As part of its retrofitting with coin- and token-operated slots and $5 blackjack tables, Slots A Fun is giving the Stage Door a run for its bargain money by serving $2 Heinekens, hot dogs, and shrimp cocktails, all at the bar.
You can never go wrong with $2 Heinies in bottles or cans, we like to say.
And the $2 shrimp cocktail isn’t too shabby either. It comes in a two-cup setup, with the tartar sauce at the bottom of the big cup and six medium shrimp and a bed of lettuce in the smaller top cup.
Initially, we were a little unimpressed, counting only five shrimp, 40¢ apiece. But one was hiding under the lettuce, bringing the price down to 33¢ and putting this deal over the top as a new Top Tenner.
Included in the decision are: 1) Slots A Fun is easy to get to if you come in the back way on Sammy Davis Jr. Drive, parking in the Circus Circus lot or garages; 2) parking is absolutely free; 3) the previous Top Ten shrimp at the Fremont dropped out after another price raise; and 4) it’s a two-minute walk across the street to Fontainebleau, which is a must-see if it’s your first time. (By walking through Slots A Fun, perhaps playing a few quarters or tokens, and getting a shrimp cocktail at the bar, you’ve done your duty for parking gratis at Circus.) And 4) the soundtrack of quarters and dollar tokens crashing down into the metal hoppers of the old-time slot machines hasn’t been heard around here for a long time and if you’re at all nostalgic for Las Vegas the way it used to be, this is the place to experience it.
Circus Circus – Circus Buffet: This week is dinner during the weekdays only so far. Mon-Thurs, 5 p.m. 9 p.m. at $24.95.
Cosmopolitan – Wicked Spoon: Breakfast and lunch menus are separated by time now. Weekday breakfast is Mon-Fri, 8 a.m.-11 a.m. Weekday Lunch is Mon-Fri, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Both priced at $47.
South Point – Garden Buffet: Lunch went up from $20.95 to $22.95. Prime Rib & Champagne Brunch went up from $29.95 to $30.95. And Prime Rib Dinner ft. Peel & Eat Shrimp went up from $29.95 to $30.95.
At long last, Slots A Fun on the north Strip next to (and owned by) Circus Circus has been modernized with new carpet, $2 blast-from-the-past offerings from the bar, a new table-game pit, and most noticeable of all, 75 vintage coin- (quarter) and token-($1)operated slots in 25¢ and $1 denominations.
As for the small pit, four blackjack tables have $5 minimums with $500 max bets. Roulette is played with $1 tokens, but requires a $10 minimum bet. And the electronic crap table has a live dealer.
All the old coin machines from Circus Circus were relocated to Slots A Fun and a few dozen more were bought from Vegas vendors to fill out the floor. As you walk in from Circus, you’re greeted by the dulcet sounds of coins dropping into hoppers from two back-to-back banks of Magnificent 7s (the sign boasts a 97.4% payback). When we were there on a Saturday around noon, the 20 machines were jammed with players loading them up with tokens.
Six more Magnificent 7s are near front door, along with Triple Stars, Triple Strike, Triple Double, Double Gold, and the good old Double Diamonds and Red White and Blue machines. Of course, the joint sports the big new slots (Buffalo and the like) and Wheel of Fortune.
You won’t find any change booths or roving change ladies, but you can change you bills into $1 tokens and quarters at the equally vintage machines. And the old-time change buckets are readily available.
One thing that hasn’t changed is that the whole front of the casino still opens right out onto the Strip sidewalk. The coin-clanging soundtrack definitely draws the older nostalgic passersby right in.
The gift shop on the north wall and the bar on the south are also basically the same, though there’s a self-serve drink, snack, souvenir, and sundry selection next to the bar where the food court used to be.
At the bar, you can get $2 Heinekens, hot dogs, popcorn, and shrimp cocktails. We tried the shrimp, of course, and you can read thatreview here.
Parking is free in the surface lot and parking structures behind Circus Circus; you just have to walk through the madhouse to get to Slots A Fun.
When we heard a renowned shop that at least one food journal named as serving the best sandwiches in the world was coming to town, we couldn’t wait for it to open. It took eight months, then one more for us to get there.
All’Antico Vinaio means “At the Ancient Wine Merchant” and describes the location of the first shop that opened in Florence, Italy, in 1989 across from a wine bar. In Las Vegas, it’s located at the unfinished UnCommons mixed-use district in the southwest valley. It’s the brand’s third location in the U.S.; the other two are in Manhattan and Venice, California.
It occupies a surprisingly cramped storefront, with seven workers in constant motion behind the small counter, especially the two beefy people operating the meat slicers, one on each side of the counter — back and forth, back and forth, slicing and stacking cold cuts and stopping only to change meat.
And the word is out about All’Antico; customers were lined up all the way back to the door when we were there on a Monday afternoon. You can eat at a couple of two tops and a dozen or so stools against high tables at windows overlooking the street, but it’s pretty cramped; two tables are outside the windows on the sidewalk as well.
The sandwiches are made with freshly baked schiacciata (skia-CHA-tah), a chewy Tuscan flatbread. In the photo below, the sandwich maker is preparing our three-sandwich order from a half-loaf.
Between the bread are meat, cheese, and vegetables, all lined up neatly in the long display case.
The sliced meats include capicollo, two kinds of prosciutto, lardo (Italian fatback), pancetta (salt-cured pork belly), and sbriciolona (fennel-seed salami), with various cheeses like gorgonzola, mozzarella, stracciatella (mozzarella soaked in cream), and other soft cream cheeses (pecorino, nduja, truffle, pistachio), along with fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, spicy eggplant, and grilled vegetables.
Prices start at $12 for the Caprese (mozzarella, tomato, and fresh basil) and go up to $20 for the lardo-gorgonzola-truffle-honey combo. The signature sandwich is the Favoloso: sbriciolona, pecorino cream, artichoke cream, and spicy eggplant. Signs on the countertop advertise two or three daily specials.
We got the Caprese, Favoloso, and Paradiso with mortadella, stracciatella, pistachio cream, and pistachio ($18). The total bill with tip came to $51.
Pricey for three sandwiches, yes, but these are huge; each can easily feed two and the three we brought back to the office satisfied appetites for more than two days. Also, with the specialty bread, the authentic Italian ingredients, and the experience in the small shop, this is a true taste of the birthplace of the Renaissance.
We were pleased that All’Antico isn’t part of the Sundry food hall at Uncommons, which is directly across the street, so we didn’t have to contend with a hostess, QR codes, and ewallets. Instead, you get your food the old-fashioned way: by walking in, waiting in line, and telling the people behind the counter what you want face to face; they make it for you as you watch and wrap it up; you take it to the cashier, pay, and you’re back out on the street with a big bag of food.
To get there, from Durango Road just west of the 215 Beltway and directly across from Station’s Durango Hotel-Casino, turn onto Maule and take your first left. Drive to the end of Helen Toland Street, park in the P2 garage, and All’Antico is right across the street on the corner. There are a few street-parking spots if you can grab one.
We highly recommend All’Antico Vinaio. It’s unique not only in Las Vegas, but all over the world, except New York, L.A., and Florence itself, as well.
[Editor’s Note: We received this trip report from Mike B, who goes to the lobster buffet at the Palms each time he comes to Las Vegas. In this, his second about the lobster feast, he relates his experience with the new reservations system and provides fabulous photographic evidence of the entire process and meal. Thank you, Mike!]
I went on a Wednesday. Luckily, a week before my trip, I read about the new entry procedure and made a reservationfor 4 p.m. I received a text confirmation that day and another a couple of days before my reservation.
I wanted to get there a little early to get the coupon validated at the Club Serrano booth; just as I arrived at the casino, I received a third text alerting me that my table would be ready a half-hour early.
I went to the rewards booth, validated my coupon, and headed over to the buffet.
When I got there, one person was ahead of me at the front where you see the greeter. I was quickly sent to the cashier where I paid and was immediately seated.
All I can say is WOW! What a difference from last September when I waited in line for a couple of hours. I’m not sure if this buffet has become less popular than then, but this time, it couldn’t have gone any smoother. I would say the seating area was about 75% full. No real lines at any of the food stations.
All of the food was as delicious as last time and the service was good.
[Editor’s Note: This review is written by Chris Kudialis, author of our recent book Weed and Loathing in Las Vegas — The Cannabis Economy Comes to Sin City. The book is a fun, colorful, and fast read that explores La Vegas’ explosion over the past several years as the Cannabis Capital of the U.S. It also spotlights the shady politics, regulatory corruption, casino clout, anointed players, and moneybags behind the new billion-dollar business. Chris is one of the leading experts on cannabis politics and practicalities in Nevada, so he was the perfect guy to review Las Vegas’ first state-approved cannabis consumption lounge.]
Smoke and Mirrors, located inside Thrive Dispensary on 2975 S. Sammy Davis Drive just one block west of the Strip, on Feb. 23 became Nevada’s first state-licensed cannabis consumption lounge to open for business.
The new “consumption club” is essentially a more upscale version of the tribal-owned Sky High Lounge (the revamped Vegas Tasting Room) on Las Vegas Paiute land less than a mile north of the Fremont Street Experience; that one opened way back in 2019, not needing state approval, since it’s on the reservation.
Smoke and Mirrors serves more expensive and more elaborate menu items in a better-ventilated venue with more nicely dressed and more courteous staff, better furniture, and less blasting of top 40 music. If Sky High is the PT’s Pub or PT’s Gold of weed lounges, Smoke and Mirrors is the Downtown Cocktail Room. No added frills or stuffiness, per se, S&M just exudes a more peaceful, comfortable, and welcoming vibe.
It has so far made a name for itself, perhaps surprisingly, with its unique variety of 12 THC-infused cocktails — not necessarily its array of more than 20 top-shelf marijuana flower strains to smoke or its four concentrate varieties to dab.
S&M owner Chris LaPorte, a Brooklyn native and the mastermind behind the now-shuttered Insert Coins booze arcade in downtown Las Vegas, named the cocktails after Vegas-linked influencers in both cannabis and music. He credits some of his weed lounge’s early success to that marketing.
“The Godfather” is Smoke & Mirrors’ most popular cocktail and honors weed visionary Tick Segerblom with a Sobreo-brand mixer, blueberry puree, lime and pineapple juice, agave nectar, and basil leaves. The lounge’s next most-popular drink, “Evolve,” salutes Vegas-born pop group Imagine Dragons by combining the elements of an apple pie and a hot toddy with Sobreo cinnamon, apple juice, vanilla syrup, a dehydrated apple, and a cinnamon stick.
The 1,300-square-foot lounge serves its drinks with flavorless THC infusions of up to 10 mg per cocktail. You’ll pay a pretty penny for the max-strength 10 mg, though: $30 (before tip). S&M also offers 5 mg and 2.5 mg THC strengths for $23 and $19, or a virgin option for $15. Flower comes in up to an eighth-ounce for as much as $75, while the four concentrates are all about a seventh of a gram and cost $20 each.
Of course, Smoke and Mirrors is not without its flaws. In my most recent visit, the staff asked me to change my table twice, the cocktails took more than 20 minutes to arrive despite being one of the first orders of the day, and the check took just as long to process; the team’s receipt-printing machine wasn’t working.
LaPorte readily admits Smoke and Mirrors’ first few weeks were anything but perfect, as his team of 20 total employees work to iron out the operational wrinkles that inevitably come with opening a first-of-its-kind business in a one-of-a-kind cannabis regulatory environment. Within a few months, though, he expects “a totally new” experience, hence the name Smoke and Mirrors.
“We want to keep people on their toes, curious and excited, but regularly surprised and never sure what’s coming here next,” he told me.
The lounge is similar to dispensaries, in that only adults 21 and older can enter. LaPorte and company can host up to 80 people at once. S&M doesn’t require a reservation, but LaPorte said they’ve been pushing reservations in the lounge’s early days to help meet demand and ensure walk-ins don’t get turned away. You can’t bring in your own weed and state law prevents Smoke and Mirrors from also serving alcohol.
The team will turn away anyone who its hostesses deem too “messed up” to enter, though LaPorte said they’ve yet to deny any customers for that reason through nearly two weeks of being open. S&M allows patrons who get too stoned on the lounge’s products can leave their cars behind for up to 24 hours in its shared parking lot with Thrive.
S&M opens every day except Monday, from 4 p.m. to midnight on Tuesday and Wednesday and noon to midnight on Thursday through Sunday. LaPorte says those hours will likely soon expand.
Last month we wrote about the good chicken fingers at Tender Crush, one of the outlets in the Rio’s Canteen Food Hall. This month we tried Tony Luke’s at Canteen. Billed as “The Real Taste of South Philly,” it’s been operating there since 1992 and now has outlets in several states. The Rio’s is the first in Nevada and farthest west. Hours are 11 a.m.-10 pm (11 p.m. Friday and Saturday).
Sandwiches
There are a dozen cheesesteaks and hoagies on the menu, made with steak, chicken, or pork, plus a veggie option. The cheesesteaks come with choice of American cheese, Kraft Cheez Whiz, or mild provolone. The roast pork comes with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe or spinach. We’re not from Philadelphia, but we think that’s the way they’re supposed to be made. They’re $13-$15, but extras might push that up. For example, a traditional cheesesteak is $13, but if you want mushrooms, it’s $2 additional (the peppers are standard). We tried the traditional cheesesteak with mushrooms ($15). We also had the steak hoagie ($14).
CheesesteakHoagie & CheesesteakHoagie
Verdict
In Philly it’s “Pat’s or Geno’s.” In Vegas we make our cheesesteak comparisons with Capriotti’s. We still like Caps, but it’s close. We didn’t get the hoagie; it’s a cheesesteak with vegetables and Mayonnaise. We weren’t thrilled. Paying for the add-ons is buzz kill, but it’s a food hall after all.
This makes it two for two thumbs up at the Canteen (tenders and cheesesteak). Our next target? Either Sushi or Ramen (we can’t decide).
Among the many good deals at Downtown Grand are the instacomp dining specials. After earning just 25 points ($50 coin-in), you’re qualified for discounts on several meals in Freedom Beat.
When we describe this deal, we usually reference the $14.99 prime rib, but there are also other half-off specials, including the Freedom Beat burger, a half-pound Angus beef patty with cheese, lettuce, and tomato on a brioche bun. This one’s a banger! Cooked to order — if you want rare, you’ll get rare — and served with fries or a fresh fruit cup, you probably wouldn’t mind handing over the $16 retail price. But it’s just $8 on this deal. Eat at a table or the counter. Parlay with the blackjack and video poker mini-tournaments on Thursdays.
The Process
Play $50 through any machine with your players card inserted, then download the coupon from a DG kiosk. That’s all there is to it and it can be done daily — get another burger tomorrow or switch to the prime rib or another half-price option.
Free Parking, Too
Additionally, the same $50 coin-in gets you free parking. Park in the Ogden garage, earn 25 points, then take your players card to the club booth for validation (you don’t need the kiosk if you don’t eat).
Instacomp Cost
If you play 8/5 Bonus Poker (99.17% return), your expected loss to qualify for this deal is about 50¢. That’s with perfect play. Since most of us aren’t perfect, let’s call it a $1. That’s good, but you can usually do better. As we’ve reported many times, the return on the quarter 9/5 Double Double Bonus progressive at the Furnace Bar is almost always close to breakeven, if not positive. Whatever you play, a burger and parking for $50 in action is as good an instacomp as you’ll find.
Circus Circus – Circus Buffet: All weekend buffet prices went up $5. From $19.99 to $24.99. Breakfast Friday & Sun, 7 a.m.-11 a.m. Breakfast Saturday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday BBQ Night Dinner, 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Saturday Mexican Night Dinner, 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. No Sunday Italian Night Dinner this weekend.
Excalibur – The Buffet at Excalibur: Weekday Brunch went up by $1. Mon-Thurs, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. is $31.99. Weekend Brunch went up by $4. Fri-Sun, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. is $37.99.
Palms – A.Y.C.E. Buffet: Brunch is a daily buffet now instead of weekends only. Mon- Tue & Friday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Wed-Thurs, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. All daily brunch costs $32.99. Reservations are now required for the all-you-can-eat lobster dinner buffet. Available every Wednesday and Thursday, from 2pm – 9pm. Still costs $64.99. Must go to Palms website to reserve.
They’re rare, but $1 oyster specials still turn up in Las Vegas. Here’s one.
Get dollar oysters all day on Tuesdays at Cap’t Louie Seafood Boil, a non-casino restaurant on the west side of town. The deal runs all day and there’s no limit. The oysters are Virginia blue points, served with cocktail sauce, fresh horseradish, and lemon.
The setting is pleasant, though it’s just a restaurant. There’s no bar, though beer and wine are available. The restaurant offers several seafood plates, mostly fried baskets and seafood boils. They look good and are mostly priced under $20 (along with market-priced crab, lobster, shrimp, mussels, and crawfish), but we didn’t try anything besides the oysters.
Cap’t Loui is located at 9430 W. Sahara, about seven miles from the Strip. Heading toward downtown on the Strip, turn left on Sahara and keep driving till you hit it. There are Cap’t Loui restaurants in several other states, but this is the only one in Nevada. Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
