Nope, she's not crazy. That would be Minus 5, the "ice lounge" that opened at Mandalay Place in the fall of 2008. Technically, it was Las Vegas' second ice bar, if you count Red Square at Mandalay Bay, which features a 30-foot-long block of ice along the surface of the main bartop, and the Vodka Locker, a walk-in liquor cooler which is kept at around 10 below zero degrees Fahrenheit and stores upwards of 200 different varieties of vodka. It's so cold in there you need to don fur coats and hats (provided) for vodka tastings ($250 min. bottle service rules apply).
The Minus 5 Experience, however, takes the whole ice-bar theme to a new level, with everything inside carved or molded from ice -- the walls, the bar, the glasses, the sculptures. With the temperature maintained at a constant -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Farheneit) guests here are obliged to don Minus 5-issued parkas and booties before entering and you can only stay for fifteen minutes or so before moving on thaw out in the Minus 5 Lodge, which goes for a log-cabin ski-lodge effect with ironwood beams, river stones, leather seats, and an open-hearth.
The sculptures in the ice lounge are switched out every six to eight weeks (Elvis, the Lion King, and Mayor Oscar Goodman have all been "iced," while Carrot Top and Holly Madison were recently crowned "Ice King" and "Ice Queen," respectively, for the bar's first anniversary).
We actually attended the grand opening and have to say we were underwhelmed with the whole experience. The room is pretty small and after all the hype it felt somewhat anticlimactic. At $25 cover (which includes one drink) it ain't cheap and we'd rather go next door to Red Square and enjoy the cavi-hour happy hour (buy four martinis or shots and get an ounce of caviar on the house).
Minus Five is available for private functions and even "ice weddings." There are currently five other Minus 5 Experiences in the world -- in Australia, where the concept originated, New Zealand, and Portugal -- with additional venues planned for North America. For a previous feature we wrote about other ice bars and ice hotels around the world, see QoD 8/4/2007.
