The Peppermill Lounge and Restaurant is a longtime Vegas establishment famous for its good food, huge portions, and intimate, friendly lounge. The decor has to be seen to be believed: intense neon strips of blue and pink outline much of the wall space and highlight the colorful seating and carpeting, enormous artificial cherry trees tower over the booths, and a long counter overlooks the kitchen area. It can be a bit of sensory overload, but it grows on you as you spend time enjoying the people-watching and certainly the food. Before it was remodeled, the Peppermill was featured in the movie, "Casino" because it epitomized ‘70s decor in Vegas. Apparently, Robert DeNiro was so taken with it, he frequently came back with his entourage to hang out after shooting. More recently, Penn Gillette (of Penn and Teller) is a frequent customer and actually had a reproduction of one of their booths built into the kitchen of his new house!
We came for breakfast, and believe me, you don't need lunch after eating here. The Peppermill serves great breakfast concoctions and classics like pancakes, waffles, and omelets. I enjoyed just a fraction of Joe's San Francisco Special, which included scrambled eggs with spinach, onions, and sausage served on potato skins and smothered in a golden cheese sauce. My husband, who is a big eater, couldn't even finish his short stack of pancakes with both sausage and bacon! Their dinner menu looked quite appealing, featuring an enormous array of appetizers, sandwiches, salads, steaks, and seafood and desserts. Apparently, their ice-cream sundaes and banana splits are legendary. I believe that fasting for 3 days before (or after) consuming one those would be in order!
We also came back to visit the Peppermill Fireside Lounge for a nightcap. As expected, the decor here is also over-the-top, featuring the "flaming pool," a cozy seating area surrounding a fire pit that appears to be floating on deep-blue water. Elsewhere, comfy pink sofas semicircles filled the lounge, music videos played on many plasma-screen monitors, and an extensive frou-frou cocktail menu was served by women who must be aspiring models, clad in low-cut, slinky black dresses. I liked the way our server sat down at our table with us to take our order. Our server was very friendly as well as beautiful; she told us how during the day she's a student and varsity basketball player at UNLV. Only in Vegas!
The Peppermill is Vegas at its classic best. It's next to the Riviera, across from the Stardust on the north end of the Strip. It is absolutely worth going out of your way for!