Trader Vic's

This place gets a lot of mixed reviews here. I'm not sure why. Contrary to the experience of many here, I had great experiences. I visited on two different evenings, a Saturday and a Monday. I sat at the bar both times. Perhaps that is the difference. The waitresses were indifferent to everyone, which I assumed is a defense mechanism for creepy men. So if you sat at a table with waitress service, your experience may be a bit impersonal.

At the bar, though, it's great. The Filipino bartender OJ is an experienced tiki man who is proud of the place and I enjoyed chatting with him. He's really quite friendly and gracious. He made me some off-menu drinks, such as his Mai Tai variation (better than standard) and a Chief Lapu Lapu. He bemoaned that most patrons only order mai tais or pina coladas, and appreciated that I wanted to explore the drinks. On my 2nd night there, I was gifted some parting trinkets. They appreciate tiki-philes there.

I had bar food both nights. The ribs were tasty. My favorite was the "all-in fried rice". Delicious and filling. Expensive, but it's London, and not that different from the prices I pay in New York anyway.

The decor is simply fantastic. Every inch of the place is detailed. It's dark and mysterious, and (at least when I was there), they played exotica music, and not too loud. The entrance is up on the lobby level of the hotel, and the door details are worth looking at. There's a nice spiral staircase that transports you from sterile Hilton to dark tiki.

At the bottom of the stairs there is a big chair with parrots where you can sit for social media pictures. I had my picture taken by OJ and a waitress on a polaroid. They took two pics, gave me one, and posted the other on a board behind the chair.

I really like this place. It's the most tiki you'll find in London I think. Sit at the bar and talk tiki and I'm sure you'll have a good experience with friendly hospitality.

Pretty but...
It's a Mecca to behold but after your past the surface, it's a hotel bar. No passion.

The staff were... technically polite... but they clearly thought we didn't belong there. We came in to have a couple drinks and pupus just to say we'd been there. The look of the place was fantastic. But when they realized were were just having extremely over-priced appetizers and not buying their EXTREMELY over-priced main dishes, it became crystal clear that they wanted us out, OUT, OUT. The staff were on us like flies on a turd, constantly asking if we wanted to order anything else, and whisking away any dish/glass the instant it was empty. We decided not to have second drinks, and shot out of there as quickly as possible. It's a shame, because the place is gorgeous. But if you're not a rich Hilton guest spending a wad of cash, they really don't want you cluttering up their space.

Oh hell no. Don't go.
There's a reason it is French Polynesia, not English Polynesia and it has nothing to do with colonial power struggles and everything to do with not finding blasted lamb on a Trader Vic's menu.
Yes.
Lamb.
So, after going round Hyde Park Corner on foot from the Underground from the EuroStar from the most boring train station in Belgium from Köln ("Hooray, we're still alive!") from watching Polizie inspect Gummie Bears at a Haribo outlet store from waking up in the bosom of the Nurburgringinging, you'd think I'd be beyond the moon to discover that, for once, my nearest tiki bar was just 14 floors below my room.
Until I went there. Actually twice, just to make sure I hadn't been unfairly unimpressed during the first visit.
The decor is spot on. The music was in the neighborhood. The drink menu looked magical. However, the first tip off should have been the bowl of slightly stale popcorn dropped on our table by a distracted waitress. The world's smallest and most costly bar bites came along with our *cough* tiki slushees, er, drinks.
Again, I've been in Florida for more than two and a half years now. I know there are some beach bars that got excited and bought a slushee machine to expedite the Tiki drink creation process. That's fine. I don't go to those bars for that reason - it's just not my thing. However, encountering such watery, iced-up rotgut at a Trader Vic's was beyond puzzling. If you're thinking I'm being harsh with rotgut, consider this - I've had two Extra Spiky Pineapples at Trader Sam's as a nightcap to a day of tipsy Disney adventures and not had half the headache I had after one of the Trader Vic's London drinks.
Perhaps I've wandered a bit, let's return to the scene of the crime. Wait? Where did all of these posh businessfolk come from just now? Ah, a business dinner must have gotten out of the fancy, upper-floor restaurant and now we're awash with Brits drinking beer around the bar. Oh, and "business" ladies sitting with bottles of sparkling wine at the tables. Super. We paid our $115 USD for three drinks and three apps and headed out into the London night to think long and hard about what we had just done.
Two nights later, with a narrowing window of dinner opening hours and flagging energy, we decided to give the restaurant portion a try. In the last two years, I've opened a menu at a Trader Vic's in Atlanta and, the last two weeks, Munich (for which I still need to write a review), and I've never encountered more than 25% of local fare up for offer. The rest, of course, is Polynesianed-up Chinese food. That, my friend, is just how the world works. And, despite everything else at play these days, that works well.
Unless you're in London, where the Trader Vic's chef has injected incredibly expensive English cuisine (did I mention the lamb?) into the menu like Botox into an eyeball - it just doesn't belong there. We actually read through the menu three times just to be sure we weren't hallucinating from hunger and then lied to the waitress that the fourth member of our party who was, in truth, running late, had decided to eat elsewhere.
Yes.
We left. I can't even remember the last time I did that at a restaurant. Save yourself the horror and don't go to start. I'm so sorry I had to type that.

The place is fantastic, as you would expect, but reeeeally expensive. I know London is an expensive town, and this is in a classy part of the city, so they don't want college party kids. But I think they're in danger of pricing themselves out of business. Maybe I'm wrong, and the place is always busy. But I worry, long term

I was fortunate to choose this as the location for my 40th birthday dinner on a recent trip to London.

The decor was nice and similar to what I remember from the Dallas location about a decade ago. You descend a staircase into the restaurant, which is a nice touch and helps to create that "I'm visiting someplace other than I am" atmosphere that great tiki bars create.

I opted for the 1944 Mai Tai to start, and it delivered. I can recommend this classic (and classically made) drink with no reservations. For my second drink, I wanted to give a nod to my London locale, so I opted for the Queen's Park Swizzle. It was good, but if the '44 MT was a 10, it probably clocked in around a 6.5 or 7. The various other drinks delivered to our group were all well-received, including the non-alcoholic ones for the kids.

Everyone also enjoyed the food, which was my primary concern going into the night. One note, if you're planning to order one of their Signature Wood-Fired Oven dishes, I recommend doing so when you make your drink order, because I was told only when we all started our meal orders that it was going to take 45 minutes to cook, even though it's not mentioned anywhere on the menu. So word to the wise, have people figure that part of the meal out and order a bit earlier than everyone else.

A few nit-picks include the music. It was some kind of instrumental, and while not top-40 (thankfully!), it wasn't the Exotica I'd hoped and that I enjoy in other good tiki bars.

They also had VEEEEERY few TV items for sale, which was something I was banking on for my birthday. The only "mug" available was a rum barrel, and they had no TV London-emblazoned items to be found...not even simple napkins I could bring home for my home tiki bar. We did get a couple Menehunes out of some drinks we ordered, but those, of course, aren't location-specific either.

Those small nit-picks aside, I would highly recommend you stop into the London Trader Vic's, even if just for the bar. It's a classic that deserves our tiki respect.

I was super excited to see an old bastion of tiki, so my enthusiasm may have glossed over some stuff but I still had an amazing time. First trip to London as well, so I just knew I couldn't pass up a visit. We visited on a Monday night, so it was relatively empty which was kinda nice and intimate. My mouth was open for about the first five minutes while I enjoyed the beautiful decor and super chill atmosphere. The drinks/food had the same thing in common I felt. Super tasty, but not enough to justify the price. The food portions are small and say what you will, but almost $18 for a mai tai doesn't sit well me with regardless of how much I love the setting. Despite the price, I still reveled in the experience and loved everything I tasted. Even with a dozen or so people around us, I still couldn't make out any music in the background. The waiters were nice, but were not very attentive during the whole meal. I befriended one of the managers while looking at their merch display cabinet. I asked him if they had any glasses for sale. He said no, but not because of tiki enthusiasts like myself. He said they've had an issue with customers stealing mugs and salt/pepper shakers. Damn shame! He felt bad and gave me a couple coffee mugs dated from 1988. He said they found cases of them in the back and were happy to give them away. The bad timing came when he said they were getting a few cases of mugs in a couple weeks. The bartender was nice enough to throw a few swizzle sticks/menehune figures my way as well. I would love to come back and do recommend coming here at least once!

My wife and I visited London for the first time last week. We read the reviews on Trader Vic's which were good so we wanted to experience it. We arrived early, around 7pm. We got a table in the bar. The place is like aTiki museum. We had a round of drinks which were good, not great. We're used to Bali Hai Mai Tai's, our home port . Nobody makes them better. We enjoyed our drinks and the service was excellent and friendly. We asked our waitress if there were mugs for sale. She said no but maybe some glassware. She said she talked to the mgr. She came back with swag, on the house. Swizzles, fruit spears, coasters, and best a new,old stock TV ashtray with Made In Japan sticker on bottom. Found out these were from the 60's. Got seated for dinner, started with a tuna poke appetizer. Best I ever had. We get great poke in San Diego, this was better. Next a beef ap. Delicious, tender, no fat. We split a salad and an Asiannoodle dish for entree. Delicious again. Our waiter was a Kiwi, kept us laughing all night. I told him about Martin Denny and Authur Lyman. Did not know them. The music was my only complaint as it was Salsa and some 50's, 60's oldies. Minor problem as we stayed 5 1/2 hours. Enjoyed the company of an English couple next to us . Trader Vic's is legendary and we were not disappointed. Will definitely go back if we are in London. Highly recommend for a most enjoyable all round Tiki experiece. Shout out to San Diego Ohana , Tommy, and everyone at The Bali Hai

Strictly to admire the nice interior: there are so many better bar options in London. Stick to rum. The only Tiki Puka Puka I've ever walked away from. Pretty much unfit for a Shag painting, but not as moribund as the nearby Playboy Club; which lacked a single customer and relegated the bartender to glass polishing and the not-tail-worthy Bunny staring at her cellphone. Brutal.

Grubby bar and bottles. Zero Ohana spirit. Almost all of the Aloha spirit was enshrined within the doorman who was forced to spend most of his shift at the top of the stairway staring off into the fume encrusted void that is Park Lane. Disinterested H&M waifs with zero hips serving Heineken and cheap wine. Bar furniture meant for intimate tables swept aside into darkened corners, of which there are many, so the staff can keep everyone cornered in small, brightly lit pens. Bartenders in threadbare and unpressed Aloha shirts. Exceptionally depressing if you're a regular at this website; although nowhere near as hideous as the not missed Trader Vic's at LA Live.

Every time I have visitors I insist we go here. For tiki friends, it's a pilgrimage, and for everyone else it's a perfect intro to tiki.

The staff have invariably been friendly, attentive, and accomodating to dietary requests. I never noticed any music though, and due to its location in an expensive hotel in mayfair the crowd is often conference attendees and partying businessmen or their rowdy adult children, which can disrupt the vibe. But on a quiet weekday evening? Magical.

I hope it never closes.

Drinks are great and the Decor is excellent. A must see.

So this is one of my favorite Tiki joints in the world. It was the first Trader Vic's outside of the US and it looks like it hasn't changed in a bit. At the edge of Mayfair, along the park and downstairs from an old Hilton is this gem. Hit the bar up for some real classic tiki drinks in the traditional mugs (for each drink ordered). Marvel at the original decor and feel the vintage vibe. Music is often hosted and dinner is an elegant (albeit expensive) affair. When I am in London, I always pop by here to get away from it all and remember the experience people looked to bring to London after World War 2. Very cool spot

We've been here twice, in 2009 and 2013. The first visit included dinner, which was OK but not fantastic for the price. The drinks were awesome. I had to order a pina colada first, which confused the waiter. He was an immigrant and probably not familiar with Warren Zevon. Also, they call that drink a Bahia at Trader Vic's for some (undoubtedly historical) reason. Still, the bartender knew what I meant and made a terrific pina colada. After that I ordered a tiki classic of some sort, but I no longer remember which one. Our second visit was only for drinks. It was early on a Tuesday evening, and the place was almost deserted. Service and drinks were excellent. I hope they do better business at other times, or I fear this place will not long survive. Perhaps it could be declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Simply the best place to drink in London! Okay, it's pricey (but so is all of London), but this Trader Vic's at The London Hilton really does have a 'retro jet-set', old-school Tiki vibe, a WONDERFUL drinks menu, fabulous music (always tropical, always mellow), great food, super service...and it genuinely takes you away from the hustle and bustle of foggy London to a far more civilized, magical place.

Restuarant has got new monthly menus and they also now have slow cooked suckling pig special menu every Friday.