Traders Restaurant & Tiki Lounge — Restaurant in Daytona Beach Shores

The fall of a local hidden gem is upon us. What once was a fun vacation hangout spot with great food and atmosphere, is now a sad depressing shell of its former self.

Our first visit this week we visited the tiki bar where we waited 20 minutes for a server to take our drink orders. We ended up ordering the buffalo shrimp which used to be a must at this restaurant. Traditionally, it came with about a half pound of shrimp, and spiral cut fries that were always great, and of course ranch dipping sauce. Well not only were the shrimp even more expensive this year, they give you less of them and no longer come with french fries, but intead they give you the chips from Nacho Libré that taste like petrified wood. Worse though was the ranch dipping sauce. Without saying what it actually looked like (to keep this PG) it was watery and slimy.

We decided to give this place a second chance. "Perhaps the inside dining experience was better?" Oh how wrong we were.

The first red flag; this restaurant smells. All the way from the parking lot in fact. A friend of mine gagged audibly from the aparent smell of fecal matter near the front entrance and the group of us had to cover our noses with our shirts. Sadly, this didnt get much better inside of the restaurant, now with the combined barrage of numerous other unpleasant aromas one might expect in a highschool boys lockeroom after taco night.

The temperature of the interior of this restaurant is nothing short of a sauna. Combine this with the unappealing smell and it's a recipe for long and depressing night.

The waitress seemed confused as to why we were even there in the first place when we asked her where we should sit she stuttered out the word "anywhere?" As if she didn't really know either. We sat down and waited 10 minutes that none of us will ever get back. No one came to get our drink orders or gave us menues. In the meantime our party found a restaurant on google that we decided to go to instead. Thank God because it happened to be spectacular.

If you decide to come here you'll need a few things, make sure to bring a heavy wallet due to the prices, and some nose plugs for the...

I'm not sure if something changed but there is no way this restaurant should be rated above 3 stars. Understaffed is not an excuse, it is a sign of poor management. We waited 5 min to be greeted then another 5 to be seated with plenty of open tables. They gave us 1 kids menu only after we asked for it. We asked for another one cause we had 2 kids and the server informed us that it was the last one. I asked for a blank paper so they can color and never got it. They were out of French fries and baked potatoes. They were out of pepperoni pizza for the kids. We got the wrong item but decided to eat it anyway cause we waited 35 minutes for the food. We were never asked if we wanted more drinks even though they cups were empty. Gave it 2 stars cause the food was ok and the server was nice. Overall, I'm not sure why they even bothered to open because most of the other tables were having similar experiences like us and I'm pretty sure none will go back there. It was probably better if they closed....

We went in with a group of 12, for a friends birthday. Had we known they were seriously understaffed, we would have chosen another place to eat. The 4 children we had with us were getting cranky. They were hungry. When the server walked by our table, 35 minutes after we got there, we asked if we could at least get the kids food ordered. She got that in for them, thank God, but did not ask any of the adults if we wanted drinks. Fast forward another 30 minutes. The kids food came out, but still no adult drinks. She finally took our order. Another 15 minutes go by, and still no drinks…we were so frustrated, that we canceled our order, paid the kids meal tab, and left…went to Landshark, got right in…got drinks and appetizers right away…and got dinner in less time than we sat in Traders unattended to. Sorry. By the way, couldn’t review the food, because we...