My wife and I traveled to LV from Phoenix on June 13 - 16. Trip was mostly pleasure and some business, which is always a distraction.
June 13
We drove to LV on a Wednesday morning. We stopped at the Hacienda for the first time (I stopped here was before years ago to get a chip). Plan was to play some low limit blackjack to get back in the swing of things, but they only had one open table, and it was full. So, since we were starving, we got the buffet planning to use the ACG 2for1 coupon. As it turns out, on Wednesday their buffet is already two for one, so I saved the coupon. But honestly, the buffet wasn't very good at all and the regular price is $8.95, which is overpriced for this buffet. We really had only planned to have a snack here, since we were planning to go to Brio in Town Square for happy hour in a little while.
We have gone to Brio as our initial stop the last couple of times we've been in LV and their happy hour is a nice way to start the trip. They have $5.00 martini specials and half off appetizers from approximately 3:00 to 6:00. So we left Hacienda having played no blackjack and had a mediocre half off buffet. We arrived in LV about half hour or so later going directly to Brio in Town Square.
Town Square is nice. A wide variety of shops and restaurants in a town center setting - hence the name. We usually go to Brio because we like the happy hour. Have gone twice now and had a positive experience both times. Good service, nice atmosphere, and reasonable prices.
Arrived at Aria mid afternoon on Wednesday. Valet parking was really backed up, but we finally were able to unload the car and check in. Check in went well - no problems. I had booked the room using the room special that I found on the LVA site. We checked in to a standard room for two nights. Its a long walk through the casino to get to the elevators to the room. The always have a security person checking for room keys. It is kind of a hassle, but I guess its a nice security feature. The room was nice but of average size - not oversized like Encore. Nicely appointed. Aria is pretty nice, but its a long walk to get to the Strip. We like going to the Todd English pub for happy hour, which is just outside Aria in City Center. They have half off beers (but even at half off the beers are $4-$5) and $2 oysters. I like the atmosphere and they will give you complimentary peanuts and popcorn if you ask for it.
My wife and I enjoy playing blackjack switch, but prefer to play at a $5 table so you are only betting $10 per hand. This is hard to find on the strip. , Both Aria and Cosmo have blackjack switch, but they are always at least $10 tables, meaning $20 per hand. We have found $5 blackjack switch tables at Casino Royale and Bill's Gamblin' Hall. We played at Bill's our first night in town for quite awhile - probably from about 6pm to 10pm. Oddly, they have their own players club separate from Caesars, even they are owned by Caesars.
We left Bill's and started looking for a place for a late dinner. We ended up at Blondie's attached to Planet Hollywood. It was late and we were really hungry, but the food was pretty good for a sports bar. I had a cobb salad and my wife had a bacon cheeseburger.
June 14
We went to the Aria buffet on Thursday morning. It wasn't very good at all. Its not that the food tasted bad, but most of the food just had very little flavor at all. Even bacon didn't really taste like bacon. I know that sounds weird, but its really true. Plus the service just wasn't very good at all. Took forever to get refills on coffee. I would not go back to this buffet, especially for the prices they are charging.
Next I had to do my business stuff that carried me through early afternoon. My wife scoped out Aria and the surrounding area during that time. After I got back from my meetings, we went to Todd English pub for happy hour. They have a nice variety of beers and I like the oysters and the free popcorn and peanuts. We also went over to Monte Carlo for awhile. We hadn't been there since 1998, when we stayed there the first time we came to LV. It was all right, not sure I would go back, but they did have $5 blackjack - so that's a plus.
For dinner we went to the Hofbrauhaus over by Hard Rock. We both like German food, and I have been to the real Hofbrauhaus in Munich a couple of times over the years. My wife really wanted to try this place, and as I have never been there, I agreed. I wouldn't go back. I was expecting it to be more authentic. The look of the place is authentic, but the authenticity really ends there. They have traditional German food, but the portions are smallish for the price. But the waiters and the band were not authentic at all - the band was playing Monkees music while we were there. The beer is good, but very expensive.
After dinner, we went over to Eastside Cannery to play blackjack. I like this place, and have played here a reasonable amount on recent trips, but they haven't sent me any decent offers at all. I still like the place and you can be assured they always have $5 blackjack and craps, plus I have already found the dealers and bosses to be friendly and drink service is pretty good.
June 15
Today we opted for the Bellagio breakfast buffet - much much better than Aria and $1 less expensive. The line was long - about 25 minutes - but we stuck it out and it was worth it. We took the tram from Aria to Bellagio and back. This was not a bad trip - particularly since it takes so long to get to the strip from Aria. We always go to Bellagio - I've had alot good times there over the years - to check out the arboretum and lobby. And they had two tables of $5 blackjack on Friday morning. Just another thing I like about Bellagio.
We had to check from Aria since we were moving over to Gold Coast. I had gotten an offer for a free room for two nights - so we took them up on their offer. Weird thing happened when we were checking out, there's a guy standing kind of behind me to my right, all of sudden the dude just drops like a sack of potatoes - just passed out. I mean one second he was just standing there and the next he is out like a light on the floor of the lobby. Security quickly converged and then the guy woke up and seemed ok. Just another Vegas moment.
After we checked out we went over to Ellis Island to gamble and have lunch. Unbelievably, in all the times we had been to Las Vegas my wife had never had the steak special at EI, even though we go here almost every trip. So we played blackjack for awhile and then went and had lunch. We both had the steak special - which was as good as always, and my wife liked it. Service was good as always. We played some more blackjack after we ate, but ended up losing a little bit. This is the one place I don't mind losing a little bit - I just don't want them to close.
Friday night we went to see Love at Mirage at the 7:00 show. I am a big Beatles fan, as is my wife, and we both like the Cirque type shows, but honestly this show disappointed me a little bit. I think part of it was just that they didn't focus on the Beatles songs that I like the most. The show itself doesn't compare to Le Reve, which we saw at Wynn in April. I had gotten tickets on the Cirque summer special pricing, but I was glad I didn't pay full price.
June 16
We checked out of Gold Coast and headed to Border Grill for their tapas brunch. It was great. We sat on the patio overlooking the pool area. It was warm but they have fans going. The price is $29.95 and you basically get all the tapas you want. This is much better than a buffet - you order the tapas off the menu and they bring them to you as they are ready. It is mexican themed food, but all of our choices were very good. My wife also got the all you can drink mimosas. They had several flavors and she liked them all. We will definitely do this again.
We left Border Grill and headed back to Phoenix. Overall, we lost a couple hundred gambling but had a good time as always. I'll be back in September. Thanks for reading.
June 13
We drove to LV on a Wednesday morning. We stopped at the Hacienda for the first time (I stopped here was before years ago to get a chip). Plan was to play some low limit blackjack to get back in the swing of things, but they only had one open table, and it was full. So, since we were starving, we got the buffet planning to use the ACG 2for1 coupon. As it turns out, on Wednesday their buffet is already two for one, so I saved the coupon. But honestly, the buffet wasn't very good at all and the regular price is $8.95, which is overpriced for this buffet. We really had only planned to have a snack here, since we were planning to go to Brio in Town Square for happy hour in a little while.
We have gone to Brio as our initial stop the last couple of times we've been in LV and their happy hour is a nice way to start the trip. They have $5.00 martini specials and half off appetizers from approximately 3:00 to 6:00. So we left Hacienda having played no blackjack and had a mediocre half off buffet. We arrived in LV about half hour or so later going directly to Brio in Town Square.
Town Square is nice. A wide variety of shops and restaurants in a town center setting - hence the name. We usually go to Brio because we like the happy hour. Have gone twice now and had a positive experience both times. Good service, nice atmosphere, and reasonable prices.
Arrived at Aria mid afternoon on Wednesday. Valet parking was really backed up, but we finally were able to unload the car and check in. Check in went well - no problems. I had booked the room using the room special that I found on the LVA site. We checked in to a standard room for two nights. Its a long walk through the casino to get to the elevators to the room. The always have a security person checking for room keys. It is kind of a hassle, but I guess its a nice security feature. The room was nice but of average size - not oversized like Encore. Nicely appointed. Aria is pretty nice, but its a long walk to get to the Strip. We like going to the Todd English pub for happy hour, which is just outside Aria in City Center. They have half off beers (but even at half off the beers are $4-$5) and $2 oysters. I like the atmosphere and they will give you complimentary peanuts and popcorn if you ask for it.
My wife and I enjoy playing blackjack switch, but prefer to play at a $5 table so you are only betting $10 per hand. This is hard to find on the strip. , Both Aria and Cosmo have blackjack switch, but they are always at least $10 tables, meaning $20 per hand. We have found $5 blackjack switch tables at Casino Royale and Bill's Gamblin' Hall. We played at Bill's our first night in town for quite awhile - probably from about 6pm to 10pm. Oddly, they have their own players club separate from Caesars, even they are owned by Caesars.
We left Bill's and started looking for a place for a late dinner. We ended up at Blondie's attached to Planet Hollywood. It was late and we were really hungry, but the food was pretty good for a sports bar. I had a cobb salad and my wife had a bacon cheeseburger.
June 14
We went to the Aria buffet on Thursday morning. It wasn't very good at all. Its not that the food tasted bad, but most of the food just had very little flavor at all. Even bacon didn't really taste like bacon. I know that sounds weird, but its really true. Plus the service just wasn't very good at all. Took forever to get refills on coffee. I would not go back to this buffet, especially for the prices they are charging.
Next I had to do my business stuff that carried me through early afternoon. My wife scoped out Aria and the surrounding area during that time. After I got back from my meetings, we went to Todd English pub for happy hour. They have a nice variety of beers and I like the oysters and the free popcorn and peanuts. We also went over to Monte Carlo for awhile. We hadn't been there since 1998, when we stayed there the first time we came to LV. It was all right, not sure I would go back, but they did have $5 blackjack - so that's a plus.
For dinner we went to the Hofbrauhaus over by Hard Rock. We both like German food, and I have been to the real Hofbrauhaus in Munich a couple of times over the years. My wife really wanted to try this place, and as I have never been there, I agreed. I wouldn't go back. I was expecting it to be more authentic. The look of the place is authentic, but the authenticity really ends there. They have traditional German food, but the portions are smallish for the price. But the waiters and the band were not authentic at all - the band was playing Monkees music while we were there. The beer is good, but very expensive.
After dinner, we went over to Eastside Cannery to play blackjack. I like this place, and have played here a reasonable amount on recent trips, but they haven't sent me any decent offers at all. I still like the place and you can be assured they always have $5 blackjack and craps, plus I have already found the dealers and bosses to be friendly and drink service is pretty good.
June 15
Today we opted for the Bellagio breakfast buffet - much much better than Aria and $1 less expensive. The line was long - about 25 minutes - but we stuck it out and it was worth it. We took the tram from Aria to Bellagio and back. This was not a bad trip - particularly since it takes so long to get to the strip from Aria. We always go to Bellagio - I've had alot good times there over the years - to check out the arboretum and lobby. And they had two tables of $5 blackjack on Friday morning. Just another thing I like about Bellagio.
We had to check from Aria since we were moving over to Gold Coast. I had gotten an offer for a free room for two nights - so we took them up on their offer. Weird thing happened when we were checking out, there's a guy standing kind of behind me to my right, all of sudden the dude just drops like a sack of potatoes - just passed out. I mean one second he was just standing there and the next he is out like a light on the floor of the lobby. Security quickly converged and then the guy woke up and seemed ok. Just another Vegas moment.
After we checked out we went over to Ellis Island to gamble and have lunch. Unbelievably, in all the times we had been to Las Vegas my wife had never had the steak special at EI, even though we go here almost every trip. So we played blackjack for awhile and then went and had lunch. We both had the steak special - which was as good as always, and my wife liked it. Service was good as always. We played some more blackjack after we ate, but ended up losing a little bit. This is the one place I don't mind losing a little bit - I just don't want them to close.
Friday night we went to see Love at Mirage at the 7:00 show. I am a big Beatles fan, as is my wife, and we both like the Cirque type shows, but honestly this show disappointed me a little bit. I think part of it was just that they didn't focus on the Beatles songs that I like the most. The show itself doesn't compare to Le Reve, which we saw at Wynn in April. I had gotten tickets on the Cirque summer special pricing, but I was glad I didn't pay full price.
June 16
We checked out of Gold Coast and headed to Border Grill for their tapas brunch. It was great. We sat on the patio overlooking the pool area. It was warm but they have fans going. The price is $29.95 and you basically get all the tapas you want. This is much better than a buffet - you order the tapas off the menu and they bring them to you as they are ready. It is mexican themed food, but all of our choices were very good. My wife also got the all you can drink mimosas. They had several flavors and she liked them all. We will definitely do this again.
We left Border Grill and headed back to Phoenix. Overall, we lost a couple hundred gambling but had a good time as always. I'll be back in September. Thanks for reading.
