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| - CLIQUE Bar & Lounge was at the top of the wife's and my list of cocktail bars to check out while we were in town. We went there twice during our trip, first on Sunday afternoon for a drink and light bites to hold us over until dinner; the second on Monday evening for drinks before dinner at Beauty and Essex. On our Sunday stop, I had one of their cold-pressed juice cocktails, the Fresh Pressed ($20), made with Casamigos Blanco tequila, beet, carrot, ginger, and lemon, and we shared orders of the Edamame ($9) and the Mini Lobster Tacos ($19). While it was easily one of the pricier drinks to be found on the Strip, it was probably the healthiest cocktail (at least that's what I told myself) I had all week and it was simply delicious. As for our food, the treatment or presentation of the edamame was nothing new or different that justified its $9 price tag. The mini lobster tacos, topped with grilled mango, avocado and cilantro, were four single-bite tacos. Each taco had a good amount of tender, juicy lobster chunks, most likely tail. It was pricey, but it was definitely a dish that left us craving more.
On our Monday stop, we decided to try the tableside mixology and an order of the Deep Fried Oreos. PRO TIP: If you're in Las Vegas on a Monday, take advantage of the Cosmopolitan's Unlock Your Monday promotion. We "unlocked our Monday" and got half-priced tableside mixology (normally $25 per drink) on our drinks and half-priced Deep Fried Oreos (normally $9). I'm an unabashed cocktail snob. The tableside mixology is gimmicky to be sure, but if you love interesting, well made drinks, and appreciate the personalized service, then it's a really fun, informative, and delicious experience. Our tableside bartender, Antony, was very personable and obviously skilled as he described every ingredient and step for making each of our drinks. I had the Doctor's Orders made with ginger infused Bulleit Rye, ginger syrup, honey syrup, lemon, topped with a ginger foam and spritz of Lagavulin 16, and garnished with candied ginger. The wife had the Bow Street Banana made with banana infused Jameson Caskmates Irish whiskey, Pedro Ximenez Sherry, and chocolate bitters garnished with a slice of bruléed banana. Both of our drinks were beautiful in their presentation and appealing in their taste and aroma. I'd say my Doctor's Orders was easily the best drink I had all week. While I wouldn't normally order Deep Fried Oreos, which sounded like something you'd find on the midway at the state fair, my mind was blown by how delicious they were. Imagine a deep-fried cake donut ball stuffed with a warm, soft, creamy Oreo cookie and served with a vanilla anglaise sauce for dipping. We received five generous sized deep fried Oreos. We each had one and offered the rest to the party of three sitting at the next table. They were simply too rich...in a good way! Frankly, both our drinks and the deep fried Oreos would've been worth it at full price, but it was a true steal at half-price! CLIQUE's one big negative (and it's a huge one) was that they only serve bottled water, Fiji, at $6 a pop; you couldn't get a glass of regular tap water. Needless to say, that was a huge foul. It's the kind of thing that kept us from staying at Clique for more than one drink on both of our visits and what keeps CLIQUE from being a 5-star place.
We both love smartly conceived, well made drinks, but I had to admit that I feared CLIQUE would be more like Aria's overpriced, self-proclaimed "ultra bar", but really just a glorified casino bar, ALIBI, rather than living up to the standard of excellence of the Cosmopolitan's other standout cocktail bars. My fears were unfounded as CLIQUE proved to be the one of the most pleasant surprises of the week in terms of food, drink, and service. I'll definitely be back.
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