Downtown Virgin

I'll add to all these, which are great suggestions..
The Western is great for a drink, but I don't know if I'd eat there. I'm sure its ok, but its also cheap food cheap..
Also, I have never enjoyed the buffet at the Fremont.
Shrimp Cocktail at Golden Gate is always great. And the restaurant there, dupars is good cafe food. Esp. The pancakes..
And if you want a good sandwich, the grill at the Gold Spike was cheap and filling..

I'm jealous of your trip. Have fun!

Marko..

Wow! You all are totally awesome and thank you so much for sharing! I have the MRB and ACG and was looking for EXACTLY the kinds of places that you recommended. They say that anticipation of the trip is just as fulfilling as the actual trip but right now I am so excited that I don't think I can wait until Thursday. I told my husband that if we start driving now (I'm in Virginia) I bet we could make there by Weds. Take care and thanks again! I'll trip report when we get back.

I apologize for hijacking this thread, but where in Virginia? I don't see many folks from VA on the boards or at member meets.

Enjoy downtown. I stayed downtown my first trip to LV and have always preferred it to the Strip.

We live in Norfolk, Virginia. I love living here but the humidity is killing us. I like hot and dry!

The pancakes at Du-Pars (inside the Golden Gate) are terrific. There's a coupon in the POV if you play slots or VP.

Hi, Ruth. I hope you enjoy downtown; we only stay downtown, and love it. Love to play at the El Cortez, too.

Anyway, lots of options for good food. The Flame is the steak-and-seafood place in the El, and it's excellent, a real favorite and very reasonable for the quality. ACG has a $25 off coupon, I think. Across the street, there's Uncle Joe's Pizza for a good slice, also the Kebab Korner for cheap middle eastern food. There's also Thai Vegas, on 4th ST, very good little hole-in-the-wall for Thai and some Chinese (next to Bad Habits, great place for cigars). For a cheapo prime rib special, we like Magnolia's (Four Queens) better than the other downtown places. My favorite place downtown is Aloha Specialties, a little Hawaiian mom-and-pop place at the Cal (try Lappert's ice cream, too, across the hallway). Also like Market Street Cafe (coffee shop, some Hawaiian items) and Redwood Grille (steak; nice unadvertised porterhouse special) at the Cal. DuPar's is a very good diner chain out of California, at the Golden Gate; of course, you don't want to miss the shrimp cocktail at the counter in the back at GG. Not crazy about any of the downtown buffets; MSS may be the best, but I think the quality has suffered over the past few years.

Hope this helps. Have fun!

There seems to be little that hasn't been covered already. I just want to stress that all of the relevant places downtown are less than a mile from the El Cortez. Main St. Station is 8 blocks away, but that's 8 real blocks, not Strip blocks. Also the Tez's coffee shop, Cafe Cortez, is so good and so cheap you might never leave (their management would love that). But do make an effort, because there are a lot of good places downtown.

Have fun.

My wife and I enjoy Mamacitas. It's a Cuban/Mexican place right across the street from EC. You won't leave hungry.

Click on this link below and enter your email address and the password realvegas and they have 241 coupons for the Fremont and Main Street Station buffets among some other coupons.

Vegasexperience.com/coupons

Walmart.com is $11 ship to store is free plus sales tax. So mine was 11.66