Las Vegas - We're coming back! Day 3

[abiknox]

Day 3 – Saturday 28th March 2015

Index is here

I woke today at 7.30am, Aaron followed at 9am and we were out of the hotel by 10am. Not before Aaron grabbed a coffee from Starbucks though. When asked his name he said, it’s err Aaron. Seems they thought he said Sir Aaron!

We slowly walked the strip up to Harrahs looking out for some food inspiration as we had nothing planned for breakfast / lunch today. Unfortuneately we didn’t see anything before we crossed over to The Mirage to use our second MyVegas voucher for the Secret Garden. We found the Mlife desk and Aaron signed up as this one was one of his rewards, it probably took us about 5 minutes again before he was registered and we had the voucher in hand.

It was about 11.30 by this point and we were all feeling peckish, the choices in the Mirage weren’t great so we decided to cross back over the road and head to the Venetian food court as it had looked good back on day 1. I knew there was a Panda Express there so I was happy. It was a fair walk but sooo worth it.

Laura spotted Channing on our way!

I made a beeline for PE while Aaron & Laura walked the circumference of the court weighing up the choices. I got a 2 entrée plate with beef & broccoli, orange chicken and a mix of fried rice and noodles. With a diet coke this came to $12.

I took a seat and ate whilst the others sorted their food. They had reached the front of the queue at the fried chicken place but then changed their mind for some reason (I think they were out of diet coke?) and joined the Panda Express queue. Aaron had the 2 entrée plate also with beef & broccoli, teriyaki chicken, boiled rice and noodles and Im not entirely sure what Laura went for in the end. I know Aarons came to $12 the same as mine.

The food was really good, the orange chicken is just heavenly!

Tummy's filled and feeling content, we made our way back over to the Mirage.

Eventually we found the Secret Garden and with our BOGOF voucher it cost $40 in total. The area was lovely, we spent a really long time just relaxing in the sun and watching the dolphins. Aaron got himself a big beer @ $14 and I had a water. Aaron also connected to the free Wifi, at least he though he did, a couple of days later he checked his O2 balance and he had been charged £40 for data! Eeeek, God bless Three feel at home!

Laura disappeared to watch the dolphins under water and we followed her after a while. They were all very active.

Eventually we made our way over to the lion/tiger enclosure and spend a long time there too.

The whole place was just really peaceful and the Mirage is definitely a hotel I would consider staying at in the future. Just as we were leaving we spotted Siegfried and so stopped for a photo. He was really chatty and seemed to love interacting with all the guests.

On our way back through the Mirage we spotted a frozen yoghurt place so had to try a bit! I was going to just pinch a bit of Aarons until I saw that they had warm marshmallow topping! I quickly grabbed myself a tub. Mine and Aarons together came to $9, Laura’s came to $9 on its own She couldn’t manage it surprisingly! Mine was amazing, the warm marshmallow/gummy bear/cold pistachio yoghurt mix was incredible!

We walked back to the Planet Hollywood via a cocktail in Margaritaville. It was so hot I had a frozen Raspberry Daiquiri, Aaron had an Incommunicado & Laura had a strawberry lemonade. Aaron then had a 5 O’Clock somewhere too. The bill was $35 plus tip.

We stopped in Ballys on the way back to bet Lauras $8 voucher on the big wheel of fortune but we lost. It was 6pm when we reached the hotel and me and Aaron had our first nap of the holiday waking at 8.30pm. 9pm and we were ready to leave. Tonight we would be eating at the grand Lux Café, a firm favourite that we visited twice on our 2012 trip. Tonight was also the night Laura was going to be paying for as a thankyou for the holiday. We had really talked the restaurant up as it was sooo good last time we were here and we were all really looking forward to the meal. We considered getting a taxi as Laura was really suffering with her feet tonight but she wanted to keep them moving so we walked.

The strip was heaving, it was so hard to find a path to walk but we made it in the end, it amazes me just how stark the difference is between mid week / weekends in Vegas. We times the walk right and managed to see the Mirage volcano exploding which was good!

We got to the Grand Lux expecting it to be busy but it was really quiet, do Americans all eat really early? We were seated right away and quickly brought iced water and warm bread… were we finally going to have a good US restaurant experience like we had talked up to Laura for so many months!? Drinks wise, I ordered a Pina Colada, Aaron had a diet coke and Laura had a Sprite.

We picked our meals and ordered when the waiter returned. We had been really excited to come back here for the mashed potato spring rolls that we loved so much last time so those were picked as our starter. I then opted for the pork chop, Aaron the chicken parm & Laura the chicken royal. When he had taken the order, the waiter offered us more bread, we were really tempted but turned it down as we knew we had 2 courses on the way. He left us saying that the spring rolls would be out shortly.

So…. About 30 minutes later, he passed our table confirming that the food would be out shortly and about 10 minutes after that he arrived with our main courses! We mentioned that we hadn’t had our starter yet and he just looked at us blankly and then said he had forgotten to put the order through.

We accepted the main courses as we were more than ready for food now but I was devastated about missing my beloved spring rolls. We comforted ourselves with the fact that we would have room for pudding and dug into the food.

My main course was really nice, Aarons and Laura’s were OK, again they weren’t piping hot, I was finding it strange that no restaurant seemed capable of serving hot chicken. We didn’t see the waiter again until he plonked the bill down on our table and stalked off again. Ok then…. No puddings for us!

It was another really strange situation, we could see how friendly the waiter was being with the other tables around us but with us he just didn’t want to know. Laura paid up $79 + $10 tip (he deserved nothing imo) and made our way out of the restaurant. Laura did mention our issues to a manager on the way out and she said he seemed even less interested than the waiter. No wonder it was quiet in there! So with ¾ bad evening meals, we were feeling cursed.

We walked the strip back, via the Cheesecake Factory so we could get Laura some dessert, she picked the Adams peanut butter one @ $8. Loads of the escalators were out on our way back to the hotel so it seemed an even longer walk with us having to wait for the lifts with Laura, at some point the lifts were out too, I really did feel for her with her feet! We got back to the room at 12.30am and fell into bed not long after.

[daytonababe]

Another good day :-)

Isn't the Secret Garden nice ? My kids love getting so close to the Dolphins (way better than Seaworld imo) and how lucky to see Siegfried , though the Lion cubs trainer told us he's there a lot but usually after it closes.

And you have been so unlucky with cold food :-(

Strip was pretty busy for us every night mostly I think because of the Spring Breakers.

[spenners]

What a shame about your meal, I'm with you I wouldn't have left a tip

[Guest]

Again a good start, shame about pooor service at Grand Lux!

[UncleLatch]

Good to see some pictures of the Mirage 'cos that's where we're staying in October. Interesting to hear your view on The Grand Lux Cafe because we weren't overly impressed with it last time in Vegas.

[Lovesholidays]

Great TR I'm loving reading them, we went to Mirage on our last day, really liked the look of it and would love to stay there, perhaps our next visit

[Enchanted]

Loving the pics! Can't wait for our stay at Mirage Cheesecake Factory, Secret Garden, Panda all on our to-do list!

[PrincessBower]

Sir Aaron!

[florida girl]

Shame about the food it puts such a downer on the evening.

[PIGLET38]

Really enjoying reading your trip report. Love the photos of the Mirage.