Trader Vic’s

Great drinks and food. Try the Cosmo Tidbits and Hawaiian Fried Rice is nice! Live music nights are a blast. The original Mai Tai is from Trader Vic Bergeron. Another must have, along with the Rum Keg.

Good food. Good Drinks. If you go on Thursday when they have the live band you can also add good music to that bunch. Try the Mai Tai is delicious!

Good food. Not the cheapest place and extremely busy during DragonCon, but that is to be expected. Staff was friendly even though they had been working all day and exhausted. NO issues and very helpful. Waiting area can get filled during the convention with people waiting. Enjoyed the atmosphere.

Only had drinks, but man were they great. It’s a little tough to find once you get in the Hilton, but it’s in the basement. Place was jumping, service was fast (not necessarily super friendly — but only because they were busy). The staff was clearly happy and friendly to each other while they were hustling. Cocktails were great!

Went with group of 7 for work. Mai tais were very good. All of us enjoyed food and ate too much.
We had the I had the scallops w pancetta. They were delicious.

I ordered a takeout and was really impressed with the waiter that helped take my order. And the food was delicious. I had the stir fry beef with extra vegetables and it was tender, seasoned very well and the vegetables were fantastic — bok Chou, asparagus, sweet peppers — delicious!

First off, we stood at the front for awhile before someone came up to seat us but by that time we sat ourselves at the bar. We got the egg roll/​spring roll and the spare ribs because I’ve heard they were so great but I guess not that night. So disappointed in those two options we decided to leave. I wanted to like this place more.

I am in love, love, love with this place! This past DragonCon, my group and I finally managed to get in for a meal and cocktails here — let me just say, this will now become one of our con traditions!
We sampled quite a few drinks, both of the party bowl variety and individual. My favorites were the Menehune Juice and the Tiki Bowl.
The peanut butter dip served at the beginning of the evening was yummy — must find a way to make this at home!
For my dinner, I had the rack of lamb. In the past at other places, I have not really enjoyed rack of lamb as I have always tasted gameyness — here however, wow, such a difference. It was perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth delicious. Bananas Foster for dessert and we were well on our way to the happiest food coma ever.
Our server was a lovely, bubbly woman who really paid great attention to us, had wonderful suggestions for both food and cocktails and made us feel appreciated as guests.
We enjoyed it here so much, that we were back in most evenings of the convention for a few cocktails.
I still, a month later, think about how good the food and drinks were and cannot wait to return next labor day when DragonCon rolls around again.
Thank you Trader Vic’s for making my annual vacation even more memorable.

I had a nice quiet meal all by myself. I was pleasantly surprised with the food. I had the won ton soup for starters and the imperial beef for my main course. The food was hot, tastes and looked good. My only complaint was that the restaurant was very dark and the AC was blowing cold air.

The service is always incredibly slow here, but that’s something you just get used to if you come here often. However, this particular was the worst experience I’ve ever had in a restaurant, and that is not hyperbole.
We were there with a group of friends who were attending a convention. One of my friends had gotten a photograph with a movie star, and had it signed by her. It was sitting by his chair, and for some reason one of the bus boys reached down and grabbed it as if it were trash (maybe he thought it was, but it did not at all look like a piece of trash). My friend stopped him, but the way the bus boy grabbed it created creases that ruined the image. Worse yet, we didn’t know if the actress was going to be there the next day, so we weren’t sure if the photo could be replaced. We calmly asked our waitress to talk to a manager. Suddenly her English got very poor and she kept trying to assure us that everything was ok and no manager was needed. We insisted on speaking to a manager. He eventually came over, and at first wanted to take the photo and have us come back the next day with a replacement and then he would credit my friend for it. Because we weren’t sure if he would be able to replace it, and not really trusting at all of the restaurant at this point, that was not an acceptable compromise. Eventually the manager agreed to knock most of the price of the photo off of his bill.
So, that was finally worked out. Kind of. Then it came time for the bill…
They don’t split the bill here. Having worked with restaurant POS systems, I know that there are few that won’t do this these days, and it’s more a «we don’t want to deal with it» sort of thing on the wait staff’s part. Which is fine, and completely understandable. But when we listed off amounts for various cards and then «remainder on this one»… they overcharged that one by $ 170. And then suddenly the waiter was nowhere to be found, and same for the manager. After 15 minutes of searching we finally found the manager. He at first didn’t understand (his English also wasn’t that great), but finally we managed to explain the problem. He added things up and verified that we were over-​charged, though he wouldn’t explain how/​why. He corrected the charged amount, so we finally got that worked out too.
Between the slow service and these other issues, dinner took 4 hours on a night that we had planned to be out on the convention floor.
Overall this was a complete nightmare — not only that we had the issues, but the difficulty we had in resolving them with the manager. I am not coming back here ever again, which is sad because it used to be a tradition for my friends and me.
On the plus side, their Mai Tais are great, and the food was pretty good quality too (though I always feel like I’m over-​paying here).

This place is located below the lobby of the Atlanta Hilton. As soon as you exit the elevator and make a left towards to entrance, an odd odor smacks you directly in the nostrils. It an old, dirty carpet and cigarettes smell. It reminded me of a time that I spent at a casino/​hotel in Iowa where smoking was allowed in the casino. The only difference is, I don’t think smoking was allowed here. My kids are purveyors of odoriferous establishments, and gave this place two thumbs down. Add those two to ours, and this place scored a four-​thumb disapproval rating.

Trader Vic’s. What a joke. While the dining experience itself was forgettable, the ambiance of this place was crazy. It is such a sneaky, private little place. It totally looks like the kind of place to go if you’re looking for a good rendezvous point or something. This place was so tucked out of the way and private that I can totally see this as the place where suits come in to connect with their «side pieces» or something.
As for the food, for such a «high end» restaurant this place did absolutely nothing to make me feel like I was getting anything truly special. The drinks are WAY overpriced (8 bucks for a margarita?). We went for Restaurant Week and i got the menu option of the Wonton Soup, Chili Chicken, and cheese cake desert.
My Chili Chicken and veggies w/​rice was good but I’ve had the same quality food from the local chinese dive for ¹⁄₃ of the price. The soup was priced at $ 7.50 and again, you can get soup like this just as good if not better for ½ the cost at a chinese dive. The cheese cake tasted like, well, cheesecake.
All in all this was a very forgettable meal so if you’re ever even considering this place, just skip it… unless you’re looking for that rendezvous then by all means… shhhh…

All hail the famous Mai Tai!
This is one of those little-​known Atlanta gems, and could practically count as a hidden bar. And it’s located in the unlikely neighborhood of downtown!
You have to take an elevator from inside the Hilton, and even if you press the down button, the light above the elevator will never show the down arrow lit. Just hop on an empty elevator that appears to be going up and hit the button for Trader Vic’s.
When you exit the elevator, you are transported to Hawaii. Suddenly you are surrounded by tikis and palms. As you wander away from the elevator bank you finally run into a hostess stand. Bypass the hostess stand (trust me) and head to the bar.
Order the Mai Tai. It’s amazing. One or two of those and you’ll be happy for the evening. Go on Thursdays (I believe) and get them for $ 6 instead of $ 9. Either way, it’s worth it. Best tropical drink in Atlanta.
I’ve had some food here too, and it’s pretty good. Different than anything else I’ve had in the area.
It’s a fun place to go on an adventure to, particularly if you’re feeling like you need to escape from the real world for a while.

I ordered dinner one evening during my recent visit to Atlanta for work. I didn’t find the food to be especially memorable… especially since I found it to be overpriced for what you get. There are so many dining options in this part of Atlanta, I probably won’t make this my ‘go-​to’ place.

Excellent ambiance in a South Pacific kind of way. Pricey, but the meal was excellent. They make a killer Mai Tai (beware of the 151 version). Food quality was well above average.

Even though I still love Trader Vic’s, especially since it’s Atlanta’s sole tiki bar, so I will still frequent it often, I have now found out that it’s just not quite as good as some other tiki bars I have now been to. The ambiance at Trader Vic’s is still wonderful. It’s technically the oldest Trader Vic’s left in the USA and the last Trader Vic’s that Trader Vic himself actually helped design.
The food is still delicious, but my main beef with Trader Vic’s is the cocktails. They are decent tiki drinks but I have had far better ones at other tiki bars across the country. I get that it’s a franchise so perhaps the bartenders are limited to some extent by what they’re allowed to do. But it would be nice if they could show some creativity and come up with some more exotic elixirs vs. a Mai Tai made with a pre-​made mix.

Absolutely loved eating here! I had so much fun! The place is retro tiki and it’s gorgeous, the décor is amazing and the food is soooooo delicious!

This restaurant is located in the basement of the Hilton Atlanta hotel. The tiki bar décor is cool and welcoming. I came on a Monday, but they were closed even though their business hours are listed to be opened. I returned on a Wednesday night for dinner and it was pretty empty. I am guessing it might be due to the overpriced food they serve.
Since one of their specialties is the Mai Tai, I ordered one up at the bar. The staff was pretty friendly and the $ 8.50 Mai Tai was very strong. Almost couldn’t finish it strong. I’ve had a few Mai Tai’s in my life and never really was fond of them and this one was no different. I have concluded that if I don’t like the Mai Tai here, it’s probably not a drink for me. So for those Mai Tai lovers, I have no idea how good this one is, but like I said, it was strong.
Now, let’s talk about the most expensive fried rice I’ve ever had. The $ 25 Trader Vic fried rice is large in portion, filled with shrimp, chicken and pork, and had an overall taste rating of B. It’s definitely way overprice and might be more acceptable cutting the portion and price in half. For that much, I’d rather grab something outside the hotel and have dessert, too.

Went with a friend to try an Atlanta Landmark.
There’s a lot of potential, the service was ok and the décor was great.
But overall, the food was just fair.
Friend had the rack of lamb. I had the macedamia encrusted mahi mahi. For appetizers we had the calamari, fried shrimp, crab rangoon, and ribs. The food was expensive — $ 50 ~ $ 70 per person, but it just wasn’t great. For the expense, I would just say fair.
I would recommend just getting the ribs — there’s an appetizer portion available. These were the best thing we ate.
It was something to do once, but I would spend my money somewhere else for better food.

Located at the lower level of the Hilton, the ambience seems very touristy and fake and out of place in downtown Atlanta. We had a large group and got seated immediately.
I generally don’t have high expectations when it comes to hotel food but I was pleasantly surprised with how good the food was. The egg rolls were a favorite among the appetizers and the scallop dish was so so delicious. Everybody on the group was happy about their dinner selection. My only complaint was that my mojito tasted too syrupy but after adding extra lime into my drink, it tasted fine. The cheesecake was really good too.
Service was good. The manager stopped by to make sure every thing was okay. The temperature was really cold in there– my teeth were chattering! So I asked the manager to raise the temperature and he did.
The food is a little pricey but I didn’t have to pay for dinner which is nice.