It's official. Trader Vics at the Miracle Mile has announced that they will close soon. No official date has been set.

My question is, do all the naysayers who predicted this long ago, (even before it opened get) credit for predicting it's closure?

I was hoping to get a Mai-Tai there in June . Does anyone know of another place that makes real ones? Not juice with rum and a little grenadine:)

Ellen

since trader vic's invented the mai-tai,you could be in trouble there ellen.come to seattle or breeze up to chicago trader vic's for your mai-tai fix

Eric took me to Trader Vic's in Chicago for Valentine's Day. We got engaged at the one in Chicago when it was at the Palmer House.

There's a place called Frankie's Tiki Bar in Las Vegas that has gambling and Don the Beachcomber's receipes. Has anyone heard of it?

Ellen

It doesn't surprise me Joe that it didn't go over. They seemed on their web site to be going for large party groups and nightclub scene. Should have kept an intimate cozy polynesian theme.

I see they're opening a new one in LA that probably will hinder the one in Vegas.

Ellen

Actually my main connection to Trader Vics works upstairs in the Lava Lounge and has been saying that they are due to close soon. He's been saying that for 2 months. I think they will probably still be open throughout June.

Isn't this the place that is in the old Commander's Palace space? I used to LOVE Commander's Palace and was so sorry to see it close in favor of Trader Vic's.

No, Mike. I think the old Commander's place is now the new Hawaiian Tropic.

BTW..... i toured the end side of the Strip last Saturday nite walking through Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, NYNY, Monte Carlo, Bellagio, Planet Hollywood, MGM Grand, and the Tropicana and the only casinos that had decent crowds were the Bellagio and Planet Hollywood.

The Bellagio appeared to be to filled mainly with gawking tourists and PH was surprisingly filled with young Players at the tables and lines of young, well dressed folks waiting to gain admission to Club Privee.

I was somewhat surprised that someone ruined the Central Park atmosphere on the casino in NYNY. It now appears a bit "trashy" with a huge circular bar dominating the center of the casino floor.

Was also a bit surprised that the soon to open City Center has little (almost No) consideration for the pedestrians walking down the street along the Strip on that side of the Strip.

Almost all major projects that I've ever seen will provide nice walkways for pedestrian traffic along all sides of the project under construction.

This one happens to be a major eyesore showing no such consideration for anyone.

I wonder why the Mayor hasn't done something about this?

I'll add more about his in another post.

I never ate at Commander's Palace. I know it was on the same side of the mall as the Hawaiian Tropic Zone Thingy.

Will, there is no mayor of the area that you speak of. It would be the responsibility of MGM, Dubai World, and all of their mysterious Arabian partners to fund sidewalk considerations. City Center has never had good consideration of sidewalk traffic. They only provided minimal safety standards. They didn't even provide peep holes or promotional posters in the walkways.

Ellen, I've driven by Frankies Tiki Bar often. It's on the north side of Charleston near the hospitals. It looks like a Mexican Food place...but it isn't. I doubt if you will find many tourists there. And I have heard good things about it. I think that being in a party/festive mood before you arrive helps.

There are some other places that might have pretty good island drinks. If you want to stay on the tourist trail, you might want to try Margaritaville. They are celebrating a new store in Hawaii this month, so all of the locations will have special island drinks.

Roy's is an upscale Hawaiian restaurant, and I suspect that they do their drinks right. They have a location on Flamingo, near Paradise, and one on West Charleston.


Out on the west side near 215 there is a 24 hour place called Lahaina Grill. It's between Trop and Flamingo on Hualapai. I consistently hear good things about it.

on the trader vic's website is the history of the mai tai and how over the years they have developed their own rum and mai tai mix.they do have the ingrediants for a tv mai tai on the site,i am sure a good tender can throw one together for you.

Will - to say that they "ruined" the New York New York casino is an understatement. I wouldn't necessarily call it "trashy" but rather "non-descript." I'm really unhappy with what they did to it and now feel like I have no more "home away from home."

I was at Trader Vic's last night. I asked 3 different people about it. It is definitely closing. It's just a matter of time. I asked if it was day to day, week to week, or month to month. Every one of them answered week to week.

Well, I guess i"ll just have to do a tour of tropical drink stops.

I'll let you know who wins