Gambling and Dining in Mesquite

So after I realized that Laughlin is slowly dying with several casinos being mostly empty (Tropicana, River Palms , Pioneer), and the Colorado Belle being currently closed (since covid), I also noticed that the Riverside has removed almost all halfway decent or good videopoker machines and has been adjusted the paytables or even rmoved the machines completely. The place is still packed because I think of its strong marketing measures.

However, I think that Mesquite is the better pick if you compare both places. What's your call?

Unbelievable but true I found a deal on booking for 2 nights at the Virgin River Lodge and Casino for as little as 38 dollars for both nights (all fees included), which makes it 19 dollars per night!! That's something which we could find about 25 years for  midweek bookings at some places in Laughlin, right?

If you take into account that the driving distance is about the same (Laughlin or Mesquite) from Vegas, and if you also compare with the games and the quality of some hotels, I would definetely give my preferences to Mesquite.

Last time I was staying at the Eureka Hotel and it was nice. A bit more expensive than other places, but very nice rooms and a clean pool.  They had a 20 dollar burger deal (1 full pound with fries), I could not even finish it !!!

This time I will check out the Virgin Casino rooms. I don't expect anything, because it's so dirt cheap.  The games at the Eureka are ok and with the seniors' day specials it's an ok game I guess. The Virgin Casino seems to be nothing special, but I'll check anyways. 

At the Casa Blanca I found a bank of 10-6 double double bonus machines. Although the machines seem to be exluded from promotions and give no points, with almost perfect play the game is good.

Any other comments on Mesquite? Did anybody make good experinces with dining (steak house) in that little town? Any comments are highly appreciated. 

And thanks.

From Switzerland

Boris

Many, many years ago the Casablanca was a gold mine for video poker players. They had three FULL PAY deuces wild machines at the $1 level. Good slot club with the full pay machines getting the same number of points as all the other slots and VP games. 

I was actually working at that time and I used to take off one Monday each month for a two day (Sun & Mon) trip. The Casablanca also had a very good spa and Mrs. Don loved to get massages and other treatments. All paid for with the points we earned playing VP.

They had an excellent restaurant called Katherine's. Mainly steak and seafood. A decent wine list.

Ah! The good old days!!

In fact, Mr Don, I once had the chance to bring "Mrs Boris" to the Casa Blanca and I treated her good by sending her to the SPA while I was hammering the machines. We also ate in the steak house. It was around 10 years ago. Very good experience. 

It's sad that the casinos decided to let go of the good old times because we really appreciated it, right?  I wonder if there is just one casino in Nevada that is trying to give it a shot and making the good old times live up again. I'm sure that idea could be a big success.

As far as one casino in Nevada is concerned: Emerald Island/Rainbow in Henderson fills the bill. It's not a resort or even a hotel; two casinos (not physically connected, but close), two bars, two restaurants. You might have seen them mentioned in other threads, and in the newsletter. By far the best treatment of players, the best games, and the best value in the restaurant. Slots and VP only--no table games, though they do have machine craps.

As far as Mesquite goes, they offer a better value than Laughlin, in room price and quality and in VP games. The atmosphere in Mesquite is somewhat the same as Laughlin: both are bleak, slowly dying, isolated desert towns that were conceived as an alternative to Vegas but have pretty much failed. Of course, Primm, the other 1-15 pit stop casino town, has failed completely, but Mesquite is hanging on.

Mesquite gets a younger crowd than Laughlin; the latter town looks like an old folks' home these days. The difference in clientele is that while Mesquite's somewhat feeble attempt at building an actual town has fizzled out, Laughlin always had Bullhead City, which existed long before Laughlin was created and has its own raison d'etre--plus, the town of Laughlin itself, while bizarre (residences, period; nothing else, no commerce to speak of), provides a customer base.

Both Laughlin and Mesquite are extremely isolated, with absolutely nothing to see or do in the vicinity. Mesquite is, however, within striking distance of Zion National Park, definitely worth a visit. And while the weather is terrible in both places, Laughlin is quite often the hottest place in the entire US; Mesquite is at a somewhat higher elevation.

So while I wouldn't recommend that anyone bother to visit Laughlin, Mesquite is IMHO worth a couple or three nights, and certainly, it offers some decent bargains. Food and rooms are nothing special, but not bad.

 Good info.