Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
avoid getting at least a little carried away with the theme while sitting in the restau-
rant at a booth with my own touch-screen television and surround-sound speakers.
With all of the togetherness a vacation can bring, there's sometimes no better way
to spend a meal than staring at a screen (or 150) and taking a break from conversa-
tion. Upstairs is an arcade with miniature bowling, air hockey, video games and
more.
BARS ON THE CENTRAL STRIP
When it comes to a dedicated fan base, Jimmy Buffet's parrotheads have got to be
right up there with the Grateful Dead's Deadheads. Only, I shudder to think of
what a Deadhead-themed bar would resemble (pass the brownies, indeed). Not so
with
Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville
(in the Flamingo;
%
800/732
-
2111 or 702/
733
-
3302; www.margaritavillelasvegas.com; daily 10pm-2am),
one of seven in a
chain, where Hawaiian shirts are practically camouflage in the tropical decor, and
boat drinks circulate with wild abandon to the tune of piped-in Buffet songs. The
restaurant and bar is three stories tall, going up, up, up to a patio that overlooks
the Strip, and the first-floor bar is dwarfed by a three-story volcano that spews mar-
garita mix into blenders every hour. Despite its salt-of-the-earth appeal,
Margaritaville charges tourist-style prices, with the average drink costing about $7.
It's not just the bar and grill that Toby Keith loves at
Toby Keith's I Love This
Bar & Grill
(in Harrah's;
%
800/392
-
3002 or 702/693
-
6111; www.harrahs.com;
Mon-Thurs 11:30am-2am, Fri-Sat 11:30am-3am, Sun 10am-2am; live music
9pm-2am).
Judging from the interior decorating, he thinks pretty highly of him-
self, too. Framed pictures of Keith fill the walls. There he is looking pouty. Then
coy. Playful. Sexy. Sexily pouty. Poutily coy. You get the picture. The bar is deco-
rated in a kind of nouveau honky-tonk and the crowd has the expected big hair,
cowboy boots, and even a rhinestone belt or two. There's nothing country about
the prices, with Buds (served in aluminum pint-sized bottles) selling for $6 and
mixed drinks going for $8. But the rural side certainly creeps into the menu, as
with Keith's signature fried bologna sandwich and a (cold!) meatloaf and mayon-
naise sandwich. (You can see a full write-up of the grub on p. 82.) Despite the
redneck overtones, this place isn't so overly steeped in its theme that a non-coun-
try fan can visit without feeling like a fish who done gone fallen out of the crick.
That is, as long as you can stomach a little bit of live country music. Keith selects
the bands himself, so if you have an aversion to the electric slide, sit as far from
the dance floor as possible.
The bar where patrons are most likely to spontaneously form a conga line is
Kahunaville
5
(in TI at the Mirage;
%
800/288
-
7206 or 702/894
-
7390; www.
kahunaville.com; daily 11am-2am).
It's a loud and festive place where the staff
won't berate you, but they may throw things. This bar and restaurant is tropical-
themed in decor and relaxed in atmosphere, with flair bartenders (ala Tom Cruise
in
Cocktail
), who juggle bottles, throw ice, and dance to the tune of their own
mixology as they prepare popular frozen drinks that are bubbling with dry ice.
Don that Hawaiian shirt if you really want to fit in.
Aside from the spots with themes, like those listed above, casino bars rarely
tend to be special. Often open and exposed, they're enough to send an agorapho-
bic into a panic attack. The following two are exceptions and depart from the
generic offerings of many casino bars.
