Highlander (Harrah’s - 18th floor)

www.caesars.com/harrahs-tahoe/restaurants/highlander-bar-at-the-forest-buffet

(Update on Jan 3, 2022 - they’ve made some changes as the video poker has been removed and they are now serving food at the bar)

Highlander is a small video poker casino bar on the top floor of Harrah’s opposite the Friday Station Steakhouse and is the bar for their new Italian restaurant up there.

I typically wouldn’t include a place like this in the list but a few things stand out. Mainly it’s Cliff and Tony. The bartenders are like institutions. Nicest guys you could meet and fountains of knowledge about Tahoe since they’ve been around so long.

I don’t even like playing video poker that much but I go up when I’m in Tahoe just to chat with the guys because it’s a great way to kill some time while soaking up the view of the lake. That is the other thing the place has going for it - if you are there before sundown - tremendous view of the lake from the top floor of Harrah’s.

It’s a nice smoke free environment and the guys use Carpano Antica so it has proper Negroni cred. I think it has to now that it has a fine Italian eatery attached to it. Previously it used to be the staging area for people waiting for the Harrah’s buffet but the buffet is no more (as Cliff and Tony tell people a hundred times a day as they come up looking for the buffet).