Hello everyone, I was lucky enough to be able to visit Circa on opening weekend. True to the marketing spin, it was "The Time of My Life!" A little background - I only play blackjack, at the 100-200/hand level. I have been a guest of TheD/Gate for the last few years, and have truly enjoyed the service and personal attention that I get at this level in a downtown Casino. I have been fortunate to be invited to a couple Vegas Golden Knights games (I'm a big hockey fan, so this really resonates with me). When Circa opened for reservations, I booked a room right away, knowing I might have to pay out of pocket. I didn't care, had never been to a hotel opening before and was willing to pay (the admittedly steep) opening weekend rates. We stayed Monday-Wednesday, Dec 28-30. Just before the weekend we were sent a mailer that said we could check in early, but I already had flights and other personal business, so we kept our original dates. Upon check in to the room, we found a nice mini bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne, a pair of flowered flutes, a nice note from Derek, and a gold bar, though I don't think the bar is solid gold. Will have to check. Upon checking into the room (2227, Pool View King) this was our view: And a panoramic shot - professional photography is not my career path: We did walk down to the pools, and there were people in the 90+ degree water, but with the 20+mph winds, we knew we would freeze getting out. Plus, living in Miami the pool isn't quite the draw it was when we lived in other places. A quick walk through the sports book so I could bet on the Bills over the Pats (sorry non Fins AFC East teams), the size/scale of the book really is astounding. This shot was taken from Victory Burger on the second floor. My wife and I split a burger, onion rings and fried green beans, plenty to share: And found the Lego shop on the main floor. Goaltending is not in my future either: I also made a reservation for opening night at the Legacy Club, the rooftop bar/lounge/patio at Circa. I should have taken better pics of the seating areas, but there were several couches outside, many with firepits (needed when its 40F and 20+mph winds!). As one would expect, drinks aren't cheap, but they have a great Scotch list, including many from Islay (if you like smoky, peaty Scotch). I could have sat up here for hours, but we had football to watch, dinner to catch, and it was kinda breezy and cool for us Miami folks. I did take a shot looking south to the strip, there are also views of Mt. Charleston and to the north. Binions used to have a million bucks in cold hard cash on the floor (its gone now) and the Golden Nugget has their Hand of Faith (61 pounds of gold) but Derek has a few bars of gold upstairs! The sign above fluctuates with the value of the 1000 ounces (sorry, don't know if it is Troy or Av) of gold on display: As I mentioned, I need to verify if the bar in my room (first pic) came from this collection. I didn't really take many pics of the casino or Vegas Vicky, there are lots of those on the net already. I will give a shout out to Barry's, the Steakhouse in the basement of Circa. It was truly one of the top 5 meals in my life. I travel extensively for work, and have been fortunate enough to eat in many of the worlds better restaurants. In my view Barry's was a full step above Andiamos, the steak was better than what we get in Shula's main restaurant here in Miami, just outstanding. Solid wine list with many bottles in the 80-120 range, no Two Buck Chuck, but some reasonable wines as well. We had a Stags Leap Cab that I really enjoyed, it was $120 if I remember correctly. About double what you would find in a wine/liquor store. Happy to answer any questions, either posting here or via PM. Good Luck and Happy New Year, glad 2020 is over!!
Thanks for the report and pictures. I went out for the casino opening in late October and even though I really wasn't into gambling, had no regrets about going to check the place out. For the Legacy Club, when you made reservations, is there a standard cover charge if you just want to go general admission to hang out? I saw there were firepit options that looked more on the pricey side.
Looks like Circa is basing many of their "events" on minimum spend instead of cover charges and fees. To directly answer the question, there is a minimum spend requirement if you want a circular couch with a fire pit. There was no min spend for a "regular" table. However, they were only allowing 25% capacity, so plenty of space and we sat at a fire pit even though we didn't reserve one. We were also up there early (say 5-7p). No cover charge. While we were staying at the Circa, they never asked when we checked in. This is all explained on their site when you go to book a table. Pricing varies based on day of the week, so I'm guessing weekends cost more than mid week. Also note the sunset in Las Vegas is relatively early - 4:30 or so in late December, so it's easy to have an early night and get a great sunset - early evening view. You check in to the Legacy club on the main floor of the casino, then go up a dedicated elevator to the top. I say Circa is using minimum spend requirements for their "fun" stuff, since there is minimum spend for a couch with a fire pit at the Legacy Club, a minimum spend for a table at the sports book, a minimum spend for a day bed-cabana at Stadium Swim. There are "free" seats first come first served in the sports book, but if you want a guaranteed table, you pay. Drinks at the Legacy were $20 for a 2oz pour of good Islay Scotch, about 15-18 for a martini, so a round of 4 drinks plus tip is pushing $100. I mention this not as a complaint, but to share its fairly easy to get to a $200 spend if you are a group of any size (or just thirsty!). Hope this helps!
I will also add... that screen is BRIGHT! For those who are "light sensitive", you'll need to close the blinds at night. The screen goes all night, running ESPN or NFL Network or similar. If you sleep with a TV on in your room, you may not notice. But for me, the changing in color and brightness intensity meant I couldn't sleep without pulling the blinds. We heard a base track thumping till about 1 or 2am, not sure if that was the Stadium Swim, Fremont St, or something else. We were on the 22nd floor, not sure what the top "open" floor is at the moment. You can still get a good view of the Stadium Swim screen from the Founders Club, we could read the small score at the bottom of the Bills Pats game, so a higher floor won't distort your view. I would only assume the higher floor would mean less noise.
The actual room itself was the size of the Golden Gate suite. So space for a king bed, chair, couch for 3 people and a good sized matching ottoman. No coffee maker, but there was a fridge. Lights were all centrally controlled, and there was a tablet to use instead of a phone. We didn't really mess with it much. The dock for the tablet was a Bluetooth speaker, so we had music for a bit. Never even turned on the TV, but it was a good size (55-60in) and wall mounted. There was also a steamer in the closet for your clothes, beats ironing! And a standard laptop sized safe that we again, didn't use. Shower was on par with TheD suites shower, marble looking tile, good size for two and a wide sitting bench. Double sinks with lights in the mirrors and a separate makeup mirror. The only odd/negative thing was there was no outlet or USB to charge your phone near the bed. The outlets on the counter/desk area had USB-A (regular USB, not the newer USB-C) outlets, but none near the bed. I mentioned this in the follow up survey. Hope this helps!
For NYE on TV they were holding some kind of fund raising (souperbowl?) and they were holding it at the Circa. The announcers were above the pool area overlooking their pool. They also showed the inside of the casino and the Legacy club upstairs. Very interesting. But I probably would never visit that pool area because I won't pay to stay at the Circa or pay the fee to see the pool. Will probably see it on google earth in the future, lol.
