Vegas is built upon offering visitors an experience -- much of which is over the top. Subtly is rarely appreciated in a town where prostitutes are advertised on giant billboard trucks driving up and down the main drag.
As there must be an exception to every rule, in a town of excess someone must arise to sneak a little quiet class into the mix. Enter the Downtown Cocktail Room. The LA-style bar is hidden just off Fremont with a bolted entrance door that makes the place look boarded up (it has no handle and you have to push). The bar is dark, with most of the tables lit by candlelight. Curtains hang from the ceiling, separating the room into intimate areas where guests sit in comfy leather chairs.
But that's all atmosphere. Even if this place wasn't mellow and intimate, the drinks would make it worthwhile. The Downtown Cocktail Room is all about drinks as art. Fresh ingredients and inventive flavors abound. Martinis with ginger or papaya; several varieties of absinthe (and a staff knowledgeable enough to explain the absinthe ceremony); a good Manhattan and an entire menu of liquor art.
The folks I went with usually drinks straight liquor, refraining from any sweet or poofy drinks, but the menu's cocktails were so inventive we indulged. And the bar did an excellent job ensuring that the flavoring ingredients accented the liquor, rather than drowning it out. 5 stars for the Downtown Cocktail Room, which is one of the places I take visitors to town when I want them to have an quality experience.
Happy hour is M-F from 4pm - 8pm (discounts on cocktails and beers).