Las Vegas IV and the Death Star Bonus

While there were some favorite repeat activities, we also wanted to try new things, like some of the nightclubs on the Strip. My favorite club was Light at the Bellagio, beating out the brand-new Tao at the Venetian by a nose. (The -a-head cover at Tao was the deciding factor.) The more lounge-like Ghost Bar at the Palms was also a highlight, as was the sing-along-sensation of The Bar at Times Square in NY NY. Of course, it helped that we knew a friend of a friend who helped us get past the lines in all the hottest places.

Then there was the first-class food! Anyone who’s read any of my journals knows my weakness for a good steak, and Emeril’s Delmonico delivered one of the best I’ve had. It’s easy to see how this steakhouse consistently gets top marks from diners and travel magazines alike. For an excuse to see the new Wynn hotel, we made reservations at its Mediterranean restaurant, Corsa Cucina, where we were surprisingly delighted with our casual pizzettes. The repeat of choice was the best buffet breakfast in town, Le Village Buffet in the Paris hotel.

We also stumbled across the best new slot machine ever – the Star Wars penny slots. If you hit a line with three Death Stars, you get to shoot storm troopers, and spin the wheel above for credits. If you land on the Death Star’s laser, you advance to round two. If you land there again, there’s at least a round three. I suspect round four is where you win the tens of dollars. (If you land on the Vader/Obi Wan scatter, you can fight a battle with your light sabers. Advice? Vader wins more often than not.) All this happens while the movie is showing above your head, and a young Han Solo smiles back at you. *Sigh.*

We also had some Celebrity Sightings. We got trapped in a tattoo shop as Jenny McCarthy filmed her show at the Palms, and my friend’s butt will surely be on tv. Also, there was an event at the Venetian celebrating the Blue Man Group’s move from the Luxor, and we saw them getting a drink at a bar! There were some faux sightings as well, like the piano bar player who looked like Kato!

Quick Tips:

My tips remain the same. Take lots of small bills. You’ll need them to tip everyone and their brother. My addendum to this tip is maybe to keep a small piece of paper with a rundown of where your cash is being spent. That way, when you’re at the ATM 2 hours later, you won’t be asking my question "Where’d the money go that I just got out of the ATM?" Plus, you might be less inclined to play that impulse slot machine.

If you plan to play a lot, consider signing up for a frequent player card at your hotel of choice. Many of the cards can be used at multiple hotels, and some offer gifts for signing up, bonus play after 20 points, comps, etc., depending on how much you play. Oh, and chain them to something you won't leave, or the card will remain in the slot into which you put it. :)

Best Way To Get Around:

The best way to get around is by cab. The new monorail is open, but not once did I come across a convenient stop. If you’re traveling between Mandalay, Luxor and Excalibur, you can take the tram. (NY NY is across from Excaliber, so that one is remotely connected through the tram.) If you see something, and think to yourself, "oh, that’s so close" remind yourself that it is not. The only two hotels that really are "right" across the street are the Aladdin and the Paris. Everything else is an optical illusion – and you’ll be walking forever.

From the time I first stepped onto the Las Vegas strip, I was in love with the Bellagio. It was a beautiful Italian building, it had the lovely fountains, it had Picassos, it was luxury. I lamented that I couldn’t spend the $350 a night to stay in such decadence – until I came across a $199 rate for a Thursday night (for a pool view). What luck, right?

Wrong. Why anyone would pay over $200 a night for a stay here baffles me. The room, while nice looking, was only “ok.” (The rooms at the 4-star Mandalay Bay were bigger and more bright and luxurious.) When I pulled up in the cab, I expected the bellman in their top hats to open my door for me and make me feel like royalty. I would have to fight them off to take my bag – well, there was no one in sight. After check-in, I got my key, and found the room, at least, I thought it was. There were dirty plates and glasses outside the door – could I be walking in on someone? Nope, the room was prepared and ready – and, unfortunately, ours.

I just shrugged it off as a fluke and went down to the pool. The pool area was huge, I counted at least five pools (one heated), but even in this vast area, there didn’t seem to be an open chair in sight. I asked one of the pool boys (is that a PC term?) to help, and he found a nice spot with 2 chairs, and set them up for us, using a towel to create a nice pillow for our heads. There were also plenty of waitresses in sight to bring us our $12 daquaris. We also ate lunch at the pool café, and our hamburger and chicken strips rang up another $37.

That night, as we lay our weary heads down, we were accosted by smells. First, a strong smell of sewage, and second, cigarette smoke wafting into our non-smoking wing. I guess exhaustion took over, because we let that one go, too.

When I woke up, I got more and more upset at the cumulative effect of all these flaws. At checkout the next morning, I called the manager’s desk to complain. He said there was nothing he could do, as we didn’t complain while it was happening. First, it’s a 5-star hotel, so we shouldn’t have to. Second, I surely didn’t want to be packing and changing rooms at 3 a.m. I complained again to the man who checked us out at the front desk, and he did manage to get our incidentals (the very expensive drinks and lunch) removed from our bill. Better than nothing, but not enough to make up for a crappy stay.

Next time, I’m staying at the Venetian or Mandalay Bay. Rating? 3 out of 10. Not worth the money.

After our experience at the Bellagio, just about any hotel that we stayed in would’ve been an improvement! But for $159 a night (which was a surprise, because we booked at $189) you just couldn’t shake a stick at NY NY.

I’ll start with the (minor) things that I didn’t like. I wasn’t a big fan of the décor in our room (retro purple is what I call it), but the room itself was bigger than the Bellagio, and it was a corner room, which meant almost every wall was a window. However, the corner room meant a very long walk from the elevators – not recommended while drinking or having danced with sore feet. Also, I didn’t like that to get to the rooms, you had to walk through the casino maze. Also, I wouldn’t stay here if time at the pool was big on my agenda, as it wasn’t very big. Other than that, the room was clean, the staff was attentive, the beds were comfortable, and the non-smoking room was indeed non-smoking. The theme of the hotel was done very nicely, with the NY-style “streets” and the steaming manholes.

NY NY does boast a number of things to do during your stay. There are tons of eateries (NY-style pizza, a NY deli, etc.) and some good pubs/bars – 9 Fine Irishmen and the Bar at Times Square (dueling pianos. Yea!)

All-in-all, I’d say that for the price, this hotel is a good deal. Of the themed hotels that I’ve stayed in now (which is nearly all of them), I’d say that the Paris hotel ranks first, with the Luxor and NY NY coming in as a second-place tie. Rating? 7 out of 10, but a 9 for value for the money.

Voted #1 steakhouse in Las Vegas and a Frommers favorite, our hard-to-get reservation at Emeril’s Delmonico steakhouse was our biggest coup of the trip.

We were seated almost immediately (which I would guess comes from our relatively early reservation time of 6:30 p.m.) and shown to a table near the back of the restaurant. That was just fine by me, because I got to walk through and appreciate Delmonico from an aesthetic point of view before I could judge the food. All the senses were in overload. They eyes took in a very smooth mix of modern with old-world bistro, with arched doorways to accompany the hard, straight lines of the tables and chairs, which stimulated the touch sensation with their soft leather. The aroma of the food made you wish you’d skipped breakfast to have more room for dinner, and the clanking of the china display dishes on the tables as they were being set let you know you were in a classy joint.

And the taste, well, just let me tell you about that. We each ordered the filet mignon with a side. My side was pan-seared potatoes, which were thinly sliced and pan-seared (obviously) in oils and covered in New Orleans-style spices, topped with caramelized onions. They were so good, that I almost ate so many of them so that I couldn’t finish my steak. (Note, I said almost.) The filet was cooked to a perfect medium well, and served with three sauces, a béarnaise, their version of A-1 which was a bit sweeter, and a Worcestershire sauce. I was fond of their version of A-1, and used up every last drop.

I wish I could review the desserts for you, but alas, another bite and I would’ve popped.

The waiters tag-teamed the whole dinner, making sure that our pictures were taken, that our water glasses were filled, and that our check arrived promptly (but without the "go on, get out now" urgency.)

I hardly winced at the $128 tab for two (one drink each and dinner), because I knew that the money was well spent, and my taste buds would be remembering that dinner for months to come! 10 out of 10, 5-star, excellent!

A stop to check out the new Wynn hotel seemed out of the way – UNLESS we HAD to go there to eat dinner. That was the logic we used, anyway, when we made reservations at Corsa Cucina, one of the restaurants in the new hotel and casino.

I was surprised that it wasn’t named the Wynn Cucina, as everything else in the hotel has got his name all over it (who does this guy think he is? Trump?). While the restaurant doesn’t bear his name, it does scream Steve Wynn with its very masculine décor and pictures of Ferraris everywhere. (Wynn is involved with racing, and the restaurant just happens to be right next to the Ferrari shop that is located within the hotel.). My friend said it felt like she was eating in a 12-year-old boy’s room. While I didn’t think it was THAT bad, we were interested to learn from our waiter that the restaurant would be undergoing a redesign, as the restaurant had morphed from its original idea of a Ferrari café. (I mean, it’s already been 5 months since it opened, that’s OLD!)

As relieved as I was to hear that they would be redesigning, I was even more relieved – and pleasantly surprised, when the food that we ordered was very gourmet. The restaurant is billed as "creative and casual", and it was the "casual" that had me concerned. The food is Mediterranean, but it seemed that the majority of the tables around us – and including us – were ordering one of the pizzettes. These are square, thin-crust pizzas with some very interesting toppings. There was the standard tomato pizzette, but I opted for the meatball version, while my friend ordered a shrimp pizzette. Everyone was raving about how good they were. And at only $15-$18 each, it was an inexpensive meal by Vegas standards.

We even had a minor celebrity sighting – the chef! Chef Stephen Kault is one of seven world-renowned chefs that Wynn captured and brought to Las Vegas to bring high culinary standards to his new hotel. While he said he missed New York, he was enjoying Las Vegas, and the opportunity he had been given.

This turned out to be one of those places where you rely less on the menu itself to order but rather you look around to see what everyone else is having. Then, you spend time chatting with your neighbors about how good everything was. Expect to pay a bit more if you order one of the items on the menu that isn’t the pizzettes I recommend. I give this restaurant an 8 of 10, and will look forward to seeing the redesigned version sans all the sports car images.

Ghost Bar is the Palms’ contribution to the ultra lounge sensation that’s sweeping Las Vegas. Located at the top of the hotel, part of the Ghost Bar extends out over the strip onto the Ghost Desk, offering up some amazing views (I’d dare say a great sunset location, if it was open at that time of day) and some unexpected thrills. Part of the outdoor deck’s floor is glass (ok, acrylic, but same difference), and at 55 stories up, it was a bit more unnerving that I’d thought it would be. No one that came upon the glass floor area took walking on it lightly. I stood on it for a few seconds as I looked down and marked it as something I’d done and didn’t really want to chance again.

The biggest drawback of the Ghost Bar is its capacity. It can only hold just over 360 people, which means you’re going to encounter some long lines (unless you’re lucky like we were and “knew people.” Ha.) I’ve been told that 3-hour waits to get in are not unheard of. I do know that you can buy “cut the line” passes on Thursdays (in addition to the cover charge, which at this writing was $30.) Get there early if you want to get in. Because of its size and location in the sky, there is no dance floor, but that didn’t stop people from busting a move or two. We just couldn’t help it – the DJ was spinning some great tunes.

The interior is very “black light”-esque, with a big purple neon ghost on the ceiling. There are two bars, one outdoors and one indoors, and the drink prices weren’t terribly unreasonable ($8 for a sex on the beach that was more sex than beach – a.k.a. it was very strong.) Most people congregate outside on the patio, there are a few tables and chairs, but it’s mostly open space. Inside is more lounge-y, with the tables and table service that you can reserve and pay a pretty penny for.

You’re going to want to dress in your trendiest club attire for this one, because it seemed like everyone was a BP (Beautiful Person.) Even the non-BPs came off as BPs, (and if they’re in Vegas, they’re going to hit on us.)

The Ghost Bar is a must do if you’re looking for the hot nightclub scene in Vegas. Rating? 9 of 10.

The one redeeming thing to come out of the Bellagio hotel is its nightclub – Light. It’s easy to see why this club would be a celeb favorite in Vegas, as Light is heavy on the fun.

The music from the club spills out onto the casino floor, but it’s the inside that brings Light to life. After you fork over your $30 cover (you can pay $20 extra for front-of-the-line passes) you’re ushered onto an escalator which takes you to the second floor. You can hear the music, much louder now, but you still can’t see the club! You roam down a dark, narrow hallway, where Light is at the end of the tunnel. If you can find a spot on the dance floor, snag it, because you might not get the chance again. This particular Thursday night the DJ was pumping out hip-hop hits, and turning down the volume so the dancers could shout with Gwen Stefani “B-A-N-A-N-A-S” (“Hollaback Girl”, for those of you that aren’t up on the dance tunes).

As with most of the new clubs, Light offers premium table service, for a premium price. You can get a table in the VIP area, or sit yourself right by the dance floor, which makes it easy to stumble back after busting a few moves. We, of course, couldn’t afford either of these options, so we made our way to the bar. Mixed drinks were $8 a piece, I heard someone else order a $5 beer – which, for the Bellagio, was a Kmart special price for a drink.

After about an hour and a half of non-stomp foot stompin’, we left back down the long hallway, and this time down to the first floor in an elevator. Throw in a little drunken slot playing, and the night was complete.

This was my favorite nightspot in Vegas. Why? Because everyone was having fun. The place was packed and had a very upscale Hollywood or hip New York feel about it. The music was great, audience participation rocked, and I didn’t have to watch scantily clad women dancing on the bar making me feel bad about myself. As I understand it, they do have dancers on other nights, but they are a bit more covered than usual. A 10 out of 10 rating if ever there was one for a nightclub.

What was before only an Eastern religion and the philosophy of a stuffed bear has now become a righteous nightclub experience in the Venetian hotel. Opened Sept. 24, 2005, Tao redefines what a nightclub in Vegas should be. We visited only a week after its celebrity-studded opening. It was either the newness factor or the $50 cover charge, but we found it to be THE place to be on Saturday night.

Thank goodness for our new friend the line-butter, because the line was circling the “courtyard” in which Tao is located. Once inside, we were elevatored up and delivered to a dance floor filled with people and a décor filled with Asian influences. Everywhere you looked, your eyes found some new surprise – Buddha statues, exotic dancers, etc. There was even an outdoor patio which looked out onto the strip and the Venetian’s amazing replica of St. Mark’s Square and the Doge’s Palace – a nice place to stop and catch your breath before heading back out to the dance floor. At each entrance, and at several locations throughout the club, there were broad-shouldered men in suits that reminded me of Secret Service agents to open doors for you and help you through crowds. The bartenders were also all well-dressed, with their ties tucked in their shirts, serving $10 mixed drinks. I felt as if I had walked into an eye-candy convention. Also, you could no sooner drop something on the floor than a nicely dressed man with a broom would sweep it up and out of the way.

The DJ, who was perched atop the dance floor in one of the many lofts, was spinning mostly hip-hop, but threw in some random Top 40 (Justin Timberlake?) and some old-school (Jackson 5). The dance floor was packed, and if you couldn’t find your moves, you could borrow some from the black-bikini-clad women strategically placed throughout the club. (Could someone please give these girls a sandwich? They were all bony.) Again, should you have the inclination and the money, you could reserve a table with a much-sought-after place to sit and some very expensive alcohol.

As I found out on the way out, there’s also a downstairs to this club, more of a lounge than a dance club. All decked out in red, featuring half-naked women with strategically placed flowers in tubs filled with rose petals in a hallway lined with drooling men.

The atmosphere here was truly top-notch. It was an experience, not just a night club. Had it not been for the bony women dancers (which I’m sure the men will have no problem with) and the $50 cover, this would’ve been my top choice. Regardless, I give it a strong 9 out of 10 stars, and two enthusiastic thumbs up.

“Sing us a song Mr. Piano man. Sing us a song, tonight!” – That Billy Joel song is probably the most-requested song ever for a piano bar, and you can expect to hear it here. However, you’ll also get some ACDC, Bon Jovi, Def Lepard and more – whatever you can request really, the dueling pianists will oblige – for a price.

The Bar at Times Square is located in – in case the name didn’t tip you off – in the NY NY hotel. Until recently, you could expect long lines and standing room only at any time – until the hotel decided to start booking reservations for tables at a total cost of $20 ($10 cover no matter what and $10 for the reservation.) Now, this all works in theory, however, the Food and Beverage desk forgot to TELL the Bar at Times Square that we had a reservation. This snag momentarily threw the door host off, but not for long. This was better for us, because he seated us in the VIP section – right next to the door and right beside the pianos. The bar is divided into two sections, with the pianos in the middle. The one side is the “seated” side, and the other is the bar side. (This will be important, as you will be pitted against each other for competitions to see who is the most rowdy.)

This bar really is a good time, and the party starts earlier than in most bars or clubs. If you really want to hear your song, write it on a request form and make sure the pianist sees the very generous tip that you slipped in with it. I thought a $2 tip was fair, but alas, it was not fair enough to get them to play Duran Duran. Either way, sing your little heart out! Rating 9 of 10, an excellent time and lots of singing.

Located in the NY NY hotel, 9 Fine Irishmen brings a wonderful Irish pub to the heart of New York, well, the one in Vegas, anyway. And I mean they LITERALLY bring the Irish pub here, it was transported to Vegas from Ireland. Inspired by 9 Irish independence fighters from the 1800s, 9 Fine Irishmen (which has nothing do to with the way they look, by the way) is a true Irish pub, filled with stouts and other fine beers, as well as a very entertaining Irish band and some Irish step dancers.

The bar is a two-floor establishment, but you’ll only get to see the band from the first floor, and only if you crowd around the small stage and push other people out of your way. Fear not, however, as the music is loud and rowdy and can be heard clearly from any vantage point – even on the second floor, outside on the Strip-view patio. There’s a bar on either level, so you don’t have to worry yourself with all those stairs. The band encourages much drinking (like you need encouragement in Vegas) and the patrons are obliging. They also encourage singing along, and the patrons don’t need much of a shove there, either. The men yell “Hey wife!” The women yell “What do you want, you drunken shite!” and the rest of the lyrics are anyone’s guess. :)

While I’m not much of a beer person, the prices for drinks were reasonable, and everyone who was drinking the beer didn’t seem to have much of a complaint. This was a really cool place to find a seat (there was a lot of seating, which was awesome), have a beer and sing a few Irish songs. I give it a strong 8 out of 10, and that’s no blarney!

Everyone should take a little side trip off the strip and head to Freemont Street – if not for the free light show and better odds, than at least to play some Blackjack at the $2 or $5 tables.

My choice each year for low-stakes Blackjack (I can play more hands this way) is the Four Queens. They have the lowest-stakes Blackjack that I’ve found yet, with a $2 table. Just know that you’ll probably have to wait to play at the $2 table, and they’re pretty easy to find, in that the fact that they’re always full! I didn’t want to wait for the $2 table, so I moseyed on over to the $5 to plunk down my $40.

Things started off well, I was $15 up. Then, through three dealers and several hands, I managed to completely loose $50. We had this dealer named Leta, and this woman was the queen of Blackjack. We were doing everything correctly, hitting when appropriate, doubling down on an ace, etc – all the while she was showing a 3 or a 4. This chick would hit 21 all the time – once, she dealt herself blackjack with 6 cards (four cards were 2s!) If she wasn’t hitting impossible 21 combinations, she was hitting the same 19s and 20s that we had, causing us to push. My friend joked that after all this pushing, she should at least have a baby out of it!

What we should have done is gotten up from that table, and moved to another one. I tried sitting out a few hands, and that had no effect. Regardless, it was a fun hour and a half – as even Leta the Wonder Dealer was fun to kid around with. She was rooting for us the whole time! I’ve never met a dealer here that wasn’t friendly or willing to help explain your options if you were a newbie. Check it out next time!