Poll : 26 March - 08 April 2008

Analysis

Since we started Question of the Day back in 2005, we must have received close to 100 queries on the subject of Las Vegas lounges and who has the best one. Although the days when lounges offered opportunities to see big-name artists for free are long gone, there are still a lot of casino (and some non-casino) properties that offer a comfortable lounge with bar and/or cocktail service, often featuring live music and sometimes dancing.

Of the options offered, the most popular choice was the Piano Bar at Harrah’s, with the dueling-piano twins, followed not too far behind by Bill’s Lounge, home of Big Elvis. The Gold Coast Lounge was another popular choice, with the newly-reopened Fontana Lounge at Bellagio, with its great views of the fountain show, coming in 4th place.

As far as your "other" picks are concerned, some of which were not strictly lounges but are being included nonetheless, these included Roxy’s Lounge at Sam’s Town (duh! How did we miss that one off the list? Good call!), Sand Dollar Blues Lounge (just behind the Rio --­ yup, we like this place too, although it's kinda divey to qualify as a "lounge"), Bootlegger Bistro, New York-New York’s Bar at Times Square (really more of a pub than a lounge, but the dueling pianos are fun), the piano bar/deli at the Golden Gate ("ok, so it isn’t a real lounge, but it’s my favorite place to hang after a fun evening in Las Vegas"), Carnaval Court at Harrah’s (definitely not a lounge, but great flair bartenders and regular live music), Beauty Bar ("I don’t know if that’s considered a lounge" [Ed: Not really], "but the live music that’s been happening there has been consistently good to excellent"), the lounge at the Range Steakhouse at Harrah’s, the Tequila Bar at Bally’s ("every night, except Wednesday, from 4-7 p.m. Rick Chavez plays songs for every taste. This is also Happy Hour --­ free chips & salsa! And a shot and a beer for $4.50!"), the Palms lounge ("simply because of the Monday night shows put on by Santa Fe & the Fat City Horns. They are fantastic!"), the dueling pianos at South Point, and the Plaza’s Aqua Lounge ("a nice hidden gem. They recently renovated and the venue has a great sound system and the house band rocks, plus the drinks are pretty cheap and you can play 3:2 blackjack for $5 while watching the band").

We have bad news for some of you, whose picks are now defunct. RIP the Big Apple Bar at NY-NY (closed for remodeling), the Island Lounge at MBay (now eyecandy), and the Lounge at the Riviera ("used to be my favorite, but now they’ve blocked it off and you have to pay to listen to any of the music").

We hope this gives all you lounge lizards some good ideas. Listings for all the lounges can be found in the... "Lounge" section in Nightlife, while the other venues are also to be found in the umbrella Entertainment & Nightlife section, listed either under Bars (in the Nightlife subsection) or Live-Music Venues (which is where the larger music venues, like The Railhead at Boulder Station and the House of Blues, which some people picked, are housed.)