Forbidden Island — Restaurant in Alameda

I've gone to tiki bar multiple times and never had any problems. However, last night I was wrongfully charged for their tiki bowl because it went "missing".Their policy is, apparently, that they take an ID and a card and give you back the ID when the bowl is returned. However, this policy WAS NOT stated to us. She asked for an ID and card for the transaction. That was it. It was busy so we chose to go on the patio (which from other reviews it seems is not supposed to have alcohol outside due to their license, but the same girl who did not state the policy DELIVERED the bowl to us outside...fishy, isn't it..). When we got outside, a younger male employee was bussing another table outside. We finished the bowl and decided to move inside since the patio was closing soon. Since we JUST saw an employee bussing a table we left the bowl to be bussed when they cleaned up the patio.

I ordered a drink from the same employee who served us a bowl and then she promptly disappeared. I was standing at the bar when the man I learned later was the manager started complaining to another bartender (in front of us) about our girl taking a smoke break after he, the manager, specifically told her not to. Obviously she was not doing her job on multiple fronts. When it came time to close my tab, she was squirrelly and basically just got the manager before even talking to me about the situation. He had to call the owner apparently so it was taking a very long time for him to come out. I went to the bathroom and when I came out, the manager was waiting specifically outside the bathroom for me. Its hard to think that this was not to corner just me, instead of talking to me with the 4 other witnesses I had to the situation present. It was inappropriate and I felt bullied. Had he wanted to talk to me alone, he should have asked me and not cornered me.

When I told him that his employee did not state the policy otherwise we would have obviously brought the bowl back and avoided this whole wrong situation, he just kept saying they were trained to do so. That's great but she didn't. So why am I being held responsible for your employee's mistake? The same employee I witnessed YOU complain about? They had my card hostage and were going to charge it no matter what I said. They charged me 100 dollars for their employee's mistake without consulting her after he heard my side. She was nowhere to be found near the situation, obviously avoiding it because she knew she was wrong. Don't you think if she had said the policy, ONE out of the FIVE people would have made sure the bowl was taken inside? That money should come out the employee's pocket for not doing her job right. Not mine.

I am a reasonable person who also works in food service as a manager. I understand you have a policy. Had the policy been stated to me, it would have been within their rights to charge me. BUT IT WAS NOT. The situation was then handled poorly by the manager and there does not seem to be any repercussions coming to the employee who messed up. It seems ridiculous that there was no mention of cameras as well. This is 2016. Monitor your employees. If losing this bowl is such a problem, take the steps to protect it. The employees reflect poorly on the business establishment and the whole situation was incredibly skeezy. I will not ever be back or recommending this place like I have...

This is our third time to the location and each time it becomes more and more grim. I do like the new reservation system, in order to go into the location you have to have a reservation. You're are allowed to reserve a table or space for 90 minutes.

They have switched to all gender bathroom but have decided to keep the women and men signs above the all gender sign.

So I, biology female, walk into the all gender bathroom and get yelled at by some guy to get out. I back out while he educates me on men and women's bathroom.

I apologize for my confusion about the all gender bathroom sign and he refers me to the original sign.

Given that it took 20 minutes to get greeted by a bartender or server this guy yelling at me and the other women in line is the most interaction I had with someone in the place.

The bartenders are talking amongst themselves and looking up drinks on their phones which is distracting and slows the service.

Reservation are required to enter, a reservation allows you to be in the bar 90 mins. So if it takes 20 minutes to get a greeting and another 10 to get a drink.

Going out with your friends requires synchronize drinking so try to keep an eye out for your waitress who does a walk through 30 mins. Weddings require less coordination.

Prior to covid the staff was jovial and friendly, Goofy, and fun. But our third can probably final time, unless there's an event going on there, it felt as though we were interrupting the bartenders from talking to another.

The new management should go back to basics. Hire people with fantastic personalities who know how to make drinks so that their frustration isn't passed on to...

Coming from a deep bartender culture for the last half of my life, I was excited to experience what the famous southern California had to offer in ways of not only innovation but fortification of classic cocktailing culture. I want to start the next few sentences with a sensitive caveat: I've been a bar back, a dishwasher and on-looker of the struggle of bartending and performing for public acceptance. However, the host was too drunk to function, the server, who I saw take two shots before coming to our table, was unprepared for quests in her section (but tbh she was the bright spot of the evening) and the bartender was as loose as a lug nut on a broken tire of a horse carriage. I order a daiquiri; a simple "test" for this unhinged tender and was presented with, by my SLC standards of only being able to serve 1.5 oz of rum at a time, a lime disaster cocktail that didn't even fill the traditional coup. My partner was pleased with her menu cocktail but however our hosts, who live close enough, were stranded by their meager offerings. I know the bar menu is in place to make the bar function night to night and I ordered off menu; so if my major complaint was just my cocktail I wouldn't be here. However, the menu cocktails were dismally at best as well; I was left stranded the entire time trying to understand how someone could work so drunk (in relation to the host) and how tiki had gotten into the hands of a bartender with no passion. It pains me to say this but, this is the type of bar that supports my belief that tiki bars are killing...