Circus Circus – Circus Buffet: This week’s buffet schedule is: Brunch is Tuesday-Sunday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. for $33.95. Dinner is Tuesday-Sunday, 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. for $39.99. Prices are higher due to New Year’s Eve.
Westgate – Fresh Buffet: The Crab Leg Brunch was removed. Daily Brunch Buffet is the same time 7 a.m.-2 p.m. for $30 instead of $33.
We stumbled on Downtown Terrace, located on the second floor of a Container Park retail building, and were surprised by what we found. It’s a below-the-radar full-service restaurant and bar with an outdoor patio that overlooks the common area and stage of Container Park, with a view of the 40-foot praying mantis.
In addition, it’s something of foodie scene. We were there between two and three on a Saturday afternoon and the place, both inside and out, was packed with young locals in on the secret.
Open till 7 p.m. daily, starting at 11 a.m. Mon., Tues., and Thurs., and 9 a.m. Wed., Fri., Sat., and Sun., Downtown Terrace serves all-day breakfasts, appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and entrées, all in the $12-$21 range, quite reasonable for what you get. Breakfasts start at two eggs and bacon or sausage ($14) and go up to steak Benedict and two eggs and a bacon burger or chicken fried steak ($19). Salads include Caesars ($14), chicken tostada ($18), and pomegranate-glazed salmon ($19). Caprese or avocado grilled cheese, bacon burger, spicy chicken, and steak sandwiches run $16-$19. And “Just a Little More” shrimp and pasta, blackened salmon, carne asada fries, and lemon chicken entrées go for $18 to $21.
What drew us to Downtown Terrace was the shrimp and salmon ceviche ($17); you don’t often see salmon as a ceviche ingredient. It was as good as we’d hoped, if not better.
If we hadn’t also ordered the chilaquiles (a traditional Mexican breakfast with pieces of corn tortillas cooked in salsa, sprinkled with cheese, and served with eggs and sour cream, also $17), we would’ve been tempted to get another plate of ceviche! The chilaquiles definitely hit the spot and together, they made for an unusual and filling lunch for $36.84 with tax, without tip.
All in all, the foodie scene, good service, reasonable prices, excellent food, and outdoor seating looking over Container Park are plenty to recommend Downtown Terrace — and you’ll feel like you know something that 40 million Las Vegas visitors don’t.
Fat Sal’s, a sandwich shop with six locations in southern California, opened in late October at Neonopolis, which also hosts the Heart Attack Grill. The two are of a kind — guilty pleasures calorie-wise if you’re of a mind to really indulge. A second location for Fat Sal’s has been announced for the Miracle Eats food hall at Miracle Mile Shops, opening shortly.
Fat Sal’s offers Fat sandwiches, such as the Fat Breakfast, with two fried eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, mozzarella sticks, American cheese, and tater tots on a butter-grilled hero ($19); Fat Texas, with pastrami, chicken fingers, bacon, mozzarella sticks, melted mozzarella and cheddar, grilled onions, and fries on a garlic hero ($20); Fat burgers with quarter-pound patties and all kinds of add-ons, such as chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks on the Buffalo chicken ($14.99) and pastrami, chicken fingers, and onion rings on the Pastrami Western ($15.99). Standard burgers are $8.99-$14.99 and heroes are $16-$17 with plenty of Make It Fatter additions for $1 to $7.50. Fat shakes with various combos of ice cream, peanut butter, cheesecake, Oreos, marshmallows, pretzels, and syrup are $13.
Not enough for you? The Big Fat Fatty is a 30-inch (yes, two and half feet long and it weighs 10 pounds) hero with cheesesteak, a double cheeseburger, pastrami, chicken fingers, bacon, mozzarella sticks, fried eggs, fries, onion rings, chili, and marinara. The Big Fat Shake is served with 30 scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice cream each, along with cake, cookies, pretzels, syrup, and whipped cream. They’re both $99.99, but finish the Fatty in 40 minutes or the shake in 10 and they’re free.
Not being into quite that much Fat in our low-metabolism dotage, we tried the standard turkey club with bacon, avocado, lettuce, and tomato on a hero. Frankly, we weren’t expecting much, so we were surprised how good it was. Even without the Fat, it was big enough to make two lunches out of.
Fat Sal’s is all about the kitchen-sink sandwiches and subs, a good gimmick, plus the extensive branding — all the Fat Fat Fat and Sal’s jowly mug, mustache, toque, and shades (a caricature of co-founder Sal Capek, who looks like he tips the scale at around 300) gracing various signs and murals around and outside the joint. It’s clever and fun and popular and the food, at least the little we tried, wasn’t worth going out of the way for, but good enough to sample for the experience.
Note that unless you walk in from somewhere, you’ll pay a minimum of $4 to park in the Fremont Street garage.
We reviewed dinner at the Main Street Station Garden Buffet in the September 2023 issue of the Advisor after trying it on a Friday night in August. The title of the post was “Where Is Everyone?” Here’s how it began: “We arrived right at 6 p.m., thinking we might have to wait in line for 20 to 30 minutes to get into the only downtown buffet, which serves dinner Fri. and Sat. nights only. Au contraire! We didn’t have to wait even 20 seconds. We walked right up to the cashier, paid, and had plate in hand within a minute.” The room remained mostly empty for the next 90 minutes while we were there and we wondered if the buffet might be this empty regularly.
When we stayed at the Plaza the weekend before F1 in November, we were a five-minute walk from Main Street Station, so we determined to check out the line situation at various times.
We started walking over at 1 p.m. on Saturday. No one was in line and not much was happening with an hour to go for brunch, which closes at 2 p.m.
We went back at 4 p.m. for the opening of dinner. This time, the line filled up all three rows of fixed barriers, then stretched to the door; the 70 people or so were handled by two cashiers, one for the VIP line. By 4:15, even with another 25 or so stragglers showing up just after opening, the line was pretty well handled. By six, however, there were two lines, one backed up most of the way to the entrance with people waiting to pay, the other 10 deep after paying and waiting to be seated. The room was pretty full, so tables needed to be cleared before the second line moved. The same pattern repeated on a couple of checks on Sunday evening as well.
Sunday morning we went back and got there right at 8 a.m. to review brunch. Frankly, we weren’t expecting a line that early, so we were a bit surprised that 25 people were ahead of us, almost all hungry Hawaiians (mostly Japanese-Americans). There was only one cashier, but she was very efficient, handling both the VIP and HP (hoi polloi) lines in staggered fashion. By about 8:30, most of the early activity had been handled, but around 9, the later crowd started showing up and the line stayed long until we left at 9:30. Plus, the tables had filled up, so the second line had formed.
Our conclusion? The reason we walked right in to review dinner was that it was a particularly slow weekend night in August. But over a busy weekend in November, the Garden Buffet fills up and the lines get long. For both brunch and dinner, it’s best to arrive as early as you can; for brunch, late is also the better play.
As for the brunch buffet itself, the selection was as extensive as dinner and the quality was about equal, which is to say good enough for downtown’s only buffet.
Being brunch, the salad bar had romaine, spinach, and toppings right next to bagels, lox, sliced tomato, kimchee, namasu (sliced cucumbers and carrots in a light vinegar sauce), and a toaster. Next to cold cereal and milk were six different kinds of pizza and garlic toast, crepes, corned beef hash, pancakes, waffles, and French toast. Steam-table eggs were scrambled plain or with chorizo, along with bacon, sausage, and home fries. The carving station offered ham, chicken, and three kinds of sausage (kielbasa, Italian, and Portuguese). Our cooked-to-order cheese omelet came out in less than a minute.
The lunch food included pulled pork and cabbage, Hawaiian beef stew, fried and shoyu chicken, fish of the day, roasted yams, green-bean casserole, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, and mac and cheese.
The desserts occupy an entire serving island: self-serve soft chocolate and vanilla with toppings, pies, pastries, puddings, cakes, cookies, muffins, and sugar-free selections.
We went back for seconds and thirds of namasu, a second bagel and lox, pulled pork and mashed, and desserts.
The total price came to $29.95, which in this day and age is quite reasonable for the only Las Vegas buffet within several miles and a decent one at that.
On November 8, Swingers adults-only golf club and high-end entertainment venue opened its flagship location at Mandalay Bay. It was the latest in a line — Atomic Golf next to STRAT and Pop Stroke extreme mini-golf at Town Square — of golf attractions arriving in Las Vegas.
Swingers is the first thing you encounter when you enter MBay on the ground level from the parking garage. It’s on the left and occupies the entire wall that stretches into the casino’s dining area.
The 40,000-square-foot two-story venue encompasses two bars, a street-food eatery, an arcade, and four “crazy-golf” courses; founded in London, Swingers claims to have pioneered the “competitive-socializing” mini-golf experience. Swingers debuted in 2014 and currently operates six locations: two in London, one in Washington, D.C., one in New York City, one in Dubai, and the Vegas venue, with a location coming to Boston.
From the main lobby, you walk up to the first level and immediately encounter a very long bar.
From there, you descend half a floor to the lower two nine-hole golf courses: Balloon on the left, Clocktower on the right. At the far end of the bar is Emmy’s Squared, the restaurant. At the near end is a selfie room.
You go up a flight of stairs to the second floor for another long bar and two more nine-holes. Carnival, the arcade, is at the near end of the second floor.
If you’re used to expansive outdoor miniature-golf courses, like PopStroke’s, you’ll be surprised by how small these are, being indoors; they can get pretty crowded at prime times. Still, the courses are imaginative and challenging, with lots of neon and such obstacles as windmills, waterwheels, and carousels, jumps, and loops.
Swingers is an attraction that proves an evolving rule in Vegas: LOUD IS THE NEW FUN! Fronting the otherwise uninhabited two-story English country house is a DJ spinning relentless monotonous electronic dance music, every track in four-four time: BOOM boom boom boom BOOM boom boom boom BOOM boom boom boom BOOM boom boom boom. Forget trying to have a conversation; forget even hearing the specials recited by a waiter at Emmy’s.
As for the Carnival, the arcade collects 6-10 credits per game and you pay $10 for 48 credits (20.5 cents) or roughly $1.20-$2 per game. Higher spend lowers the price per credit (12.5 cents per $100). Examples: Wack n Win is 6 credits, Wack a Hole 8 credits, Bowler Roller 10. The games dispense tickets that you redeem for logo merch.
On our visit a week or so after it opened, Swingers had an unbelievable number of people working: waiters, bartenders, cocktail runners, security, suits, and at least 12 people in the kitchen. We wouldn’t be surprised to hear that, like Atomic Golf, they lay off people soon. In the meantime, you can sit anywhere and you’ll be immediately approached for service.
At the bars, bottled and draft Heineken, Coors Light, Budweiser, Michelob and the like are $10, craft beers $14. Wine by the glass starts at $15 and goes up to $26. Proseco by the glass is $18, with bottles up to $990 for Krug Vintage. Sangria is $17, espresso $23, cocktails start at $12 go to $26, or splurge on eight-year-old scotch for $142. Nightclub prices, almost.
Emmy’s Squared is a Brooklyn-born Detroit-style pizza and burger place. You can get three kinds of pizza by the slice: cheese, pepperoni, and pepperoni-pineapple ($10). A chicken sandwich, meatballs, chicken parm, burgers, and double burgers are $16-$23. Waffle fries are $10 and Caesars salad $19. We tried a slice of pepperoni. The frico crust was marginal and it’s baked with honey as a topping. We don’t know about you, but we don’t want honey on our pepperoni pizza and we didn’t finish the lone slice ($10.84 with tax).
A round of crazy golf starts at $35 per person and ticket packages are available for purchase that include cocktails, street food, crazy golf, and reserved seating. And whatever you do, don’t forget that you’ll pay $20-$23 to park at Mandalay Bay. If you go, make sure Swingers is open and not closed for a private party, which happened to a member when he went, so you don’t pay to park for nothing.
We had occasion to spend the weekend before Formula 1 downtown at the Plaza. It was a relief to be able to walk everywhere, rather than sitting and sitting and sitting in traffic on and around the Strip; the race might as well have been on a different planet for the lack of impact it had downtown.
As for the Plaza itself, we got a chance to examine it in detail for the first time in a while and we were suitably impressed with the place.
Parking is free for hotel guests, another advantage over the Strip. The garage is easy in and out and it’s a short walk to the elevators that deliver you right to the south end of the casino. If you get a room in the south tower, those elevators are nearby. For the north tower, you have to walk through the casino.
The casino is spacious and well kept, with a William Hill sports book, a whole room full of Wheel of Fortune machines, and the smokeless Brian Christopher-themed slot wing.
The Plaza dining situation is recommendable. Oscar’s Steakhouse, of course, is one of a handful of fine-dining establishments downtown; it’s in the second-story dome overlooking Fremont Street. Hash House A Go Go makes for a decent coffee shop, open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and serving big food at good prices with a counter play that beats the line every time. We had breakfast there Monday morning just before checking out: two eggs, bacon, home fries, and toast for just under $14. We couldn’t finish the excellent potatoes and were still good to go till dinner.
The food court has Fresh Mex, Just Rice, Popup Pizza, and a coffee-pastry counter. Pinkbox Donuts right off the main entrance was insanely busy the entire weekend. We never saw the line with any less than a dozen people waiting and at times, it stretched into the hotel lobby. We couldn’t believe how popular a donut place could be.
Sand Dollar Lounge has live music almost every night and a video poker bar and we took in Miss Behave’s Mavericks in the great old Plaza showroom. We can’t remember the last time we saw a show at a casino where, when it was over, all we had to was return to our room — after a late-night snack at the food court. We loved Mavericks and you can read our review here.
We also got to check out the Main Street Station Garden Buffet several times over the weekend, since it’s a six-minute trip from room to room. Ever since we walked right in on a Friday night at 6 p.m., we’ve wanted to check out the line situation, which we did for both brunch and weekend dinner, and we’ll report on that soon.
We found some equipment to work out on in the small gym, though the pool was closed.
And the hotel room? Very cozy, clean, and conducive to doing a little work. The desk area is well set-up, with a surprisingly comfortable chair, lots of room to spread out, and a couple of electrical outlets on the lamp. There’s a mini-fridge (no freezer) in the cabinet under the TV, which kept the leftovers fresh. The couch is a nice touch, we appreciated the never-ending hot water in the shower, and the heater warms up the room in three minutes flat.
In addition, early check-in is complimentary. When we showed up around 1 p.m. on Saturday, the only available rooms were in the front of the north tower, facing Fremont Street Experience. The front-desk agent warned us that it was noisy, but being the Advisor, we wanted to see for ourselves. Turns out, she wasn’t just whistling Dixie.
The first giveaway was the package of earplugs in the drawer of one of the end tables. The second was the relentlessly throbbing bass from the big speakers on the stage right across the street at Main and Fremont; it was like sitting at a red light next to one of those cars with the souped-up sound system — for 18 hours straight. It started around 10 a.m. and didn’t quiet down until 3 a.m. on Saturday and 2 a.m. on Sunday.
Even then, it was worth it to us to check in early and no matter when you arrive, if you snag a west-facing room (away from Fremont Street) in either tower, you’ll be more insulated from the FSE madness.
The price was certainly right. For the two nights over the weekend before F1, using the MRB coupon, we paid a total of $218.09, including resort fees and taxes.
All in all, we’d stay at the Plaza again anytime.
Remember the Bally’s Sterling Brunch? M Resort’s Sunday-only brunch in Anthony’s Prime Steak & Seafood (APS&S) is reminiscent in price ($99) and high-end buffet-style offerings. So reminiscent, in fact, that there was a two-month waiting list when it debuted. The mania has worn off, however, as we were able to book a reservation on two days’ notice. Was there a reason for that?
We’d been wanting to try this brunch since we first heard about it in May 2023, but hadn’t because of the wait. It’s served Sundays only in a short window from 11 am to 1:30 pm, so there’s not a lot of availability. On a whim, hoping that things might have calmed down after a year and a half, we called on a Friday night and got a seating for two at 1 pm. (we had a woman who’s bubbly on the phone make the call, so that might have helped). Actually, we’ve heard that walk-ups are now being accepted if there’s an opening, but it’s certainly better to reserve, and the farther ahead the better your chances.
Similar to the Sterling Brunch, the APS&S line-up is impressive. A big raw-seafood section includes crab legs and claws, peeled shrimp, lox, and sushi. There’s also a good charcuterie selection, deviled eggs, and different kinds of salads for starters. An egg station cooks omelets to order, and carving stations serve up prime rib, rack of lamb, and beef Wellington. The star of the show? Lobster tails (“roasted”)—all you can eat. Surprisingly few sides (couple kinds of potatoes and asparagus), some pasta, clam chowder and lobster bisque, fresh fruit, and a big dessert selection.
The legs are snow crab, but they’re big snow (blizzard crab?) that aren’t that far off king. The sushi isn’t primo, but it’s not grocery-store level, either. The lobster was a bit overcooked, which is gonna happen the way it’s put out in warm pans after being roasted. We took a tail to the eggs guy who made an excellent omelet out of it (he called it a “Dragon omelet”).
Charcuterie good. Desserts good. Meats mostly too done. Unimpressive eggs Benedict. Best was the raw seafood and the lobster omelet
It’s not as good as Bally’s Sterling, which had everything mentioned here and more: caviar, poached lobster, king crab legs, smoked fish, goblets of blueberries and raspberries, and flowing champagne (see “Flaw”). By the way, the Sterling Brunch debuted for $29.99 in the early ‘90s and gradually climbed in price until it topped out at $125 before closing in 2020.
M Resort is beautiful and so is the APS&S room, with big picture windows overlooking the pool and providing a view of Las Vegas (M is elevated). Seating is out in the open, but it’s still a good date atmosphere. Service was excellent. We asked for rare lamb and the server requested it from the kitchen and brought a rack out to the table.
The big miss? No drinks component. How you put together this kind of offering for $99 and don’t even provide some cheap sparkling wine is beyond us (Sterling served unlimited Laurent-Perrier Brut). They at least have a drinks add-on—unlimited Mimosa’s, maybe—for an additional charge, right? Nope. All drinks come off the regular menu. We had a Heineken ($9) and a Mimosa ($15.85). No drinks at an elaborate Sunday brunch is a major buzz kill.
In Batman Forever, the Riddler (Jim Carrey) says to Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), “Your entrance was good, his was better.” That pretty much sums it up for APS&S vs. Sterling. Any way you cut it, this isn’t the Sterling reincarnated. But since there is no more Sterling, APS&S is it for the big brunch splurge, and all in all, we’re OK with the $99 per for what you get. The extra for just two drinks took the bill for two to $222.85, so after tax and tip, it’s $300 for a couple. A bit steep. Still worth it. Note to M: Add a drink component.
This year’s rate check was conducted on Dec. 2 and turned up 86 casinos that have rooms available for New Year’s Eve, compared to 91 last year. The number of nights is the minimum required stay; the dollar amount is the total cost; resort fees aren’t included.
1 night: Buffalo Bill’s $148, Westin Lake Las Vegas $152, Sam’s Town $157, Railroad Pass $159, Longhorn $168, Hotel Jefe $170, Skyline $180, Hilton Lake Las Vegas $189, Circus Circus $197, Lexi $199, Boulder Station $199, Sunset Station $199, Silver Sevens $209, Santa Fe Station $219, Suncoast $224, South Point $225, Main Street Station $231, Cannery $239, Palace Station $243, Oasis @ Gold Spike $269, Aliante $276, Downtown Grand $276, Four Queens $289, Hotel Apache $289, Az. Charlie’s Boulder $298, El Cortez $299, Golden Gate $299, Tuscany $329, Strat $349, Westin Las Vegas $351, Az. Charlie’s Decatur $365, Westgate $390, California $399, English $399, Green Valley Ranch $399, Ellis Island $424, Sahara $424, Silverton $429, Gold Coast $475, Orleans $476, Red Rock $499, Rio $499, M Resort $509, OYO $605, MGM $649, Cromwell $721, Trump $730, Circa $799, Fontainebleau $944, Four Seasons $975, Caesars Palace $1,186, Nobu $1,311
2 nights: Golden Nugget $488, Plaza $510, Excalibur $520, Luxor $524, The D $568, TI $633, Fremont $693, Mandalay Bay $710, Flamingo $735, Virgin $740, Harrah’s $748, Delano $791, Palms $792, Palms Place $802, Resorts World $898, Durango $919, JW Marriott $933, Horseshoe $946, NYNY $1,018, Park MGM $1,018, Linq $1,046, Elara $1,152, MGM Signature $1,152, Paris $1,260, Vdara $1,354, Aria $1,359, Waldorf Astoria $1,490, Planet Hollywood $1,496, Cosmopolitan $1,680, Bellagio $1,708, Venetian $2,085, Palazzo $2,138
3 nights: Encore $2,297, Wynn $2,297
Sold Out or N/A: Casino Royal, Eastside Cannery, NoMad, Platinum, Primm, Serene, Whiskey Pete’s
Plaza
Wed – Sun 7 p.m.
Sat 7 & 9 p.m.
$35-$99
“Miss Behave” is the stage name of Amy Saunders, a British-born performer, comedian, and producer best known for her sword-swallowing prowess. Self-taught in the skill (it’s not an illusion; sword swallowers actually take the sword up to the hilt — down the esophagus and into the stomach), she started swallowing swords in London in 1996 and has set several records for the feat. She’s also a producer who’s been running her own variety revues since 2008, including Miss Behave’s Game Show, which appeared at Bally’s (now the Horseshoe) between 2018 and 2020.
Miss Behave’s Mavericks launched in March 2022 at Cheapshot, a Fremont East bar and small theater, and lasted nearly a year. In August 2023, it was announced the Mavericks was moving to the Plaza Showroom, where it opened late last month. We’d heard intriguing things about Miss Behave and her shows over the years and we like the showroom — small but spacious and comfortable, excellent sound system and acoustics — so we attended a Saturday early show shortly after it opened.
Saunders was described by the BBC as “a live cartoon with a late-night attitude” and she lives up to the characterization, emceeing Mavericks in her lilting British accent, cracking jokes, ad libbing, stepping off the stage and prowling the audience so you almost feel part of the show, and generally keeping things moving along at a rapid clip — in her words, “lubricating the situation.”
This is a variety show with a number of sharp edges. Acts we’ve never seen before include a woman twerking to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, a prima ballerina and a lady in a gorilla suit doing stripteases, the hula-hoop artist performing in a duck mask to the Vietnam song “Bird Is the Word,” and another stripper riding an oversized bucking spinning balloon dog.
Two acrobats, one aerial, the other on a four-handed platform, demonstrate what Miss Behave described as “the ultimate in what’s possible to do with the human body.” Speaking of which, she swallowed a sword and one of the legs of a stool while balancing a champagne bottle on the seat.
Our favorite segment was the singer who did an absolutely fierce rendition of David Bowie’s “Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide” off Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (in our top-five albums of all time); to us, she stole the show.
Also different was the intermission about 60 minutes in. It was great to get up, stretch, go for a walk to the restroom just across the casino, and brace ourselves for the last 30 minutes.
All in all, Miss Behave’s Mavericks is a rousing good time in a great room downtown at an affordable price and you’ll definitely feel in with the in crowd when — not if, we recommend — you see it.
The first Norms Restaurant debuted in 1949 near the famed Hollywood corner of Sunset and Vine and has since expanded to 23 locations in southern California — and one in Las Vegas.
The Vegas outpost, on the south side of W. Charleston just east of S. Decatur, opened on October 30. This is as classic a diner as you’ll ever see, with a huge 11-page menu of big food, including steak and eggs, Benedicts, omelets, pancakes, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches and melts, pasta, chicken and steak dinners, meat loaf, seafood, desserts, and milk shakes. Everything is priced between $11.79 (for the breakfast burrito) and $23.99 (six-ounce sirloin, fried shrimp, and chicken tenders). You can see the entire menu at Norms’ website, complete with prices (rare these days), which they’re obviously proud of and for good reason.
In addition, Norms is open 24 hours, so it’s a great anytime-of-the-day-or-night play. It’s not only a classic, it’s a throwback to when all restaurant meals consisted of what’s now called “comfort food” and these diners were “everything restaurants,” exactly the way it was in the ’50s and ’60s when Norms was making its early mark.
We were curious about the quality and service, so we checked out Norms 10 days after it opened. We were greeted immediately, everyone was authentically friendly, the service was fast, and the food comes out surprisingly quickly. We tried one of the healthiest dinners, blackened salmon. All dinners come with soup and salad, which showed up almost before we were done choosing navy bean or gumbo and the salad dressing. The gumbo was nicely spiced and full of veggies, rice, and sausage. The salmon was decent, the creamed corn was edible, and the baked potato (fries or mashed are the other options) came with butter and sour cream/chives.
Our overall impression was that this is a fine place to fuel up. Rather than a foodies excursion, Norms is more for waitresses, bussers, and dishwashers, with its workman-like atmosphere and working-class crowd. The size of the meals doesn’t compete with, say, the Peppermill, but the prices certainly reflect that; our salmon dinner was $18.99; with tax it came to all of $20.58.
For a new restaurant to open in Las Vegas, this one’s outside the norm (pardon the pun) of what happens around here, a stark contrast to the newest, trendiest, high-priced celebrity-chef haunts. But in another way, it’s also a good example of what happens around here, because everything is happening around here in the food and beverage business and Norms proves the rule.
