Border Grill @ Mandalay Bay

Natrasha

Has anyone eaten here or has anyone on the board had a reception here? Any thoughts? We walked by it on our way to visit the Mandalay Chapel and I wish we had gone back to eat there, but we didn't.

Side question... is it normal for bar packages to cost almost as much as dinner?! I was happy because Border Grill's minimum is $10K less than what Margaritaville quoted me, but their dinner starts at $58 and bar ranges from $50-64 for 3 hours!

GeminiRN2

I had lunch there recently.  It was fantastic.  Really really good.  I have some info from them as well, because I was thinking about having our rehersal dinner there. 

vegasgroom

I'm curious what you had Margaritaville quote you on, i.e. specs of what you asked them for and the price they came back with?  We were planning on having our rehearsal dinner there for about 40 people but they said they couldn't give me exclusive buy out of the second floor area until we were three months away from wanting to book it, so at this point I didn't get pricing but now I'm nervous. 

aegrish

on the bar packages: YES!  We researched what seemed like dozens of restaurants to host our dinner/reception at and the bar packages are nearly as much as the actual food!  And some of the restaurants are shady to be careful.  For example, some may only include certain kinds of liquor, open bar but only until 'dessert' is served, etc.  We ended up going with a per consumption option at Trevi because we don't think our guests will drink enough to make the open bar package worth it. 

Natrasha

@aegrish- I'll have to ask about a consumption package. Even if cocktails average $10 a pop, I can't imagine each of our guests drinking five of them in three hours. ($50 per person with 100 people)

@vegasgroom- we were looking at having our reception at Margaritaville and we're figuring around 100 people. Here's a quote from the e-mail:

"The food and beverage minimum for the 12 Volt level for a 3 hour event
is $16,000 (before tax and service charge) this will cover your food,
beverage, cake, and even some souvenirs."

Does anyone else just want to choke and die after reading $16K?! I know that's for a whole level, and the only area that has room for a DJ, on a Saturday night, but I was just shocked.

aegrish

When we attended our friends dinner in Las Vegas, we only had about 1 drink per hour because the food was so heavy plus the service was slow, and we wanted to save  ourselves for the after party (we went to ghotsbar), so per consumption may be the way to go depending on your guests and timeframe. Especially if there isn't a bar set up, its unlikely that the bar servicve will be quick enough for people to drink your moneys worth.

Not sure if you want to stick to Mandalay Bay area, but if not you may want to check out El Segundo Sol.  We really like it there and their food/bar options are a bit more resaonable, but  it's  not walking distance from MB.

LilMissScareAll

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_nevada-las-vegas_border-grill-mandalay-bay?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:91Discussion:ffafb804-dd74-4c03-9720-597551d9350bPost:359b4a40-5858-42cd-b6ae-fb1c0ba42859">Re: Border Grill @ Mandalay Bay</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm curious what you had Margaritaville quote you on, i.e. specs of what you asked them for and the price they came back with?  We were planning on having our rehearsal dinner there for about 40 people but they said they couldn't give me exclusive buy out of the second floor area until we were three months away from wanting to book it, so at this point I didn't get pricing but now I'm nervous. 
Posted by vegasgroom[/QUOTE]

This is what Margarittaville sent me:
"For a party of 100 guests, I would recommend a buyout of our second
level, Clipper.  This level has a great view of the strip, patio, and
your own bar.  This level can accommodate up to 120 guests for a
reception style event and have a food and beverage minimum of $8000
(before 8.1% tax and 23% <span class="yshortcuts"><font color="#366388">taxable service charge</font></span>) for a 3 hour event.
There is no room rental fee as long as the food and beverage minimum is
met."

lsvensson

Another thing to be careful with on the open bar packages: some of them prohibit serving shots due to liability reasons (check the contract).  I've been doing some research and ran into at least a couple of venues with this stipulation in their Terms & Conditions documents.

Might not be a huge issue for your family, but if I'm paying, like, $50-75 a head for an open bar, I kind of have an issue with them telling me that I can't take a shot with my grandmother or something.  That's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity.

Or maybe I'm just a lush.

LilMissScareAll

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_nevada-las-vegas_border-grill-mandalay-bay?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:91Discussion:ffafb804-dd74-4c03-9720-597551d9350bPost:9b1aa04b-3891-4c23-baea-f8da5e5f6a4a">Re: Border Grill @ Mandalay Bay</a>:
[QUOTE]Another thing to be careful with on the open bar packages: some of them prohibit serving shots due to liability reasons (check the contract).  I've been doing some research and ran into at least a couple of venues with this stipulation in their Terms & Conditions documents. Might not be a huge issue for your family, but if I'm paying, like, $50-75 a head for an open bar, I kind of have an issue with them telling me that I can't take a shot with my grandmother or something.  That's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity. Or maybe I'm just a lush.
Posted by lsvensson[/QUOTE]

Getting around the "no shots" is pretty easy. You just ask for it straight up or with 1 ice cube. It works unless your trying to get something fancy.

and yes, I am that much of a lush to have figured that out. <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-wink.gif" border="0" alt="Wink" title="Wink" />

vegasgroom

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_nevada-las-vegas_border-grill-mandalay-bay?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:91Discussion:ffafb804-dd74-4c03-9720-597551d9350bPost:16318f38-c9bc-4be7-9d50-ca7c4e43c72c">Re: Border Grill @ Mandalay Bay</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Border Grill @ Mandalay Bay : This is what Margarittaville sent me: "For a party of 100 guests, I would recommend a buyout of our second level, Clipper.  This level has a great view of the strip, patio, and your own bar.  This level can accommodate up to 120 guests for a reception style event and have a food and beverage minimum of $8000 (before 8.1% tax and 23% taxable service charge ) for a 3 hour event. There is no room rental fee as long as the food and beverage minimum is met."
Posted by LilMissScareAll[/QUOTE]

Yikes, thanks for the info, looks like I might need to do some more planning.  We had budgeted about $4k to put 40 people on the second floor with food and drinks for maybe two hours at most but I'm not going to spend $8k plus drinks just for a rehearsal dinner.  The hostess type person when I was out there was the one who gave me the incorrect info; she just said sure you can have the second floor if you have enough guests, so I came up with my budget numbers just based off the fact that a normal meal there is $30 or so, add in some drinks, tax, tip and I figured $100/pp was a safe bet; evidently not.  I didn't get anything official because I didn't go any further after the corporate people told me I can't book it until 3 months out.

Maybe I can figure something out at Mandalay for the dinner instead since even if it costs a bit more, I won't have to transport 40 people from MB to Margaritaville so that would free up that money.

ahhhitsshannyn

When I went to Maggianos- cassy told me the way to get around no shots is ask for it it on the rocks or neat (no ice)

WOW 16k is crazy and even 8k sounds way expensive for a rehearsal din. I am really cheap though

Gribbles

Our reception venue is Little Buddha in the Palms. Our drinks package is $45 for 2 hours and our 3-course menu is also $45, so yep, nothing unusual about the bar prices.

I am shocked at the prices quoted by Margaritaville - I didn't think they were that fancy...?!

Natrasha

Thanks for the tips, fellow lushes! I will be using that

Dang booze is expensive!!

And yes, I was shocked Margaritaville's prices! How on earth could you meet that minimum? I'd have to hope that my original 200-person guestlist showed up!

I tried to understand... it's the rooftop level, and I'd be closing it down on a SATURDAY night. I'm sure they make bank when they're open normally. But still...

fendifan

We LOVE Border Grill and eat there often!!!!

vegasgroom

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_nevada-las-vegas_border-grill-mandalay-bay?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:91Discussion:ffafb804-dd74-4c03-9720-597551d9350bPost:5946541e-bb9a-49fc-bd19-8ac97628a645">Re: Border Grill @ Mandalay Bay</a>:
[QUOTE]I am shocked at the prices quoted by Margaritaville - I didn't think they were that fancy...?!
Posted by Gribbles[/QUOTE]

They're not lol, that's the whole reason we wanted to have our rehearsal dinner there.  The 2nd floor is basically a bunch of boothes with a propeller airplane motif as if you had just flown into key west, a bar, chain restaruant style (think Fridays or outack, etc.) tables and chairs.  Really nothing that warrants an $8k + booze spend, and I've been there on Saturdays several times since I do like to stop in there for margaritas when out and about on the strip; the 2nd floor is not in use half the time.

MVJP10

There's no way I would drop $8k at Margaritaville, that's insane.

LilMissScareAll

I was shocked at the price too. I was thinking it would be about 1/2 that price since all I wanted were drinks and some light apps for a M&G.

erica217

I have eaten and Border Grill, we thought it ws excellent.  It was just a few months ago when we went scouting in Vegas.  THe guac was great...but one thing that made me angry was the bus boy asked if I wanted water and then gave me chips/salsa and asked if I would like guac.  I said yes, had NO IDEA that he was going to bring me a $7 appitizer.  We didn't complain, the food and service was great!  I think it's a great place to have a rehearsal dinner.

red1115

Having eaten at both Border Grill & Margaritaville multiple times, I can vote overwhelming for Border Grill.  (Their Sangria is terrific.)  

$8K for Maragritaville would be considered overpriced except that they are trying to make up for what amount of money they think they could get if they had it open for business during your private event.  Saturday night, Mid-Strip, private balcony - you're going to pay top dollar.  If there's a convention in town that weekend, they're looking at how much money they'll be losing by renting it to you instead of a corporate function.  Basically, you're paying for location.

In contrast, we seriously considered Border Grill for our Meet & Greet reception on Friday night.  The banquet sales person (Precious?) has been very helpful and the lower section has rooms for private functions. (you can bring your IPod) and they were very willing to work with us with using the patio. (we have alot of smokers)
Unfortunately, my FI has fallen in love with the idea of Mix Lounge (the view!!), so we'll probably end up having our after party at BG instead.

What I've found is that bar package prices in Vegas range anywhere from $10hr/pp to $25/hr/pp depending on how many hours and what quality of liquor if selected.  Only you can know the drinking habits of your guests and know wheter an open or consumption bar makes more sense.  (What really kills me is that here in New Orleans just about everywhere has the open bar included in their banquet pricing - for a fraction of what we pay in Vegas! ARGH! Its not like its different booze - its just the Vegas mark-up!)

We were going to do a comsumption bar originally, but opted for the open bar instead. (made budgeting much easier!)

Good Luck!!

jusstice

I had my Welcome Dinner at The Border Grill.  The food & service was fantastic.  I had apps, booze, and a paella station setup for @50 people.  We had the room with patio and it was perfect. Can't go wrong there.

Also, I think Dicegirl on the list had her reception there as well.  Not sure if her pics/bio still work or not.