One S&G reader has — unlike me — been to John Ascuaga’s Nugget and deeply regrets having done so:
John Ascuaga’s Nugget might be the most soul-crushing casino I’ve ever been to, and I know from soul-crushing casinos. It’s 1985-modern, and doesn’t seem to have been touched since. It’s hard to put into words what it is that’s so disconcerting about the place and gives it the odd vibe. Perhaps it’s that they seem to have too high an opinion of themselves. Maybe it’s like a middle-aged woman who thinks she’s still beautiful but in fact isn’t and never even was? You’re not missing much. It’s a casino I never want to set foot in again.
Geez, cut the Nugget some slack. I stay there 1-3 times per year and it may not be comparable to the best Vegas hotels but it’s a perfectly decent place with reasonable prices. There is an indoor pool, where I can take my kids swimming in the winter, and decent restaurants. For an overnight getaway from Sacramento or the Bay Area, it’s a nice place. Meanwhile, it would cost us $1000 in plane fare to get to Vegas for the weekend.
BTW – it also runs right under the freeway.
It should come as a surprise to very few people that Reno/Sparks is a much different market than Las Vegas. If you wan’t glitz and that “new car smell” from your casino, you shouldn’t be in Reno anyway. The Nugget, the last time I was there about a year ago, was still a friendly place with an old-school vibe that presents a pretty decent gaming value to its patrons. As a low-roller, I didn’t pay for any of my meals while I was there, although that may have changed.
Is the JA Nugget modern? No. Take a look at the P.T. Anderson movie “Hard Eight” (aka “Sydney”). A lot of the casino portions of the film were shot at the Nugget, and it still looks largely the same. Some folks are looking for that vibe though. I still prefer a family-owned place with some personality over the mass-produced LV Strip feel on some of my trips to Nevada, and the Nugget still provides that. Plus you can walk a couple of blocks down Victorian Avenue to In-N-Out, which is part of this tourist’s dream arrangement.
BTW – it also runs right under the freeway.