For the entrance to Diner Ross, read our review of DiscoShow.
You walk up the stairs to the lounge-bar area and in the corner is a faux hot dog cart under an umbrella. That’s the hostess stand.
Inside is a large space full of naugehyde booths and red chairs, stainless-steel legs on the tables, and the walls covered in bygone decorations; a lot of money was spent on posters, photos, and original art. The soundtrack, as well, is from the era: “Mr. Big Stuff,” “Everyday People,” “You’re So Vain,” “Young Americans,” “Take a Walk on the Wild Side,” and the like. Other than Diner Ross being LOUD LOUD LOUD, the music, furnishings, and décor are the best things about this restaurant (and the name).
Then there’s the food.
You finally get to see a menu with prices on it (none of the online menus or even the one posted outside the DiscoShow front door bothers with that mundane detail). And once you see the numbers, you’ll know why. Appetizers and salads are in the $20s. Mushroom risotto is $28, trout $32, meatloaf $35, and chicken $39. The burger is $36! Steaks start at $48 (with fries), rise to $69 for the filet mignon (no number of ounces), and top out at $180 for the 42-ounce Tomahawk. If you want steak sauces, add $5. And this is supposed to be an old-fashioned New York-style diner.
We got the shrimp cocktail, five medium and slightly mushy shrimp with a couple of sauces ($24), and the signature Disco fries, a big plate of potatoes with gravy; even though the service was lickety-split and we had our food in 90 seconds flat, the fries were soggy and cold in a matter of minutes. Meanwhile, are you sitting down? With tax and tip, the shrimp cocktail and fries came to $60. And those were, essentially, the cheapest items on the menu.
DiscoShow is worth the $118 ticket. As for Diner Ross, take a stroll through to see the art. But skip eating there.
Blondies is a popular sports bar at the Miracle Mile Shops, across the floor from the V Theater (follow those signs). Its relevance from our perspective is the breakfast special served 7-11 a.m. daily.
For $5.95, it comes with two big eggs, two slices of bacon, and a mess of honest-to-goodness home fries (not hash browns) with green pepper and purple onions. Even without toast, this is an excellent morning repast anywhere for the price, but on the Strip, it’s unsurpassed. (La Salsa Cantina across the way also has a good special; it’s $6.95 and comes with tortillas.)
On the day we visited, a Wednesday, we walked right in around 7:45. The hostess set up at her stand out front at 8 and it started getting crowded around 9. But if you want to sit at the 16-seat counter up front, you can just walk right in and sit right down; the bartender takes your order and serves you.
Two caveats. First, be careful of the drinks. Coffee alone will double the price. Second, everyone gets an hour of parking for free. You can make it in and out in an hour, but only if you get there early. By the time we left around 9, the wait was already 20 minutes long, as you can see in the photo. There’s no sense in paying $18 (Mon.-Thurs.) or especially $23 (Fri.-Sun.) for a $5.95 meal. Unless you’re hoofing it, with parking and coffee, this $5.95 breakfast is $27 weekdays and $35 weekends!
In the heart of the Arts District, which is in a lot of ways the heart of Las Vegas, sits Main Street Provisions, which opened in late 2020 and has gotten great reviews ever since, especially after the new chef, who earned his chops (so to speak) at steakhouses on the Strip, took over a couple of years ago.
The cuisine is described as “modern American comfort food reimagined” and we’d add “with an international flare.” A glance at the menu tells you you’ll be getting exactly that: seasonable, sustainable, quality-driven food: short rib with a Korean sauce and cauliflower rice; roast chicken with parsnip purée; Pacific cod poached in soy and ginger; English pea and mushroom risotto ($28-$36); and steaks (from $42 for the six-ounce filet to $92 for the 30-ounce porterhouse). Appetizers include filet tartare, Cajun barbecue shrimp, short rib dumpling, and roasted octopus ($16-$28). Four salads and five sides (all around $15) and five very rich desserts (also $15) round out the menu.
enoki mushroomssteak tartare
We liked the complimentary sparkling water that comes in a half-carafe, but weren’t big fans of the crab cake ($28). The steak tartare ($23) was different, with more ingredients than we usually see; it was tasty and came with four big leaves of butter lettuce, but we didn’t love it. The enoki mushrooms fried in tempura batter were recommendable.
filetshort rib
However, when we got to the entrées, we hit paydirt. The filet in a Bordelaise sauce with very creamy mashed potatoes was absolutely heavenly. The short rib was anything but short and was one of the best we’ve ever had; the rice cauliflower was the perfect touch.
When we do Main Street Provisions again, which we will, we’ll get an entrée and a vegetable, saving $50 on the appetizers and going with the more expensive steaks.
toffee pudding and vanilla ice cream — at the end of the assault
Our bill, including the appetizers, entrées, $14 glass of wine, and ridiculously rich sticky toffee pudding, came to $202 with tax. Expensive, but well worth the somewhat exotic — for American comfort food — experience.
Great show!. Who knew? Actually, we should have. We’ve been around long enough to know that a place like the Palms doesn’t book a ticketed show if it doesn’t have something good going for it. And does this one ever.
Yacht rock? It’s probably not what you think. It certainly wasn’t what we thought. Maybe some Seals & Crofts, Christopher Cross, and Lionel Richie. Well, actually, yes. But also ELO, Elton John, and Toto. Not watered down renditions, but hard driving covers behind a rocking 7-piece band. One of those pieces is a saxophone, and if you’ve ever seen a good rock sax live, you know what that can mean. In this case, it stole the show with an amazing cover of Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street.” There’s no warm-up band and no break. The show ran for an hour and a half, plus another 15-minute encore
The Venue
The Palms has the intimate Pearl concert venue, but this show plays—when not out by the pool—in the even more intimate Kaos nightclub. It’s $25 for standing room, or you can pay more for seats at tables.
The Crowd
It’s all age groups. Mostly a 40-and-up crowd, but many younger, and even some kids with their parents. It’s a thing to dress up like a yachtsman (or even a pirate for some), so you’ll see a lot of sailor hats and such. To each his own. One thing’s for sure, the crowd knows the songs. They sing and dance and party all the way through. It’s a truly electric atmosphere.
Free for LVAers
The reason we were there in the first place is the Palms comped two tickets to LVA members as part of its participation in our Member Rewards program (which also includes the BOGO for the buffet). This is an arrangement we hope to continue, both with the Palms and other casinos.
The Verdict
Yachtley isn’t an ongoing show; they play the Palms sporadically. Next time they play, go. Honestly, we came away thinking we’d happily pay to see them again, only we’d do it with a group and probably spring for an extra ten bucks per seat to get a table. Beers are $13, so make sure to do your pre-gaming with comped drinks while playing video poker before the show. This is a Vegas gem. Who knew?
Does the name of this restaurant ring a bell? It might if you’re into politics, as it was where Donald Trump held his rally in Las Vegas when he announced his “no tax on tips” plan. Photos of that event are hanging in the lobby, which is an interesting aside, but the reason we went was to try the Sunday brunch buffet.
Surprise Location
Though we’d heard of Il Toro e La Capra, we didn’t realize until we got there that it had taken over the two-story building at 6435 S. Decatur that was formerly Rhythm Kitchen. It’s an impressive place with dining rooms on both floors. The buffet is served upstairs, a nice setting with a view. There’s a live mariachi band and the buffet is served Sundays (10 am-1 pm), so the TVs were tuned to the NFL games.
Enticing Price
What got our attention, aside from it’s being a rare new buffet to try, was the price: $34 for the buffet, $40 with unlimited sangria and mimosas. That’s an enticing price for a buffet these days and even better is the $6 all-you-can-drink add-on.
The Buffet
So far, so good. What about the food? Uh oh. Let’s get it out of the way right from the start: This is a distinctly low-end spread. Il Toro e La Capra serves a mix of Mexican and Italian food, but it’s almost all Mexican at the buffet, and kind of a strange mix at that. No enchiladas, no tamales, no chili relleno, not even guacamole. Wouldn’t you expect some version of huevos rancheros at a brunch? Nope. In fact, the only eggs presence was steam-tray scrambled. Chicharron verde, fajita fixings with fresh tortillas, chile Colorado, menudo, and nopales (marinated cactus pads) accompany some uninspiring pasta and pizza. They need to do better.
The sangria was good enough that we didn’t veer to the mimosas.
The Verdict
What sounded like a deal isn’t, given the quality of the buffet. There’s an argument that you can make it close with the drinks, but that won’t cut it for most. Maybe if they added some enchiladas and tamales.
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 Plazathe 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.
