Stratosphere this weekend what's good, what's to avoid

Friend has room booked for this weekend at Stratosphere. He hasn't been to LV for over 10 years. I don't know much about the Stratosphere other than I'm not adventurous enough to go on their rides. He and his wife are going to celebrate his 34th birthday.

Any food recommendations at the Stratosphere for him?

Any good slots or tables? He plays blackjack and craps. Sometimes slots.

I'm estimating a gambling budget of $500 to $1000 total for the 3 days they will be in LV.

Does the Stratosphere have any new player promos now?

Which casinos have good new player promos going now?

Hello
The Stratosphere is in our stable of favorite places but it definitely not for everyone.
We like it for the easy comps, decent restaurants, remodeled rooms and attentive hosts. We are VP and BJ players so I can't speak to craps.
The best VP is currently bonus poker available in different spots around the casino- there is a small bar/stage off the table games area that has BP in dollars. Locations in VPfree2 were accurate as of our last trip in August.
BJ is pretty much strip average with two and six deck games averaging a house edge of .4- .5. We play green chips and after a couple of hours have easily gotten comps to Roxys and the buffet. The pit bosses and dealers are generally friendly and helpful.

Can't say the buffet is particularly noteworthy although we really enjoy Roxys. We try to hit the Top of the World Restaurant each trip and get there about an hour before sunset. It is a bit pricey and the food is good although not a top tier steakhouse. We like the tasting menu which along with the view make for a great evening.
Check out the menu linked below

Fellinis is the Italian place which we find good however the last time they wouldn't take points to pay for the meal.
The player's club is called AcePlay and like many slot clubs is tiered. The higher your level the better goodies you get.
Link to the particulars below


I'm not aware of any current sign up benefits but of course always ask.

Our host (Ron Guse) is excellent and we find their marketing offers strong. Between Sonya and I we get about $745 a quarter along with a suite and food. We especially enjoy booking our trips over the "changeover" of a quarter where we get free play from quarter one on one day and free play from quarter two the next. There is also no hassling with a boothling since the play is loaded on our accounts.

Looking outside the Strat you will see the decay of the North end of the Strip. We have never had a problem however we always take cabs.

Enjoy,

Paul and Sonya from Iowa
Top of the World
AcePlay

Last time I stayed at the Strat (about 4 years ago), they had a "crapless" craps table. 2,3,11 and 12 are point numbers just like 4,5,6,8,9 and 10. It is definitely a different twist to the game. I don't know if they still have it.

Lots of thoughts on the Strat:

- The entire property is mediocre but exceptionally well priced. Nothing will "wow" you there but value conscious consumers will find it to be a great deal for the price.

- The Italian Restaurant is decent quality and relatively cheap. Dont expect much creativity on the menu...just standard Italian Food staples.

- The casino has a great deal of energy with live bands playing at night in the casino bars.

- The crowd tends to be a combination of young and middle aged people with one thing in common...a
tight budget. Very fun, unpretencious people.

- Lots of hookers. I've stayed in the Stratosphere exactly three times and all three times people in the room next to me were banging hookers. And I always get hit on by hookers in the elevator. If having hookers around bothers you then you might have a problem. I dont go for hookers but I enjoy having them around. Its kinda funny.

- The casino is pretty loose by Strip Standards. They allegedly have a single-Zero roulette wheel although I have never seen it there.

- Strat has a good funbook and hotel guests will get some matchplay coupons for the tables.

- Up the escalators they have souvenier stores and boardwalk-type food. Nice little dive that sells frozen drinks.

- The topless Vampire show, Bite, is lame. Dont bother with it. I dont know what other shows they have now, if any.

PJ is pretty much spot on, they do have a McDonald's there, but the Strat pretty much has a captive audience, since there is not much else to do outside of the property.

I've played at their single zero roulette table, so it does exist.

Stayed at the Strat once. Had a couple of free nights. Got in late -around 10/11 pm and they said they had no non smoking rooms left. Insisted on a non smoking due to allergies (casino is enough smoke). After some time they found a non smoking room but they kept saying remember it is comped. We were close to the elevator which wasn't that bad (noise wise), our room was nice-not oh my gosh nice but ok. Our view was of the parking garage wall that was about 12" away and the Vegas magazines in the room were dated 3 months ago. Like they said the room was comped. Our guess was it was a room not used very often--still it was clean and worked for sleeping and showering. Did hit my first oh and my second royal that stay (one in the morning and then the next that evening) funny thing we never got another offer from them. Roxy's diner is entertaining and ok food.

My son and his girlfriend were attending a wedding in Vegas last month. The wedding and the wedding party were at Mandalay Bay and it did not fit into my son's budget at the time. He researched out rooms (just like I taught him) and found a reasonable weekend rate for his weekend. He got one of the remodeled rooms and told me they were very nice. If it was a dump, or just so-so, he would have said so. Of course as is usually the case, who spends a lot of time in the room?

We met them there for a drink. We had not been there for about 6 years. We signed up for the new Ace card. We played a little VP and some Hangover slots. A few weeks later, we got an offer for $24.99 Sun-Thurs....and $44.99 Fri-Sat. Hubby and I are going to Vegas next week for our birthday/anniversary......(we got married on my birthday) We are taking advantage of our Hilton offer.....4 nights for $139.00. We seldom get offers for free anymore, as HET or whoever they are now, forgot we exist. But I am one who would like to try as many hotels as I can. Besides thier pool is heated and if the weather is nice.....we are hanging outside. We decided that we would like to come in one night earlier and were looking for a reasonable Sat. night. So we took advantage of the Strat weekend rate. I was advised we would get one of the non-smoking remodeled rooms. So will be able to report on the new rooms after our return.

One reason we never stayed there before was that friends of ours stayed there for a week 6 years ago and we went up to their room to have a few Rolling Rocks from their cooler, and the room was bare bones Motel 6, overlooking the parking garage. I always felt I went to Vegas for a little more than that.

I love the Strat. As other have said, it's nothing fancy, but a good value and unpretentious. To build on what others have said:

Gambling: Friendly dealers and pit critters. Good craps, with 10x odds. They seem to push the crapless game, but my advice is to stick with the standard one (located closer to the cage). They used to have a single-zero roulette, but it hasn't been around for years. Decent BJ rules on the $25 game, but you'll definitely be playing alone.

Food: Roxy's makes a good burger. The buffet is pretty standard. There's fast food options upstairs (pizza, McD's, etc)

Food within walking distance: Golden Steer on Sahara - great steak. If you love classic Vegas you can't afford not to go (I sat at Joe DiMaggio's table last time). Capriotti's, also on Sahara for a good sandwich. Tacos Mexico next door - standard taco wagon fare, open 24 hours. It's where I go for 3 am munchies. Tiffany's Cafe at the White Cross drug store, 3 blocks north. Get the Chicken Fried Steak.

Drinkin': All you can drink happy hour for 20 bucks at the casino bar. Do your worst. Dino's, 2 blocks north - there's no place like it. Bring your Karaoke shoes.

For what it's worth, I liked Bite. I guess the point is that if you do like it, nobody will be impressed with you.

Have fun!

When we were there in 08, the staf was very friendly, and we liked the slots.