Between 5 and 8pm, the 8-ounce filet at Herbs & Rye costs $35 instead of $64, which explains why some people are waiting outside at 4:30. Herbs & Rye is a classic-cocktail bar and steakhouse in a strip mall on West Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas, a few blocks west of the Strip, open until 3am and in business since December 15, 2009. It was No. 25 on North America's 50 Best Bars in 2024, and in 2018 SevenFifty Daily wrote it up as the place the drinks industry hangs out.
A Steakhouse on Sahara
From the parking lot, Herbs & Rye looks like the rest of the strip mall, with car dealerships up and down this stretch of Sahara near Valley View Boulevard. For almost 50 years the building held the Venetian, an Italian restaurant that had nothing to do with the casino of the same name (no gondolas), and after that it was the Slanted Clam and then, briefly, a Mexican restaurant. The dark wood stayed through all of it: red walls, brick, heavy oak booths, crystal chandeliers over a long bar, and bartenders in vests and ties working in front of arched shelves of bottles, with the bar on one side and the dining room on the other.
Owner Nectaly Mendoza started in Las Vegas polishing glasses at Todd English's Olives in the Bellagio, then spent close to a decade with the Light Group, working from barback up to beverage specialist. He signed for this space just before the 2008 recession arrived, and in the early days he sold his car to make payroll. Nightclub & Bar named him Bartender of the Year in 2016, the same year Tales of the Cocktail gave Herbs & Rye its Spirited Award for Best American High Volume Cocktail Bar. The bar team won Best American Bar Team in 2019, with Clover Club, Lost Lake and Nickel City as the other finalists, and in 2025 VinePair's Next Wave Awards named the bar Industry Icon of the Year.
Classic Cocktails at Herbs & Rye, by Era
There are no house originals on the list. Every cocktail is a classic, arranged by historical era, from the Gothic Age and Golden Age through Prohibition and onward, with a short note on where each drink came from. The Infatuation's 2026 review named the Martinez (the martini's older, sweeter relative) from the Gothic Age and a pisco sour from the Golden Age, and in 2018 the Clover Club and the Blood And Sand were two of the bar's most popular drinks. Here are four specs from the menu, as printed in 2019:
Blood And Sand: Scotch, Luxardo Cherry, Sweet Vermouth, Orange.
Vieux Carré: Rye, Cognac, Benedictine, Sweet Vermouth, Angostura Bitters, Peychauds Bitters.
Blackthorne: Sloe Gin, Pineapple Syrup, Lemon, Green Chartreuse.
Ramos Gin Fizz: Gin, Citrus, Orange Flower Water, Egg White, Cream, Soda.
Those four were $12 to $14 at the time. The bar's website has no drinks menu, so expect the prices to have moved. Reviewers also mention the Last Word, the Ward 8, the Corpse Reviver and the Scofflaw, and you should try whichever era you know least. In 2018 a normal night ran to 400 to 500 covers and about 1,000 cocktails, which works out to a little over two cocktails a head.
Happy Hour Steaks, 5 to 8pm
Most tables come for the steaks. All the meat is butchered in house, and from 5 to 8pm Monday through Saturday the steaks are roughly half price: the 8-ounce Flat Iron goes from $42 to $24, the 8-ounce Filet Mignon from $64 to $35, the 12-ounce New York Strip from $56 to $29 and the 16-ounce Ribeye from $78 to $46. The same deal covers the Bone in Pork Chop ($41, or $22), the Littleneck Clams ($36, or $20) and the Linguine & Clams ($44, or $24). Sauces are $5 each, with Peruvian chimichurri and brandy peppercorn among them. Nectaly's Surf & Turf, a 16-ounce ribeye with two lobster tails, red wine glaze, garlic mash and asparagus, is market price.
For a different night downtown, our guide to the best bars in Las Vegas covers the whiskey bar in a shipping container at Oak & Ivy and the 16-guest speakeasy behind a wall at The Laundry Room, both on Fremont East.
When to Go to Herbs & Rye, Las Vegas
Herbs & Rye is open Monday through Saturday from 5pm to 3am and closed Sunday. Book a table on SevenRooms through the bar's website, and book well ahead for happy hour. Bar seats are first come, first served, and some people line up at 4:30 for them, since there isn't much room to wait once the doors open. Parking in the lot is tight.
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