New club moving into iconic Cleopatra’s Barge space at Ceasars
The club’s first marketing image is a black-and-white shot of a woman licking caviar off her right hand, while glancing at an unseen someone to her left. We imagine this person saying, “I’ll have what she’s having.”
This is the first look at Caspian’s Caviar & Cocktails, the new club in the old Cleopatra’s Barge space at Caesars Palace. The concept by trend-setting Las Vegas nightlife company Clique Hospitality is planning a spring opening. The opening was to be announced Friday morning.
Designed by Celano Design Studio Co. (Casa Calaveras at Virgin Hotel and Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails at Cosmopolitan), the 1,100-square-foot caviar bar will seat about 50 guests. The music lounge is planned for 2,300 square feet and will seat nearly 100.
The outside piece of this nightspot, the caviar bar, is bedecked in onyx and pearl and brass. The club will be proud of its champagne and vodka selections and “exceptional” collection of caviar. The lounge and intimate table setup leads to an unmarked entrance at the caviar bar’s back wall, off in the venue’s dark recesses.
There, guests will discover a Parisian-style music lounge, where a golden frame and blue-velvet curtains provide the setting. Big couches in brown, blue and gold are befitting a big night out in a cozy Vegas haunt.
If none of this reminds you of the kitschy, moated, awkwardly designed Cleopatra Barge, that is intended. Clique Hospitality founder Andy Masi says Caspian’s is an entirely dissimilar, far more contemporary destination.
“As we have with other Clique Hospitality destinations, we designed Caspian’s to feel timeless, but also very much of the moment. Caspian’s evokes Paris and the birth of the Art Deco movement in the early 1900s, and that architecture reflects an era that was magical and celebratory,” Masi says. “We want you to be able to imagine yourself in that time, dancing and drinking the night away.
“We use design to create spaces that feel transportive to these bygone eras and find that in doing so, we’re creating truly incredible experiences and memories for our guests.”
But who will perform there, and what type of music is offered, has yet to be revealed. But the entertainment will be nightly, the cocktails imaginative and the caviar (judging from our new friend in the photo) delectable and abundant. There will be a cover on Friday and Saturdays, and also for special events, all to be determined.
Clique runs similarly chic nightspots on and off the Strip. We’re especially fond of the dually inventive Barbershop concept at Cosmo, where the grooming and grooving are top-notch. Clique has also recently developed Easy’s Cocktail Lounge at Aria, and is hyping Wax Rabbit inside Mijo Modern Mexican Restaurant at the now-delayed Durango Casino & Resort.
Caspian’s sea of splendor is taking over a truly iconic Caesars Palace lounge. Cleopatra’s Barge ran in various forms from the 1970 through the pandemic shutdown. When it was locked up, Wayne Newton and Dionne Warwick were headliners. David Perrico’s Pop Strings rocked late-night, no-cover parties on the weekends.
But that era ended in March 2020, the room soon disassembled. As Caspian’s moves in, its slogan is, “Inhibitions are out. Defiance is in.” We applaud this idea. But first, finish the caviar.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
