Las Vegas Highs and Lows - Hotels

[KarenG]

Hi all

I do intend to do a trip report light - via the photo report app - but I'm not great at getting round to them, so it may not happen!

I'll do this in sections ...

Hotels

Venetian - loved it here. We were in the Venezia Tower and found it very convenient (though the two lift arrangement was a bit weird!). Room was just fantastic for our family. It was incredibly beautiful. We had a great view overlooking Harrahs car park, side view of a bit of Caesars, and it was fascinating watching them working on the Quad wheel (it really was, no sarcasm intended!)

THEHotel - loved the hotel and room, hated not having a fridge but it wasn't a major issue. Thanks to Diamond Dog for suggesting this it felt like a world away from Mid Strip (in a good way) and we really enjoyed time at the pool here - very good indeed. We visited Mix twice - what a view!

Vdara - lovely lovely 8/900 sq ft room with fantastic view south of mountains, MBay etc, but seemed a bit sterile, and like we could have been anywhere in the world. Wouldn't return. Wish we'd spent a little more and gone for Aria, which we really liked, and spent our Vdara resort credit at. Ju_itfc was right The location was, however, very good with access to the Bellagio via the back bridge within a two minute walk.

Maswik Lodge at GCNP - tiny, dated room, which was perfectly acceptable given the price paid and the location. What we didn't like was the - without exception almost - surly, disengaged staff. Room temp hit over 90F overnight (really - it was cold outside too ) and we couldn't sleep at all (obviously). Would definitely stay at GCNP again, but not here.

I've gone on a lot so will post for now and return for restaurants etc later

[KarenG]

Back again

I'm just going to list where we ate and random thoughts:

Hash House A Go Go, Quad location and West Sahara. Both times had fantastic food - lots of it - and we shared meals, which made it great value. Favourites were chicken and waffle tower and banana brown sugar flapjack

In And Out Burger - our first visit, and we really rated it above the likes if McD's etc, had a nice amount if food between four of us for under $20. Do try the Neopolitan shake and the animal style burger / fries

Whole Foods (Town Square) very expensive and not good food here for two out of our four choices. Staff weren't particularly helpful. Quite a disappointment as we are big fans of WF normally.

Ice Pan - daughters really enjoyed watching this be made - tasted like nice ice cream to me, but no more than that.

Le Village Buffet (Groupon deal). We aren't buffet fans but I thought this was pretty good. The "free" champagne was vile choice was good, and frankly worth going for the crepes alone

Grand Lux Cafe x 2 - very nicely presented good with a great choice, lovely setting, and affordable prices. Thumbs up. We went in the Venetian location both times (had meant to make it to Palazzo but it didn't happen!)

Wicked Spoon buffet, Cosmo (brunch) - loved it last time, loved it again. DH pleased to see bone marrow there again - I wasn't pleased that the mac and cheese station seems to be now an omelette station (the day we were there)

American Fish, Aria - we had the most incredible meal here dining using the Restaurant week menu. This included American comfort food with a real twist, and was beautifully served and executed. Tasted amazing! Service was fab, and we had a table right in front of the open kitchen with the grill things. Really good experience.

Mix, THEhotel - the view in the bar is simply a must do. Unfortunately we spent so long admiring the view we were seduced into eating at Mix. I say unfortunately because it was pricey but it was a really great experience - we did the Alain Ducasse grand tasting menu and it was very, very, good.

Rx Boiler Room, Mandalay Shoppes. New restaurant which my Steampunk mad DD was desperate to visit. It was definitely a really well executed concept, though I'm not sure I felt the flavours always came through as well as the presentation, service slow and not well coordinated. It was cool though as Rick Moonen (the celeb chef) was wandering around. The atmosphere and decor was a real treat though - and DH would vote again for the waitresses in their corsets, I'm sure

Burger Bar, Mandalay Shoppes. We didn't like the location as well as the one in San Francisco, but the burgers were out of this world!

I'm sure I'm missing a few...

[KarenG]

Knew I'd missed a couple!

Mon Ami Gabi - had wonderful lunch here, very reasonable price which included cocktails, beer and steak. It's a must-do, as far as I'm concerned!

Peppermill -OMG, what a place! It's like being dropped right back in time! Huge portion sizes and we really felt like we were part if history, here. Very good!

[Heather1957]

Karen great read although in 11 visits I've never eaten in any of those places!

I am interested in the bone marrow though - I will be spending a few nights in Raffles in January and we intend to have a really 'posh' meal there (probably McD's the rest of the time ) on the menu it has bone marrow (very cheap) can you tell me more about this, although I have to be honest I don't think I'll be able to eat it!

[buryboy]

Hi Karen

Interested in your views on the maswik lodge . Have done a cancellable for2 nights next August here in one of the south rooms that don't have aircon. ( but do have room fan)
Half the price of the ones with aircon.
And having checked out the overnight temps, thought it would be ok.

Did your room have aircon, or just a fan. Was the fan left on during the day to help cool it down ? Did you try leaving windows open ? Were you on ground or first floor ?

Dd you speak to any other guests , and what was their experience ( either with or without aircon) ?

Did you literally not sleep a wink ?
Thanks for any advice

[Diamonddog2801]

Karen - my absolute pleasure re TheHotel. It really is a lovely place and I'm glad it lived up to (my) hype!

Interesting re The Venetian - I honestly believe that, when people want to stay in one of the top end Las Vegas hotels, the best value for money is The Venetian/The Palazzo. Although less than 15 years old (Venetian opened in '99, Palazzo in '08) it's already a truly iconic and atmospheric Las Vegas hotel/casino. Glad you enjoyed it too - I'd love to go back sometime.

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by Heather1957

Karen great read although in 11 visits I've never eaten in any of those places!

I am interested in the bone marrow though - I will be spending a few nights in Raffles in January and we intend to have a really 'posh' meal there (probably McD's the rest of the time ) on the menu it has bone marrow (very cheap) can you tell me more about this, although I have to be honest I don't think I'll be able to eat it!

See more...

Hi Heather! I didn't actually try the bone marrow (!) but DH says its a jelly like consistency with a meaty flavour, best spread on lovely bread. DD says its like a meaty butter

Originally Posted by buryboy

Hi Karen

Interested in your views on the maswik lodge . Have done a cancellable for2 nights next August here in one of the south rooms that don't have aircon. ( but do have room fan)
Half the price of the ones with aircon.
And having checked out the overnight temps, thought it would be ok.

Did your room have aircon, or just a fan. Was the fan left on during the day to help cool it down ? Did you try leaving windows open ? Were you on ground or first floor ?

Dd you speak to any other guests , and what was their experience ( either with or without aircon) ?

Did you literally not sleep a wink ?
Thanks for any advice

See more...

Hi there!

I booked for exactly the same reason as you! We paid £80 vs £160 for the a/c room. I thought, overnight temps OK, room had fans, its only one night, how bad can it be? Both fans were on the whole time. We were on the first (ground) floor so couldn't leave door or window open (though when we got up in the morning we sat one of the kids by the door to let air in - it was a HUGE difference in temps. We recorded 90 degrees inside the room in a rubbish personal thermometer thing, so not very scientific, but indicative.

I'm not a fussy person at all, I don't think, very happy for example staying in Premier Inns here, and had low expectations. Condition of the room I couldn't care less about, but we literally could not sleep. I think I went off at about 4.30 and the alarm went off an hour later for sunrise. It actually spoiled our day somewhat because we were all so tired.

I didn't speak to anyone else - we just loaded the car up as soon as we got up and showered, to get out.

The fans just moved the hot air around the room. I'm not sure that they actually helped, as they chucked out a load of heat at the back which can't have helped with the background temp.

Really sorry as I guess that's not what you want to hear.

Originally Posted by Diamonddog2801

Karen - my absolute pleasure re TheHotel. It really is a lovely place and I'm glad it lived up to (my) hype!

Interesting re The Venetian - I honestly believe that, when people want to stay in one of the top end Las Vegas hotels, the best value for money is The Venetian/The Palazzo. Although less than 15 years old (Venetian opened in '99, Palazzo in '08) it's already a truly iconic and atmospheric Las Vegas hotel/casino. Glad you enjoyed it too - I'd love to go back sometime.

See more...

Re THEhotel, It was like returning to a serene and tranquil retreat, wonderful!

We really hated checking out if the Venetian - it felt like a (very very posh! ) home from home.

[Guest]

It gives me no pleasure in you saying I was right about Vdara but I did tell you so! No doubt a high class operation but just all style no substance, your use of sterile is a good one and I agree you could literally be in any big city in the world staying there, nothing screams Las Vegas at all apart from the views.

Great reviews, I much prefer reading these type of lists over long trip reports to be honest. Sounds like you had a great time and I'm especially glad you enjoyed both HHaGG and the Peppermill, two Vegas restaurants very close to my heart and restaurants I always recommend

[daytonababe]

Gosh doesn't seem 5 mins since you were getting ready to go and now your home .

Sounds like you had a good trip and some nice restaurants on your list, i am definitely eating in the Peppermill next year.

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by ju_itfc

It gives me no pleasure in you saying I was right about Vdara but I did tell you so! No doubt a high class operation but just all style no substance, your use of sterile is a good one and I agree you could literally be in any big city in the world staying there, nothing screams Las Vegas at all apart from the views.

Great reviews, I much prefer reading these type of lists over long trip reports to be honest. Sounds like you had a great time and I'm especially glad you enjoyed both HHaGG and the Peppermill, two Vegas restaurants very close to my heart and restaurants I always recommend

See more...

Nah nah na na nah, I know! I know!

We did have a great time overall, and although the packing and unpacking did slightly eat into our time, I think it was well worth it to stay in different hotels (and locations!). Apart from the Vdara of course

Originally Posted by daytonababe

Gosh doesn't seem 5 mins since you were getting ready to go and now your home .

Sounds like you had a good trip and some nice restaurants on your list, i am definitely eating in the Peppermill next year.

See more...

I know, I feel the same way back to work in the morning!

We really did have a wonderful trip, and so did the kids. Not that you should take them to Vegas of course