Memorial Day weekend

[Little Bob]

Just got back from a three day trip over Memorial Day weekend to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary. We flew Allegiant out of Wichita, Kansas. Allegiant offers a direct charter between Las Vegas and Wichita and Las Vegas and several other cities. I was very pleased with Allegiant. It was affordable ($158 RT), on time and best of all a direct flight. No worries about connections and save about 3 hours each way. We will definitely fly Allegiant again.
We stayed at the Imperial Palace. The room was clean and modestly furnished. I have stayed a number of other places in Vegas. I am not willing to pay another $100/night for thicker towels and carpeting and faster elevators. It is a personal choice that I would rather have a little extra for meals, etc.
We saw Big Elvis Friday afternoon at the Barbary Coast. I read somwewhere that he weighs 500 pounds. He looks to me like he is several buffets past that number. The show should be called Huge Elvis. It was entertaining. Close your eyes and you will think it is the real Elvis. Buy a beer and listen to the King. It doesn't get much better than that.
We ate Friday night at Emeril's Fish House at MGM. We had the chef's sampler. For two people with no alcohol, it was $166. The food was good and the service outstanding, but I did not feel I got my money's worth.
We had the Paris buffet Saturday morning. It was outstanding. The crepes were great. It was our first but not our last Paris buffet.
For dinner Saturday night we ate the Tortellini Andreotti at Cafe Andreotti at Harrahs. We eat there every trip and have never been disappointed. Dinner for two with a bottle of wine and a 15%+ gratuity was $95. A great meal!
We had front row center tickets for Gladys Knight at the Flamingo. She has a great voice, but her brother Bubba (a former Pip) stole the show. We had a great time. We were playing a little balckjack after the show when I noticed a young oriental woman at the next table wearing a face mask. It made me think a moment. When I looked back a few minutes later (the table was hot--I wasn't leaving) she was gone. I don't know if they asked her to leave or if she was getting bad cards.
Sunday was the brunch at Alladin. This is always my wife's favorite meal. I thought it was a step up from Paris.
We bought tickets for V at the Venitian from Tickets2Nite---the 1/2 price service down by NYNY. There were a lot of shows available, but none of the top shows. Our tickets were general admission in the balcony. We sat in the front row and had a nice time. I would recommend V for a fun 75 minutes.
Dinner Sunday was the Steakhouse at Circus Circus. My wife had some doubts, but she was really impressed and wants to go back next trip. We had great steaks (she had a filet--I had a NY strip) with a great house salad, garlic mashed potatoes and great bread. With a bottle of merlot, dinner for two including a nice tip was $116. The best dinner I have ever had in Vegas.
Our gambling was pretty up and down. We play mostly blackjack. We got hammered in two sessions with continuous shuffle machines (Harrahs and Mandalay Bay) losing about $350. We ended up down about $200 for the trip so everything else went pretty well except I ran into a hot dealer playing Pai Gow poker and lost 5 hands in a row. We saw a lot of single deck BJ paying 6-5 on a blackjack. There were people playing so I guess they are here to stay. We had our best luck at MGM,Monte Carlo and Flamingo. As noted by several posters, the cocktail service has slowed down. We lost and were out of Mandalay Bay before one came around.
We are planning to go back this fall with our daughter who is turning 21. Can't wait!

 

[Habanaman13]

Thanks for the information on Allegiant Air. They are starting service out of Des Moines in June and my wife and I are booked for our Christmas Trip. I was a little nervous, but figured for $166 it was worth the gamble.

Sorry to hear your meal at Emeril's fishhouse was not worth the money. It is usually one of my favourite stops. Did you catch the table ballet the various servers use to communicate with one another? I am always temped to move the salt and pepper early just for kicks!

T-21 and T-210!

 

[Little Bob]

Habanaman 13, I did enjoy the service at Emeril's. I did notice that two waiters would approach and serve each course to each diner at the same moment. The level of service was almost scary. My wife dropped her fork and picked it up off the floor. She then took a drink of water and reached for the fork just as the waitress slipped a different one in its place. The banana cream pie was to die for. The food was good but not quite as good as I expected for the price. Maybe I had too high of expectations.