KevinCrossman
visiting on
Saturday, August 31, 2019

75th Anniversary of the Mai Tai celebration with Tikiyaki Orchestra, food, drinks, fun. Special toast. And... Mai Tais!

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Regulars & Visitors

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Humuhumu’s description

This Trader Vic's location supplanted the nearby original Oakland Trader Vic's

, and has been the company's flagship restaurant since it opened in 1972. The Emeryville Trader Vic's is positioned near the end of a spit in San Francisco Bay, and has beautiful views of the nearby marina and city lights across the water.

The Emeryville Trader Vic's closed at the end of April 2010 for renovations, and reopened on September 28, 2010. The newly-refreshed Trader Vic's Emeryville has a stronger focus on tiki decor, and works to strike the balance between the sunny blue marina view and the moodiness of a traditional Tiki bar. Many of the carvings, lighting and other decorative elements have come from other, now-closed Trader Vic's restaurants from around the globe.

The restaurant is large, with several banquet rooms available for private parties. There is a large bar area near the entrance, and two dining rooms at the back of the restaurant.

Comments

Stacy

Stacy has visited Trader Vic's.

March 11, 2019, 11:12 PM

If you can, try Trader Vic�s for brunch. It�s a treat to be in such a classic Tiki joint for breakfast. It does get busy here but the staff is very accommodating and they have mugs for collectors and a few times a year they have nice low key tiki bazaars where you can find treasures and support a number of cool artists. Room for improvement: updating their website and social media; they don�t always give much advance notice of sales and events and keep out of date events listed.

Monster A GoGo

Monster A GoGo has visited Trader Vic's.

January 31, 2019, 9:46 PM

I had been to the Emeryville Trader Vic's only once (early 2000, perhaps?), until a recent visit in October 2018. It was until reading Humuhumu's description that I realized the place had been renovated in 2010. That is good to know, because I thought I was losing my tiki mind! Ha! Everything I remembered about the place for the earlier visit was completely different than my more recent stop; completely different in a good way.

Although we didn't have reservations, we didn't think we'd have a problem on a Tuesday night. Wrong! The place was packed (apparently it is all-day happy hour on Tuesdays!) and instead of eating in the dining room, we were seated in a little alcove off of the bar. The food was good but the drinks were hit and miss that night. Oh well. It was still great to finally be back at Trader Vic's -- and with the redone interior, it was almost like being in an entirely new restaurant. You can read more about it in my blog. There are a lot of photos and I also visit Pagan idol and Last Rites as well. You can check it out HERE: https://monsterago-go.blogspot.com/2018/11/im-freaky-for-tiki-17-bay-area-tiki-x-3.html

Cheers!

WanderingWill

WanderingWill is a semi-regular at Trader Vic's.

January 17, 2019, 11:37 PM

It�s Trader Vic�s! First the good... Great location and very well done decor. It�s and institution and the menu selection is filled with classic tiki drinks.

I did have a few issues though. The TVs inside were playing the baseball game. Really messed with the feel. Of course, I ordered a Mai Tai and the bartender pulled out a premixed drink from below the bar and added ice. Last call was around 9 and they close very early.

If it weren�t such an institution, I wonder if it would still be regarded so highly.

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