Book & Stage

One of my favorite video poker bars in Las Vegas. Great place to park on a night with nothing else to do. Good scenery, good bartenders, almost always end up meeting random cool people. Almost had a knock a point off because they no longer comp Macallan, and that’s after they lost their comped Belgian beers. But somehow I still gotta give them 5 stars as it still is one of my favorite ways to spend a night away in Vegas.

This is a very nice lounge bar at the Cosmopolitan. It’s perfect for a night cap or a place to drink without having to be in the club.
Drinks are pricey but worth it. Try the Fireball. It’s different.

Great bar and great bartenders. Cori is here every time we’ve been here. He always has a great personality and takes care of the drunkees.

When I sat to play video poker and have a couple signature drinks, little did I know the experience the bartenders would give me.
I was given a menu immediately, and told there were other drinks they could make if I didn’t see something I liked on the menu. I told the bartender, Hooks, i liked whiskey drinks and what he wanted to make would be great with me. He came back a short while later with one of the best drinks i have tasted. It was completely original and included liquors i had never tried. After quite a while, he was happy to make a second drink for me, and after realizing I am a Manhattan drinker, made his take. It was full of flare, creativity and deliciousness.
Chris Hooks, Cori Anderson and their apprentice Sam were all some of the friendliest bartenders I have met in Vegas and all seemed to be having a great time. If you are willing to take the extra moment to wait for a drink, they are willing to take the extra moment to make it.

Book & Stage is more low key of the bars at the Cosmo. The theme is a polished sports bar with TVs for watching sports games. There is a booking area which is small compared to other casinos.
The lounge sometimes has live band performances. They also offer a small bar food menu.
Not bad if you want to avoid the other bars and just watch a game.

Count on killer cocktails expertly mixed (and comped if you’re playing video BJ!) by the most amazing bartenders in all of Vegas. Joining the consistently outstanding Kalama, Kory and Wolfgang are my new friends Sone, Deven and Sam. To all who visit them, tip them well and you will be richly rewarded in return!

Book & Stage is a small bar near the lobby of the Cosmopolitan. After spending 3 nights at the hotel and hitting the bar a couple times, it was a-​ok as a hotel bar, but there wasn’t any live performances in the evenings, the book portion is small, and there are better bars at the Cosmopolitan.
The bartenders are nice and all … like most drink slingers in Las Vegas. No complaints about the service; however, both visits we left and headed elsewhere cause the place was practically empty. When there aren’t any live performances on the small stage, then perhaps the niche Book and Stage fills in as a quieter bar choice than other Cosmopolitan hot spots.

When they still hosted free shows, the Book/​Stage was absolutely amazing.
There were no shortage of awesome nights spent here and thus my review will be focus on that aspect of B&S’ history, and not food, drinks, food & drinks, sports wagering, or poker machine gambling (or anything else one could choose to do there).
In fact, I have never eaten, had a drink (that I purchased there [*wink*]), waged a sports bet, or insomuch as gotten remotely close to the poker machines here. It is not why I come here.
PRO TIP:
Buy a whole pizza pie from Secret Pizza and bring it down to B&S during the show, if they ever start having them again. Bring a beer or two. Wear protection.
The sound has always been pristine, with only a couple of mishaps/​problems all the times I have been, and in those few instances one of the techs — most nights a short, portly gentleman that would remind you of a Hawai’ian CeeLo or an older, gray-​haired, short-​sighted Caucasian with less port but equal amounts of magic touch for the sound controls — handled them with ease.
Here I leave readers an abridged list of who I heard perform here, in overly-​nerdy alphabetical order:
A Silent Film, Alberta Cross, Alex Boyd, Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme, Anjulie, Augustana, Austin Brown, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Constellations, Diamond Light, Ellie Goulding, Fitz & The Tantrums, Foster The People, Funk Ark, Graffiti6, Grouplove, JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound, Kings Go Forth, The Knocks, Kopecky Family Band, Lady Dottie & The Diamonds, Leggy Peggy, Mateo, Mates of State, Maya Jupiter, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Most Thieves, The Nervous Wreckords, Nick Waterhouse, Ocote Soul Sounds, Olin & The Moon, Orgone, Other Lives, Otis Heat, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Royal Bangs, Stacy Clark, Tasha Taylor, Terraplane Sun, Todd Hannigan and The Heavy 29s, Uh Huh Her, and Walk the Moon.
All completely free and nearly all staying for mini-​residencies which consisted of two sets a night for four consecutive nights. More artists performed but I was out of state for those shows, so waste time publishing your own review with the complete list if you feel so inclined. I would vote it useful (but not cool). — E
Postscript. Author’s Note: There is nothing «cool» about this published review.

A great place to enjoy a live band nightly…2 shows per night for free! The bartenders Terrance is SUPER friendly & entertaining! The bar is a completely different atmosphere, different from all the bars @ the Cosmo! If your looking for something exciting definitely check out the Book & Stage!
Only down side is the bar doesn’t serve Vevue or Patron Cafè xoxo!

Walking through Cosmo from a disappointing visit to the Vesper Bar and this lounge completely caught my attention. I later found out the performer was the Zak Waters Band, and the music had just a feel-​good vibe that got everyone dancing and having a good time. A great alternative to the usual mm-​tzz mm-​tzz beats that fill all the Vegas clubs. Plus, it’s still right in the middle of the casino so plenty of opportunities to watch all the drunk people stumble around (I’m not completely excluded from this category).

Love this bar! Located in the gorgeous Cosmopolitan hotel with very friendly bartenders. Jenny is an absolute doll and goes above and beyond to ensure you have a great time. Kalama was awesome too… ask his opinion on desertification and the carbon footprint if you want a good conversation haha. There are video poker machines at every seat and a huge projector screen to watch the game on. I will be going back soon!
I had a few chilled patron shots, bellini cocktails (basically a mimosa with peach purée – FANTASTIC), and mimosas. They were all fabulous!

I LOVE watching my games at the cosmo because they have so many more (and better) options than what other hotels have to offer. At hotels like Venetian/​Palazzo, unless you book seats at Legasse’s stadium), you’re pretty much stuck sitting cinema style next to chain smokers watching your game on a series of tiny screens far away.
Cosmo has several viewing areas and this one is my favorite, provided that they play your game on the big screen. I believe it’s first come, first serve like any sports bar, so you need to get there early to request any screen to play the game you’re interested in. If you get your game on the big screen, then the sound is played for your game too.
Seats are comfy and aplenty and you kind of get your own lounge area if you sit in the open booths. If you come solo or in a small group, there are several swivel chairs available too.
The food and drink menu are pretty short, but sufficient. We came in on an early Sunday morning when breakfast was still being served, and I would say no-​go on the beef hash and A-​OK on the soft-​boiled egg dish.

Came here to rest my feet and plopped down on their big couches. I didn’t understand the name of the bar until I saw this band come onto the stage. What a genius face I am! Haha. That night’s performance was by Urie Norris band from Oakland, California. The music was very funkadelic and entertaining. Mr. Norris was interacting with the crowd (including me, the hubby was not happy) and extremely lively. What an act! The live music was all fun and games but their specialty cocktails were overpriced and pretty terrible. Overall, I think it’s a cool spot in the middle of the casino and I really look forward to seeing more artists perform!
Here is the link to upcoming events:

If NYE wknd wasn’t already insane, the «Peace, Love, and Soul» singer Mayer Hawthorne’s appearance was CRAY!
I figured I’d go on Sunday, hoping that all the NYE-​ers would’ve travelled back home or was too hungover to move outta bed… but, no!
Sunday and the Hawthorne still brought about a huge crowd! Even when I was on the outsider of B&S, I still got an ear and eye-​full =)
HAPPY HAWTHORNE NEW YEARS !!!

Cosmopolitan has knocked my socks off a lot lately, and the most recent reason being the free concerts they offer at Book & Stage.
If you go to Cosmopolitan’s website, you can see a list of their regular concerts (which have included Smashing Pumpkins and Foster the People), guest DJ’s at their clubs and lounges, and indie bands that play for free at Book & Stage. Make sure to check Cosmo’s twitter page for last minute concerts or time changes.
I’ve been lucky enough to catch Robert Randolph and the Family Band as well as Grouplove here and really enjoyed both concerts. The acoustics aren’t the greatest considering you’re in a lounge but you can still hear everything perfectly fine. Look out for the tourist prices on alcohol at the bar.
Major hipster bonus points!

You’ve raised your price for Trappistes Rochefort 8 from $ 7 to $ 10, subtract a star. Went there to see Walk the Moon last night. Apparently it was moved to Boulevard Pool and started and hour earlier, meaning I missed it. You just had over priced babies getting paid to stand in the grass and try to hit a ball with a stick, i.e. baseball on the big screen. Lose another star.

Book & Stage I so badly want to bump your rating up to five stars but your spotty service is a line of orange cones on the road to a rating upgrade. The Book&Stage continues to be an excellent place to have a unique music experience in Vegas (hint: free and not top-​40 crap) and an even better place to people watch. The bands booked here have always brought out a, how do you say it nicely, eclectic, group of people as well as the mix of people passing through on their way to Bond or Marquee.
The service continues to be mediocre at best, and I want to give the employees the benefit of the doubt and guess that they have been stiffed by the eclectic concert goers more times than they can count. I get it. But I tip well. So don’t make assumptions that I’m going to stiff you, because your Nostradamus prediction will prove true if your inattentiveness warrants a crap tip.
Keep on keepin’ on Book&Stage and get some upgraded training for your staff!

This is a little free gem in town. Forget the janky, cheesy lil free magic shows or staring at water shoot up or a «hair band» cover lounge group, this is serious shiieett. They book actual talent and don’t charge for it.
I was just walking past to head home and the BF and I go «Hey, that sounds like Nikka Costa»…“Oh shit, that IS Nikka!” I did know about her coming here soon, but I didn’t know she was here for June 15 – 18, 10pm&12am. It saved the night as I got dissed at Marquee.
We missed a good part of the show, so we might come back to see the whole thing and come early so we can get a table. There is some worry on the open layout affecting the sound, but last night the sound was pretty good. I’ll have to see next time by sitting down if the sound is good in the enclosed parts as I was standing by the bar near the entrance.
The servers and bartenders are on it so service doesn’t suffer from a filled house. It opens up to the casino so if you’re a degenerate gambler who cannot stop for an hour– no worries, you can hear it from the tables or sit by the slots just outside of Book&Stage. If you cannot put your cancer stick down for a show, you can stand just outside a bit of the space and smoke since you can’t do it in the sitting area. I don’t think many people know about it and the acts are known on a indie level so it’s a comfortable size crowd and not a clusterfuck.
If I’m willing to pay for some of these acts (BF has paid to see Nikka before), then I am giddy for the freebie show. In a city that generally lacks good acts and non club venues what’s not to love about this place? It’s a little piece of lounge culture I felt was missing in Vegas.

My experience is pretty limited, sadly, but I can’t wait to go back, if that’s any indicator of this place’s coolness.
This bar is easy to miss, but this place is worth your time. We cruised in after checking out some other Cosmopolitan spots and grabbed a seat to listen to Kisses. Having other engagements, we couldn’t stay long, but the vibe of the place was cool, the free admission was even better, and the intimate size of this bar/​lounge makes for a great listening experience.
I didn’t sample any drinks (having just had a few from the Chandelier Bar), so I can’t comment there. I do wish Jim G. and I were going to be in Vegas in May so we could watch A Silent Film; if you’re around, go check them out (May 9 – 12)!!

It’s amazing how the Cosmopolitan caters to the young, hip crowd so well. I’m convinced that the Cosmopolitan has something for everyone — prefer something chill? Hit up one of the quieter lounges (the Chandelier is stunning). Into clubbing? I hear Marquee is the IT place. Into rock music? Come to Book & Stage.
My boyfriend is not much of the clubbing type and Book & Stage was recommended to us by Kristin C. She was fist pumping to Kaskade at Marquee the night we stopped by and we were pretty sure there was no way of getting through the lines for the club. Plus, the boyfriend was not about to pay $ 45 cover for Marquee. Off to Book & Stage we go. For a FREE show none the less!
We were able to catch Foster the People who played an amazing set. A crowd formed immediately after the band started and everyone was enjoying their time. Before the show, we were able to find a few seats and ordered two beers. During the show, our waittress came by and we ordered some more beers. Service was great, band was great, crowd was great.
Now, my itty bitty complaint. I get that it’s Vegas and it’s the Cosmopolitan so brace yourself for inflated prices. But $ 6 for a PBR? What kind of yuppie scenester is going to shell out the bucks for that?
Me. I hate myself.