The first thing that will probably strike you about Lavo is that people keep throwing it around in the same sentence as the word “bathhouse.”

That makes the first thing that needs to be mentioned about Lavo that it is not, actually, a bathhouse.

But it looks like one. Oh boy, does it ever.

From the same creative forces that brought you Tao in the Venetian, Lavo is a kind of themed club, or a “concept,” which Noah Tepperberg, co-owner, said is what makes their clubs different and raises the bar.

(Tepperberg also astutely points out that an Asian-themed nightclub was pretty unique when Tao opened and now they’re a dime a dozen, so he knows what he’s talking about.)

And where Tao was that Asian theme, Lavo is a bathhouse theme. This means artifacts and accents and little touches collected from trips to places like Morocco.

When you first walk in (there’s about a 15-foot walk between the club’s entrance and the restaurant/lounge’s), the lounge area is laid out in all of its niche glory before you. There are couches and chairs and a bar area, all decked out like some sort of Wes Anderson movie about bathhouses and Morocco – which is to say, there’s a lot of detail and you immediately get the concept.

To one side of the lounge is the restaurant area and to the other side is the patio (and a space that will eventually be utilized as a hookah lounge). 

There’s a set of stairs near the front (again, kind of depending on where you came in) that are easily accessible and that will take you up to the club – following a trip past more than a dozen bathhouse fountains, all working, all driving people into the [admittedly pretty neat-looking] bathrooms with the sound of flowing water.

Then there’s the club. It’s not huge and Lavo is definitely on the list of venues that could be alternately be defined as intimate or boutique, but it packs a wallop – in large part because of the detail.

Fans of Tao will recognize the vignettes featuring attractive women that are staged near the entrance to the club, but they’re tailored for Lavo – a woman on an indulgent-looking couch, a woman on a bathhouse bench, etc.

The club space, which Tepperburg points out wasn’t a very fascinating room when they started, is given a kind of dynamism by the installation of brick arches and a few level changes.

Tepperburg is also quick to draw attention to the club’s disco ball – or seeming lack of one. In place of a disco ball, Lavo has a planetarium-like dome that can display a multitude of images, including a disco ball one. It’s a very futuristic touch in a very classic-feeling space, but it works.

Because of the nature of the entire venue (the lounge, the restaurant, the club, the patio), it’s easy to have several different kinds of nights at Lavo and to get the full experience, we recommend you try them all -- just don’t go looking for the bathhouse area. We promise you, no matter what your buddy back in Jersey said, it’s not there.