FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - 1850 by American Express pop-up lounge at Aria Las Vegas
Old Nov 13, 2025 | 4:32 pm
  #7  
platbrownguy
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 7,423
Here is my review:

Check-in. The line on the left is for walk-ins, the line on the right is for reservations. The reservations line moved faster. As is to be expected, a lot of folks in the walk-in line were confused. A lot of folks also walked up asking what it was. Staff were plentiful and very friendly but they didn't have a sense (at all) that there should be a different answer to (1) an eligible Amex cardholder's question "how does this work / how do I get in" than to (2) a random tourist's question "what on earth is this"... instead they just responded to everyone with something like "it's a 60-minute experience with a full bar and fun surprises, there's a QR code there for reservations, but we take walk-ins" but only haphazardly clarified that it was open only to Platinum and Centurion cardholders and their guests. That answer only further confused the random tourists who were mostly just trying to figure out whether it was a hotel bar, a restaurant, or something else. Anyhow, I arrived right at 2:00, I got to the desk at 2:12, and I was seated at 2:18.

Entry. After you're processed in, the check-in agent generates a little slip of paper and gives it to a host who walks you back personally to your seat. Singles are seated at the bar, pairs and up are seated at tables (although you could probably request bar seating).

Drinks. Platinum gets 1 drink token per person, Centurion gets 2. (Platinum gets one additional guest, Centurion gets three guests.) On the way in you get about a 2.5 ounce poor of mid-grade prosecco. Once seated, you get a Fiji water bottle and a menu from which to select your free drink. Additional drinks are $23.

Food. A trio of snacks (chips/olives/nuts) are brought first, followed by a meat and cheese board. The snacks were fine. The meats were Admirals Club quality (salami, coppa, etc., not bad but not exciting). The cheeses were pretty good (a standard manchego, a very nice cheddar). Little bit of fig jam, grainy mustard, honeycomb. It seemed very odd that no one asked about allergies or dietary restrictions. I don't have any, but I imagine a lot of eligible cardholders are vegan/vegetarian/gluten free or whatnot so it seemed odd to have a one-size-fits-all offering that was brought over without inquiry or explanation.

Features. There's a photo booth and some sort of concierge desk. You are capped at 60 minutes per stay, but I'm not sure what you'd want to do for 60 minutes here. Personally, after the freebie, I'd rather go to a bar I like and get $23 cocktails there where there's the ordinary people-watching that makes Vegas what it is.

Staff. Very friendly. This was opening day / opening hour so there were definitely some tensions. They have their machine for imprinting the espresso martini, but it wasn't working well and people were making a mess trying to figure it out. There was some issue ringing up drinks in the system. They'll figure it out.

Overall. It was fine. My room is a 15-minute walk away (I'm at the north end of the main Bellagio tower). I had nothing better going on at 2pm today so I'm glad I went. I certainly wouldn't make a special trip (like an Uber or whatnot) to get here. I'm not sure it's even worth walking across the Strip for, but if you're within a short walk (so, anything from Bellagio to, say, NYNY) then why not come by. The trick is that you have no way to know, without showing up, how bad the walk-in line will be. I left my room at 1:45 and was back in my room at 2:55 (I spent 20 minutes at the bar), and I think that if I had spent any longer on the whole thing I would have felt I had wasted precious Vegas time. I tipped the bartender a $5 (he was friendly; the lady to my left tipped $10; I saw others who didn't tip, it certainly doesn't seem expected/required). Bartender said "see ya tomorrow right?" and I said, "well, maybe if I have nothing else to do."

Pics:

Entryway
Entryway

Menu
Menu

Bar
Bar

Looking right from the bar (theres a side room with more tables)
Looking right from the bar (there's a side room with more tables)

Snacks
Snacks

Drink (I got the Vesper) and meat/cheese board.
Drink (I got the Vesper) and meat/cheese board.
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