Lisa Vanderpump. Nikki Ryan Photography
None of Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurants are exactly alike, but her latest venture, Pinky’s by Vanderpump, is in a class of its own.
“We’ve always wanted to make this place look like when you walk in, you think it’s been here forever,” the Bravo star, 64, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, December 6, after the grand opening of Pinky’s. “Like, look at the floor. You would believe this floor — I mean, this is a handmade floor, but you would believe that this floor was something that was laid like, 90 years ago.”
Located inside the Flamingo on the Las Vegas Strip, Pinky’s has an old-school flair reminiscent of the days when the Rat Pack were fixtures in Sin City. The menu includes an entire section devoted to variations on the martini, and the décor features emerald-green chandeliers that would look right at home in a high roller’s home.
“We were always going for that old, original art deco that the Flamingo should have,” Vanderpump explained. “And I think it was lacking throughout for so long, basically.”
While the name Pinky’s — especially given its presence inside the Flamingo — might conjure images of Malibu Barbie riding around in a pink convertible, Vanderpump noted that no toys came to mind when she and longtime collaborator Nick Alain designed the space.
“Even though it’s called Pinky’s, we weren’t gonna deliver a Barbie-type [thing],” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum told Us. “That’s not our style at all. Pinky’s was a nod to the gangster [vibe], you know, ‘Come to Pinky’s, see you at Pinky’s,’ that kind of thing. It’s about the beauty, the color palettes.”
As drama on Vanderpump Rules has come and gone, so have the restaurants. Since the hit series debuted on Bravo in 2013, Lisa Vanderpump‘s businesses have set the scene for the show’s biggest story lines. Viewers were originally introduced to the cast as they faced ups and downs while working at Vanderpump’s various Los Angeles […]
That palette does include a fair amount of pink — but not the neon hue traditionally associated with Las Vegas or the resort’s namesake bird. The large flamingo sculptures just inside the entrance are a muted shade of blush, while the bird-shaped lamps on the bar have a bronze base with pastel rose shades. Those light fixtures, custom-made by Alain, were a particular favorite of attendees at the Pinky’s grand opening, and Vanderpump herself can see why.
“I actually said to Nick, we made a mistake with them,” Vanderpump quipped. “I believe we should have made three because I want one in my house. I love them so much.”
Pinky’s debut comes just months after Vanderpump opened her restaurant Wolf in Lake Tahoe, bringing her Nevada restaurant total to four (she also has the Vanderpump Cocktail Garden in Caesars Palace and Vanderpump à Paris in the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino). These restaurants are all in addition to her Los Angeles establishments, SUR and TomTom, the latter of which she co-owns with Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval.
According to Vanderpump, her empire is “gonna get a lot bigger” — and she teased that there’s another big announcement coming in 2025.
“There’s no end goal,” she told Us. “I’m just gonna keep going.”
Pinky’s by Vanderpump is open now at the Flamingo Las Vegas.
