Tiki Tom's

I'll admit this was not as bad as I expected ... in some ways ... in other ways it was worse. To begin, the food and drink menu is identical to what I remember of the Walnut Creek menu, and that was after the change of ownership. That is not a good thing. The drinks are primarily vodka based "tinis" that have nothing to do with tiki. The rum drinks all use Bacardi and the rum on the top shelf behind the bar was Tommy Bahama. If you've had that rum, you know how disappointing it was to see that was their "premium" rum.

The service, however, was surprisingly good. We were seated immediately, and our server had no issues with moving us to a window table when one opened up. Our server also volunteered to remove my "Mai Tai" from our bill when she saw that I found it undrinkable. Sadly, the other two drinks we tried were also quite disappointing. The food was not bad at all, with once exception. Why would anyone dust sweet potato fries in powdered sugar if they're meant as an appetizer rather than a dessert?

They did have a trio of musicians playing Don Ho type tunes with a rather traditional Hawaiian sound. Unfortunately, they ended quite early, leaving us with top 40 from the sound system for the rest of the evening.

The decor could have been very nice had they used well-made traditional tikis rather than brightly-colored, big-toothed, hot rod style ones, with the Tiki Tom's requisite balinese masks strewn throughout. The surf boards suspended from the ceiling over the dining area are an interesting choice, not quite tiki, but better than the neon beer signs and sports-blaring TV in the bar area.

I went during the evening, so did not quite have the benefit of the view of the estuary, plus their "party boat" was docked right outside and did block much of the view. I expect the view will be nice on a sunny summer weekend with boats going by.

In summary, service was a win, drinks were a loss, food was worth revisiting, decor is unexceptional. Overall experience = meh. Probably a good place to take the kids and people who don't realize how bad the drinks are.

Okay, I'm a bit biased. I'm a semi-regular and I enjoy the place so much that I'm getting married there in a couple of weeks [the wedding has some tiki history; our first date was at Forbidden Island].

The drink menu is relatively large and heavy on the tropical. I dunno where Jen found all the vodka drinks, because the bar emphasizes rum. The rum selection is not nearly as broad as I woud like [a dozen or so] but as long as they feature Zaya and Mt. Gay, along with some coconut rums for afternoon sipping, I'm happy. The bartenders are all experienced, friendly and fun. Incidentally, they recently switched from Bacardi to Don Q as their primary well rum. It's good for a well brand, and the distributor was kind enough to let me try the not-yet-available coconut blend. Granted, their mai tai recipe is non-traditional and, depending on one's taste, could be as unliked as Jen found it.

The servers, like the bartenders, are all great. Service is always fast and friendly. It's a fun atmosphere. Food is good but inconsistent. Some recipes seem ideosyncratic, but the quality is generally very good. The kaluha pig and other pork dishes are highly regarded. Not being a pork eater myself, I go for the mahi mahi and the steak. Burgers are also great.

I like the decor. Surfboards and beach ambiance work great for me. Three TVs in the bar area, and one neon sign, don't really add up to the kind of sports bar atmosphere implied by Jen. Tikis and little touches like the Sailor Jerry hula dancer add up to my kind of bar. The water view is a big plus. This place and the Emeryville Trader Vic's are the only places in the bay area which combine tiki with water - the perfect combo.

One Fridays and Sats at dinner hour, and all day on the third Sunday of each month, they have Hawai'ian bands. On the second and fourth Sundays, there's a nice blues jam.

All in all, a fun place to hang, as long as not too many people take Jen's advice and bring kids.

This place was packed, packed to the gills when me and 2 friends showed up. I luckily made a reservation earlier and we got to the table fairly quick. The place was loud and was still the same uncomfortable decibel level when we left. The service was a bit slow but considering how many people were there it was excused.

The drink menu looked promising with a good looking presentation, although we had to ask for a drink menu. We ordered a Mai Tai, Shark's Bite, and the Aku Aku. The drinks were served in clear plastic picnic cups. We had to stir the drinks ourselves with spoons from the table. I felt like I was at a beer garden. All the juice was at the bottom all the liquor on top. The Shark's Bite was extremely disappointing and the other drinks were a bit less disappointing but too sweet. I think the Mai Tai had guava juice in it? My feeling is if I pay the same amount for a drink that I would for an appetizer, I would at least like it to be properly made. Shaken or stirred in a glass. Maybe I'm picky maybe I'm a snob, but I know for a fact I can make better drinks at home.

The menu is very meat heavy which if you have a vegetarian in your group it is a bit difficult to order. We ended up ordering appetizers only. A few veg appetizers out of respect to our friend so we could all share. But we did end up ordering coconut shrimp, a must, and the crab cakes. The shrimp were disappointingly small and very few. Maybe it was the large plate they served the shrimp on that seemed to accentuate the minuscule proportions of our fine aquatic friends. We also ordered the sweet potato fries. As JenTiki says above, the sweet potato fries did have powdered sugar on them and we were all a bit surprised by this choice. They really should try some other coating or give the option for plain.

On the website it states every Friday and Saturday there was to be Hula/dancing girls. My wife is a Tahitian dancer and was pretty excited about the dancing. Frankly, I was a bit excited about the dancing girls too, but for different reasons. Our excitement disappeared very quickly when no dancing girls appeared. Maybe they got ship wrecked on the way from the South Pacific? I know things happen, but if you advertise on your website and I think it even says Hula on Fridays and Saturdays in the East Bay Express ad for the world to see and don't provide the goods. Well we all know where I am heading with this.

The decor...does this really need to go on? If you're a Tikiphile, don't waste your time or money. If you are a cocktail or food connoisseur, don't waste your time or money. I visited, I observed, I ordered and ate. I left sober and felt slightly swindled out of $75.
I will not be back.