We are back from my birthday trip (12/18/06) to Vegas and just missed the snow by a day!

We stayed downtown at the Golden Nugget. It was our 3rd time there and we will definitely stay there again. We love to be downtown where we can walk around and not be stuck in one huge casino complex. I'll be quite picky in my review - because I get tired of the gushy trip reports where everything is just perfect! I think people want to know the good and the bad - anyway I do.

Golden Nugget - The Good

Price was great. We stayed in the North Tower, so close to the action, right by the elevator for $75 plus tax. We bought the $15 VIP - which was a steal - not having to stand in the long lines for check in or check out.

The Nugget is gorgeous - beautiful decor. We ate at the Buffet for breakfast (had a coupon book 2 for 1 - that we had with our package, BUT, we had to go back and get it, forgot about it in our excitement to be there) It was very good. But one of my pet peeves - the jam in those little plastic packages, grape, strawberry and mixed fruit? Geeze! A gorgeous buffet and truck-stop jam! (just a little rant there)

We had a lovely meal in the Grotto at the Nugget and I wish I could go there once a week. If you like Italian, (real Italian, not the chain stuff with all that tomato sauce) go to the Grotto and get Art from Hawaii to wait on you. We split a Prima, a salad, and a pizza. I carried a red wine in there that I was working on - and they didn't seem to mind The starter was seared Mozerella with basil, tomatoes, and basalmic vinegar. (The bread basket was great - with a dipping sauce of EVOO and herbs) The Salad was thinly sliced pears with baby spinach, artichokes, roasted sweet peppers, garganzola cheese and candied walnuts. (Basalmic dressing). OH MY GOSH....
The pizza was the best I've had outside Rome, with the THIN Roman crust that we prefer. We got the "Morty'" pizza with Italian sausage, artichokes, mushrooms, peppers, and was more than we could eat and we eat a lot.

My peeves at the NUgget (besides the jam!) were the sheets. They were very good quality, but had been ironed and the creases were ironed in them, resulting in many hard pleated places. Plus they weren't tucked in well.

No coffee in the room. That's cheap.

And it was really hard to find a cocktail waitress for our early morning Bloody Marys. About 10 or so, they began to appear.

If you want to know more - just reply and I'll keep it coming! I realize that most people stay on the Strip, so this may be enough.

Happy Holidays, y'all!

Hi Brahmama, I appreciate trip reports that give the good and the bad! I think most of us do. I have often thought of giving my daughter & Roman SIL a trip to LasVegas for a present one of these days. Oh how my SIL would love the Roma style pizza (me too!). The jam wouldn't be a problem but the ironed creases in the sheets would be..typical Italian lol..he is so fussy about the bed he sleeps on. Wonder if one could request nonironed sheets? Sounds like you had fun time, thanks for sharing and for the informative details.

E Buon Compleanno

I often reccommend the Golden Nugget to people, but most times they are insistent that they need to be right on the strip. I think the GN is one of the last great values in Las Vegas. Kudos to you for being smart enough to stay there. Thanks for the report!

Thanks for the info on the Grotto, we will have to try it.
I'm not sure about this, but I believe you will not find coffee in "most" rooms in Vegas, especially the resorts on the Strip. I think they are more in motel style places like Motel 6's. I think they do this for 2 reasons, 1) they want you to order room service and 2) they don't want you in your room, they want you to come downstairs to the casino area to get your beverages.

thanks!
About your complaint of no coffee maker, it seems hardly any Vegas hotels carry them in the room. Vegas wants you out of the room! But I hate that, too, and hate to call room service just for coffee.