Frankie’s Tiki Room – Las Vegas

In closing the Sin City portion of the Baseball/Tiki Road Trip, we uninentionally saved the best for last. I’d originally intended to visit Frankie’s Tiki Room the night before, but I hadn’t been feeling so hot. (Do I blame that day’s lunch at Trader Vic’s?… I digress.)

In true Vegas style, Frankie’s is open 24 hours, so were able to just drop in on a Monday afternoon. It’s off-Strip and north of the Strat so you’ll need a car or savvy cab driver, but it’s well worth seeking out.

Unfortunately, my photos cannot convey how awesome this place is, but they do show how DARK it gets. Stepping in from the bleached-out daylight, we could not see a thing and had to stumble around for a few minutes until our eyes adjusted.

You could sit at the bar and watch video clips that ranged from Hawaiian variety performances to an amateur tiki-themed porn/horror flick, but we preferred the banquettes under the thatched roof.

I had the Tiki Bandit, a potent concoction of pineapple rum, 151, apricot brandy and blue curacao, and it was absolutely delicious. The drink’s eight bucks on its own or twenty in the take-home slot machine-shaped mug. How could I resist such cleverness?

Again, you can’t really see it here, but the space is just a smorgasbord of art, carvings and design features from an all-star roster of tiki artists. In the corner you can spot the Shag “Vice Tester” machine that I was so amused by, it gets its own post.

In short, I loved Frankie’s and I can’t wait to come back!