And one to stay away from. I thought this might make a good thread because nothing or close to nothing is worse than food poisoning at the casino or lousy food, esp. when hungry.
The Mirage has always been my favorite casino...gotta be the ambience, or scenery at the pool. :-)
For casual dining at the Mirage, I'd recommend the Caribe Cafe. An excellent menu selection day or night, a winner. There is also a sit down bar located to the left of the wait staff entrance to the kitchen. You can get a great burger there, kinda quick and dirty.
The buffet (IMO) has always been excellent, but you gotta get at least a line pass, or you could die of old age in line at peak times.
Pizza? The CA Pizza Kitchen, nicely located within easy view of the Sports Book area is a consistent winner when you're in the mood.
Ice Cream? Hard to beat Coconuts, on the left before you hit the glass doors to the pool area. While you're there, do your best to check out the pool...no entry without a room key, but perhaps you'll be able to enjoy some eye candy. I have seem some jaw-dropping talent stolling around here.
Spending the night and need your caffeine fix in the AM? The Roasted Bean cannot be beat. On the way back to the elevator, hit the newsstand for a paper.
Upscale eating. Kokomo's, is wonderful! They offer a wide selection, from steaks to chops to seafood. It's located just to the right of the jungle area as you enter the casino over the walkway where everyone is taking pictures.
Onda's is superb! An Italian eatery that is sure to please. You can't go wrong with Kokomo's or Onda. Reservations mandatory!
Where not to eat...I'd have to be near death, and have no chance of food or water within a billion light years to eat anything in The Western. But, you already knew that.
Mirage! Hard to beat!
1. Buffet at Aladdin
2. Restaurant at Windsor Court Hotel, N.O. (partner hotel for Harrah's)
3. Buffet at Bellagio
4. Jack Binion's Steakhouse -Tunica
5. Mr. Lester's Steakhouse - Cypress Bayou Casino, Louisiana
DT:
The Carson Street Cafe' at the Nugget has always been the best bet for DT coffe shops. The menu is huge and it's all good. Breakfast, cold sandwiches, fried shrimp, salads, burgers and fries, chicken dishes, etc and even the asian stuff is very good. Binion's coffee shop is shameful. It used to be one of the best bets in town. Play $10 unit for thirty minutes and it's breakfast/lunch for two at the old Horseshoe. Very decent food. But the new Binion's joint downstairs is far from par. Max Rubin has placed the new Binion's as his worst casino on his list as far as service, comps, and food. The comp system is now in ruins. You have to play for a day to feed just one person in the sorry place. Their deep fried stuff is good (pretty hard to mess up deep fry), but breakfast was horrible. I do not drink coffee, but my tablemates said it was the worst coffee they've EVER had. I ordered an asian noodle-veggie soup bowl......I was "satisfied" at the time. But looking back I don't know what I was thinking. The broth was out of a can, the noodles were packaged ramen noodles. I had to dump in 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce to make it edible. I couldn't even finish half of my country fried steak lunch once. I've given the place way too many chances to redeem themselves......I guess I just went back because I had comps built up and wanted to finish them off. The snack bar at Binion's is unchanged from the old Horseshoe days, but expect prices to have finally caught up with the rest of the world. That snack bar used to have the best $1-2 meals around. If you're into sushi, the little coffee shop in the 4 Queens has a surprisingly decent little sushi bar, and inexpensive. Very good cold sandwiches and big beef hot dogs at the Plaza's walk up snack bar.
DT buffets:
I remember the GN buffet to be very good, but I strolled through the dinner offerings on my last LV trip, and it all looked only par. It was a weeknight, but I never would have paid to get into it. The Plaza buffet is gamble on its own, I'll give you 3:1 you walk out w/o getting sick. The seafood buffet in the Fremont is an insult. Cold, chewy shellfish. Dried up fish filets, and horrible sides. It has been a year since I ate there last, so I hope it has improved.
DT gourmet:
I've only eaten at two gourmet rooms downtown. The Horseshoe steakhouse was fantastic. Although it was comped I did notice the prices to be about half of what you will pay on the strip, for just as good a meal. Lillie Langtree's (chinese at the Nugget) was good, but can't touch what you will get in the finer Strip Chinese rooms. I've heard Hugo's Cellar at the Queens is great, and the Lady Luck has a nice room.
Strip:
Pretty much all of the major clubs have fantastic eats, but you're gonna pay heavy for it. Over-inflated prices in the buffets and gourmet rooms. Coffee shops are usually your best bet for the strip. But if you do have deep wallets, the concentration of exquisite cuisine is unsurpassed anywhere in the world imo. Not even NYC has so many fine rooms with the kind of ambiance the LV strip rooms offer.
And if you enjoy Asian, your in for even more of a treat. With so many Asian visitors (from Cali and/or the Far East), the quality of the Asian cusine is fantastic. Chinatown in San Fran can not even compete with these places. And to push it even further, the "noodle" restaurants are very good, authentic, and good for folks on a budget. Also, they are usually open 24 hours a day. For some reason no matter what casino you're in, these places are all called simply "Noodles." I've eaten at "Noodles" in the Venetian, Bellagio, and Mirage, and they were all fantastic and inexpensive. The Victorian coffee shop at the Barbary Coast is a nice little secret. Comps are easy to get, and it's a pretty good menu and product. Expect a wait and lousy service tho.
If you want to do a gourmet steakhouse, I would recommend you do it downtown, as there are a number of very fine rooms to choose from, and you're gonna pay much less than you would if you paid for it on the strip. Obviously this is a product of which casino houses the steakhouse.......Lady Luck vs Bellagio.
Hard to find in Vegas:
Good Pizza and Mexican. I'm sure they're out there, but in all of my visits, they've alluded me. I have eaten at the Luxor's cantina (okay), and the Orleans' Mexican was surprisingly good, but that's all I've ever found. The place at the Palms is a chain restaurant out of New Mexico, so why bother. I'm sure New York New York has a good pizza place, but I always forget to look.
Non-Casino LV food:
I've done very little non-casino dining in Vegas, but I have to recommend Batista's hole in the wall. It's across the street from Bally's on Flamingo. It's a little pricey (my parents say it used to be the best priced Italian restaurant in the country back in the 70's and 80's but prices have tripled in the last twenty years), but the ambiance and history is unsurpassed. The Italian is still some of the best I've ever had for the price. The little guy walking around with the accordian is a Vegas legend.
And when in doubt, YOU MUST visit an In N Out Burger if you are not from Cali. I know of no better fast food burgers in the country. The double double cheese is pure heaven. The fries are cut fresh, the menu is short and sweet, and the service is incredibly fast for how busy it always seems to be. Expect the line at the In N Out at I-15/Tropicana to be purging out of the front door.
You can't beat the prices. Prime Rib meal with a microBrew for $7. They always have the $5 full steak dinner which is a steal as well.
Last time I went there they a 45 minute wait. I sat at the DD game and made a couple hundred dollars and was comped my meals as well.
I wouldn't call it fine dining, but the food is great for the money.
but I remember seeing the chef/owner on Iron Chef. http://www.simonkitchen.com/
