Coffee in Las Vegas?

[Fr. John]

Will be visiting my uncle next week, can anyone recommend some good coffee in Vegas?

[zin1953]

Aside from *$ ?!?!? No. I have family who live there, and I've tried nearly every place I've even heard whispers about . . . no joy. You know that Nordstrom's has an espresso bar in the Fashion Show Mall on the Strip, and there's a café in Mandalay Place that serves Peet's, but every time someone tells me "You gotta go to ___________," and I do, I'm sorry I did . . .

You can check out recommendations (or non-recommendations, as the case may be) on Yelp! . . . you may be looking at Illycaffè.

[Fr. John]

Aside from *$ ?!?!? No. I have family who live there, and I've tried nearly every place I've even heard whispers about . . . no joy. You know that Nordstrom's has an espresso bar in the Fashion Show Mall on the Strip, and there's a café in Mandalay Place that serves Peet's, but every time someone tells me "You gotta go to ___________," and I do, I'm sorry I did . . .

You can check out recommendations (or non-recommendations, as the case may be) on Yelp! . . . you may be looking at Illycaffè.

Well, just what I expected to hear. I haven't been to Vegas for about 15 years+, from all reports it sounds even crappier than it was then. I really didn't have any hopes for good coffee there, the place seems to have gone from opulent tacky but somewhat polished, to opulent tacky Wal_mart.

Crud.

[zin1953]

Well, it's still Vegas . . .

There actually is some truly great food to be had in Las Vegas these days, MUCH better than 15 years ago. As for espresso, well the "Wal-Mart" analogy holds: it's the land of strip malls and *$ dominates the strip malls of the universe . . . .

[Fr. John]

Well, it's still Vegas . . .

There actually is some truly great food to be had in Las Vegas these days, MUCH better than 15 years ago....

Any pertinent recommendations that don't involve the Strip and $$$$? I wouldn't mind taking the wife to a moderate dinner ($20 range) but I mostly enjoy more street or neighborhood foods.

[zin1953]

Lotus of Siam is one of the great Thai restaurants in the United States, as well as a superb wine list. In addition to "regular" thai food, they have a whole menu of Northern Thai dishes -- very different than what most Americans think of as "Thai food" -- but you have to ask for that menu. Staff is very friendly and great with recommendations. It's about a mile or so east of the Strip, at 935 E. Sahara in the ugliest strip mall you've ever seen! Check out their website at http://www.saipinchutima.com/.

Rosemary's is west of the Strip at 8125 W. Sahara . . . check out their website http://www.rosemarysrestaurant.com/. Sort of French-American, and truly wonderful.

[tbone53]

If you're interested in a mini-tour of a small coffee roastery, you could visit Coffee Roasters of Las Vegas on Boulder Hwy. (see [http://www.vegas4locals.com/freecoffeetour.html]) My wife and I enjoyed a visit there in 2006.

[cannonfodder]

I spent a week there for a conference last year, charbucks was my last resort. There is some good food there. Our conference was at Mandalay bay, I lucked out and when I checked in, it was full so they upgraded me to a suite at 'The Hotel', Mandalay's luxury high-rise. Man, it was nice. There is Sushi restaurant there at Mandalay that was outstanding, super Saki selection as well. There is another club there called 'Rum Jungle'. Around 200 different rums, some real good stuff, I had a hangover for a couple of days after a long night there. The Venetian is pretty cool as well. The wife and I took a gondola ride through the hotels canals, our gondolier was a pro opera singer and she sang the entire ride which was cool.

[DigMe]

Lotus of Siam is one of the great Thai restaurants in the United States, as well as a superb wine list. In addition to "regular" thai food, they have a whole menu of Northern Thai dishes -- very different than what most Americans think of as "Thai food" -- but you have to ask for that menu. Staff is very friendly and great with recommendations. It's about a mile or so east of the Strip, at 935 E. Sahara in the ugliest strip mall you've ever seen! Check out their website at http://www.saipinchutima.com/.

I'll have to check that out when the wife and I are there this summer.

brad

[DigMe]

The wife and I took a gondola ride through the hotels canals, our gondolier was a pro opera singer and she sang the entire ride which was cool.

The good thing about the lady singing is that when the ride is over you KNOW it's really over.

I hope you tipped her well!

brad

[ppopp]

This makes me think there's a great opportunity for someone to open a high-end coffee shop in one of the large casinos. Not necessarily expensive, just well made espresso drinks, good drip coffee, and maybe a small selection of rare/exotic beans and a Clover machine for people that are ready to treat themselves well on vacation. I'm really surprised that this hasn't been done.

[zin1953]

This makes me think there's a great opportunity for someone to open a high-end coffee shop in one of the large casinos.

Starbucks has a virtual lock on that one, and I have no doubt whatsoever there is something close to an "exclusivity clause" in the lease agreement . . . .

I'd say the opportunity exists, but I think it's among the locals, not the tourists . . . Mr. & Mrs. Tourist are quite happy with *$, but the locals who love their espresso and coffee -- well, like the locals everywhere, a segment of them is looking for something better. Don't lose sight of the fact that we participants on this board (and ones like it) are but a tiny fraction of one percent of the coffee/espresso drinkers in the US (and beyond). *$ grew into such a huge and successful mega-corporation precisely for the same reasons McDonald's did -- and reason number one is that most people think it's great! The tourists who come to Vegas do so for the following reasons: to attend a convention, to gamble, to see a show, maybe to eat . . . no one goes to Vegas for espresso, and no one is going to take the time to seek out where your little jewel of a high-end coffee shop/cafe is -- whether it's in a casino* or not.

But the locals will. And therein lies the opportunity! Las Vegas has locals with "beaucoups bucks" (and their own GS/3's) who will seek out great coffee on a Clover (or syphon a la Blue Bottle) and locally roasted, top quality roasts. Local business people -- whether they wear a white collor or blue** -- will seek out a great espresso and/or latte, and UNLV has lots of students in need of a caffeine fix and wi-fi

Cheers,
Jason

* Trust me. No one staying at (e.g.) Caesar's is going to cross the street to Paris for an espresso in the morning, let alone leave the Mandalay Bay and drive all the way up to the Wynn . . .

** I love the hook-and-ladder that stops at Peet's nearly every morning, and the 5-6 Berkeley firefighters who go in for their morning coffees. For some reason, the Berkeley Police seem to favor *$ . . .

[cannonfodder]

Las Vegas has locals with "beaucoups bucks" (and their own GS/3's) who will seek out great coffee on a Clover (or syphon a la Blue Bottle) and locally roasted, top quality roasts. Local business people -- whether they wear a white collor or blue** -- will seek out a great espresso and/or latte, and UNLV has lots of students in need of a caffeine fix and wi-fi

Cheers,
Jason

You might be surprised. Las Vegas has one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the country. When your economy is based on the rest of the countries disposable income, it tends to go down the tubes when most of the countries residents' disposable income dries up. The casinos get the money, the residents get foreclosed on.

[zin1953]

You might be surprised.

Nah, no surprise. What goes up must come down . . .

I have a brother-in-law in real estate there, a very good friend of mine is a mortgage broker, and my cousin does custom finish woodworking (his wife is also a broker), so I have a pretty good idea what's going on there. But I think the opportunity is still there among the locals, not among the tourists.