content: Overrated!  My boyfriend and I went to Vegas for my birthday over Memorial day weekend. Saturday  we decided to go to Tao nightclub.  We arrived at the Venetian and were ushered into one of two huge lines, (a  guest list line and a regular line) like cattle, well, decked out scantily clad anorexic cattle.  After slowly moving to the front of the line which wrapped around the building, we were not found to be on the guest list and had to pay the 40$ for guys and 20$ for girls cover!   You can get on the guest list ahead of time by visiting the web site well before arriving.   Then we are ushered into a maze of dark hallways (still packed in herd formation) but now we are inside and you could start to tell there was little ventilation and experience  'second hand breath'.   \n\nWe stopped at one of the first dance floors and wanted to try to find a place to sit .  I asked one of the security/ushers and I got a - HA! Good luck, I guess you can try to sit in the tables until the VIP's who reserved them arrive.   I didn't realize this was a privilege to sit.   I have only come to Vegas on non weekends before so being a Saturday night on Memorial Day weekend was a completely different experience.   \n\nSo we decide to get a drink.  The 'line' to get a drink was like a bee hive pack of people several layers deep which you had to just keep pushing your way to the front as each  club goer emerged with their drink.  I decided to get something simple since it seemed there was no muddling going on for my picky taste in martinis.  I got the feeling if I had asked for a lemon drop I would have had a 'soup Nazi' response of NO MARTINI FOR YOU. The bartenders seemed to want to get you out of there as fast as possible.  I ordered a vodka cranberry and my boyfriend his Jack and Coke. I figured my 20$ would cover two single well drinks.  Not!   It was 32$ for a small bucket type glass.  Paid my tab and tried to protect my precious cargo as I made my way out of the bar line/swarm.  \n\nWe walked over to the dance floor and it was just packed and I was getting overwhelmed with the recycled breath and asked where is it less crowded.  Thankfully someone told us to make our way up to Tao Beach.  As we ascended the stairs, which were like office building type stairwells surrounded by red painted walls with an occasional photo or directional sign on them, we could start to sense the fresh air ahead.   After several flights of stairs we finally made it to the rooftop open air Beach.  It was a totally different atmosphere!   Very open and airy, lots colorful lights and VIP cabanas lined the perimeter.  There were very few people up there at that point.  It was around 10:00 or so, so we enjoyed having a huge increase in personal space and to move and breathe freely.  We  found a table / wicker couch/bench type thing with a few pillows that was unoccupied in the middle area of the club.  This was a major score as my  boyfriend,  with great fashion sense and taste,  had just got me a  super cute pair of 5\"" gladiator heels - which I decided to wear / break in that evening.  I would have made a different decision on wearing NEW shoes if I knew we needed to get a loan to sit down virtually anywhere we went.  \n\nStill nursing the overpriced well drink, we looked at the menu on the table for the fee for bottle service,  thinking with one shot being 16$ we may be better off with bottle service.   The cheapest fifth of Vodka was 600$ for Skyy I think it was.  We decided to just have one or two drinks here, soak up the atmosphere and drink for real back in our room or somewhere else.  We did enjoy people watching from our comfy albeit temporary spot.  There were no cocktail servers that would come by, there seemed to only be there for the VIP cabanas.  Several cocktail servers, guys dressed in all black and more girls in fishnets and burlesque type outfits,  were parked on the perimeter .  The music was good and we actually got to relax and have fun there. \n\n After about 45 minutes or so we were asked to move as the group of 6 or 7 young guys arrived who had reserved the table.  By now it had become more crowded and twice I was bumped into by a waiter swishing by carelessly trying to rush through the crowd (to the VIP cabana's).  I was pretty irritated to lose 5$ worth of my drink in each elbow bump!  That is when I decided  -  I am going to Yelp this! - and that it was time to go.  \n\nSo based on the amount of people they packed in, lack of fresh air, the overpriced drinks, lack of seating and lack of cocktail servers for regular people, that earns -1 stars.  The Tao Beach atmosphere was the only positive for me.  The fresh air, lots of lights, decent music, and laid back mellow atmosphere earns a couple of stars back.   I still would not want to go back  nor recommend going unless you are a VIP - so, as a regular person,  I ended up with the 1 star rating.