At the Mirage

This is my umpteenth trip to vegas, 4 or 5th with my wife. First time at the Mirage. Long story short; we had a great time.....

Came in Thursday night on SW, no problems and landed about 15 mins early. Off the plane quick and immediately caught the tram (good luck so far). I had booked a limo with presidential and I was hoping he would be there with the sign when we arrive down stairs for a surprise..no luck. I called and after about 20 mins we found our driver.

Now this weekend was crazy...fight, Kentucky downs, etc. Tons of limo drivers. Anyway our guy was good once we found him. We said we needed about 20 mins to kill the bottle of the champagne, can you make the ride that long?.....he was perfect. Pulled up to the Mirage just as we killed the bottle. Nice tip to the the driver (he actually gave us an extra bottle to take with us).

We walked into a busy Mirage and toward the check-in area. We saw a VIP check-in guy with no line and I turned to him and say "can you take care of us?" I was on a comp (but didn't mention that) He said sure! I showed a twenty as I handed over my license and he definitely noticed. haha, eyes light up. He found us a high, strip facing room with a view of the volcano! (on a busy weekend I didn't expect anything). I ended up giving him an extra twenty and he asked if we are celebrating something special. I accidently said "no". He mumbled something about a bottle champagne for the room, but we never got that.

So up to the room. We both liked it, great view (21st floor). Worth the tip. Can't believe we got the upgrade on such a busy weekend. BTW, the windows open more than I would expect. You can actually get a little fresh air

Next: the gambling and drinking.

 

So, up to the room and quickly downstairs. Cash burning in my pocket. I wanted to play craps but only $25 was open. And it was empty.

Now I usually shy away from an empty table because it is cold. But not tonight, I wanted to gamble and I didn't want to wait. What a bad idea. I've turned around a bunch of tables, but... 7 out, 7 out; point, come bet, 7 out. I lost and lost. Notes say 12 outs in a row with no point.

Over to VP at the bar. Bunch of drinks, nothing. Best was a three of a kind.

Ouch, ouch. Okay we will try roulette, no. Let's try crap again, no. Off to black jack, a little up and down...and no. I just lost every hand I had. One really weird and bad time, a dealer called 21 on a 22 hit against my 18, she admitted it but had half mucked the cards. I got my money back but did not get paid. WTF. I guess I would have lost the money anyway at some point. Anyway late and time to go to bed.

 

Next day we woke up late for Vegas. 9am.

One of the things I love about Vegas is Korean food. It is awesome in Vegas. Called up our favorite restaurant and they are open at 9. (Mother's Korean in China Town). Got to love ridiculous vegas hours.

Took a cab over with a very funny Scottish guy. Said he went to CA twenty years ago and never looked back. I thanked him for not long hauling us and gave him a good tip.

The food was amazing. So, f-ing good. I cannot say enough about Mothers. We spent almost two and a half hours eating and eating. I would be so happy if they had that food in our town.

Next stop Riviera to take advantage of their promotion. This is Friday afternoon of a very busy weekend and the casino was empty. They have 1000x odd crap with a $5 min. This should almost reduce the house advantage to nothing with a 50 odds back. Two tables with 5 min available. I tried the first... then I tried the other one...only problem with great odds is you have to hit a number...no, nothing, natta. Wow I'm bad. Notes say 0-4 and 0-5.

My wife went over to play black jack. Decent odds and she was doing okay until the black cloud (me) descended. Everyone, including the dealer, wanted me to go. Holy cow, I was the cooler.

I decided to go get my players card. Huge line. The lady says the last time I played there was 2000 and I was okay for the promotion. Holy cow, I remember that, it was my first time in Vegas. Haha. I played VP, decent odds there. Still same result. Very quick loss of 400. No problem getting my 200 in free play. Same result. Quick loss.

At this point we needed to head back to the Mirage for my wife's Spa appointment.

Arrive back at Mirage with no long haul and she went straight to the Spa. Her feedback was "pretty nice,...but I actually liked TI and Harrah better." Great, another loss for me.

After the Spa we headed to the Palms for dinner at Aliza. We had a 9:30 reservation and arrived a little early. The casino was packed. My wife asked if we should play a little, sure. Craps....well....I hit my first point. Hit 2 of 7 for a loss, but I felt things might be looking up.

We usually do a nice dinner on each trip. At Alize we had the seven course meal with wine pairing ($760 with tip). We had an awesome table next to the window. Great views. However, I have to say I was a little disappointed. The food was less exceptional. While we both like the fois gras, the beef and shrimp was less than stellar. Also the wine pairing was seriously questionable and the service was almost informal. It was like they hired TGIF waiters yesterday and dressed them up for dinner.

I had a good friend who went there last year and loved it, but it was not great. On our last two trip we went to Picasso and Twist. Much better, with Picasso winning by a landslide (based on an outside table at Picasso).

After dinner we went to Paris. Finally an up and down gambling session, but with a loss. We decided to head back to Mirage. The cab line was almost an hour..."let's not go on busy weekends baby". Thankfully by wife was patient. Back to the Mirage.

 

Ouch, Ouch.

Woke up around 2pm. But first...

A little more from last night....Ended up playing more at Mirage when we got back. Fun group at the BJ tables and we played to 4am. A bunch of guys at the table were having a bachelor party and we had a really fun table.

Unfortunately, we had a similar problem to last night (miss count by dealer 4 and 4 and 7 and 7 is not 21). Seriously heavy handed pit boss. Long argument, bachelor party boys were drunk making it worse. (who assumes they are correct, seriously?). We got another BS answer with our cards still on the table (dealer was apologetic and the pit boss was an ass). We went to bed at this point and never gambled at Mirage again (and probably never will).

Anyway, back to Saturday and our last full day.

We woke up and at 2pm and called hangover heaven. No dice, they were booked. Sucks.

But guess what helps hang overs? Korean food! So off we were to Mothers. Again ate and ate.

Coming out of the restaurant my wife say hey lets try the "YY foot spa". She asked I wanted to try it.....aw...is it "legit?"...ah?

Anyway totally legit. 60 min spa for $40 each. Awesome. Only bad part was my girl answered her phone during the treatment, haha. Still worth it. I felt great afterwards. Of all the stuff in vegas I would totally recommend if you are in the area.

I was feeling great this point. Across the street to BAC to supplement my cash before midnight and we were off to Wynn. Now I've never had good luck at Wynn. So maybe the reverse is true.

Hit the $25 table craps and started out on a come out roll with 4 hitting. YEAH!. Next roll coming out 6, end betting till up with full odds with 3 come bets loaded....point hits! YEAH. Point a 6...Point a winner. YEAH, YEAH, YEAH. (numbers still up). 6 point, hits a winnner! YEAH. I hit four 6 points in a row. Never hit my 3 come bets with odds and crap out. On any other trip this was un-memorable. But a winner I was. The rest of the table was up and down. I left Wynn a loser, but at least I hit something

We had some good food at Wynn somewhere (sorry not sure where) and headed to TI. Nothing memorable at TI and ended up taking a cab to Mirage.

Cab picked us up at 5:30am. Miserable. Easy security, not problems on the flight.

Edit: Someone asked for the total up/down.....well...let's just say it was a multi, multi thousand beating, suckfest in the losing column. Never mind the expenses (flight, spa, food, etc.)

Also, it seems most people don't post losing trip reports. I have to say this posting took be a few days, and then a few drinks before I was ready. Anyway, this was the way it goes usually.

 

Sounds like you're having a good time despite the losses. Hope things turn around for you!

 

Thanks for the report.

 

Enjoyed the report, but sorry your trip was a loser! Better luck next time!

 

Thanks for the report. I'm guessing ur platinum. You do not have to accept the boss's bullshit. Ask for the floor manager, tell him about the attitude, and then.demand that they run the tape back. I've had them do it many times.and always gotten the correct payout. Also,.u shouldn't have to wait in.taxi lines at that level....better luck next trip!

 

Great report
really appreciate you posting a " losing" report if most people would come back winners the city would have close a long time ago

 

Nice to see someone's got a pair and reports the good and bad without getting blasted by others on their opinions and comments. I gamble at the Mirage all the time, and for you to chose not to gamble there because of what happened is your choice and your welcome to it. I have had plenty of issues over there as well.
Anyway, keep it up brother, and tell it like it is.

 

This post confuses me. I didn't see anything controversial in Wookie's report.

 

Thanks for posting. Hope your next trip is in the winning column!

 

Well I licked my wounds after that beat down. I have to say most of my trips are losers, but that last one was a doozy. (in fact most people lose, that is how they pay for Vegas hotels/staff/etc.).

Anyway, I was done with Mirage....but they sent me a pretty sweet offer.

Free three days in a Suite, 200 food, limo rt. Also, I have a bunch of self comps.

Best elsewhere is room and minimal play/rewards.

Now usually the other properties come close, but not the same as you last or home property. However, in this case, the other properties are offering me way less. My guess is that Mirage must look at more than just play x time. Because they are way over the other properties

So we might stay at Mirage, but we will gamble elsewhere.

I've never tried parlaying comps with another property. Anyone else successful at parlying one property offer into an offer somewhere else recently?