I must concur with everybody that the Aladdin is best experienced at for the first time at dinner. Their food is great anytime of the day, but breakfast is pretty standard, Americanized stuff. My first meal there was a breakfast and I was pretty disappointed. Food was great, but all the exotic stuff I was looking forward to was not there. The Middle Eastern station had very few offerings (less than the Middle Eastern section at The Palms breakfast buffet). I believe the Italian and Chinese areas had mostly Americanized breakfast items as well.
I have heard
Paris breakfast is good, though mostly for the pastries and crepes. I've never had a chance to eat at
Paris, but my friend, who is more of a steak and eggs breakfast type of guy like me, doesn't like it much. He prefers
Mandalay Bay. Personally, I like
Bellagio's breakfast. Very high quality and the most exotic breakfast buffet I have come across. It may be that
Bellagio has a high number of Asian guest because their breakfast has some very authentic Asian dishes. Last time I was there they had Chinese porridge and Asian style soy milk. If you're in the mood to try something out of the ordinary try
Bellagio. However, if you just want something good and close to where you're staying, the Aladdin buffet is pretty good. I believe their prices are lower than
Paris and
Bellagio.
Just to add another suggestion on something to do, you might want to try to learn a new game. Maybe something like Pai Gow or Let It Ride. Not great games to play regularly, but I believe Aladdin offers free lessons where you can learn the game and play a few free practice hands. They they'll let you play a few more at really low minimums. Even if you lose a few dollars, it is a cheap way to pass some time and learn something new. My friends are big craps fans and they still take the lesson each time so they can take advantage of the lower minimums.
EDIT: Just realized I missed some of your questions. Aladdin has a great location. It is in the center strip close to some of the nice places such as
Bellagio and
Paris. I've stayed at the Aladdin before, it is very nice. Being as lazy as I am, if I were you I would drive or take a taxi to either
TI or
NYNY. I saw Siegfried and Roy 2 years ago and the walk from The Mirage back to my room at the Aladdin was not pleasant. It wasn't a bad walk and there are so many people around that I had no safety concerns, but the heat, the detours due to construction, the porn guys, and the fact that I was dressed up for the show made it a little uncomforatable.
ESPN Zone is a nice place to eat, but I don't like watching games there. The set-up in the restaurant section (Studio Grill) is too restaurant like to really enjoy the games. The games are shown on various screens around the restaurant, and if many games are on at the same time, it may be hard to find a screen showing what you want. The Screening Room is the sports bar type are with all the screens on one wall (like in a sportsbook) and all the tables angled so you have a good view of the screens. I highly recommend watching games in the Screening Room, but that can be hard at peak times or when there is a big game. Get there early if possible. They have let us order off the Studio Grill menu in the Screening Room in the past. As I said, the food is very good (I recommend the ribs), but it is not sports bar type food. The focus is on the entrees, which are on par with any other upscale, casual restaurant. Personally, I would prefer to eat more sports bar/finger foods when watching a game. I have found their appetizers to not be as good as their entrees and to be in smallish portions. I did not like their buffalo wings. With so many nice sportsbooks in Las Vegas, it would be easy to find a better place to watch than the ESPN Zone, unless you can get into the Screening Room.
[ May 25, 2004, 12:41 AM: Message edited by: YoungGun ]
