Ellis Island Casino Debuts Bar 1968

By Scott Roeben, on July 09 2026
5 min read 1 comment
Gambling Las Vegas Las Vegas Bars Las Vegas Casinos Las Vegas Restaurants

The phased renovations at Ellis Island Casino have been happening for roughly 14 years, but completion is closer than ever! Not literally 14 years. They started in the fall of 2024. In customer years, though, that’s about 14 years.

The good news is Ellis Island has a new bar, Bar 1968. It sits in the space that was previously the casino’s karaoke bar, and good riddance we say. Karaoke is now at Ellis Island’s Front Yard, despite our best efforts to make it go away entirely. From the whole planet.

Bar 1968 is a lovely addition to Ellis Island, and we are delighted to share it with you, especially given the fact we tend to hate everything but we love this new space to gamble, drink, eat and judge drunk tourists playing craps nearby.

If you ever need to serve us papers, this is your best bet.

The refresh of Ellis Island has been extensive. Longtime guests have had to relearn the layout of the place several times as portions of the casino floor and restaurant spaces have been walled off for construction.

With the reveal of Bar 1968, we can all get used to Ellis Island 2.0, find our favorite machines again and settle into a brighter, less malodorous off-Strip monument to family-style service and undeniable value. Ellis Island is owned by an actual family, the Ellis family, which helps explain the “family-style” thing.

Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. Also, how in the hell did that become a reference that’s more than three decades old?

The Bar 1968 name is a nod to when Ellis Island opened. In 1968, in case that was not readily apparent.

There are a number of reasons to love Bar 1968, despite the fact they missed a huge marketing opportunity by just one year. Related: Please grow up.

Here’s a look at Bar 1968.

The new bar sits next to the casino’s cafe, Village Pub & Cafe.

A portion of the cafe has been refreshed, the other half is walled off.

Here’s the newly reopened Village Pub.

They didn’t go nuts on the capital investment with the cafe refresh, but it definitely feels freshened.

The BBQ restaurant is set to be revamped, but it will be back, we’re told.

Bid farewell to the sticky former BBQ space.

Barbeque is available in the cafe, and one of the best things about Bar 1968 is you can order the entire Village Pub & Cafe menu, along with the BBQ menu, at the bar.

The BBQ at Ellis Island isn’t literally “served daily at 4:00 p.m.” You can get it after that, too. It’s weird how your brain works.

Yes, it’s disgusting when other people eat while playing video poker, but it’s really fun and convenient when we do it.

The bartenders at Bar 1968 are great at keeping the drinks and food coming at a brisk pace.

There’s a specialty cocktail menu, of course. We asked, they can comp specialty cocktails for gamblers. Which is not something you’ll find on The Strip because the drinks are $35, so it’s a tougher ask.

This ain’t your grandpa’s Ellis Island.

As for the video poker, the pay tables are solid, which they tend not to be at video poker bars, but this is Ellis Island.

Our beloved bank of machines sits against one wall inside Bar 1968, having been on the main casino floor for a time, then in the BBQ space for a time, then on the main casino floor near the loyalty club desk for a time, and now they’re back-back. Phew.

The reason these machines are lucky is they were manufactured prior to the invention of the word “unlucky” in 1519 during the Tudor era.

Ellis Island now has four bars: Bar 1968, the Front Yard, the main bar in the casino proper (entirely new, where the brewery used to be) and another new bar on the roof, The Deck (sorry, no video poker up there). It’s a lot, especially given the small footprint of Ellis Island, but definitely leans into the “something for everybody” vibe.

Bar 1968 should go a long way toward providing solace to Ellis Island die-hards who miss the casino’s original center bar.

In an act of profound thoughtfulness, our Ellis Island host Nik Fava gave us a piece of the original bar as a gift. That’s some badass customer relations right there, and that’s one of the things that sets Ellis Island apart.

If you ever want to make us get weepy, gift us a chunk of a 60-year-old bartop with petrified gum on the bottom.

Bar 1968 has some requisite TV screens, because in Las Vegas bars, it’s the law. The audio only plays during big sportsball events, thankfully.

That’s Nik, schmoozing guests. Nik has not taken a day off since 2019.

Now you know what’s new at Ellis Island and what’s in the pipeline.

Bar 1968 is a big win for Ellis Island in our ever-humble opinion. It’s nothing flashy (some would say the casino renovation is), but checks a lot of boxes for people looking for an accessible spot to gamble, eat and drink.

It’s a quicker, more appealing alternative to the sit-down cafe (which often has lines).

Here’s a big plus: While smoking is permitted in Bar 1968, including at the machines against the wall, they don’t put out ashtrays. This is a sweet touch, and subtly implies that smoking is discouraged. At Ellis Island, smoking isn’t allowed at Front Yard or in the table games pit, so most guests will assume those guidelines apply to Bar 1968 as well.

Props to Ellis Island for this passive-aggressive way of telling guests that smoking should be banned in casinos and everywhere, really.

Yes, the name is easy to mix up with 1986, which we’re fairly sure we’ve done in this story. Evidence of that fact is illustrated by the special cookies a vendor delivered to Ellis Island in honor of the unveiling of Bar 1968.

The mistake was caught before the cookies were distributed. Fun fact: These cookies had the exact same texture and flavor as the piece of the bartop we received. Amazing coincidence!

If you’re playing video poker along the wall, you may want to get a drink before sitting down. Initially, cocktail servers worked that section, but bartenders have now taken over the duty, and they tend to be busy, so drink service isn’t the best. We trust they’ll iron that out. (Note to Ellis Island management: Just let Leighann and Ellen handle it! They’re good luck.)

We will continue to advocate moving the tall slot machines blocking the entrance to Bar 1968, as they mess with the sight lines.

We will also occasionally mention the fact one of the lights in the bar is green for some reason. This triggers our OCD in a serious way, which is all the more notable since we don’t actually suffer from OCD.

Our best guess is these lights can all change color; this one’s just glitchy.

On the subject of lights, we are obligated to ask WTF is going on with these fixtures?

Go home, interior design consultant, you’re drunk.

Bar 1968 has quickly become our go-to spot at our go-to everyday casino, Ellis Island.

By “everyday” we mean their amenities are limited. There’s no spa or Cirque show here, just the basic requirements for a low-roller casino. The food is sturdy, with generous portions, but it isn’t winning a James Beard Award anytime soon.

A lot of bars serve “elevated bar food.” Ellis Island serves bar food.

Free gifts on Wednesdays.

Free parking.

Promotions and giveaways pretty much every night of the week.

Recently overhauled loyalty club with decent free play and cash value for your points.

Again, just the friendliest casino staff, possibly in all of Las Vegas.

The opening of Bar 1968 marks the home stretch of Ellis Island’s years-long renovation. If you can’t find something to love at Ellis Island, you’re probably doing Las Vegas wrong.