Ellis Island coupon

As of last Monday if you order the steak special you now have to swipe your players card at a kiosk that is beside the players booth. When you swipe it will give you a coupon to give to the waitress/waiter and you get your special price of $7.99 otherwise it is $10.99 without coupon. I did not know this but the waiter took our order and then said to get a coupon while we are waiting. One coupon per table is ok.

 

Thanks for the info - good to know, especially since we may go there this evening! (Usually eat the BBQ, however.)

 

Thanks for the heads up. I know all the ACG coupons required having the Passport Player's card, but I did not know it was linked to the special. By getting us to do the swiping, the waiters are saved the time. What worries me a bit is that it probably is a way to take a statistical look at the special to decide if in fact it is attracting folks who also play there, or just folks who want a cheap meal. Then they could reevaluate whether they wanted to keep it or raise the price or link the price to a certain amount of play. They did that for the bingo. Anyone not a local now has to play $20 to play the free morning bingo.
Clearly just raising the price for those without Player's cards screens out some folks. So many things change in Vegas. I hope this one stays the same, although I guess it affects me less personally since in general I am avoiding eating meat these days. Still it is always a great place to meet people or to bring people out for a meal and some visiting.

 

I thought the Ellis Island kitchen got closed down by the health department.

 

The kitchen was reinspected and reopen within 24 hours of being shut down. Thanks for the news on the steak special. Looks like I have an update to write.

 

We ate at Ellis Island this evening in the BBQ restaurant and had to swipe our player's card in the kiosk to get the lower rate. No problem, but a definate change from when we visited last month. The BBQ chicken and ribs were fantastic as always, and as always, there's no way we could possibly clean our plates. And we hadn't eaten anything else all day! Love that place.

 

Eat well and win bit, Turtleman. I'm looking forward to the details of your trip.

 

Does EI use Georgia mustard sauce? Never had their Q.

 

If I understand correctly, they use a tomato based sauce somewhat similar to Bullseye, although I'm sure others will disagree. Passions regarding Q sauce often run high. Anyway, the sauce, which is also in a squeeze bottle on the table, is as delicious as it is messy!

 

Thanks for a landmark. I can do a Bullseye type sauce. You're right about passions regarding Q in general. Don't quite understand why as we enjoy Carolina, Georgia, Memphis, St. Louis, KC, Islands, even Texas if I can find pork.
Kinda like here with which side of Bay oysters came from.

 

Are there certain hours that you can get the steak special? We have enjoyed the barbeque many times, but would like to try the steak special.

 

If they are open and serving food you can get it.

 

I'd never eat at a place with this many serious violations. Good deal or not.

http://www.ktnv.com/news/local/177746751.html?lc=Smart


The pictures really do tell the story of Ellis Island restaurant's 60-demerit closure.

Parts of the eatery inside the Koval Lane casino looked like a scene from a slasher movie. Inspectors found excessive, old food debris caked on equipment and splashed-on walls, doors, ceilings -- just about everywhere they looked.

All the images make it hard to imagine what was actually clean.

And check out what health inspectors documented in their report.

They wrote, "During the inspection, the person in charge came to the table where inspectors were writing their report and told them they had to leave because Ellis Island was private property and inspectors were not allowed to be on their property."

That got restaurant management called into the District's version of the principal's office -- a "supervisory conference" with Health District higher-ups.

Before getting kicked out, inspectors documented multiple violations for lack of hand-washing.

They also found employees doing some illegal dumping of degreaser, grey water and garbage into the storm drain.

As for the food, the cottage cheese was supposed to be enjoyed by Oct. 6. But inspectors found it in the fridge three weeks later.

The red sauce on the pizza and some stew were also expired. And so was deli meat, which inspectors found coated with a white substance. The sour cream had a yellow substance on it, along with a crumbling texture and no date.

Other violations included employee clothes next to food and on equipment and a potato peeler sitting on top of someone's furry jacket.

Black growth in the ice machine caused it to be red-tagged and taken out of use.

Pans and other equipment were stacked as clean, but were actually caked with old food debris.

Dozens of soiled towels sat on cutting boards and other food contact surfaces. And clean towels were being stored in an oven with excessive, dried food debris.

 

Now the question is how is it today? Since it is reopened as an inspected and fixed place, is it now more safe than some other eatery that has not been recently inspected and won't have their discrepancies discovered until after we eat there.
Perhaps the only time not to have gone to Ellis Island was the weeks before they closed, but to eat there now, when the reeducation is still fresh in the minds of the workers and they have an A rating.

 

Dewey. You've forgotten more about Vegas than ill ever know. I've learned a lot from your posts.
But those violations don't suggest one bad employee or a substandard process.
To me they show a systematic disregard for cleanliness and sanitation at every level.
Out of date food. No hand washing. Dirty food prep materials. Discolored ingredients.

Any one of those would likely keep me away. All combined should result in the entire staff being replaced.

 

Oh, I don't know so much. The little I do know I keep writing over and over on these boards and blogs so I don't forget all of it.
Now, what was I saying?
Oh..............
On this one I am just wondering.
It isn't the same as when I learn, for example, about our dirty imported shrimp or the favorite grouper substitute down here in Florida, the infamous Pangasius called zwai on the last menu. There I know that government inspections won't change behavior in the seafood business, and I'll continue to find these on menus and in stores and on most buffets, in spite of the fact that they are raised in ways that marinate them in pesticides and load them up with antibiotics and shipped in ways that have half of the ten percent that is inspected sent back as unacceptable while the 90% uninspected just goes along to the market. There I know to eat American Shrimp and wild caught Alaskan salmon or correctly farmed trout and catfish or better yet my own caught fish.
And I know that even with well distributed videos of pink slime and sausage dominated by inner organs, McD's is not going to start serving grass fed organic beef. So I just get Newman's coffee and use the clean restrooms.
In the business of supplying food to our groceries, after revelation of wrong doing and unhealthy practices, we can rest assured that .......it will just be business as usual.

And I know that there are plenty of places to eat in Vegas and some probably have been inspected repeatedly without health issues, so probably choosing the consistently healthy environment is the safest approach.

In fact, if someone were to take on the task of listing inexpensive restaurants that have been repeatedly inspected and passed, along with the dates of those inspections, especially restaurants around the strip, that would be a very useful thread of compiled data and give us the ability to have an Eat This, Not That strategy.

But if Ellis is inspected again and passes with an A, I am probably going to figure they reformed.

 

Here ya go Dewey:

http://www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/restaurants/inspections.php

 

Thanks Don. Just as you posted that, I was reading that site. Great site. However, it is overwhelming to process all that information. I don't eat enough different places in Vegas, don't go with the flexibility of a car and don't always know where I can find things after I discover them.
I did see Ellis had an A in October.

And I found the Oasis Cafe that looked interesting and is somewhere on Harmon. I'll post a question on that one.

 

The search function at that site is fantastic.
http://www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/restaurants/inspections.php

 

So, if you decided to abandon Ellis Island, from what you've learned in your review of this site information and your experienced knowledge of getting around Vegas, where would you go to eat from Flamingo casino at 2 AM?
This Oasis looks great, but I'm not walking there at 2 AM down Koval. I did that once and that was enough. I'm still staggering back to Ellis after the poker at Flamingo and then catching the Flamingo bus or walking back to the Quad.
Denny's is perhaps a good alternative, but the menu is so light on vegetables and dishes without potato, that it doesn't work for me as well personally for next trip. (Although the Karaoke is better at Denny's. It is karaoke the way I best like karaoke with no music and no singing, just folks humming in their own heads.)
Maybe I'll start going up to Terribles for the graveyard special but that means two buses, one up and one back. I'd have to plan my bus schedule very well. Maybe Marilyn's at Tuscany.
For folks on this thread that lean toward the reaction of jfaspen, better alternatives are imperative. Car renters have lots of options. Walkers and bus riders need some ideas.