which was very active from 1995 to 2003, and sort of half-active from 2003 to 2007.
Now it is gone.
The Tiki Bar Review Pages site was replaced by the book Tiki Road Trip in 2003 - the second edition of which (2007) is available NOW.
This is an archive - these pages are no longer updated!
Some information will be out of date. Some of this writing goes back to 1995.
See Tiki Road Trip (2007 edition) for the most up-to-date information.
back to main page
Trader Dick’s
Reno, NVFull review and history of Trader Dick's
is available in Tiki Road Trip
June, 2000
I had been contacted via Email by a fella who claimed to be running the place, but when I got there, no one had any idea who he was. My secret hope for a VIP treatment quickly evaporated, so I got down to some serious drinking with the rest of the losers drowning their sorrows in the casino bars that night.
The restaurant is huge and labyrinthine. It is easy to get lost as you make your way through the very thick foliage towards the back of the restaurant that just keeps going and going until you are convinced that you have actually been stranded in a tropical jungle somewhere.
Each ‘U’-shaped booth is completely surrounded by foliage, and combined with the dim blue and green light, this makes it pretty tough to see the booth next to you, let alone anything farther away than that. The TiPSY Factor™ is pretty high. I particularly liked the Moai-like god by the hostess booth. He’s a pillar reaching from ceiling to floor, and his red lit eyes are the only light of that color in the place.
The cocktail waitresses are in typical casino wear, which suits me fine. Floral bikini tops with matching floor-length sarongs. Cute and tasteful, but still eye catching... And catching my ear was the band who were there for the early part of the night. They are an awful casino lounge act (but since they were in a casino lounge, I guess that’s appropriate), but they did redeem themselves momentarily with a Patsy Cline tune. A DJ took over later, but don’t even think for a moment that he was spinning Exotica.
I wasn’t really prepared to order dinner - I had to be off to Tahoe before long - so I sat at the bar and let Jimi the bartender take care of me. He didn’t seem to know much about the place he works in, and was unable to tell me when it opened. He did know that it was remodeled and expanded in the late 1980’s however. Another misfortune befell me that night when Jimi broke the news to me that they were out of four of the five keepable Tiki Mugs that night. I had my heart set on an Aku Aku mug, but all I was able to snag was an Orchids R-86 Scorpion Bowl. Oh well, at least it is an authentic Orchids, not a repro!
So what did I consume out of all of that boring clear glassware? Well, my friends, I am glad you asked!
I asked for a Mai Tai, my traditional opening number, but for some reason I was served a Fog Cutter instead. It was light yellow in color, and had a very citrusy-fruity taste. Garnished with a pineapple and a cherry on a sword skewer - no umbrella. Not a bad drink, but without the Tiki Mug or the umbrella, it just seemed to be missing something.
The Navy Grog was next. This is traditionally a strong drink, and Jimi hooked me up well on this one. I watched as he added Three shots of Rum (Bacardi Light, Bacardi Dark, and Meyers) to 1 oz. of Rock Candy syrup and 1.5 oz. of grapefruit juice over crushed ice. You do the math - I had to water this one down, and that is really saying something coming from me! Note the top shelf liquor he used too. The price? A very reasonable five bucks.
A Scorpion followed, in the aforementioned R-86. It was mixed fresh - no prefab ingredients. It wasn’t the best Scorpion I have had, but it earns points for the fresh ingredients and the Orchids bowl.
The Volcano is more for show - the red drink in a tall glass has only one shot it it, but the dry ice eruption is a lot of fun.
I finally got a Mai Tai next, but I don’t remember it.
The bar snacks were Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, of course, cruelly served up in full view of their breathing brethren in the aquarium. This wasn’t quite enough chow for me, so I shelled out way too much money for a plate of Easter Island Wantons. Now, having returned from a real trip to Easter Island just last month, I can state with some certainty that they don’t serve anything like this on my dearly beloved Rapa Nui. What I essentially got was a plate of deep fried things that looked more or less like crab rangoon, but they were stuffed with pork instead of crab. They were vile. As I choked each of them down, I had a deep longing for the incredible, fresh, and wholesome food I was served when on Easter Island at every meal. I hereby request that Trader Dick rethink the name of this particular appetizer. It is really offensive! They were served with hot mustard, sweet and sour sauce, and cocktail sauce, and I found that goldfish dipped in hot mustard is quite tasty, but Easter Island Wantons dipped in hot mustard are just as gross as Easter Island Wantons not dipped in hot mustard.
I will also note that this is the bar in which Terry Gilliam filmed certain portions of Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. I quite like Gilliam’s work, and Fear and Loathing was one of the most faithful adaptations of a book to the big screen I have ever seen. Nice job, Terry. After coming home from my San Francisco / Reno /Tahoe trip, I freeze-framed all of the Trader Dick’s scenes on my Fear and Loathing DVD so I could check it out. Why? Why not!
As I left, the manager came over and told me that if there was anything he could do for me, I had but to ask. Nice timing pal. Where were you two hours ago? I had to sober up and get to Tahoe...
If you’re going through Reno, take a cruise through the downtown area - it is a virtual gold mine for fans of cool coffee shop/cheap motel/googie architecture and signage. Bring a camera! Document it while we can!