Vic’s History

Back in the 50’s and 60’s, Trader Vic’s ballooned to about 25 locations – but then along with the dying out of tiki, so did Trader Vic’s. A few hung in there, the quasi-original location in Emeryville, Ca. and the Mai-Tai bar at the Beverly Hilton for example. The Tokyo restaurant opened when the New Otani opened back in 1974. The original-original was in Oakland, Ca. but finally had to relocate due to what reads to have been a necessity as the building was neigh on being condemned. In 2009 they tried opening a bunch of new locations and some of them still exist, like a bunch in the Middle East.

Anyway, while the Japan location was built in 2009, the vibe in there is that it could have easily been built in the 60’s and never moved on from there; And that’s a good thing! When I first visited this place I thought it was closed, greeted by a host wearing what I thought was her purse, leaving for the day – but she was not, that was just part of their costume. When I was taken back in to the restaurant I was surprised by a large throwback to classic tiki and the standard Trader Vic’s menu of great beverages.

The Location

I should note that it was a little hard to find this place. When you exit Nagatacho station (Exit #7, then turn right over the bridge, New Otani is first high rise on your left) and get up to the New Otani complex you need to skip the first entry you come to otherwise you’ll be in the office complex with a bunch of escalators and in the wrong place. You need to go through the second set of doors into something looking vaguely mall-ish – pass the escalators and look for red elevator doors on the left. Also a little of a challenge is reading the menu – while the titles of the drinks are in English, the descriptions are not. I did cheat and look up the Emeryville menu online which is almost identical.

The Mai Tai

If you have never been to Trader Vic’s then you will have to start with the classic Mai Tai.  While technically Don The Beachcomber had something called the Mai Tai Swizzle before Vic did, Vic definitely made the Mai Tai popular with his version of it. If someone says Mai Tai and you immediately think of pineapple, then you haven’t had aclassic Trader Vic Mai Tai before. Vic Bergeron invented the Mai Tai while working as a bartender at the Royal Hawaiian on Waikiki. Since he left, the Mai Tai evolved there into it’s Pineapple sweet version. Anyhoo, start ith the Mai Tai here and you’ll get treated to the original fantastic version as it was meant to be made. Everything works about this drink and the presentation is flawless.

The Grogs

My next favorite beverage here is the Navy Grog. While created originally by Don The Beachcomber, the version here is probably the best I’ve had anywhere and I especially love that it comes with a rock candy swizzle so that you can ‘set’ your own sweetness in the drink. All the ingredients are really balanced well in their version and it truly is a gold standard of how they should be made.

Another great tiki standard is Trader Vic’s Grog. Completely different than the Navy Grog, the Trader Vic Grog is a much sweeter, not very potent beverage but highly drinkable and tastes great. Plus the glass it comes in is so great! Look at that thing!

Last couple things to mention; The Zombie – I don’t think they should call it that because it really has hardly any resemblance to what a Zombie is and is more akin to a Trader Vic Grog than anything. I give it a 2 out of 5 because well, it still has rum in it and rum is good, but yeah – nothing like what a Zombie should be. Second thing, sorry I didn’t take a pic of the menu – but it’s in Japanese anyway and if you look up Trader Vic Menu online you can find pretty much what they have at the restaurant.

Overall

So Trader Vic’s, a big win and something to look forward to when you’re in the middle of an extended stay in Japan and looking for a tiki retreat!

Update: Corrected opening date to 1974.

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The Location

As is the case with several tiki bars I have been to, The Golden Tiki is in a strip mall and pretty easy to miss. Once you get to the porthole covered door, you enter into a small cave room replete with faux rock walls and “Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirates life for me” playing from the speakers. Upon entering the second door you are presented with a very long L shaped bar with plenty of seating.  Some small high tables are at one side, a few large booths and then a private back room. While it didn’t feel crowded it really was as every seat was taken.

We stood close at the bar for a little while (there isn’t much room to hover around the bar as the aisles are very small) while I figured out the reservation system. If you check online at their site, they do take reservations through an online form, and if you ask the host at the front entry, they will also try to accommodate you (which thankfully they did with us in what turned out to be a large party of 8 or so).

The inside decor is really quite great. A high ceiling includes a fiber optic night time star effect that gives the whole room a fanciful charm. The lighting levels are perfect. The walls, booth, and bar are all adorned with fun tiki and Polynesian pics and props.

The Drinks

So the drinks; Lots of great ingredients and a pretty big menu. The service time was pretty long. They were quite busy, but at least once I think our order was completely lost. Even our server didn’t know what happened to it, but she was nice to bridge us over with some complementary shots. I ended up having a Mai Tai and the Navy Grog that night. Both had good flavors but were very very light on the booze. Thankfully they weren’t completely sweet. Pretty much everyone in our party that night who I polled all agreed that the drinks were light on the booze. Heavy on the juice.

Overall

The Golden Tiki gets high marks for it’s decor and ambiance and while the drinks were not really awesome or ‘leaded’, they were still okay – and maybe it’s a good thing that they weren’t too strong, you are in Vegas after all, and this probably wasn’t going to be your first or last stop of the evening.

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