Taboo Cove / Las Vegas - October 2002 Visit

I just got back from a week in Vegas, staying at the Mandalay Bay resort. Since I was going with the whole family (wife plus two small kids) I didn't have much time to go to bars. However, we did have time to visit Taboo Cove and Rumjungle. Despite negative reports about each here, I have to say, I was very impressed by both and had a great time. Rumjungle is trendy and very hip, but if you go early in the evening it's pretty low key, giving you plenty of time to take in the decor and savor some of their huge, delicious rum drinks. The Volcano was the recommended drink, but I decided to go with the Painkiller. They don't serve their drinks in tiki glasses, just standard clear bar glasses. The Painkiller lived up to it's name - it was yummy going down, nice n' smooth. It was only with the last few sips that I realized, hell, I'm feeling a little bit wasted. Drinks are in the $8 - $12 range, but are big and potent.

On our last night we visited Taboo Cove. Some have said here it's hard to find. It's not next to the casino or mall, but after asking someone at the info desk inside the mail it was very easy to find. It's on the outside facing the Strip/Mirage. The place looks fabulous on the outside and inside. There were about a dozen people or so there. We sat up at the bar and asked for a drink menu. I selected the Trader's Punch, which was served in a Dynasty Fu Man Chu mug. My wife went for a Chambord sour in a standard bar glass. They were playing vintage rockabilly, which was perfectly fine with me. At one point the bartender asked if she could put on something a bit more lively. Everyone said they liked the rockabilly, so it was played the entire time we were there. I saw on the menu that for $26 you could get a flaming drink (can't remember the name) in a big red tiki punchbowl. We decided not to go for it, but it looked cool. Don't know if it would have tasted good or not - I thought to myself that I would hate to spend $26 on a big punchbowl of booze, only to find out after a few sips that it tasted like s**t. My drink was pretty good, probably about a 7 out of 10. While I enjoyed it from start to finish, I don't know if I would have ordered another one. It was cool looking at all the mugs on the back wall. Most of them seemed to be Tiki Farm mugs, at least the ones I recognized. Speaking of Tiki Farm, there were at least three places that I saw that sold Tiki Farm stuff.

One question about Taboo Cove - the drink menu said that the tiki drinks were served in a "collectable tiki mug". I was embarrassed to ask, but by this do they mean that you get to take the mug home with you? I left mine on the counter, because I already have a Fu Man Chu in my collection. Also, I sell tiki mugs on my record label site (www.dblcrown.com) and could get these wholesale from Dynasty for a few bucks each if I wanted more.

Overall I recommend the Rumjungle and Taboo Cove for anyone going to Vegas.

Sean

they charge an extra $5 for there mugs

It's good to know that someone had a good time at Taboo Cove and that the place is surviving in its present form.According to previous posts on this topic,however,it seems that you got lucky not to be blasted out of your seat by loud rap music while you were there.Sounds like the staff there has become a bit more sensitive to the wishes of their patrons.

The first comment I ever got about the Kon-Tiki Paradise Room was from a fellow musician that said "Man....that looks like a place you might see Jimmy Buffett 'playin a set"......He was banned from the bar, needless to say. I have never been so insulted.

Hey, if they're playing rockabilly, that's a step in the right direction, especially for me. I haven't been to the cove yet but it is good to finally here a positive review about the place. I hope when I make it out there I get the same ambiance. Thanks for the review!

--That's what I was afraid of when the bartender said she was going to change the music, and why I requested (along with others there) that she keep the rockabilly on. I figured the odds of her changing the music to something better were pretty slim.

Sean

It's good to know that someone had a good time at Taboo Cove and that the place is surviving in its present form.According to previous posts on this topic,however,it seems that you got lucky not to be blasted out of your seat by loud rap music while you were there.Sounds like the staff there has become a bit more sensitive to the wishes of their patrons.

Taboo Cove will evolve, many visitors don't know Tiki atmosphere yet, but they will...

By the way, Taboo Cove has some communal sized Tiki mugs made by Bosko. The management there stated that they bought 150-200 of these big boys, and then Bosko broke the mold. They are stamped on the bottom by Bosko, and are the only drinking vessels from that bar that have "Taboo Cove" on them. They had 4 of these left as of last night.

I went to Taboo Cove in late August. It was hard to find and the staff of the Venetian hotel either told me it had closed or that I was confusing it with the hotel disco called the V Bar. I just walked around the place until I found it. Anyhow, Im from Penna where Im starved for TIKI stuff, so I thought the Cove was terrific! The music was horrible so I demanded that they play something more suitable. They put on oldies, which were tolerable compared to the rap they had been playing. I had a mai tai which was good and a Peek-a-boo, which was similar. I bought 2 mugs and went back again the next nite. They had napkins and matchbooks bearing a Shag drawing. I noticed that most patrons had no idea of what a tiki bar was and most were drinking beer. I guess if you are from Calif you get more tiki stimuli in your life and may see fit to badmouth the Cove. I cannot wait to go back!