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May 2021 Trip Report, incl Caesars, South Point, the D, Zorro, Golden Nugget, 4Qs

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by zignerlv, May 25, 2021.

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  1. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    loving it!!
     
  2. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    I guess you can argue 11 company owned restaurants if the casino owns the Steak n Shake franchise (probably). Steak n Shake is a chain in many states. The South Point location is the first one I ever went to that wasn't 24 hours. How can the first Steak n Shake I visit that closes be in Vegas?!?! :eek:

    And bummer you missed the memo on South Point. 99%+ quarter VP nearly everywhere. Hope to pay a visit next week.

    Good write up so far!
     
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  3. AyDee

    AyDee is getting too old for this

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    You're so making me want to hit South point next trip, though it's hard to juggle there, strip, and DT in 3 nights,
    only praises you missed IMO were Del Mar Deli Bagels, chicken soup, and Steak n Shake chili that you can buy as a topping, on dogs, burgers, spaghetti, or cans/microwavable cups of to go...
    It's good canned chili, IMO.

    head and shoulders above lots of places in quality food value (forgot also the clam chowder @ Oyster Bar, & late night breakfast specials)

    looking forwards to more reporting....:thumbsup:
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2021
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  4. cunningja

    cunningja Tourist

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    Agree with everything you said about SP, we've stayed 20+ times in the last 12 years, feels like home when I walk through the front door.
     
  5. tfcoach72

    tfcoach72 High-Roller

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    Thanks for a nice trip report. Started making SP my home as well. Can’t think of anything I don’t like about it. Will be there again in August.
     
    Just a getaway! On the Gulf Coast—
  6. timtanium

    timtanium Low-Roller

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    South Point is my favorite casino.

    I agree about Aquarius, they are more difficult to get comps and rooms for more than 3 nights. Riverside casino let’s me stay for a week, no problem.
     
  7. Tutontow

    Tutontow Low-Roller

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    I am definitely leaving the strip on my next trip. SP sounds like the Vegas I used to visit back in the 1980's. Hell even Ceasars Palace used to comp me for playing two dollar blackjack back then. I read here SP had ten dollar double deck and the pit boss can comp the great steakhouse they have on site. I'm loving your report.
     
  8. marksind

    marksind VIP Whale

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    Great coverage on South Point! You hit so many of the highlights. The employees even swear by the place (or more accurately, the owner).

    Did you use your "Free bottle of wine" coupon at Don Vito's? We did in March, and were surprised it wasn't something like "Two Buck Chuck." It was their "Wine of the Week," which was a roughly $15 retail (store price) bottle. Very decent wine, making an already reasonable restaurant even better.
     
  9. skybank

    skybank High-Roller

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    Thanks for sharing! I make a trip to South Point every trip to LV now, tons of VP and good drink service. I also like that driving back to the strip you can stop at a Smith's right on LV Blvd for water, snacks, etc.. and have normal prices.

    Also was the pants guy at MDW, it looks like it LOL
     
  10. AlPal

    AlPal Vegas Addict

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    You're a bit unclear, do you like SP or no? Haha, I need to stop there soon!
     
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  11. vpmikey

    vpmikey Low-Roller

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    Zignerl, could you give a typical coin in amount per day at S.P? Or average bet at tables?

    Thanks! Great report!
     
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  12. Bobby B

    Bobby B High-Roller

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    Glad you enjoyed my home away from home, South Point. Which host did you use there? Roxanne is mine and she's wonderful.
     
  13. LAdoesVegas

    LAdoesVegas High-Roller

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    Thanks for all the information about South Point! I think I'm going to have to make a stop over there sometime to play some VP!
     
  14. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    Sorry for the "two day" absence, and there are so many nice comments that I hope to acknowledge soon. I have not bailed on my report! For now, I will add the next few days to the report here shortly!.
     
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  15. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    JN and the D

    We headed out of Southpoint and wanted to do a sort of mini coupon run, with another stop or two. One stop was to each get a free Krispy Kreme doughnut for being vaccinated. Of course, casino locations of KK do not participate in the giveaway, so we stopped at one on the way, North of Southpoint. We don't have a KK close by so this was our one chance to reap the benefit.

    Then, we stopped at the mecca of gaming. That's right, we went to Jerry's Nugget! We actually did redeem some LVA/ACG coupons there, and managed to get on the NSUD machines and played a bit. Between prior comps on the card and those we just earned I was able to purchase a comp eclair at their coffee shop! Even better was that they put it in a Jerry's Nugget to-go box!

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    The box that says, "I've made it", to all those wanna-be's!

    I'll admit that although the eclair was good, I had expected better. I think it was that the chocolate icing was too thick, like that on a chocolate cake, rather than a ganache, for my liking. Next time we'll try the Strawberry Ring.

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    Some Jerry's history shots.

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    Note, the sign says nothing about prohibiting going into the fountain, or bathing in it. Are they trying to tell us something? Anyway, this view out of one of the entrances of Jerry's is light years from the rest of the surrounding views!

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    On the drive from Jerry's to Downtown, my eye caught something on the side of the road. Luckily there was a traffic light ahead, so traffic was slow! Was it? Is it? No way!

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    Yes, it was a pair of men's patent leather shoes in pretty good condition, in the island between lanes on LV Blvd! This didn't appear to be something that say dropped off the back of a truck, or a trunk, as it was a pair, together, still with a nice shine to the shoes. I was trying to think of the scenarios where at this location, these shoes would have been dropped, or lost. Help me out! Can someone put a good caption to this picture? Note, this was too far from Jerry's for it to be likely part of the story.

    Later on, we settled into the D, and checked into a "premium" sort of room at the end of the hall. As much as I try to give it a chance, I can't really like staying at the D. This time, on a low 90 degree day, the in window air conditioner had trouble keeping the room cool, even at night. The second night the room was on the warm side although I turned down the AC to lowest temp, 61 degrees. In addition, we had a toilet that wouldn't stop running. Wondering how this wasn't noticed when the room was cleaned? I try and try, but I have had issues with each stay there (our 3rd).

    upload_2021-7-29_16-33-46.png

    I played mainly at the Vue Bar, but at this point I can't think of anything notable there except for me losing, which come to think of it, for this trip, isn't notable at all! I think the bartender had some "very informed" medical information on Covid-19 why vaccines weren't necessary, the details which somehow now escape me, despite having the privilege to hear it in person.

    We got our Southwest match plays, plus an ACG coupon match play, and did well there.

    Dinner was wonderful again, at Andiamo comped on my offer+comp $'s. We had a waiter who was on his first day back in a year and a half (not Covid related), who was pretty entertaining. This time we went for a split salad, then the Chilean Sea Bass, and the Lamb. Hey, we went 3 nights of meals without a single lamb dinner, this was the first one of the trip!

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    We split a salad, so this is half.


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    Rack of LAMB! (#1)

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    Chilean Sea Bass over Pea Risotto cake

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    Sigma Derby, down again!



    Panera "Tour" of Southern Nevada

    We have a monthly "subscription" to unlimited coffee at Panera, which can be used an any location. So throughout the trip, if we were nearby, or it was around breakfast time, we'd find a way to stop at a Panera on our route for the day. This time, we hit four locations during the week. We visited locations near South Point, Palace Station, and West side near I215, but the winner, in terms of best outdoor seating location, was the location near Rampart, as shown below.

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    Rampart Day

    Next was another (and maybe final) attempt to get on the comp room mailer list for the Rampart casino, which was the surprise of last trip, in terms of enjoying the property. We went again on "Winning Wednesdays", which is a great promotion. For $2,000 coin in, you can redeem those points for a $25 voucher at their coffee shop, the Earl Gray Cafe. For $3,000 coin in, you can redeem those points for a $50 dinner voucher, up to 2 in a day, for their restaurants. Our dinner at the Hawthorn, with outdoor seating, was a highlight of last trip and despite the SOB's not deeming me worthy of a full comp room casino marketing offer (buy 1, get one free), I wanted to give them another relatively strong day of play to be able to have a comp stay there in the future.

    We arrived early, so we could play enough to earn and use the coffee shop $25 voucher for breakfast. Breakfast was fine. The room was nice, a little noisy. We got to see a first, for us. A man with a very large protruding belly, eating alone, wearing what I would call a semi professional bib! No, this was no lobster bib! It was much larger, and looked to be terrycloth. He did not appear to have any disabilities, and was eating alone. The bib was draped over his large belly, which no doubt, would have made a great "tray" for crumbs and drips.

    [​IMG]

    Another promo on this day was a free slot tournament. You get 1-2 entries a day. It was on one of those newer slot machines that takes two hands to play. One, like usual, to "pull" the lever, while the other hand is needed to pop bubbles or bells that slide across the screen. I can see how some older players, with less active reflexes and hands, would be at a disadvantage playing these machines. We played, relatively early in the day, and at the time one of our rounds resulted in the 2nd place high score. Since there were so many hours left in the day, I didn't think our score had much chance of placing, but the employees said we had a good chance of cashing in the tournament.

    For dinner, we did a repeat of last trip, and sat at one of the few outdoor tables near the water/garden area. The temp at the time was 92, but being shady, and with a bit of a breezy, with no humidity, it was actually a bit on the cool side, by the end of dinner! This time, one of us was going to not have the lamb dish, as we were on a LRD (Lamb Restricted Diet) for this trip!

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    Half a salad, once again, sufficient.

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    Lamb Dinner #2

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    Sea Scallops

    Once again, a wonderful salad, and a nice, not overfilling dinner, in the most relaxing outdoor atmosphere you can find. This time, we were joined at dinner by another couple!

    [​IMG]
    "Friends" joining us for dinner.

    When is a Royal Flush, not a "Royal Flush"? I may be in the minority here, but I don't think of considering a multi play royal flush, when dropping in denomination, a real true royal flush. It's just a good hand. Why? Partly because easily, you can easily still have a losing day if you hit only one low denomination multi hand royal flush. A true royal flush significantly changes the finances of a trip, whereas a pseudo royal flush leaves you still in the red for the day.

    Having said this, comically, in the last 2 or so years, since I started moving say, 15% of my play to multi hand, playing many tens of thousands of multi play hands, I had yet to hit a single one of these mini royal flushes.

    We had just reached my coin-in targets for the day, and I was doing one of those things where I would cash out at the next round 100 credit number, either up or down. On one of the very last hands of the day, I hit a royal flush on a 10 play, holding 3 pieces of the royal in the initial hold. Of course it made a large dent in my loss for the day, but did not wipe it out. As I said, I don't count this as a royal flush in my play history.

    A bit later, the slot tournament winners list was posted some time after 8pm, and sure enough, I had placed near the middle of the pay list, for a $125 cash win! Nice! This made up for the lack of having/using a free play/room offer. Cashing out the voucher at the cashier was a bit of an event, which took several minutes. I was only half exaggerating when I said to the cashier, that it was easier to close on a mortgage than to get through all the paperwork and verification for my $125 payout!


    ---- 3 more days to come ----
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2021
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  16. omahatovegas

    omahatovegas Low-Roller

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    The aftermath of a drunken vegas wedding. MIA, one pair of rental patent leather shoes and the groom.
     
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  17. LAdoesVegas

    LAdoesVegas High-Roller

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    Had the lamb at Andiamo last August and it was very good! Which one did you like best on your trip?

    Congrats on the Slot Tourny Win!
     
  18. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    I get the multiline royal feeling. Even though a lot of my play is single line, my first 7 royals were playing more than one line ranging from pennies to dimes. I liked my single line quarter royals better!
     
  19. MattyVegas

    MattyVegas Low-Roller

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    Great review of South Point! Definitely going to check it out next trip.
     
  20. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    ..... The Return...... of Zorro!!!!

    About 11-12 years ago, during several trips downtown, a man would catch our eye outside the casinos listening and moving to the Fremont Street music. He was dressed rather smartly, had a presence about him, and acted like the "mayor" of downtown, greeting and smiling at passerby's, while occasionally doing a little dance, then at times shaking hands of guests at the Golden Nugget, and tipping his hat to people entering or leaving! Nearby was his large black bag, with an umbrella protruding, looking like some kind of James Bond top secret briefcase! What a sight to see! Well after a few years of being entertained, we suddenly no longer saw him around. Since then, we've looked for him during each trip (over 20 trips since then), but were disappointed each time.

    Until this trip! Now, over ten years later, we spotted him, much the same as ever (except not currently dancing to FSE bands which were on hiatus). We had a short chat with him, told him how much we missed him. He claimed to have never left, and revealed his very appropriate, self named persona as.... ZORRO! Yes, his hand motions while dancing were often like a Zorro sword! An appropriate name for sure!

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    Is it? Could it be? No way!


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    He's back! The fashion King of Downtown!


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    The "mayor", at "work".


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    Zorro (carrying bag) cashing out his win!

    In part of the chat, he told us "I'm not homeless, but....." well in my book, anyone who starts a sentence like that IS homeless. On the other hand, he dresses so nicely he obviously had some money for the wardrobe. You have to understand, for over ten years we've been wondering where he was, and we now know Zorro still rules the FSE! He is my nomination for Mayor of downtown. Re-discovering Zorro, and having a conversation with him was like meeting LV royalty! Long live Zorro! Is there a better way to celebrate the return of semi normal life downtown, than the return of Zorro?

    Flashback, 11-12 years ago, see that Zorro hasn't aged! Is he a human?

    Here are some poor quality photos of Zoro from 2009-10

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    Dancing Zorro! (note almost same outfit 11 years later)

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    Always the life of the party! Give him room!

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    Taking a break with his "James Bond" bag next to him. Umbrella? Or space age secret weapon?

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    Zorro in the middle of the action, with disbelieving visitor in background.


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    My fav pic of him, from 2009, hands in motion as he does a dance in his black outfit.

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    The "mayor" of Downtown, ready to greet his constituents in 2009.



    Four Queens Stuff

    For our lunch/snack while at the Four Queens, we changed things up and this time tried the chicken wings at the Chicago Brewery there. Would have them again!

    [​IMG]

    Playing VP was the usual high variance experience. I was up 1/4 of a royal flush, only to see it disappear into a small loss, which was offset by the free play on my offer there. I'd take that outcome every time, but still would have been nice to keep my gains for an actual solid win. This is with getting Aces twice during the long day of play!

    Dinner at Hugo's is a mandatory part of each trip. Lately, I've moved to the Beef Wellington, and "splurged" the extra $5 or so for the potato au gratin, while our other dish was Chilean Sea Bass.

    [​IMG]

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    [​IMG]


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    Nice touch, painting a rose on the Covid glass divider.

    [​IMG]



    THE CRUEL COOKIE SHUT OUT!

    I experienced a devastating event this trip!

    Last year, I read a comment in a Four Queens thread that the delicious cookies, which are no longer available at Magnolias in the Four Queens, were still available at Binion's Deli. I was up to that challenge! So I set out to purchase some there, expecting that Magnolia's was not going to have the cookies in May (and that was the case, again). I headed to Binion's Deli and asked about cookies. It was around 4pm. The worker there said that all they had left was a few oatmeal raisin cookies (my least favorite of their cookies), and that this was because a woman had come in and bought all the remaining chocolate chip cookies. This woman is now my enemy! He said that this happens quite often.

    I don't understand how businesses survive and yet not take advantage of more fully stocking items that easily sell out.! Anyway, he said to come by "tomorrow morning". That was interesting as they don't open until 11:30am.

    I went to the Four Queens slot club desk and had them print me out a comp voucher that I could use at Binion's. Then, I arrived the next day at noon to enquire about the cookies. "The chef is way behind today, I don't even have my corned beef yet today! Check back mid/late afternoon!", I was told. I left with my head bowed, but returned around 4pm to ask for a status. "No cookies today!", he informed me, with little to no sympathy in his voice! There it was, shutout of cookies again, even after going to the source! Life can be so cruel! What more could I have done? I wonder if, next trip, I can put in an order in advance of my desired varieties, and pre pay for them?

    Instead, I used my comp vouchers for a root beer float, made with root beer from the Chicago Brewery and frozen custard from Binion's. After tasting this, I actually prefer the root beer without ice cream. We also had a separate side cup of frozen custard at Binion's Deli, which was delicious. This is now one of my top 10 LV bargains, as it is $1.99, and generous serving size! Sorry for no pic!


    ONE MORE PART TO COME!
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2021
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