12 Great Las Vegas Bars Off The Strip
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While the Las Vegas Strip is famous for its bar scene, many of the city’s most interesting bars are off the Strip. Discover a dozen where you can have a great time without dealing with long lines or overpriced drinks
Drinking on the Strip is a rite of passage for many first-time visitors to Las Vegas. This rite involves dressing up, waiting in long lines and paying lots of money for cocktails, which may or may not be well-crafted. But it doesn’t have to be this way. A better approach is to drink at bars located off the Strip.
♠️ Las Vegas To Do’s
Las Vegas is a popular destination, so you should book your tours, hotel and rental car ASAP. These are our top picks:
📸 Tours and Activities
1. Las Vegas Food Experiences with Locals (a great way to taste the city)
2. Downtown Las Vegas Food Tour of 6 Iconic Dishes & Hidden Gems (off-the-Strip food tour)
3. Taste the Vegas Strip: A Local’s Food Tour Experience (on-the-Strip food tour)
4. Grand Canyon West, Hoover Dam Stop and Optional Lunch and Skywalk (surprisingly affordable)
5. Grand Canyon Deluxe Helicopter Tour with Landing from Las Vegas (splurge excursion)
🏨 Accommodations
1. Hotel (rooms at all price points)
2. Airbnb (apartments with kitchens)
🚗 Rent a car to explore the city.
The city has a plethora of off-the-Strip bars that are as goodas, and in many cases better than, than the bars located inside big-ticket casinos. Many of the best ones are located downtown and in the arts district.
Some of these bars focus on mixology, while others lean heavily into beer or wine. Many serve expertly crafted libations in ‘secret’ converted garages or in strip-malls. More than a few serve fruity-tooty tiki drinks in fantastical spaces that belie the city’s desert locale.
These are our favorite Las Vegas bars located off the Strip:
1. Atomic Liquors
At first glance, Atomic Liquors looks strictly old-school with its retro jukebox and art featuring mid-century movie stars. But this dive bar’s story stretches back to the 1950s when onlookers would sit on the roof to watch nuclear tests performed just 100 miles from Las Vegas at the Nevada Test Site.
As the oldest free-standing bar in all of Las Vegas, Atomic Liquors has a historic past. Martin Scorsese filmed a scene for Casino here, and the Rat Pack hung out at the bar as did Barbra Streisand. Over the years, celebrities like Burt Reynolds and Roy Rogers stopped by for a drink or three.
Drinking at Atomic Liquors is still a singular experience. Belly up to the bar, place some coins in the jukebox and breathe in the air of hipness with a taste of nostalgia on the side. Order a Hunter S. Mash cocktail if you’re a bourbon fan. Otherwise, you have your choice of 20 draft beers at this iconic Las Vegas bar.
Pro Tip
Start your drinking session with a Nevada Test Shot. The compact, potent potable packs a wallop with ingredients that include rum, lime, cranberry cider and Angostura bitters.
Atomic Liquors is located at 917 E Fremont Street, Las Vegas, NV 89101, United States.
2. Stray Pirate
Don’t confuse Stray Pirate with tiki bars like The Golden Tiki and Frankie’s Tiki Room (see both below). Sure, the Gateway District bar’s menu features more than a few tiki cocktails and its walls are covered with nautical kitsch. But a closer look at Stray Pirate reveals more than a few sophisticated cocktails on its menu plus an array of framed dog portraits on the walls.
That’s when it hits. Stray Pirate is a pirate bar, not a tiki lounge. Once you make this realization, it’s time to order a cocktail.
Unless you’re jonesing for a Painkiller or Zombie, the smart move is to order a house cocktail like the popular Saturn crafted with Stray Dog gin, passion fruit, orgeat, falernum, amaretto and lemon. Or maybe you’ll follow our lead and order a Get It Kraken crafted with Avua Prata cachaça, passion fruit, calamansi, coconut, lime and kaffir. Whatever drink you order, you’ll feel like you’re in a different world while you sip it.
Fun Fact
Stray Pirate’s back story involves a curse that transformed a ship of plundering pirates into ‘barking buccaneers’. Hey, we can’t make this stuff up.
Stray Pirate is located at 1321 S Commerce Street, Las Vegas, NV 89102, United States.
3. The Silver Stamp
The Silver Stamp looks more like a bar we’d expect to find in Philly than in Las Vegas. Eschewing glitz and glamour, its wood-panel walls are decorated with empty beer cans and beer art. And while there’s a disco ball hanging from the ceiling, Christmas lights stand in for neon lights. The resulting dive bar vibe hits like a Milwaukee beer hall or your grandparents’ partially finished basement.
Don’t judge The Silver Stamp based on its seemingly humble appearance. Open since 2021, the Arts District beer bar attracts both hipsters and grizzled locals of all ages. They come to drink rotating global beers like the barrel-aged Mother Road imperial porter, a deep, cask-aged, malty, chunky beer, that we sipped during our visit. For them (and us), the hipster vibe created by owners Rose Signor and Andrew Smith is an added bonus.
Pro Tip
Pair your beer with savory snacks like pickled eggs and kettle chips unless you’re more in the mood for a Belgian waffle.
The Silver Stamp is located at 222 E Imperial Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89104, United States.
4. Liquid Diet
Liquid Diet is unique. The chef-driven bar’s open kitchen looks like a messy laboratory and its spartan decor has a wonderfully weird witchy theme. And forget about menus or chalkboards. Drinks are written on ripped cardboard sheets that haphazardly hang above the bar displaying its innovative cocktail program.
Owners Bret Pfister and Patrick Mannion have been blurring the line between gastronomy and mixology since they opened the Gateway District bar in 2021. The duo takes classic cocktails into the artisanal realm by adding special housemade syrups, juices and sodas. Some of those cocktails get simple yet compelling upgrades – date Old Fashioneds and walnut Manhattans are prime examples. But it’s the bell pepper Martini, with its glass ‘painted’ with red chili essence, that we can’t forget. Actually, we don’t want to forget it. The drink was that special.
Pro Tip
Order a horseradish shot and/or housemade ginger beer. Both are local favorites.
Liquid Diet is located at 1415 S Commerce Street, Las Vegas, NV 89102, United States.
5. Ada’s
Owned and operated by notable Las Vegas chef James Trees, the original Ada’s wasn’t located anywhere near the Strip. That’s now old news – Ada’s is now located in the bustling Arts District.
Lead sommelier and self-proclaimed “wine goddess” Kat Thomas curates Ada’s eclectic wine list that combines bottles from lesser-known wine regions like the Alentejo (Portugal), Liguria (Italy) and Kamptal (Austria), with the usual suspects: Napa, Burgundy, South America (Argentina and Chile) and Bordeaux. In 2024, the World of Fine Wine magazine recognized Thomas’ wine list as the most original in the world.
Pro Tip
Pair your wine with cheese and charcuterie unless you’re more in the mood for a burger and Brussels sprouts.
Ada’s is located at 1130 S Casino Center Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89104, United States.
6. The Golden Tiki
Open since 2015, the Chinatown strip mall bar is better described as a cacophony of color and kitschy decor. Every inch of the place is ornately decorated – including the bathrooms. It’s a lot to absorb. But, once you get past the visual sensory overload and order a cocktail, your taste buds will be he happiest of your five senses.
The drinks at Golden Tiki skew from classic cocktails like the Mai Tai and Rum Old Fashioned to more fanciful concoctions. There’s even a boozy Dole Soft Serve that tastes great with a float of dark rum. This is a round-the-clock bar that practically guarantees a fun time so long as you’re at least 21 and have a designated driver in tow.
Pro Tip
Start your evening early at The Golden Tiki’s happy hour – it currently goes from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. If you’re hungry, you can order various appetizers, coconut shrimp or baby back ribs. Be sure to make an advance reservation for a guaranteed spot in the bar.
The Golden Tiki is located in the Center at Spring Mountain at 3939 Spring Mountain Road, Las Vegas, NV 89102, United States.
7. Herbs and Rye
It would be easy to drive by Herbs & Rye’s generic exterior without knowing that owner Nectaly Mendoza has created a special space inside that fills up as soon as it opens each day. A team of crackerjack cooks and mixologists have been serving steaks and cocktails in the windowless, clubby space since 2009.
Locals and savvy food travelers already know that this strip mall spot serves juicy steaks, as well as selected appetizers, pastas and well drinks at half price during an extended happy hour. They also know that Herbs & Rye was ranked #28 on William Reed’s inaugural North America’s 50 Best Bars list. It currently clocks in at #25.
Herbs & Rye’s cocktail menu spans centuries with most classic cocktails found in its Gothic Age section. Other cocktail categories include the Golden Age, Old School, Prohibition, Years of Reform, Rat Pack Era and Tiki Boom. We ordered drinks from two categories: a bourbon-based Lion’s Tail from the Years of Reform category and a rum-based Weekend at the Waldorf from the Rat Pack Era category. Both were winners.
Pro Tip
Herbs & Rye’s happy hour isn’t limited to 60 minutes. It currently goes from 5pm to 8pm and resumes at midnight.
Herbs and Rye is located at 3713 West Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89102, United States.
8. Fireside Lounge
Open since 1972 and located inside the Peppermill Restaurant, the Fireside Lounge may feel familiar – it’s appeared in movies like Casino, The Cotton Club and Showgirls as well as on TV and in music videos. The restaurant’s decor is a hodgepodge of mirrored ceilings, plush purple booths immersed in a forest of fake trees. The lounge takes things further with a dated yet flashy vibe that places fire pits inside the lounge.
Beyond the eye candy, this 24/7 bar has a full bar menu with all the usual cocktail suspects. The Bloody Mary is a standout morning drink while the signature Scorpion is more appropriately imbibed later in the day or at night.
Pro Tip
Be careful of getting stung if you order a signature Scorpion. The 64-ounce cocktail is crafted with two shots each of rum, vodka and cherry brandy.
Fireside Lounge is located in the Peppermill Restaurant at 2985 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV 89109, United States.
9. Garagiste
Garagiste hit the national radar when it got a nod from the James Beard Foundation in 2024. Although Honolulu’s Bar Leather Apron won the title of Best Bar that year, Garagiste, which opened in the Arts District five years earlier, is undeniably popular among wine drinkers in Las Vegas.
Part of this popularity is due to Garagiste’s massive menu filled with wines sourced from usual suspect countries (France, Italy and Spain) as well as more niche countries like Hungary and Greece. Other reasons include Garagiste’s happy hour specials and its half-price pricing for bottles purchased to take away.
Pro Tip
Order a wine flight if you’re overwhelmed by the variety of choices on Garagiste’s menu. Each flight includes three different 2.5-ounce pours.
Garagiste is located at 197 East California Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89104, United States.
10. Frankie’s Tiki Room
With its kitschy Gilligan’s Island decor and knock-you-silly drinks, Frankie’s Tiki Room gets credit for re-igniting Las Vegas’ tiki scene when the 24/7 bar opened in 2008. The stand-alone bar quickly became a go-to spot for those looking to sip a festive rum cocktail or two away from the casino lounges.
The menu at this OG tiki bar ranks the booziness of its drinks from one to five skulls. The cocktails we drank, the Sea Hag and Fink Bomb, were ranked three and five respectively. We may have ordered more cocktails, but we’re a bit fuzzy on that detail after drinking the first two.
Pro Tip
Take an Uber home from this bar unless you have a designated driver in your group. The potables are potent here.
Frankie’s Tiki Room is located at 1712 West Charleston Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89102, United States.
11. The Sand Dollar
Las Vegans have paired blues music with beer since the original Sand Dollar bar opened on Spring Mountain Road in 1976. Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Mick Jagger all played at the venue back in the day. While the blues bar’s ownership changed over the years, the Sand Dollar is still going strong today.
The Sand Dollar’s current owners opened a second Sand Dollar at the Plaza Hotel & Casino in 2022. Both bars feature live music until the wee hours of the morning. They also serve creatively named cocktails in addition to a curated craft beer selection.
Pro Tip
Grab a slice of pizza at Pop Up Pizza if you get hungry while drinking at The Sand Dollar’s downtown location. The pizza joint is located inside the Plaza Hotel & Casino, and its slices are solid.
The Sand Dollar has two locations. The original bar is located at 3355 Spring Mountain Road, Las Vegas, NV 89102, United States. The newer downtown bar is located inside the Plaza Hotel & Casino.
12. Cleaver
Open since 2018, Cleaver offers a cheeky yet stark experience. The dining room has indoor/outdoor carpet, dark wood paneling, fleur-de-lis wallpaper and tongue-in-cheek portraits of comic luminaries like Eddie Murphy and Chris Farley. While it’s owned by Nectaly Mendoza, Cleaver is quite a contrast from Mendoza’s clubby Herbs & Rye (see above). Both steakhouses are meccas for thirsty carnivores.
Cleaver’s offering includes a full cocktail menu that’s separated into the following categories – the Gothic Age (1850), the Golden Age (1850 – 1880), the Turn of the Century (1880 – 1910), European Influence (1910 – 1935), the Tiki Revolution (1950 – 1970), Post War (1945 – 1965) and the Dale Degoff Era (1980 – the Present). And since Cleaver is a steakhouse, red wine is on the menu too.
Pro Tip
Currently open from 5pm to midnight every day, Cleaver’s hours are relatively limited compared to other off the Strip drinking spots.
Cleaver is located in The Collective at 3900 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, NV 89169, United States.
Additional Bars
Las Vegas can get scorching hot even in the shade. Consider these additional off the Strip bars when you’re in need of a cold drink served with a side of air conditioning.
💡 Frequently Asked Questions
Las Vegas has a range of nighttime venues that include pubs, cocktail bars and nightclubs. These diverse venues cater to both locals and travelers.
Las Vegas is a city where locals and tourists party from dawn until dawn. It’s a true 24/7 city.
Las Vegas bars serve all kinds of drinks including cocktails, wine and beer.
Drinks can get pricey at Las Vegas bars – especially on the strip. If you’re on a budget, the best option is to drink at bars located off the strip and during happy hours.
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