In addition to the venues listed below, consider hanging out, as the locals quickly began doing, at Aureole, Red Square, and the House of Blues, all in Mandalay Bay. There's a separate bar at Aureole, facing the wine tower, where your wish for wine sends comely lasses flying up four stories, courtesy of Peter Pan-style harnesses, to fetch your desired bottle. At Red Square, keep your drink nicely chilled all night long on the ice bar, created by water that's freshly poured and frozen daily. Or hang out and feel the blues at the small bottle-cap-bedecked bar in the corner of the House of Blues restaurant, which gets quite lively with off-duty locals after midnight.
You might also check out the incredible nighttime view at the bar atop the Stratosphere Casino Hotel & Tower -- nothing beats it.
There's also the Viva Las Vegas Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel, which every rock-connected person in Vegas will eventually pass through.
Coolest House in Town?
Ice House Lounge, 650 S Main St. (tel. 702/315-2570), a $5-million, two-story, 12,800-square-foot restaurant, bar, and gaming facility, is another effort to get Downtown on an upswing. The Art Deco-inspired building evokes images of South Beach rather than a Downtown dive, with an interior accented by retrospective photos of Old Vegas and '60s-style furniture. Both of the Ice House's two lounges sport frozen bar tops made of solid ice to keep drinks cold. Down a drink, grab a bite, and then play video poker or watch sports.
Bathroom Break
When you gotta go, you gotta go, particularly if you've tried drinking at every bar listed here, and so when you do, do try to do so in the unisex, free-standing Space Age pods at Mandalay Bay's China Grill.
