bluwaterlife

cocktails, island style, stories & beautiful blue water

Trader Vic’s ~ old school tiki style

~ Original Mai Tais ~

~ Original Mai Tais ~

Trader Vic’s ~ now we are talking old school tiki style!

We were downtown on Friday, and I thought about Trader Vic’s at the Hilton Atlanta…which happened to be just up Courtland Street from my conference.   Hey, I was ready for drinks and dinner ~~~ and tiki drinks at that!

This Trader Vic’s location opened in 1976.  I’ve written a bit of tiki culture history in a previous post here.  The late 70’s and 80’s were not kind to tiki bars and restaurants, but the Atlanta Trader Vic’s location has remained popular…and tiki bars are back now…but some never left.

We started with two Original Mai Tai drinks…a different taste from my Tru Blu Mai Tai…but very good as you would expect.  And of course the tidbit platter for two…prawns, spare ribs and crab rangoon 🙂

~ dining room ~ old school tiki decor ~

~ dining room ~ old school tiki decor ~

We were early for dinner and I was able to walk around for a few photos…forgive the quality, but you get the feel.  We are talking serious tiki style…split bamboo & rattan everywhere, faded maps and island colonial wallpaper, tiki totems and palms.   Bluwaterguy, as he was drinking his Somoan Fogcutter from the ceramic vase complete with hula girls, asked me when the Enchanted Tiki Bird show would start…but he always loved that show at Disney, so it was a good-natured jibe.

And very good food.  I had macadamia crusted mahi-mahi, and Bluwaterguy had an excellent surf & turf combo…really delicious spiny lobster tail and beef filet.  And we did the drink menu justice as well!

~ drink menu cover ~ love that it's not exactly PC

~ drink menu cover ~ love that it’s not exactly PC

My only disappointment was that you can’t purchase some of the glasses and mugs on display.  They do sell some on site in the restaurant and on-line, but the ones I wanted were (of course) from previous years and now “display samples only”.  Well, ebay here I come!

I see some additions to the tiki mug collection coming up.  I did save all the garnish picks.  They may be plastic…but they are Trader Vic’s, so they are still cool.  Thank goodness some things don’t change!  Here’s to continuing the tiki vibe, anyway you like it ~~~

Clink, clink y’all!

Bluwatergal

 

Comments

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