Cleaver

Nectaly Mendoza's steakhouse sibling to Herbs & Rye won Best U.S. Restaurant Bar at the 2024 Spirited Awards with a programme that proves cocktail ambition and red meat belong on the same ticket. Classic Las Vegas steakhouse aesthetics—celebrity portraits, elegant lighting—frame a seasonal cocktail menu that runs as seriously as the prime cuts. Top Four finalist at Tales of the Cocktail 2020, Regional Top Ten Honoree in 2022, and operating with the same Mendoza philosophy that drives his Sahara Avenue flagship: classic cocktails, fair prices, no compromises. The empire runs deep. Las Vegas cocktail culture in 2026 exists in two distinct streams: Strip hotels deploying unlimited budgets to create immersive spectacle, and off-Strip independents proving that a great cocktail requires only conviction and a fair price. The Arts District and Downtown now provide a genuine alternative to casino-floor drinking, and Nectaly Mendoza's expanding empire anchors it all from Sahara Avenue. The house always wins—but the cocktail bars are beating the odds.