Excalibur Does Half-Assed Rebrand of Vagabond to Tap Sports Bar

By Scott Roeben, on November 23 2022
2 min read 5 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Bars Las Vegas Restaurants

Excalibur has invested tens of dollars to rebrand its Vagabond restaurant as Tap Sports Bar.

If the brand sounds familiar, it’s because there’s a Tap at MGM Grand.

We wanted to do a review, but after a long wait, we tapped out.

If we sound a smidge underwhelmed by Tap at Excalibur, it’s because service at the bar was abysmal during our visit. Usually, bar seating ensures prompt service, but in the case of Tap, it was 15 minutes of a bartender walking back and forth in front of us without acknowledging our existence.

After receiving no acknowledgement or service, we removed our $100 from the bar’s video poker machine and departed, never having ordered or received a drink or food. Which is sad, we were looking forward to the big-ass pretzel.

We were really hoping to tap this.

Setting aside our personal disappointment, the Vagabond rebrand was probably a good idea given the fact we’ve never heard of Vagabond. All nine reviews for Vagabond on TripAdvisor were strong, despite the chairs looking incredibly uncomfortable.

Reviews on Yelp weren’t bad, either.

Excalibur, owned by MGM Resorts, didn’t make extensive changes to the venue, as far as we could tell, and a good deal of the artwork from Vagabond remains.

This guy might also play a sport. Who knows?

On the bright side, the seating looks a lot more comfortable.

From torture to comfy AF. Approved.

We’re pretty sure the flag made of beer cans is a hold-over from Vagabond. Vagabond opened in Oct. 2019.

Nothing says national pride quite like a American flag fashioned from beer cans.

Here’s the Tap menu.

The Tap menu checks all the bar food boxes.

There’s a drink menu, too.

The nachos aren’t the only things loaded at Tap.

We’re sure the food and drink at Tap are perfectly fine. The food and beverage team at MGM Resorts is pretty strong.

There are lots of TVs at Tap for sports fans, and prices are elevated but not unusually high for The Strip.

There are slushy drinks, so there’s that.

Tap is open Monday and Thursday, 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.; Friday, 5:00 p.m. to midnight; Saturday, 11:00 p.m. to midnight; Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Tap is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Here’s the official site.

The bar at Tap is open 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. daily.