Question of the Day - 09 September 2023

This question has been in the queue to work on for a couple of months and with the recent passing of Jimmy Buffett, there seems to have a Plan for its long-awaited answer.

The full name is Tommy Rocker's Mojave Beach Grill & Bar, which gives you a clue about the kind of place it is and how it's related to Jimmy -- a hangout with a Buffett-style beach-party vibe.

This is the second location of TR's; the first was near the corner of Decatur and Spring Mountain, which opened in 1989 and operated for five years. Tommy Rocker, a lawyer-turned-musician who came to Las Vegas in 1984 to play in pickup bands and bars, opened it. He also met his wife Donna there; she'd been in Vegas since 1979 and was a bartender at Tommy's with a background in the restaurant business. 

The current venue opened in 1995 at 4275 Industrial Road (Dean Martin Drive today) slightly south of Flamingo. It's a sort of dive bar, restaurant, and video poker place with a reputation for great service, good food in generous portions, and fair prices. Live music goes on around 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, fills up the place, and gets pretty raucous for a while. Tommy performs frequently. And there's never a cover charge. But there is a perpetual $20 free-play bonus for signing up for the players club (after earning 100 points). 

As for the menu, it's typical bar food: breakfasts served all day from French toast ($8) to steak and eggs ($20); appetizers like chili, potato skins, sliders, and nachos ($7-$20); salads ($7-$18) and burgers ($11-$20); and fajitas, burritos, tacos, and ribs ($10-$34). Of course, the bar is stacked with beer, wine, and booze. 

The Rockers are major Vegas Golden Knights fans, so when the VGK are playing, all the TVs have the game on; other sports definitely occupy the screens most hours of the day and night. 

We've always liked Tommy's, even when it was a strip club for around 18 months back in the day (a short-lived experiment to show how much that particular piece of real estate would be worth if the Rockers were to sell it to a bona fide gentleman's club). We're fans of the the food, prices, vibe, music, and the notion that it's a neighborhood bar and grill that has a direct view, just across the freeway, of the center Strip.

We're sure plenty of readers have been there over the years; feel free to share your impressions of and experiences at the joint.