat.

MELON PIECES---At least 3 melon varieties that seemed ripe but not
syrupy. Some of them were crisp and chewy, but I would not call them
tough. They were sprinkled with an herb I did not recognize, but which
seemed admirably appropriate.

DRESS---Yuppy casual. Sport shirts, a few non-distressed jeans,
even some athletic shoes, but no droopy pants or T-shirts. Sadly, I was
the only person I saw who was wearing anything island or tiki.

(Note on tipping. My tab after discount and before tax was $15.68.
Knee-jerk 15% tippers would have tipped about $2.35. I left five
dollars, because the price was exceptionally low for what I got, and
the service was quite high. I hope that any of you who patronize
happy hour will consider doing something similar.)

On 2011-08-13 00:17, kraken wrote:
Just returned from The Tonga Room's happy hour and buffet.
Herewith my unabashed review--be aware that I gave the discount
password on the way in, so they knew I was drinking and dining on
the cheap.

OVERALL---An excellent evening, definitely justifying my expressed
desire to keep The Tonga Room in operation.

DECOR---No huge tikis, just a comfortable South Pacific feeling with
even some sailing ship tackle and of course the pool. Basically red walls
seemed fitting. Thunderstorms as fine as ever.

SERVICE---Friendly and quite conscientious without feeling oily. . . . Best
waitstaff I've encountered in a while.

(Note on tipping. My tab after discount and before tax was $15.68.
Knee-jerk 15% tippers would have tipped about $2.35. I left five
dollars, because the price was exceptionally low for what I got, and
the service was quite high. I hope that any of you who patronize
happy hour will consider doing something similar.)

Good review, Big Tipper!

[ Edited by: christiki295 2011-08-14 13:55 ]

Great review...I hope it stays open...I still haven't been. :(

THIS IS AWESOME NEWS! Welcome to TC TheTongaRoom and I am stoked that we will be able to continue to enjoy your establishment! Now I'm jonesn' for another SF trip!

Thanks Boris for changing the title!

Seriously people, if you haven't been - GO! You've all been given a second chance!

Is there a TC password for when I'm there in October?

Unfortunately, the promotion is only good through the month of August.

There is a very large tiki pole facing the entrance at the corner of the dance floor/buffet area nearest the entrance. Also, be sure to take a walk around the pool to look at the many (what I believe to be) Oceanic Arts carvings on the wall, the dining areas with small thatch roofs, and on the opposite side of the pool, the covered long house dining area with a dug out canoe hanging from the ceiling.

On 2011-08-13 00:17, kraken wrote:

LIME DAIQUIRI---Well made, with premium quality lime juice.

Is that all you ordered from the bar?

It's only the current promotional pricing that will expire
at the end of August. As TheTongaRoom has posted, "Keep
in mind that there is a secret Tonga society in the makings
that will be our way of giving back to loyal customers like
you" and "...keep [the password] a secret amongst the tiki
community so that we can offer further perks to you all."

In other words, the management seems to be experimenting
to find the best way to give us an in without subsidizing the
hordes of tourists who visit once, then disappear saying "Been
there, done that."

Yes, one lime daiquiri was my total for that night. Troubles
at work kept me from arriving 'til happy hour was almost half
over; no time to try out the full buffet and still have a second
drink.

The Tonga Room is proving quite consistent. Since I wrote
the review of it that's on the previous page I've been there
two more times, and there isn't anything in my review that
I think really needs changing. Carry on, Tonga Room!

(And no, I did not stop at just one daiquiri!!!)

[ Edited by: kraken 2011-09-03 13:05 ]

I posted something on the other Tonga room thread... but just to re-iterate: the Tonga room was a highlight on our tiki tour of California. Thanks for the discount code (although the servers were a bit confused about it all). The decor, lighting, and pool/thunderstorm were all awesome and well worth seeing. I hope it lasts for many more years to come!!

Congratulations on coming so far for a tiki tour and
making The Tonga Room a featured stop. With
enthusiasm like this TTR should endure and be well
for a very long time to come.

Yes, I encountered one server who seemed to have
this promotion confused with another one that had
already expired. After she talked with her manager,
though, everything was straightened out.

I accept your implied thought that two threads about
The Tonga Room is one too many. Will message
Hanford about combining them.

The secret password got me the response from our server that it was only good for guests of the hotel. No room number, no discount.

On 2011-07-30 17:46, TheTongaRoom wrote:
Hi again!!

In between the thunderstorms over here we have been brainstorming ideas on how to give back to our loyal friends. We have decided that for the entire month of August all of our fellow Tiki Central members will not have to pay the cover charge at the door, and will be given %15 off the tab at the end of the night. Just make sure to say the secret password upon reservation/walk in to the host, to ensure you get your discount. The secret password is (Tiki Paradise) just be sure to keep it a secret amongst the tiki community so that we can offer further perks to you all.

Mahalo,
The Tonga Room

As you can see from this quote, Swanky, the deal was definitely not restricted to
hotel guests during August. I got the same static from a waitress, but when I
pressed to have a manager explain this to me, the problem evaporated.

Of course it's possible that the discount was extended through September
but only for hotel guests--I haven't heard anything about that.

Come to think of it, I haven't heard from The Tonga Room at all lately, either
on Tiki Central or via e-mail. Have any of you heard from them? Perhaps by
Facebook or Twitter?

But that is exactly what happened to me too. Swanky, you are not alone. The front hostess told me that the discount was for hotel guests only. I argued the point, as far as pulling up the message on an iphone. It was eventually corrected after she went in backroom to discuss it with someone, and we were eventually taken care of. But not without confusion on the hostess end of things. They honored it, but I had to dig up the TC-Tonga Room response.

As far as facebook, Tonga Room is posting often, but they have yet to read my personal message here on TC. I even notified them a couple weeks ago on Facebook that they had personal messages waiting here on TC...I dont know who is running what, but it maybe that not everyone is kept in the loop at the Tonga...

Perhaps one of you fellow Tonga Room fans who follows TTR's postings
on Facebook and Twitter (I refuse to patronize either of those channels)
would like to occasionally summarize The Tonga Room's postings from
those sources here on TikiCentral, so the rest of us can know what TTR
is saying these days.

It's almost 2012 and still a deafening silence from
The Tonga Room here on Tiki Central. Someone
who's going there soon (New Year's?) ought to
remind them where their enthusiastic base of fans
hangs out.

Just visited their Facebook page. Actually there are 2 pages; "The Tonga Room @ The Fairmont" and "Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar". The latter is by far the most active as far as posts and pics. Looks like they have been posting a lot about the Holidays coming up etc. There was even a Google deal posted that I wish I had been aware of! So it seems like they are pouring a lot of effort into this Social Networking aspect of their PR which probably means that niche boards like ours will suffer in the short term. Hopefully they'll check in soon since we paid such a big role in keeping them afloat!

Went there last week with some fellow TCers and had a great time.
The food was actually very good (off of menu) to where my immediate thought was a they hired a new chef. ?
It's probably the buffet I recall that was never that good.
Drinks were fine, but not up to par for a "Tiki purist" (as usual).

This week's episode of Anthony Bourdain's "The Layover" show (airing Jan 9 for the first time) does a fabulous piece on The Tonga Room. Tony declares it "the greatest place in the history of the world." Should be great publicity for the Tonga Room cause.

On 2012-01-09 09:58, The Mighty Woo wrote:
This week's episode of Anthony Bourdain's "The Layover" show (airing Jan 9 for the first time) does a fabulous piece on The Tonga Room. Tony declares it "the greatest place in the history of the world." Should be great publicity for the Tonga Room cause.

Great segment! Anthony, welcome to Tiki!

Here is the Tonga Room segment: http://www.travelchannel.com/video/san-franciscos-tiki-bar

Just had another dinner there with my wife and daughter over the holidays and had a great time. The food was great and the Pineapple Royal never disappoints. I also recommend their Lava Bowl and Scorpion Bowl.

Thanks for posting that :) but...

"Cowabunga" ??, "Cross Swords" ??, "Holy Crap" ??, "Completely Awesome" ??,
"I kinda need a hug" ??, "Girl drinks with umbrellas" ??, "To Don Ho, May he rest in Peace" ??

A really intelligent travel essay (NOT).

That whole episode was a fucking joke !! :evil:

Anthony Bourdain did get pretty drunk in this episode
and though not much was said about "Tiki" they did give the Tonga Room
more screen time then usual, I did like the mention of one of my favorite places too, "Molinari's Deli"

And more Mai Tai's at "Li Po" also.....
It was a drunk stumble around the town, Type episode, It had me laughing a bit
Seen you like that once or twice John-O......

I thought he kept his snark to a minimum, and didn't go into the "Tacky Tiki" angle that I thought he would. I felt like he "got it"... of course some of his awe was tounge-in-cheek.

Anthony Bourdain, for the most part understands what's up. His snarky, HST style of ramblings can be either hilarious or tiresome, but I think last night's episode of the Layover was pretty funny. I don't really agree with his assessment of the "awesomeness" of the Tonga Room drinks, which seem to be wildly inconsistent from my experiences. More conspicuously, he didn't wade into the food at the place, which was probably a good thing. He did understand the historical significance of the place and how a Tiki shrine of this caliber is worthy of patronage to both locals and tourists alike. Bourdain is no stranger to Tiki bars from other shows he's done, and seems to appreciate in imbibing a nice, hi-octane rum drink on those instances as well, but his girlie drink crack last night took away a bit of his street cred IMO.

I think the funniest parts of the show involved him getting faced as the night progressed. His judgement slid as his speech slurred into inane jabber, which was hilarious. Going to Sam's to top off the night for a greasy burger almost made me lurch, while praising its "awesomeness" as throngs of young street boys looked on at him in bewildered amusement only made the situation more uncomfortable to both the cook and his guide. I think if he was a little more sober the assessment of Sam's would have been a bit different, but his appraisal of Swan's was right on the money.

I think we should take Anthony at his word when he sincerely expressed how his own experiences with Tiki restaurants in the 60's was the genesis of his desire to travel to foreign lands and experience exotic customs/cuisine. I think he really did dig the Tonga Room. Sure, some of his comments were not that of a true tikiphile but what can you expect? He doesn't read this board every day like the rest of us! I take issue with the photography of the clip as it didn't portray the Tonga Room in the best light. It is darker and more atmospheric than the video suggests and when the tropical shower takes place I try to ignore the fact that it only rains around the perimeter of the pool.

Regarding the Tonga Room food/drink, with the buffet you get what you pay for ($9.95 at one of the swankiest hotels in San Francisco). It's not bad, just don't eat too much of it! The full restaurant meals I've had there in the last two years are great, if a little more expensive than Trader Vic's. The drinks are fine if you know what to avoid. You won't get a 1934 Zombie there but you won't get 60 years of Polynesian Palace at the Forbidden Island or Smugglers Cove either so take your pick, or better yet, visit both the same night!

I took my 23 year old daughter who lives on the east coast to both NorCal Trader Vic's and the Tonga Room for the first time during the holidays and found her impressions interesting. Her main impression was that the Tonga Room is an upscale Trader Vic's! Well I think all three are upscale and like the fact that it is in keeping with the early days of "Polynesian" restaurants like Don's and Trader Vic's, where the upper crust went to dine and you had to wear coat and tie to be seated. Got to love that Trader Vic introduced that crowd to cocktails in a bowl to enjoy together and both the Tonga Room and Trader Vic's have kept that tradition alive!

[ Edited by: TropicDrinkBoy 2012-01-11 01:27 ]

I don't think he could have been more glowing in his review of the Tonga Room. That should help get them more tourist business. I think he liked the drinks on purpose, regardless of taste.

That whole episode was great!! :)

It is exactly what I expected from Bourdain. Especially the snarkyness & drinking. He knows that he is snarky.
Also, it was quite humorous. As are all of his shows.
ETR

On 2012-01-11 09:39, Mr. NoNaMe wrote:

That whole episode was great!! :)

It is exactly what I expected from Bourdain. Especially the snarkyness & drinking. He knows that he is snarky.
Also, it was quite humorous. As are all of his shows.
ETR

CHEERS!!!

It was great seeing Bourdain at the Tonga Room for many reasons, but chiefly among them, this quote:

"If you have no love in your heart for this place you are a sick twisted lonely fuck with too many cats."

Amen, brother.

On our last visit to the Tonga Room, I don't remember getting back to our hotel in Chinatown, nor do I remember stopping off for a fifth of Myers on the way. It was a great experience, even if the band was one of the worst things I've ever heard in my life.

They were still playing on a raft, and we were still drinking out of pineapples.

We cool-ly walked uphill to the Fairmont, and likely tumbled all the way back downhill to our hotel.

I woke up still wearing my shoes.

There's magic in that place... just glad to see someone capture it on a show people are watching so that hopefully we can keep it around long enough so we can get out there again soon!

--Pete

On 2010-12-09 20:38, Joshua Bell wrote:
Disturbing news, Tonga Room fans. You know the "Paradise Is Just Around The Corner" sign?

It appears to have been painted over. :(

Anyone else a fan of this now lost mural?

If so, I have a bit of a surprise for you...

On 2012-01-29 16:10, Joshua Bell wrote:

On 2010-12-09 20:38, Joshua Bell wrote:
Disturbing news, Tonga Room fans. You know the "Paradise Is Just Around The Corner" sign?

It appears to have been painted over. :(

Anyone else a fan of this now lost mural?

If so, I have a bit of a surprise for you...

Three days is long enough to be kept in suspense,
Joshua. What is your "bit of a surprise"?

On 2012-02-01 02:12, kraken wrote:

On 2012-01-29 16:10, Joshua Bell wrote:

On 2010-12-09 20:38, Joshua Bell wrote:
Disturbing news, Tonga Room fans. You know the "Paradise Is Just Around The Corner" sign?

It appears to have been painted over. :(

Anyone else a fan of this now lost mural?

If so, I have a bit of a surprise for you...

 Three days is long enough to be kept in suspense,  

Joshua. What is your "bit of a surprise"?

Probably a commemorative t-shirt.
Surprised I have not seen one yet.

On 2012-02-01 02:12, kraken wrote:

 Three days is long enough to be kept in suspense, Joshua.  What is your "bit of a surprise"?  

Just waiting for confirmation that someone out there cared!

On 2012-02-01 09:56, Unga Bunga wrote:
Probably a commemorative t-shirt. Surprised I have not seen one yet.

Well, I asked the folks at the Tonga Room if they had a copy of the artwork. They checked and said they did not - in fact, they didn't have anything better than the Flickr photos. :(

So I took that as a challenge. Behold!

If you want a version that's printable at any resolution, download:

http://calormen.com/tmp/paradise.pdf

I was working off photos on Flickr so some details might be slightly off, but can be easily corrected. I'm also not sure what the big black... thing... in the lower right is supposed to be. I recreated it, but have it "hidden" in the PDF/AI files. I suspect it may have held the artists signature, or have been painted over some graffiti. I'd love a better photo of that area.

Regardless, I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do. I made a shirt for myself using an ink jet transfer. I printed it on an 8.5"x11" sheet, trimmed the white off from around the edges, and ironed it on to a black shirt. Looks faboo. Making some for the rest of the family once I get a new printer.

If the Tonga Room reps on this thread are interested (HINT HINT) I'm more than happy to provide the Illustrator files. I obviously agree with Unga Bunga that these would make fabulous souvenir shirts for sale at the Tonga Room (HINT HINT), and would love to get some properly silkscreened (HINT HINT). Possibly Gangs of SF would be interested cooperating on a run?

A magnificent recreation, Joshua! Much too splendid to be
butchered by printing it in four-color process on T-shirt fabric.

Excellent job Joshua!
Let us know when they are available so I can buy one.

Brilliant t-shirt idea! Thanks for sharing.

Heading to the Tonga for the first time in March. Cannot wait!

I can't wait to check this place out when I'm there in May.

Joshua,

Thanks very much for the Tonga Room Happy Hour poster pdf! The Tonga Room is one of my favorite "Chow and Grog" places. I plan to have dinner there again next month.

I converted the pdf to a JPEG file and had Costco make a canvas print. It turned out great and is hanging on my bedroom wall. Surprised that my wife let me get away with that as I know she wouldn't agree to having a Budweiser poster there. I guess that's the charm of the high end Polynesian palaces like the Tonga Room and classic Trader Vic's restaurants!

That. Is. Awesome.

Now that is a proper use for this splendid image;
not some fuzzy, wrinkly, sweaty t-shirt. Someone
should talk to the Fairmont management about putting
a weatherized of it on the California Street side of
their hotel. Or better yet, on all sides of the little wood
hut where sits the Muni operator who controls the cable
cars.

http://blog.sfgate.com/bottomline/2012/03/13/fairmont-hotel-sold-for-about-200-million/

Thanks for the info. It seems that the Tonga room will live for at least a few more years! I'll be there soon for dinner to celebrate.

Just saw this little blip about MC Hammer and the Tonga Room.

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2012/04/09/eye-openers-of-course-mc-hammer-had-his-birthday-party-at-the-tonga-room/

Woodridge Capital, one of the private equity groups with more $$$ than many nations, has been on a buying spree:

Howard Marks’s Oaktree Capital Management LP and real estate developer Woodridge Capital Partners LLC purchased the Fairmont Orchid luxury hotel in Hawaii, the companies’ law firm said today. Oaktree and Woodridge, both based in Los Angeles, financed the acquisition of the 540-room property on the Kohala Coast of the big island of Hawaii with a $78 million loan from an affiliate of Archon Group LP and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), according to a statement from Paul Hastings LLP, which represented the buyers. The price wasn’t disclosed.

Oaktree earlier this year made an investment in the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, averting a sale of the landmark property, a person familiar with the situation said in September. The company is the biggest distressed-debt investor, overseeing more than $80 billion for pension funds from Massachusetts to Florida and the world’s largest sovereign- wealth funds, such as China Investment Corp.

GOOD news for the Tonga! This sounds like a definite NOT :

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2012%2F05%2F09%2FBUGR1OFJPP.DTL