Yeah I don't like Las Vegas too much but I have to go once or twice a year. Had a really great dinner at Joe's located at the entrance to the Caesar's mall. All-in it was about $90 per person, which I thought was fair--not cheap but not excessive for what was delivered. A good value. There are a couple of restaurants (a sports bar and mexican restaurant) that offer discount breakfasts, located in the mall connected to Hard Rock. $6.99 breakfast.

There are crazy things, to me, that people do like wait in line for a buffet that costs $60. Yes the offerings are good, for a buffet, but still.

Last month, I went to the Sphere thing, which I thought was a rip off. Don't do it.

Just back from Vegas so this thread was top of mind; your comments sum it up entirely for me. The strip lost its allure for us several trips ago: even when the escalators are working, it�s a schlep to get anywhere (starting with the walk from your room to the street) and everything at the strip hotels carries a steep price tag.

Off-strip restaurants while not dirt-cheap are in line with any major metro area. We had great meals at Esther�s Kitchen, Marigold, Ping Pang Pong, Lotus of Siam, and eat. for similar or less than home (Seattle) prices. Even my regular Starbucks order was $0.40 cheaper, though I�m sure it would have been double the price at a hotel. And there�s good beer in the Arts District. 👍

To me, it always feels like there�s something new to discover - this time it was a great little bakery in Chinatown and a morning run in Wetlands Park.

I've always recommended Ocean One in Planet Hollywood for inexpensive food/drinks. One of the only places on the strip with a reasonable sit down option.

Definitely not a five star meal, but a good alternative to food courts and still located on the strip.

Do you mean Planet Hollywood?

Agreed! Super affordable and actually pretty decent food, especially for the price!

Despite all the hate being thrown at Vegas on here, the place is more popular than ever IMO. I go about 2-3 times a year and was there last week for 3 days and it was crazy crowded everywhere. I went on the Monday of Memorial weekend when people should have been leaving but Monday through Wednesday were nuts. I stayed at Cosmo and the check in line was as long as I have ever seen it and the pool was wall to wall people. The casino was packed. I also went to Bellagio and Caesars and they were the same.

Yes, Planet Hollywood. Blondie's Sports Bar and La Salsa in the mall have cheap breakfasts, 5.99 or 6.99. Pretty basic but gets the job done. add coffee, tax, tip, and maybe $12 or $13 all-in, with table service.
There are reasonable options but need to search them out.

True. I suppose I'm the rare oddball (based on where I live) who occasionally drives to Las Vegas in order to take a flight somewhere. Staying in Laughlin the night before / after and using the SSTT for parking is often less expensive than parking, staying, and flying out of PHX. It's about a 90 minute longer drive, though.

Last time I was on Fremont street, the metal detectors that you had to walk through but they did not actually have anyone working them. Spoke to two local cops working security on the side street and they said they could not wait to retire. Walked to the mob museum and we watched a traffic accident happen, 3 hours later the people were still there waiting for the police to arrive. 1st day we were there we got up early at the Aria and walked across the street to Planet Hollywood looking for breakfast. A large area at the entrance was crime scene taped off with a large amount of blood on the ground. You could see hand prints and foot steps in the blood. I asked a detective what happened, he said one hooker decided to stab other hookers. Walked down to Sammy Hagar's restaurant and we spoke to the waitress about it. She said to check the newspaper and local news for the next few days, she said you won't ever see it mentioned by the media. It wasn't. Definitely a 'company' town.

Still loving got to Vegas though. Cosmo balcony suite overlooking the Bellagio fountains was the best hotel yet.

I think the construction of City Center, Waldorf, Cosmo, etc. ruined the Strip the way they were built, the new ones and the oldies followed suit.
Back in the day, places had grand entrances and towers weren't stuck right on the Strip.
You stood on moving sidewalks as went by the Tigers at the Mirage, Caesars had its little show, etc. There was the pirate battle at TI, the Mirage Volcano, etc.
The Fountains are virtually the only thing left to "see" on the Strip before you get to the Gaming areas and open your wallet.

When I was there in June, Venetian was the only place it seemed to still have moving sidewalks and a plan to get to their main shot, that 2 story entrance.
I know the idea of "theme" has gone by by, but yeah then it's just a bunch of big hotels like any other place and get us to a table.

Agree, OP. I was there in April and again last month and it felt like a place in decline. The Strip escalators were the first thing I noticed. This is an abomination, as it gives a horrible impression and shouldn't be that difficult to manage. (The escalators in the Washington, DC metro are a running joke, but you expect that from a government-run boondoggle in DC, not in Vegas.) The marijuana smell everywhere and proliferation of homeless are minor nuisances (meanwhile, you can't smoke a cigar at the gaming tables just about anywhere anymore besides Wynn/Encore).

The prices are eye-watering indeed, but more specifically, the nickel-and-diming (resort fees, parking, drinks at the bars on the casino floor) takes a lot of the fun away. As an example, I redeemed a two-room complimentary package at Encore, which was exempt from resort fees. I added two adjacent paid room nights, and they told me that now the resort fee would apply to all four nights. Why? (To make matters more shambolic, when I checked out, they charged me for six internet connections over the four days. I asked how the laws of physics would allow that, and doesn't the resort fee include internet access anyway? Their reply: well, we didn't charge you the resort fee of $50x4 due to some glitch, so you're better off with the $19.95x6 internet charges, right? I agreed in a huff, but was perturbed at the poor processes.) At Mandalay Bay, they charge you to use an inner tube on the lazy river. If that's not included in the resort fee, what's the fee for? (It now costs $20 per day, at least last time I was there, to rent one. I suppose you could carry it up to your room every day, but that seems impractical.)

It seems that complimentary drink service has really declined too. I was almost never indulged at machines at Wynn, Encore, or Cosmopolitan. I work in F&B outside the U.S., and always told my colleagues how Vegas was the American epitome of upscale dining, with extremely high quality, great service, and innovation always producing something new. I feel like that has eroded significantly. I usually indulge in one steakhouse meal per trip, and this one, at the Wynn, was very poor, especially for $250. I felt like I was in Dubai, where things were more for show than exhibiting excellence. (In fairness, I had a great meal at the Cosmopolitan steakhouse.)

More of a matter of personal preference, but I also lament that there are no more Broadway-style shows such as Mamma Mia or Phantom. All of the shows now seem to be merely lowbrow antics on stage or Cirque du Soleil. I have no interest in either, and the market speaks I suppose, but does the market really need a 10th Cirque du Soleil production instead of something different?

I love Vegas, and will continue to go, but the magic is well below what it used to be. I suppose we can blame consolidation of ownership groups to an extent. I am not sure what other causes are. Catering more to the Instagram/night club crowd at the expense of old codgers like me who just want to gamble and have a great meal? You would think that with casino gambling becoming more available globally -- e.g., there are very respectable Indian casinos closer to southern CA, which surely must take some business away from Vegas -- they'd need to stay on top of their game.

Due to an odd set of circumstances I will be visiting twice in the next month, first time since before the pandemic. I will report back and update as appropriate.

I used to go twice a year as it was an easy hop from SF (and those $25 National Air flights and $100/nt rooms didn't hurt either). Why did I stop?

• Cheapest weekend airfare (e.g. FR/SU) usually runs $500-600pp RT.
• Cheapest "discounted" rooms (e.g. club members) at 5* properties usually run $500/nt all-in with taxes, resort fees.
• Front desk lines are absurdly long (see VFTW). In past years we have mostly managed to avoid waiting (luck of the draw, timing, elite status etc.) but I fear the next trip. One thing I absolutely do not do anymore is wait in line for any service where I am paying good money. Checkout is also bad and unfortunately necessary as credits rarely post correctly.
• I was never a huge buffet fan, but they are a complete nonstarter now due to absurd pricing and long lines (see last point). Even the "VIP" line is 20 minutes - not worth it even for "free"
• The $10 steak dinners have long since disappeared. Thankfully there are still many decent steakhouses (see existing thread) but it has become more of a PITA to get transport around and off the strip.
• The pools all have ridiculous fees for chairs etc. and good luck getting drink service or finding shade.
• The shows are crap, especially in the summer. In the past I saw Sam Kineson, Jay Leno, Tom Jones. Good luck finding talent now except maybe at the Sphere.
• Smoking! This has always been a nightmare in Vegas but seems worse than ever especially as people don't seem to understand that "no smoking" includes "no cannibis". It is a rare occasion when I stay at a Vegas or California hotel and don't smell some type of smoke in the elevators, corridors and sometimes even drifting into my room from HVAC. Makes no difference if it is a non-smoking hotel or floor.
• Denigration of odds and increase in table minimums. Vegas has always been stacked against the gambler (doh!) but a good player could still make a run with .5% odds at BJ, 2% at craps and double zero roulette. Now it is impossible to find 3:2 BJ anywhere on the strip and many casinos have 3 zero roulette. The high minimums also make it more difficult to bet the odds at craps (I do not like to have 100s on the table when the roll 7s out). The only way to get decent odds is to play the high limit rooms which used to run $100/hand but I think much more now.
• Automaton dealers. In the old days you had dealers that were encouraged to be friendly to the players (no doubt in their self interest for tips). It definitely made the experience more enjoyable, and probably kept me at the table longer even when losing. These days I might as well be playing against AI robot.

It's not just Brits. I live in one of the most expensive areas of the USA and I find the prices horrific. As in much higher than SF. But of course I first visited Vegas in the 80s when you could still get cheap eats in casino restaurants, cheap or free rooms and decent odds (relative to now) at the BJ tables and poker slots.

I'm sure I would find it to be more fun if everything was "free". Prior to Harrahs program overhaul I would receive free rooms like clockwork. But now that is impossible unless you are a heavy online player (outlawed in California) or are betting obscene amounts at increasingly worse odds. No thanks, I'd rather pay for my room.

Bellagio, Wynn, Venetian, Caesars were dumps?

A very good summary.

All great points, especially the long front-desk and buffet lines, automaton dealers, and again nickel-and-diming.

Never heard of triple-zero roulette. That is outrageous given how larcenous the roulette odds are anyway. This is something I never play, except the automated machines when I just want to lounge around with a cigar.

Since we FTers live for perks and special treatment Las Vegas can be frustrating in that hard earned hotel status is practically meaningless against big and small casino whales vying for freebies. There was a time when Diamonds could eat breakfast at the Convention Hilton, even when not staying. I even recall being comped at the Wicked Spoon as a Marriott elite staying at the Cosmopolitan: them days is gone.

I primarily travel with a buddy who has a gambling problem (�gambling isn�t the problem, losing is the problem.�).

So, restaurant and check in lines are eschewed, drinks, hotel rooms, parking, and some meals are comped. I am pretty OK with this arrangement particularly as I don�t much gamble. Being there on my own dime doesn�t only feel pricey but I feel a tad devalued in comparison to the largesse that I am denied.

I was thinking more of Desert Inn, Sands, and Dunes. And yes, all of those places are currently kind of dumps. But they once weren't. The Wynn is the least dumpy of those, with the Encore actually pretty good.