I meant to write a review of the Hard Rock Hotel’s new HRH Tower last week after staying there, but, um, got busy as usual (deadlines, blah blah blah), and then next thing I knew, there was a cantina opening over here and a restaurant opening over there, so … here’s the 10-day-old review. With pictures.

Last Friday, Team Awesome visited the Hard Rock Hotel to check out the new HRH Tower, which is basically the Hard Rock’s answer to other boutique branches of major casinos such as MGM Grand’s Signature and Mandalay Bay’s thehotel. The HRH Tower is fully pimped out in refined, ultra-modern luxury, with no suite smaller than 700 square feet. It boasts its own valet, entrance, check-in and services. One could, in theory, check into the HRH Tower and never step foot inside the casino (assuming you’re eating room service only and limiting your drinking to the juice bar outside the spa). But what fun would that be?

Our room was one of the Supreme City King suites, all decked in whites and cool grays, featuring  living and sleeping areas divided by a half-wall (with flat screen TVs on both sides), an over-sized bathroom replete with Roman tub and stand-up shower, an integrated jukebox system that also supports iPod/iPhone connections and a bunch of other stuff we probably didn’t use. It looks something like this:

In addition to the comped room (there’s your disclaimer, blog police!), we had a $50 dining credit, so we used that to make a dent in our bill at Rare 120º, the Hard Rock’s steaks-and-cocktails joint that overtook the space formerly host to retro-flavored AJ’s Steakhouse. Though I was sad to see AJ’s go, I have to admit Rare is pretty awesome. The cocktail menu is creative, the service doesn’t suck, and the food selections are a cross between tapas and traditional steakhouse fare — which means Sara enjoyed her filet mignon as much as I did my rice cracker tuna. At about $100 for both of us, it’s not the priciest dinner in Vegas, but it’s also not somewhere you’d eat every week, either.

Our room was KISS-approved

After dinner, we signed up for the Hard Rock’s Rockstar players club, and spent a few hours feeding bills to penny slots to earn enough points for a comp at Ago, a promotion the Hard Rock’s offering for a limited time. We didn’t win any money that night after dropping about $35. I’m sure the next stop for most people would be Vanity, the new club in the HRH tower whose very name ensures I’ll never set foot in there, but we opted to enjoy our plush room and some “Law & Order” on the 40″ TV. The bed was comfy, though being only five stories up, our room overlooked the roof of Vanity, so the pulsing beats coming from the club did permeate the sanctity of our chamber until about 3 a.m.

Overall, it was a fair reminder to me that, despite the proliferation of douchebags (of both genders) on weekend nights, there’s still something about the energy of the Hard Rock that appeals to me, even after 15 years. And the HRH Tower adds just a whole new level with its more mature new casino, spa and services.