Public School 702 Restaurant and Bar May Just Hit the Spot If You’re Off the Strip

By Scott Roeben, on October 12 2015
3 min read 4 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Restaurants

Public School 702, a new restaurant in Summerlin, about 10 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip, invited this blog to lunch, so we said “yes.”

Public School 702 Las Vegas
Useless trivia: While a school’s cafeteria attendant is called a “lunch lady,” the British term is “dinner lady.”

Most Strip visitors won’t be traveling to Downtown Summerlin (the shopping center that sort of just decided its the downtown of a place that doesn’t have one), but if you find yourself hiking or horseback riding at the nearby Red Rock Canyon, it’s good to have some solid dining options. Public School 702 would be that.

Public School 702
There’s school stuff, but it’s not all up in your business, or whatever the kids are saying.

Public School 702 is themed, but not annoyingly so. The menus, for example, are designed to look like composition books (see below). That sound you hear is Millenials mouthing the word, “Whuh?” Just look at the photo, Millenials.

Public School 702 menu
Marble-covered “comp” books have been around since the late 1800s.

The brunch menu is designed to resemble a standardized test form answer sheet, bubbles and all.

Public School 702
Dibs on the name The Test Bubbles as a band name.

All right, enough of the formalities, let’s drink.

The first signature drink is called the Crushed Velvet.

Public School 702
The Crushed Velvet has blackberry and blueberry reduction, lavender and Karlsson’s Gold vodka.

Next up, appetizers. The restaurant’s most popular are the Crispy Buffalo Cauliflower, Chorizo Mac and Cheese and Bacon Cheddar Tots.

Public School 702
Yes, one of our favorite menu items features cauliflower. Miracles never cease in Las Vegas.

A good number of the dishes at Public School 702 come with sriracha ketchup. While the word “sriracha” sounds very romantic and exotic, in Thai it actually means, “Careful or you will find your face burned off.” Just ask for regular ketchup if you’re a heat wimp. Which this blog totally isn’t not.

Public School 702
Big fans of any of these things alone or in combination with the others: Bacon cheddar tots.

Time for another cocktail, naturally. This one’s the Lavender Vanilla, with housemade vanilla bitters, lavender simple syrup and Four Roses small batch, an understated blend of four premium whiskeys. A description, we should add, we definitely didn’t just copy and paste from the Internet somewhere.

Public School 702
This one will grow hair on your chest. And back. And possibly palms.

The menu also features soups and salads, sandwiches and burgers and hand-tossed pizzas.

While we are not a brunch person, we ordered the Eggs Benedict Pizza, with prosciutto, grana padano (a slow-ripened cheese from Italy), hollandaise and two fried eggs. We can only presume some people are into that kind of thing.

Public School 702
Personal preference, but let’s keep our pizza worlds and breakfast worlds separate, shall we? Others in our party disagreed, and loved this pizza, so definitely subjective.

We also tried the Beer-Battered Fish and Chips. The cod was cooked perfectly, and the presentation was original.

Public School 702
The first fish and chip shop opened in London in 1860. Such shops are called “chippies.”

Dessert came in the delicious form of the Nutella Cookie Sandwich, with bacon brittle (not as gross as it sounds), chocolate chunk cookies (the size of manhole covers) and vanilla bean ice cream.

Public School 702 dessert
Random customers were circling our table like vultures in the hope we would drop some.

If you’re in the neighborhood, Public School 702 may be just what you’re looking for, especially during its 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. happy hour (called Recess).

During Recess, there’s a variety of food served up at prices between $4-7, and the place is always packed during happy hour.

Public School 702
A mobile of planets. Planets may not be actual size.

Ask about the patio seating during periods of more temperate temperatures in Las Vegas (specifically, Apr. 14-21 and Oct. 15-29—kidding, it’s also nice a couple of hours in May).

Public School 702
Yes, Las Vegas has some “outdoors.”

Find out more about Public School 702 at Downtown Summerlin (also coming to the Town Square shopping center, from what we hear) on the official site.

Public School 702