Three secret rooms and 4,000 vinyl records inside Park MGM
On the Record occupies a unique position in the Las Vegas cocktail landscape: it is genuinely good, genuinely designed with care, and genuinely not trying to be anything other than what it is. Opened in 2018 inside the Park MGM hotel, the bar takes the record-shop-meets-speakeasy concept and executes it with a level of detail that earns the price point.
The entrance is itself part of the experience. Walk through what appears to be the back wall of a vinyl shop and you emerge into a dark, intimate cocktail lounge with 4,000-plus records covering every surface. Three distinct rooms follow: a main bar, a dance floor with a DJ booth, and a private back room that functions as a more intimate space for smaller groups. Each has its own character but shares the same amber-lit, low-ceiling atmosphere that mutes the Strip noise entirely.
The cocktail menu rotates quarterly and references specific albums and artists without being cartoonish about it. The Gold Experience, a riff on a rum sour, is a fixture. The B-Side, their take on a negroni with aged rum and chocolate bitters, has never left the menu since opening. Whiskey selection runs to 80 bottles, focused on American rye and bourbon.
For the best cocktail bars in Las Vegas, this sits near the top of any serious list. It handles the Strip's demand for volume without sacrificing quality, which is rarer than it should be. DJs run from 10pm until close seven nights a week. The dance floor fills by midnight on weekends. Arrive by 9pm if you want a table in the main bar.
Among Las Vegas hidden gems, On the Record does a good impression of a secret even though it is inside one of the busiest hotels on the Strip. The concealed entrance and the general refusal to advertise loudly contribute to an atmosphere that feels earned.
