Poodle Room Members-only Bar in Fontainebleau Las Vegas

• Poodle Room is a members-only membership on the prime of 67-story Fontainebleau Las Vegas. 
• The social area options hanging, poodle-inspired decor, in addition to a bar with beautiful views of the Vegas Strip, a patio, lounge areas, a cigar room, a non-public bar, and a 12-seat omakase restaurant. 
• The invite-only membership is accessible to visitors staying within the resort’s Fleur de Lis suites, in addition to these invited by a Poodle Room member and visitors eating at 12-seat omakase restaurant Ito.

Certainly one of Journey + Leisure’s Las Vegas reporters not too long ago advised me that the very best view of Sin Metropolis is at a members-only bar referred to as Poodle Room on the highest ground of the Fontainebleau lodge.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas, the second outpost from the hospitality model identified for its ever-popular Miami Seashore resort, was named one in every of the very best new motels of 2024 on T+L’s annual It Checklist. Housed within the “tallest occupiable constructing within the state of Nevada,” based on a Fontainebleau spokesperson, the bar crowning the tower additionally has a 12-seat omakase restaurant, Ito.

The members-only membership, 67 tales up, made New Yorker headlines at first of 2024—throughout its preview section—when A-listers like Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck, Cher, and because the article put it, “multiple Kardashian” confirmed as much as have a drink with Josephine, the bar’s headlining poodle.

The concept of a sky-high bar, usually purchased out by movie star clientele, with poodles in all places lived rent-free in my thoughts till, lastly, I succumbed to curiosity and made plans to see it. There are 3 ways to get in: it’s important to be invited by a member, have a coveted reservation at Ito, or keep within the Fontainebleau’s $1,500-a-night Fleur de Lis suites, which embrace butler service and lavish digs with a number of bedrooms and a lounge that feels roughly the dimensions of Nantucket. In my Fleur de Lis suite, I discovered a rest room that would actually rival Caligula’s—or actually any Roman emperor’s. And simply as I turned on the fountain that might fill the marble Jacuzzi tub beside the in-suite sauna, I noticed it: An invite to the newly opened Poodle Room, prolonged to the visitors of the lodge’s highest-rolling rooms.

At 11 p.m. that evening, I made it residence from the marriage that introduced me to Las Vegas, swapped my lehenga for a black gown and bright-red Carel heels, and rode the Fontainebleau elevator to the 89th ground. (Usually, motels go away flooring unaccounted for—many forego a thirteenth ground out of pure superstition—which is how the Poodle Room is 67 tales up however on the 89th ground.)

The mirrored entry is ripe for Instagram moments, however there aren’t any telephones allowed up right here; No photographs, no movies, and sure, it’s strictly enforced. I advised the host I used to be a Fleur de Lis visitor, was granted entrance to the decked-out bar, and practically walked right into a full-sized illuminated poodle statue. On her hind legs together with her head held excessive, she was taller than I used to be and posing haughtily in entrance of floor-to-ceiling glass home windows framing the Vegas strip. The welcoming committee.

I used to be transfixed. Not a lot by the view, although it was spectacular, as by the poodle statues, sconces, and patterned lamp shades that may have been left over from a ‘60s hang-out the Rat Pack frequented. The serviette below my gin martini had a poodle within the backside proper nook, and when the dessert cart got here, it was performed up with petit-fours and truffles organized on what wax paper with sketches of purple poodles.

Poodle Room oozes luxurious, nevertheless it isn’t quiet. And within the U.S. capital of unabashed opulence, the deeply maximalist membership suits proper in. The navy blue partitions meld with the glowing white orb the poodle sconces and statues emit, creating an ambiance that has you ordering a 3rd martini for the primary time in years. (On a associated word, three martinis in was once I visited the ladies’s restroom, and got here face-to-face with a taxidermied poodle sitting on a bathroom in one of many stalls.)

We’re not within the smooth launch section anymore. Poodle Room is in full swing, with a vibey cluster of hanging lights over the bar and a small patio the place I discovered a member smoking subsequent to a dangling portrait of a topped poodle labeled “La Reine” in gold script. There’s a cigar room, inviting lounge areas, and the sultry Forneau personal bar, clad in floor-to-ceiling pink and a powerful artwork assortment. 

Lastly, the 12-seat omakase restaurant Ito has a separate Japanese whiskey bar and serves uncommon fish that make day by day flights from Japan to be dolled up by acclaimed cooks Masa Ito and Kevin Kim. The restaurant, which can be headed for the Las Vegas Michelin-star listing, is open to members and non-members, and is likely to be your finest means into Poodle Room.

To guide your Ito reservation, go to fontainebleaulasvegas.com/ito, or to guide a keep on the Fleur de Lis suites, from $1,500 an evening, go to fontainebleaulasvegas.com/fleur-de-lis.