Went to Vegas over the weekend for just some pre-wedding fun, and to pick up our marriage license. Thought I'd share some brief reviews to spark ideas about restaurants, etc.
In other news-- apparently LV turns into a ghost town come Sunday afternoon during the off season. Seriously, Sunday night and Monday, there was NO ONE around. It was super odd and a bit creepy.
Paris Hotel- A
As always, a nice, centrally located place to stay. Was hoping to get a room with a view of the fountains, but as they say, only the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and we didn't ask so we just got a mountain view room (though it was kind of a mini-suite). Room was fine, and service was good.
Circo (Bellagio)- A
Had a lovely dinner here on Sunday night, with a up-close view of the fountains. I got a gnocchi dish (they had a black truffle risotto that I really wanted but couldn't justify spending $75 on a pasta dish), and FI got a Gorgonzola pizza. Also had these Italian doughnuts with rasperry and chocolate sauce for dessert. Nom nom. Nice restaurant, but not pretentious servers. Except they charged us $8 for water. WTF?
Spice Market Buffet (Planet Hollywood)-A
Delish. This was one of my favorite buffets, until we went to Wicked Spoon...
Wicked Spoon Buffet (Cosmopolitan)-A+
Okay, you people were right. Previously, my favorite buffet was at the Bellagio and I got a little defensive every time people on this board say that Wicked Spoon is better. But day-um, it is. Really interesting kinds of food (i.e., black currant macaroons, individualized little pots of mac and cheese with linguica sausage, etc), and getting a glass of champagne for free with the brunch kind of makes it a bargain (it's still expensive, but for the quality/quantity of food you get, it's a bargain). Service was kind of sub-par, but the food was so awesome that it evens out the score. We liked this so much that we're going to make this our first-night-in-Vegas dinner with our family that gets in early.
The Price is Right Live show (Bally's) -A
FI and I wanted to see a show but didn't feel like ponying up to see Absinthe or Ka, so we opted for a daytime show and got $35 tickets at one of those Tix 4 Tonight booths. I have to say, this was awesome! It's exactly like the TV show in the sense that they call up audience members and you can win actual prizes. We got our own yellow name tags and everything. Yes, it's cheesy, but it's the kind of show that knows it's cheesy and embraces it to the max. The crowd goes nuts-- there's a lot of energy in the room. We didn't get called up, but a LOT of people in our section did. It was fun and hilarious, and it was a lot of show for your money (I think it was 2 hours). Highly recommend.
FreeVegasClubPasses.com-A+
FI wanted to hit a couple of clubs and I always get Club Anxiety (i.e., the fear of long lines, expensive cover, and/or not getting in). I did some research online re: club promoters and found this web site. It belongs to a guy named Chris Hornak, a promoter that has a partnership with the Palms.
The way it works is this: provided you go to any one of the Palms' clubs (Rain, Ghostbar, Moon/Playboy) your first night in Vegas, he can get you on a list for a one of the other clubs (XS, The Bank, Haze, Pure, LAX, Tao, 1Oak, etc) your second night. We decided to try Rain our first night, and all I had to do was mention his name and I got a pass to go in for free, as did my FI (pretty rare to get guys in for free too). I also got free champagne all night at Rain so I drank for free. The second night, we went to XS and had zero issues getting in (I got in for free and got two drink tickets, and my FI just had a $20 cover). Chris is awesome with the communication...he just texts you a confirmation by 5pm on the day of, and you're good to go. The site looks a little shady and I was skeptical that this would work (I have a fear of getting rejected by bouncers), but it was awesome. Will definitely use him again.
The Deuce- A+
Um, why have I never ridden The Deuce, in all my trips to Vegas? It's the public transit bus that runs up and down the strip...you can even take it all the way up to Fremont street (which we did, to get our marriage license and then hit a Craps table at the 4 Queens). $7 unlimited rides for 24 hours. Clean, nice bus. Will definitely do this again instead of taking taxis everywhere.