Monte Carlo, 10/19-10/23

My husband and I took a break from our energetic 2 year old for 4 nights in Vegas October 19th-23rd. We are from Lexington, KY and met some friends in Vegas who currently live in Nashville. They stayed 3 nights while we stayed 4 and a great time was had by all. I'll just do a quick summary by category below:

MY VEGAS: My husband and I each redeemed 3 rewards.
ME: Free unlimited drinks at Aria buffet, b1g1 dinner buffet at Aria and b1g1 champagne brunch at MGM.
HUBBY: Free weeknight at Monte Carlo, free guac at Diablo's and free unlimited drinks at Aria buffet.
*I'll review the rewards below.

Getting There: Non-stop flight on Southwest from Louisville, KY was smooth and had free Digh Network live TV! The taxi line was the longest I've seen it as we arrived on Saturday afternoon but went quickly, maybe 20-30 minute wait. Told the cab driver to take us the cheapest route to Monte Carlo (ie no tunnel) and he was super nice and talkative. My husband joked that he thought that I was going to make-out with him! Ride was around $14 (perfect!) and we gave him a $20 and told him to keep it.

Monte Carlo: We only paid $79 for Saturday night and then received 2 nights free via our Fall MLIFE offer and 1 night free via my husband's MY VEGAS reward. Line to check in was practically non-existent (Yay!) and I tired the $20 sandwich and specifically asked for a Monaco Suite or Spa Suite . . . . the nice girl checking us in sincerely checked to see if she could do anything, even called a manager, but they were completely sold out (over sold on suites actually) because of the PGA tournament. She gave the $20 back but put us in a high room which was clean and fine. I do think they've replaced the carpet down the halls and generally done some upgrades since we were there a year ago.

LOVE at the Mirage: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this show! A must see! We had perfect seats (middle price range). Unfortunately there was some sort of emergency or technical difficulties about 10 minutes in and they had to stop the show for about 30 minutes but otherwise it was fabulous.

ARIA Spa: Amazing! I do this every trip, pay $30 for a day pass and you can use all the facilities all day and enjoy their healthy snacks and drinks too. First day I spent more than 4 hours there and second day I spent 3 hours there. Well worth the money if you ask me and no need to buy an expensive service.

Diablo's: First bite once we arrived. Terrible, terrible service at first . . . got better but still not great. Redeemed free guac from MY VEGAS (delicious!), split nacho's with the hubs and had a chupacrabra drink (you must try it, one of my faves). Got sick afterwards as did my friend. Not sure what it was? Not going back for food, maybe drinks again? Expensive for what it is.

Dragon Noodle: 1/2 price sushi at the bar on Sunday. Hubby and I split 3 rolls and I had a glass of wine, poorly poured that wasn't that great and was $15! Still a resonably priced meal.

Sunday Brunch at Aria: YUM! It hasn't gotten the best reviews but I was completely overwhelmed and happy. Brunch was busy enough that the food was turning over quickly. Really nice food items though the service was kinda slow this particular meal. Hubby and I both redeemed our unlimited drink reward from MY VEGAS and had 5-6 drinks each! He had a bloody mary then beer, I had a sangria and then mimosas.

Tuesday Dinner at Aria: YUM again! Basically the same things at the brunch without the breakfast part of it. We did not have the unlimited drinks this time. Service was awesome. I don't understand why it gets bad reviews? I'm not sure what could make it any better.

Weekday Champagne Brunch at MGM: Pretty good! redeemed a B1G1 MY VEGAS reward so it only cost $20 plus tax/tip for my husband and I. Not huge but plenty to choose from, especailly for lunch. First booth we were sat at smelled sour so we asked to move. Server was none too impressive and seemed annoyed by us. My only complaint was the iced tea . . . why can't Vegas make a decent iced tea? This one was from a machine, yuck and boo!

Jean Phillipe at Aria: Tried a cinnamon roll and latte one morning and a nutella crepe another. WONDERFUL both times!!

PJ Clark's at Forum Shoppes: $1 Oyster Happy Hour, $2 sliders and $4 drafts. After my husband and I walked around for literally 5 hours one morning/afternoon, we stopped in here for a quick snack since we both LOVE oysters. This happy hour didn't dissapoint. Sat at the bar, oysters were great, sliders were hearty and fresh, left happy!

Stack at Mirage: This was probably the only meal we had that wasn't perfect, and ironically it was the most expensive by a lot. We went with our friends as they really enjoy expensive meals (not as much mine and my husband's thing). I had a starter salad that was huge, the tomato soup that also came with a little grilled cheese sandwich and also ordered the adult tater tots . . . all were FABULOUS!! My husband had the Kobe burger that came with fries and he said it was delicious but found a hair in his $16 glass of bourbon so he sent it back and got another one. Our friends started with a meatball appetizer that was undercooked so they sent it back and were brought a fresh, warmer one but both ended up sick all night and assume it was from the "meatball tartar" as they referred to it. The wife was not impressed with her salmon and the husband was not impressed with his mac and cheese but they liked the rest of what they ordered. Service was absolutely TERRIBLY SLOW! And they weren't very busy. Bill ended up nearly $150 for ours and $180 for our friends.

Brand at Monte Carlo: Every night we hit up the bar at Brand for Happy Hour. They have AMAZING martinis! EVERYTHING in the bar is 2x1 from 5-8. My favorite was the cucumber essence and impeared martinis. My husband had a nice bourbon one night. Cool atmosphere and nice bartenders, I highly recommend it.

Casino Royale: Took em' up on the $1 Michelob Light and played $20 on a roulette wheel that I promptly lost so that Michelob ended up costing me $22 as my husband would say.

Gaming: Played mostly slots and some table games, lost most of the money we brought but had a good time. Moved up to Pearl status with MLife. I preferred playing at Aria because of the premium drinks they bring you. Generally we had good drink service no matter where we played. Walked all the way down to the Wynn one morning and I loved it! Colorful, vibrant atmosphere and everyone was super nice. Had the best drink of the week there -a "free" pina colada while playing slots.

Le Central Bar at Paris: My friend and I walked all the way down to Paris (after spending a while in the Miracle Mile Shoppes) to try the 2x1 martinis at Le Central Bar in Paris from 12-7. THAT DEAL IS NO MORE AS OF TUESDAY, 10/15/13! I had read about it on the message boards here. Apparently there's a new hotel manager and he's switching things around?!? We still had a delicious creamy expresso martini each but had to pay $12 =(

The Monte Carlo really seems to be more "happening!" Noticed a larger crowd there. It was even sold out the Wednesday we departed with several conferences going on. At 6:15 every night there's a Blue Man Group processional that goes through the casino floor that's pretty neat. Evenstill, we spent most our time at Aria since it was so close, less smokey and much nicer. Its literally a 5 minute walk from Monte Carlo all indoors.

Sorry this is so long! I could write a whole 'nother one of these with the rest of the stuff we did. Wonderful, wonderful trip!!

 

Thanks for taking the time to write the report. We're staying at Hotel32 in March for the Strip portion of our trip so this was really interesting. Brand looks like a great happy hour option- did you try and of the food specials like the sliders?

 

There is a $9 happy hour food menu from 5-8 as well. We did have calamari one of the days and it was good. I saw someone with sliders that looked good -huge in fact -it came with fries and could easily be a complete meal. The hot rocks also looked interesting. Lots of people ordered shrimp cocktail. A great deal all around in my opinion!

 

Glad to hear good things about the ARIA buffet as I will visiting next week. Thanks for the report!

 

The last time I visited BRAND, their happy hour was $5 drinks and $9 appetizers. How long have they had the 2-4-1 special? That seems like a really good deal at such a nice bar/lounge...

 

Brand Happy Hour Monday-Friday only?

 

I am bummed we missed the processional. I would love to see blue man when we go back.

 

I read the original post and saw a free room at MC and b1g1 and other things, I am lucky I even get a rate of $89.00 at best and that is at NYNY.
I must be doing something wrong or not living right because I have yet to receive anything worth mentioning since I moved into Pearl status last December with MLIFE and added points on in May. I went to MLIFE to check on the weeks before Christmas, which is normally dead and found nothing but regular rates and no comps for weekday nights. My son stayed at Aria during Thanksgiving 2011 and still gets deals like $79.00 rooms, he spent maybe $250.00 over 3 days.
I just dont understand?

p

 

this happy hour site says everyday,

http://www.lasvegashappyhour.net/Most-Popular-Happy-Hours-in-Las-Vegas

 

Nice report. Makes me hungry.

 

More! More! More!

Great trip report! Thank you for the details!

 

I thought it was a great deal! I'm not sure how long it has been EVERYTHING in the bar 2x1, but it hasn't always been like that. The bartender said even the most expensive shot of liquor was included. Now, I will add that the fancy martinis were $16 and the regular ones were $11, but otherwise everything seemed to be on par with Vegas pricing. My hubby had a Basil Hayden bourbon on the rocks and it was $11 regular priced and he got 2 for that!

 

And it is 7 days a week . . . .

 

Great report. We will be staying 3 nights MyVegas comped in November. I got some really good tips about the place. Thanks a bunch.