Our weekend tour of themed bars and restaurants was highlighted by a visit at opening to Viking Mike’s Alpine Yurt Bar in Vegas’ Arts District. We arrived about 15 minutes before opening and a crowd started to gather, which was good news since being early meant we were able to get seated at the bar back in the yurt portion of the venue. The thematic elements are so well-done here, including the impressive carvings outside and continuing past the first bar with an aurora borealis effect. The round yurt section was breathtaking with seating ringing the exterior portion of the room and featuring stone, furs, and Scandinavian textures.
Once seated we received a small non-alcoholic welcome drink featuring compote and spices. The cocktail menu features riffs on a number of classic cocktails including the Mikkel-Tai with tequila, Rum Fire, hazelnut sage orgeat, and Kronan Swedish Punsch. Mai Tai purists wouldn’t consider this variant up to Trader Vic’s standards but in this writer’s opinion the cocktail was fantastic – very rich and nutty, with the tequila and Jamaican rum really working well together. This was easily one of the best new Mai Tai style cocktails I’ve had in a while – don’t skip it.
The other cocktails our party tried were similarly well-done, and there are some great beer and wine options as well. Some others even had the shared Shot-Ski for four, which the staff set up by ringing bells and shouting as if this was a Viking victory cheer. Mike’s also offers some good food options. One of our party ordered the sausage tower and I had filling chicken schnitzel sandwich and house browns. A “tin” of Swedish fish completed our meal. We found the food to be very authentic to items we’ve had in Europe and despite a venue-filling crowd the food came out promptly and was served piping hot.
Viking Mike’s is one of the best themed bars in Las Vegas and compares favorably to the other destinations in the burgeoning Arts District bar scene.
