Lurker Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Lurks. aside from these tourist sites..where's the infamous cathouse The infamous Cathouse, if we are on the same page, is the late night romp at Luxor. Pretty much most of the hotels have nice, often right on the edge kinda nice, romp like Cathouse. Probably the most popular, and classy, is the Tao at Venetian.
Lurker Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Alrighty time for foody suggestions now. At the start I must say you have restricted your palate a little bit since you mentioned vegetarianism. This is basically because Las Vegas is famous as the Lobster(you can also add other seafood) capital of the world. Generally the top 3 most popular dishes in Vegas would be: Lobster Sushi Steak. But lets figure out what we can find for you. Lets start with buffet. Pretty much every hotel offers buffet. There is generally a breakfast, a lunch and a dinner buffet. The charges for breakfast is around 15 bucks on average and dinner about 25 or 30. It is as the name suggests, eat all you can. The breakfast buffet is pretty standard in most hotels. I personally prefer the one at Treasure Island since they do something with their croissant that just makes them very crisp. Other than that there is little to choose when it comes to Breakfast buffet. Dinner/Lunch buffet are very different though. The hotels menu shall vary a lot. Here is a tip right out of the bat. Stay away from the costly buffet, a la Bellagio, Wynn etc. This is basically because these are heavily loaded with seafood and steak dishes and often offer very few choice even for chicken eaters, let alone veggies. My personal top 3 ranking of dinner/lunch buffet are: 1) Spice Market Buffet at Alladin/Planet Hollywood. 2) Carnival Buffet at Rio 3) Village Buffet at Paris. I will be honest that you will not find a whole lot of vegetarian items but at Spice Market you get nice Asian/Middle Eastern style food apart from usual American, Italian, Mexican stuff. Atleast some of these items are pure veggies so you should be good. Also Spice Market buffet provides the best dessert as far as I have observed. You can pick on wide variety of cake, ice-cream, pies etc. So if nothing atleast you can go hammer and tongs after that! Rio is also pretty good. A tip here would be to make your plan so that you catch the Flying Masquerades at Rio and can then have the dinner buffet there. There is also an Indian restaurant, Gaylord, within Rio which is also fairly decent. So you have a choice of where to eat there. Speaking of Indian restaurants the two famous ones on strip are : Gaylord(Rio) and another called Tamba which is opposite Monte Carlo area. The latter in particular is quite popular amongst Indians but I have also heard some bad response as well. My personal favorite is off the strip restaurant called Origin India. It is about a couple of miles from strip and you will have to take taxi to it. If you fancy you could check its menu at: http://www.originindiarestaurant.com/dinner.html Actually I would recommend you check the menu since my taste, being a North Indian, may be different to yours. Lets talk about the sweets now. Vegas has a lot to offer when it comes to sweets and desserts. You have a big collection at each buffet so that itself is a good option right there. Apart from this every hotel has a little ice-cream shop(this day the fashion is Itallian Gellato) and cookie/coffee area. However if you are true sweet tooth connoisuer I would recommend. a) Chocolate Swan at Mandalay Bay: A branch of famous Chocolate Swan. You can get everything from truffle to Carrot cake. b) Mark Miller's Coyote Cafe at MGM: This is actually a restaurant within MGM but I go here only to try the desserts. If you want to splurge without guilt then check it out. c) Pastry shop at Paris: This is by far my favorite. I have forgotten the name but it is very easy to find. Walk inside Paris and you can find it opposite Village Market Buffet. I was first here in 2002 or so when it was opened recently and I remember how the chef was hailed as Pablo Picasso of pastry. And yes they really are that good. A tip here. If you want to get the best cakes/dessert at Paris then go early. By early I mean 5:30 am or so. You would be surprised how quickly the good, and fresh stuff, flies. Generally I wake up, walk to Paris, pick a box of all the goodies I can munch in the stay and walk back as Vegas sleeps. Lovely feeling. Alrighty, you chew on it(pun incidental) and let me know if you need further info. xxxx
fineleg Posted February 25, 2008 Author Posted February 25, 2008 Thank you Lurks :two_thumbs_up: These are seriouzly brilliant writeups in this thread. The effort, the enthusiazm,the timeliness and most importantly the attention to detail :hatsoff: Will chew on it, and post any questions.
Desi Cartman Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 my 2cents .. I stayed at luxor few years ago and it was good. Have fun
Aditi Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 I've stayed in Luxor and MGM Grand....both are really good! Cheapest ones on the strip would be TI and Monte Carlo
fineleg Posted February 25, 2008 Author Posted February 25, 2008 I got one other recommendation for Luxor as well...I'll keep that in mind.
fineleg Posted February 25, 2008 Author Posted February 25, 2008 BTW - Lurks, is this something I need to watch out for...I guess there will always be small things going on, but only the major ones will have any effect... Also I hear it may be bad to go at times when there are major conventionz...since thatz when hotel ratez get jacked up' date=' crowded etc. Where do I find out if such thingz are going on at Vegas?[/quote']
Ram Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Hain ? Are we planning for some satellite launch or something ? With project plan, estimated expenses and projected time et al ? If you want to go somewhere, just pack your clothes and go. :D P.S - As a side note, Lurker's depth of information on LV is staggering. Its like he spends every alternate weekend there :D
Mandrake Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Do they still have the Stratosphere ride going there? That was one heck of an experience.
fineleg Posted February 25, 2008 Author Posted February 25, 2008 Hain ? Are we planning for some satellite launch or something ? With project plan, estimated expenses and projected time et al ? If you want to go somewhere, just pack your clothes and go. :D hmm... :D P.S - As a side note, Lurker's depth of information on LV is staggering. Its like he spends every alternate weekend there :D Absolutely :thumbs_up: Lurker Planet guide to Las Vegaz is superb...I think he has observed thingz keenly on his visits and has remembered good detailz.
Ram Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Honestly, the BEST vacations are those in which we do things impromptu. Go to vegas, just walk down the strip. If you like a casino, get into it. If a show attracts you, buy tickets for it. If you like the look of a restaurant, eat in it. Everybody thinks we HAVE to gamble if we are in Vegas, or we MUST see this show, or that show etc. Its like, if you a first time tourist to NY, you HAVE to see the statue of liberty and go around the downtown. That is never fun. I would rather do something that gives me more fun, rather than having list of "must do things in this city" and tick 'em off one by one. As far as LV is concerned, I would recommend you visit the Madame Tussuad's museum over there, and go see one of the cirque de soleil shows. They maybe a touch expensive, but trust me, you will never forget those experiences for a lifetime. I would rather spend $50 for a cirque de soleil ticket, than spend the same amount on gambling. For food, there is an Indian restaurant called The Thamba. Again its a touch expensive ( the buffet is around $20), but their range is just unparalleled. You could try that out too. I just have a personal anecdote to share here. The Madame Tussuad's museum has a ghost-trip kinda thing, where you are actually led into a small walkaway, which is totally dark, by a man play-acting as a teacher of the "haunted school" in which you are supposedly getting into. As you walk along, spooky things happen every now and then, like moving statues, shrieking voices etc. Its all quite fun, esp if there are girls around coz they shout their throats off. While we were moving along, a *ghost* suddenly appeared from nowhere and started walking menacingly towards my friend, who was at the front of the queue. The general rule is, however close these "ghosts" get to you, you shouldnt touch them. I dunno what my friend was thinking, but somehow, he got the impression that the ghost was actually going to attack him and started kicking and wrestling with it. It was a while before we got things under control and moved on :haha:
fineleg Posted February 25, 2008 Author Posted February 25, 2008 I have seen one Cirque du soleil show (not in vegas), i think it was called Alegria: CdS shows are indeed great
Aditi Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 WRT Cirque du Solieil...I've seen O (Bellagio) and Kaa (MGM Grand)....grab tix for 'em NOW if you can! Absolutely stunning shows! Love (Mirage) is next on my hitlist.....
Lurker Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 BTW - Lurks' date=' is this something I need to watch out for...I guess there will always be small things going on, but only the major ones will have any effect...[/quote'] Not really. I mean there would always be something going on in Vegas, and Vegas strip contains 18 of top 25 largest hotels in the world anyway, so they are more than qualified to accomodate that kind of crowd. Generally the prices are costliest for Friday-Saturday combination but weekdays are almost always cheaper. Also when you book look up the usual suspects(Expedia, Hotels.com, Travelocity etc) but before you book make sure you check the actual websites. Often the prices wont be different but the direct website booking gives you goodies, as in 2 for 1 buffet, 25 bucks off spa etc etc. Just better to have more options at hand.
kumble_rocks Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Good informative posts by Lurker and Maris !:two_thumbs_up:
fineleg Posted February 25, 2008 Author Posted February 25, 2008 Not really. I mean there would always be something going on in Vegas, and Vegas strip contains 18 of top 25 largest hotels in the world anyway, so they are more than qualified to accomodate that kind of crowd. Generally the prices are costliest for Friday-Saturday combination but weekdays are almost always cheaper. Also when you book look up the usual suspects(Expedia, Hotels.com, Travelocity etc) but before you book make sure you check the actual websites. Often the prices wont be different but the direct website booking gives you goodies, as in 2 for 1 buffet, 25 bucks off spa etc etc. Just better to have more options at hand. Kewl, i did not know this (usually thought the actual ones will be expensive)
fineleg Posted February 25, 2008 Author Posted February 25, 2008 I dunno what my friend was thinking' date= but somehow, he got the impression that the ghost was actually going to attack him and started kicking and wrestling with it. It was a while before we got things under control and moved on :haha: MM, Was the "ghost" a real person dressed up or a mannequin? Did your friend beat up a real person? Was the friend really "you"? :D Memorable experience!
Ram Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 MM, Was the "ghost" a real person dressed up or a mannequin? Did your friend beat up a real person? Was the friend really "you"? :D Memorable experience! No no, it was real person alright. I couldnt believe my eyes as I saw these two guys rolling on the floor, on top of each other.. We had restrain our friend and the ghost picked itself up and, to all our amusement, said out aloud " You are not supposed to fight with a ghost"... :D And nope, it wasnt me. And if it was me, I would have said so. Another big hit with the guys was the J Lo statue. The unique feature is, the statue had a board near it that read " Touch J Lo's most prized asset and see her blush"... And almost immediately, all of us knew where to touch. And the the statue actually did blush, when we all groping around her *asset* :giggle:
fineleg Posted February 25, 2008 Author Posted February 25, 2008 No no, it was real person alright. I couldnt believe my eyes as I saw these two guys rolling on the floor, on top of each other.. We had restrain our friend and the ghost picked itself up and, to all our amusement, said out aloud " You are not supposed to fight with a ghost"... :D And nope, it wasnt me. And if it was me, I would have said so. Another big hit with the guys was the J Lo statue. The unique feature is, the statue had a board near it that read " Touch J Lo's most prized asset and see her blush"... And almost immediately, all of us knew where to touch. And the the statue actually did blush, when we all groping around her *asset* :giggle: Wonder if she has (in real life) insured her assets like some celebs do? :D
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