When it opened quietly inside Hollywood’s iconic Palladium theater, the members-only Vinyl Room promised impressive cocktails and thoughtful Asian-influenced snacks in an arresting, Japanese listening bar-themed space. Generally open on nights the Palladium is operating,
the idea was so well received that operator Live Nation decided to take the concept to Las Vegas. As of August 10, Vinyl Room has expanded to one of Vegas’s most hallowed nightlife spaces. Live Nation and MGM Resorts partnered to transform the former Foundation Room on the 63rd floor of Mandalay Bay into a 15,000-square-foot homage to analog music and the golden age of the recording industry.
Open daily at 3 p.m. until late, the Vegas venue serves cocktails by Sean Kenyon (previously at Williams & Grahams in Denver) and food by chef Ryan Derieux (who was the executive chef of Voltaggio Brothers Steakhouse in Washington D.C.). Both drinks and food gain gentle Japanese lounge inspiration, like tuna tataki with caviar, king crab dumplings (for an astounding $125 a serving), chile crunch chicken wings, and a baked truffle crab roll.
These aren’t just snacks — the menu serves entree-sized miso black cod, Australian wagyu strip steak, and fish katsu sando, which should make this as much of a dinner spot as drink destination. The music industry theme flows into the cocktails, like the David Bowie-inflected Life on Mars with Nikaido shochu, honeydew melon, cucumber, and soda; or the Rupert Holmes track Escape (If You Like Pina Coladas) mixing rum, coconut oolong syrup, miso, and pineapple.
The dim, wood-lined space has been lined with more 4,700 vinyl albums, equipped with a high-fidelity sound system with Mastersounds Clarity-M speakers and other audiophile-level equipment. But the music won’t overwhelm the experience, as it has been curated to complement the vibes (compared to clubstaurants that make the night all about the DJ).
As with in Los Angeles, the Las Vegas Vinyl Room has a membership component that still allows access to the public but affords members access to a special room, curated events, and access to Vegas shows (it costs $2,500 to start). You can expect this to eventually be a music-oriented nightlife venue opening across the country in other MGM or Live Nation properties, with both Hollywood and Las Vegas as the archetypes.
Vinyl Room takes reservations on OpenTable and is located on the top floor of Mandalay Bay.
