Trip Report Golden Nugget

[PPtraderal]

Back for our annual week in the greatest city on earth. Arrived at Golden Nugget on 09/22 for a 7 night stay. We do downtown every fall for the wife's birthday. We always have a good time so I'll stick to new opinons which may help others. Golden Nugget is about 80% through the restoration. No pool yet but the buffet is now on the second floor and it is excellent. The slots appear tight at the property as stated by others. The cleanliness is amazing. The Fitz seems to be the best place for slot and video poker players. We visited a couple evenings and saw a lot of jackpots hit. Main Street Station brought a new experience. I played a double red, white, and blue machine for a buck and caught the three double symbols for $1,000. First time I ever saw the three doubles come up. Cocktail service is good here as is the buffet and Triple Seven brew pub. The dollar machines seem to give more play. The Cal is still the Cal. The Redwood bar and Grille still does a great steak. The Fremont still requires drink tickets in the race and sports book. The quarter machines here seem to play better than anything else. I played a dollar machine and went one for forty (ouch). Drink service seems to have slipped a peg here. I think they were short servers one night. We still like the place though. The Plaza is in need of a redo. The Golden Gate and Las Vegas clubs are still decent places with good drink service. Most of the strip casinos have gone to drink tickets in the race and sports books. The renovations at the Lady Luck seem to have stopped, went by a few times on the duece and it seemed awful quiet. The bus trip from downtown to the South Terminal still takes 45 minutes to an hour. We went on a Sunday and took the 117 to the South Coast and the Silverton. These are both kind of neat places, with great buffets judging by the number of people in the lines.
South Coast had a lively crowd for NFL Sunday. The casino is laid out in an easy to naviagte manner. Only eleven months and three weeks till the next trip. The stuff dreams are made of. May the horse be with you.

 

[chef]

In August, I used the south terminal for the first time. It's secluded, but comes in handy when transferring to McCarran.
Agree about the buffets at Silverton and South Coast.

PP,
Any particular reason why you guys opt for downtown instead of the Strip? I know there's a core group of downtown fans who avoid the Strip like a plague.

 

[DonD]

Any particular reason why you guys opt for downtown instead of the Strip?

The lights are much brighter there You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares so go downtown, things'll be great when you're Downtown

 

[Jamie in PA]

It just seems like you get more for your $$$$ downtown. You don't have to play a high $ amount on the tables to be rated like on the strip.

 

[PatekPhil]

What Jamie said - I gamble at a moderate level, and am treated very nicely by the downtown casinos. Getting full RFB at the strip is a 'chore' for me - and its never good to 'gamble' for comps - so DT is king. Besides - the downtown does have a more old Vegas 'feel' to it. Staff tend to be happier to see you, and appreciate your tips more, whereas on the strip I guess they expect everyone to be a george. Even the surly staff downtown tend to be more amusing than the strip folks. You meet colourful people downtown, the people watching is more 'gritty'... it just has a certain je ne sais quoi.

I enjoy the strip and don't avoid it. Indeed, I enjoy many of the strip poker rooms and the dining opporuntities. But for the amount of time I spend in my room and my gaming habits, DT makes the most sense for me.

 

[VegasDog]

My wife and I just feel more comfortable downtown. I generally feel like the comps are better and we really enjoy how close everything is. If we feel like we need to change casinos, we walk for 3 minutes instead of 20. Also, if the wife feels like plunking some machines it is never too difficult to find her when I get up from BJ or PaiGow. Plus, I agree about feeling a little more appreciated DT. I would say that we are middle-of-the-road players and always seem to get RFB.

When I first started going to Vegas 15 years ago my uncle stayed downtown and we always have too. We have never stayed on the Strip, but have stayed at the GN, Fitz, LVC, Plaza, Fremont, & Four Queens. It really doesn't matter where we stay as we are only in the rooms for about 4-5 hours/night.