Public House (Luxor)
Information
At a Glance
What is it?
A restaurant/bar that shows a lot of sports on TVs around the room but isn’t an obnoxious sports bar.
Where is it?
At Luxor on the South Strip.
What kind of food is served?
Upscale pub grub with lots of really good choices.
What is the atmosphere like?
Casual and pretty laid back despite the DJ and the omnipresent sporting events.
How is the service?
Excellent from start to finish.
What are the prices like?
Very affordable when you compare it to most restaurants in Vegas.
What else do I need to know?
This is not related to the Public House at The Venetian.
What’s the bottom line?
I liked this place for its casual atmosphere and hearty grub.
Full Review
This could be confusing so let me explain. Public house is the full, formal name for what the Brits colloquially refer to as a “pub” or, here in the States, a “brew pub” or “gastropub,” the former if they brew their own beer or the latter if they serve fancier food, but the Public House here is the name of the restaurant at Luxor and, oddly, the name of a restaurant at The Venetian which have nothing to do with each other and aren’t the same at all, with The Venetian one being more of a gastropub than the Luxor one, which is kind of a sports pub, which is a whole other animal altogether.
Understand? Yeah, neither did I. But the short version is this: Las Vegas has two restaurants called Public House but the only thing they have in common is good food, lots of drinks, and reasonable prices.
The Luxor Public House is in the space once occupied by Company American Bistro near the LAX nightclub. It’s a brightly lit, airy room with a big bar, lots of tables and booths, and more flat screen televisions than you’ll know what to do with. “Spectacular Sports” is the subtitle on the front of the place but interestingly enough the place feels less like a sports bar and more like a nice restaurant that shows sporting events if that makes any sense. Maybe it’s the live DJ that was spinning tunes even on a Sunday morning. That seemed odd to me until one of the employees explained by saying “Welcome to Vegas” and I shrugged and let it go.
The menu is one page of pub-grub style food that has an upmarket air to it. I wouldn’t go so far as to place this in the gastropub category (which the other Public House at The Venetian definitely belongs in), but it’s definitely more than just burgers and chicken wings.
Appetizers include items like a chicken and corn chowder, calamari with pickled cherry peppers, a hummus plate, mussels in roasted garlic butter and Belgian ale broth, kettle chip nachos smothered in smoked gouda and beer-braised short rib meat, and a cheesesteak spring roll with jalapeno jack cheese and shaved rib eye steak. We started simple (and caloric) with the deep fried macaroni and cheese squares, which were served with both a fiery hot sauce and a chipoltle ranch. They were good but the spice averse should be warned that there are jalapenos in the squares so have some water standing by.
Salads include Greek, classic Caesar, Cobb, grilled steak, and more. You can add a variety of meats to it or you can have it served in a whole weat wrap with fries on the side.
The sandwich section has beef and turkey burgers, a couple of chicken options (hickory smoked or salad), filet mignon sliders, pastrami on rye, and some BBQ options including short rib and pulled pork.
The handful of entrees include everything from jambalaya to meatloaf to steak and seafood.
Weekend brunch offers a couple of breakfast type items and desserts are mostly skilled bakes (chocolate chip cookie or brownie, with ice cream).
In other words, while the menu is only one page it offers a little something for every taste.
We visited around lunch so our selections came from the sandwich section.
The turkey burger, which can be a bit bland and boring, came with chipoltle aioli, smoked gouda, and guacamole, although I opted out of the latter. There was a tangy flavor in the meat that was echoed in the spicy mayo and cheese that combined to make this a decidedly not boring version of the dish.
The slow roasted pulled pork came topped with crispy onion straws and cole slaw and was definitely more on the sweet side of the BBQ spectrum, just the way I like it.
The beer braised short rib was basically a pile of, juicy tender rib meat on a bun with caramelized onions, cheese, and horseradish.
About the only thing I could find to complain about were the French fries, which were a bit bland for their $7 price point.
While we’re on the topic of prices, everything is very reasonable. Appetizers run $7-$16 (with most $12 or less), salads are $10-$16 (plus $5-$8 if you add chicken, shrimp, steak, or salmon), sandwiches are all around the $12-$16 range (except for the $25 filet mignon sliders), and entrees are all within a few bucks on either side of the $20 mark. Our bill with one shared appetizer and one shared dessert plus three sandwiches, tax, and tip worked out to be about $25 per person.
Service was fantastic – friendly and efficient.
Despite their names, the two Public Houses in Vegas are very different animals so it’s tough to compare them and impossible to pick one over the other. I recommend them both.