Las Vegas: Good Food, Good Value?

[GrimwoodCT]

My fiancee's niece is celebrating her 21st birthday in Vegas and my fiancee is shepherding her along out there. They have reservations at the Excalibur but are looking for some good advice from folks that have "been there" or are locals about where to go for some good food at a decent price, avoiding the tourist-scene.

Money is not really an issue but a good bang-for-the-buck guide would be appreciated.

Any advice?

[Elyssanda]

staying at the Excalibur, at least one night they should see the Dinner Show there. It's good food, and a fun time.

Most of the hotels have great all you can eat buffets.. $10-$20 per person depending on the hotel...

Want free shows? Circus Circus... Food there is good, 2nd floor shows are free and run every 15 minutes.. acrobats, magicians, contortionists.. that's also the game level there, arcade games, circus games...
then there's also *the Big Top* at Circus Circus. adventurepark/ride park whatever you want to call it...Fair style food (from Kiosk vendors) but alot of fun.

Also, 2 women out there together? they HAVE to take a tour of the Ethel M Chocolate factory (look it up in the phone book) free taste tests, and it's awesome chocolate.

The Clown factory isn't a school for clowns, but it's another fun tour (and they have a small dining hall) It's a place where they make resin statues. you get to see the whole process.

M&M place is fun to wander through, and there's a 15-20 minute show on the top floor.... they have the #39 M&M Nascar vehicle there in display, and more M&M merchandise than I've ever seen in one place before.. along with 21 different colors of M&M's, and you can fill a bag to get just the colors you want.

The Coke memorabilia place is right next door to the M&M place (both on the Strip) and next to/under/between them is a large arcade with a 3 story rock wall to climb if they so choose. Last I knew it was $5 to climb the wall.

Caesar's Palace, The Mirage, the Luxor, all have exquisite dining. yes, the food is more expensive, but for at least the Birthday dinner, it is well worth the price.

Blue Man Group.. Tickets are about $75... but the show is simply AWESOME.

TI (aka Treasure Island) has shows outside in the eveining that are fun, the food inside is great, and they have inside shows that are amazing too..

Also, if they like stand up comedy, get tickets to the Comedy Stop. We go there every time we're in town. Tickets aren't that expensive and include 2 drink tickets.

The hotel New York New York has a KILLER Heart pounding rollercoaster.
The restaurants in the Paris hotel are very good.

The dining room in the Oh heckk... the Spire one... I can't think of the name... anyway, there's a dining room (and seperate rollercoaster) up at the top of the spire.... AWESOME view.

MGM Grand one of my favorite places. Good food, love the shows.

Going to the older Casinos will get you cheaper gambling, $5 & $10 dollar miniumum tables Vs $25 table minimums in the newer hotels.

Staying in the Excalibur I think there's a tram that goes to alot of the casinos along that side of the strip.

There's tons to do there during the days... you didn't say how long they will be there, but I promise you there is more than they can see/do in a week, heck more than they can see or do in a month is more likely...


Geeze, I didnt mean to write a book for you.. was just gonna jot down some pointers... Oh well.. obviously you can tell we've been there more than once.

[Lothay]

If you're going to Vegas, you're going to get the "tourist" scene. Period.

The thing to do is revel in it. See everything. Eat everywhere. Food and drinks are inexpensive there. The idea being to entice you to spend time (and money) at other attractions for which you will spend more money.

Avoid gambling where possible. The Excalibur has many great comedy shows in their "off" concert halls. Enjoy them.

[Maevenniia]

Cirque du Soleil "Love" (based all on Beatles' music) looks like it will be a fantastic (though maybe costly) show.

[Angelsyn]

The "Station" casinos (Palace, Boulder, Texas, Green Valley Ranch, Sunset) are called the "Locals" casinos. They're all off the Strip, generally have good food and friendly service. In Las Vegas, service is #1 for a "Locals" casino... because there are just so many choices.

This weekend is a motorcycle "fest", or something, Downtown. Sorry, don't have more details than that.

The Downtown Lightshow is neat... and Downtown is usually less crowded than much of the Strip. There's still a bit of "sprucing up" that needs to be done... but overall Downtown is nice.

If you like Sushi, Osaka Sushi is a few blocks West of the Strip on Sahara Ave. (4207... 4209? Not sure of the exact address.) Absolutely the best Sushi place in Las Vegas.

P.S. The weather here is finally cooling down a bit... Of course, now that I've typed that, we'll likely have another week off 100+ degree highs!

[Elyssanda]

The "Station" casinos (Palace, Boulder, Texas, Green Valley Ranch, Sunset) are called the "Locals" casinos. They're all off the Strip, generally have good food and friendly service. In Las Vegas, service is #1 for a "Locals" casino... because there are just so many choices.

I too was gonna mention the *station* casinos, they're among our favorites because they aren't nearly as expensive, which leaves us more $$ to goof off with, and when you take 3 preteen/teens anywhere ya gotta have enough $$ to keep them happy.

I didn't mention them, because I didn't know if they were willing to take cabs and such all over... if you've never been to vegas it's easy to get lost there when driving yourself.

[burnttoastv]

My first experience in Vegas was four years ago and we stayed at the Excalibur. Not a bad hotel, the joust show is worth the money, and I still have nightmares about what was then thier brand new buffet. Horrid design.

Me and my wife were in Vegas this summer and we bought a three day pass for the monorail. It's fairly new and goes to almost all the casinos on the strip. You can get them at only some of the monorail stops so when you check in ask where the nearest office is you can buy the tickets. This was SO much more convenient then using a cab and a lot cheaper.

There is a moving escalator over to the Luxor from the Excalibur (at least four years ago there was) who had a wonderful buffet and the slots were a lot kinder to me then Excalibur's. Course if you went to vegas to play the slots you should go downtown where they are a lot looser.

Downtown is also what I think is called the Fremont Street experience, same street as the Four Queens hotel. Three blocks covered by a giant half curved screen made of thousands of tiny LED's that put on a show of colorful computer graphics, took my breath away.

See the Blue Man Group, if nothing else, see the Blue Man Group.

MGM was pretty fun. Me and my wife this summer were walking through and passed the TVLand area and signed up to be a test audience. We got to watch a not shown on tv yet episode of some sitcom and then filled out a 200 multiple choice questions about it on a computer. We got some nice comps after we were done, which was nice since they didn't tell us we were getting anything for being a test audience.

If you enjoyed Star Trek in the slightest you'll like the Star Trek Hilton. Years ago me and my wife went to the Star Trek Hilton (wish the monorail had been there then!) and saw the 'Star Trek Experience' motion ride and I was pleased, but then I like Star Trek and the tickets were $25 a person maybe. This year they were $40 a person but if you are a coupon hunter (there are LOTS of them for Vegas for shows and whatnot) then you would have brought your buy one ticket, get one free. I don't know if that pays for the two different simulator ride (Klingon and Borg one) as that was too pricey to be worth it at the time and we forgot our coupon. The prominade has a sweet sweet amount of star trek collectables including the cutest baby clothes in star trek style. When eating at Quarks (prices weren't too bad) be warned that they announce your order to the entire room when they bring it out. And if your wondering around and see two actors dressed as Klingons, talk to them. Klingon humor is a treat.

The Hawaiian Luoa (sp?) at the Golden Palace wasn't too bad. While the buffett was as scrumptous as the show they seat a LOT of people for the show so it doesn't hurt to pay extra for seats.

See the Venetian. I don't know what they have for a show but just walk through it, maybe pay $10 for a gondola ride. When me and my wife were wondering around four years ago in the evening we went to the outdoor portion of the Venetian where there weren't crowds to film the fake volcano going off from a distance (it gets kinda toasty when your right by it on the sidewalk) we found ourselves watching a couple being given a personal gondola ride in thier outdoor water area. The guy operating the gondola was singing while he poled them around and had a wonderful voice. Next time I go to Vegas I need to look up how much that experience might be.