David

Since these boards have been so helpful to me over the past few years, I thought I'd post a quick review of our 4th of July weekend trip to Las Vegas. By way of background, we are in our early-50s, fairly well travelled, married for nearly 25 years and take advantage of just about any and all cultural or social opportunities which come our way. For the past 15 years, we have visited Las Vegas once a year, generally for a long weekend during the summer months.

As has been the case for the past five or six years (since they opened, anyway) we again stayed at the Paris Las Vegas. We like the location (about as central as you can get along the strip), the cocktail service in the casino (fast and they serve champagne by the glass while playing the slots or table games), the restaurants, the combined separate shower/bath in the rooms, the decor and the general ambiance of the place. The crystal chandeliers in the lobby are pretty impressive, also. This time, however, we noticed that the rooms are getting a little worn. The bedspread had a slight tear in it and the furniture in the room appeared to be getting alot of wear. I guess this is to be expected, however, given their high year-round occupancy rate. Nonetheless, I would anticipate that room makeovers will soon be on their agenda and these criticisms are so minor that they will not deter us from a return stay at the Paris on our next trip to Las Vegas.

Dinner the first night was at the Bellagio's Circo. I had made a dinner reservation nearly eight weeks in advance. Although the restaurant is visually quite spectacular, service was good and attentive and the food was certainly very good, I honestly do not feel the place is worth nearly $200 for dinner (for two), including soups, entrees, wine, a shared dessert and tip. I would have been quite satisfied had the total bill been more in the $140 to $150 range but really feel slightly taken advantage of at the price we paid. After all, there are plenty of very good (actually, in my estimation equally as good) places in Las Vegas where two can dine, with a moderately priced wine and tip, in the $100 range. I doubt we'll be back to Circo, although please do not take this review as gospel. Just my opinion.

Spent plenty of time at the pool, shopped (highly recommend the Fashion Show Mall on the strip --- no less than eight or nine anchor department stores, coupled with hundreds of specialty shops --- we think it is the best shopping experience in the U.S.A.), gambled some and the next evening had dinner at Il Fornaio at the New York New York. As with any of their branches (those which we've visited, at least), the meal was consistent and, in my estimation, very good and moderately priced. From Il Fornaio we went next door to the Monte Carlo where I had booked tickets to see Lance Burton's late show. Maybe it was one of Lance's off nights, but I felt totally ripped off by this show. I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy. Having previously seen all the Cirque du Soleil shows in Las Vegas, numerous headliners, and, many years ago, David Copperfield, this guy doesn't hold a candle to any of them. He was devoid of any personality or stage presence and the illusions just were plain and not that impressive. If I could set the clock back and do one thing differently, I would skip on Lance Burton and urge others to do the same. Again, just my opinion.

On Sunday, the 4th of July, we met friends who live in Las Vegas and headed out to Lake Las Vegas and the Ritz Carlton for their Sunday brunch. The Ritz Carlton really knows how to put on a fabulous brunch. Everything was off the menu (i.e., no standing in a buffet line, thank goodness), the cocktails were delicious and limitless, the pianist fabulous and we ended up spending over three hours there. The meal was outstanding and substantial enough to hold us from our departure from the Ritz Carlton at 330 p.m. until 230 a.m. the next morning.

Upon returning to the hotel, we spent additional time at the pool, followed by a little more gambling and watching the 4th of July fireworks. After the fireworks, we headed up the stip to Harrah's where we spent a couple of fun hours in a very raucous bar with dueling piano players. From Harrah's we headed back to Bally's to one of their lounge shows (a fabulous band playing an odd, but very good, combination of old Motown hits and Carlos Santana music), then to the lounge show in Paris (equally entertaining). Spent a couple of hours in the lounges dancing, listening to music, drinking and generally having a great time.

Ended up feeling a little hungry (at 230 a.m., no less!) and made our way to the Cafe at Paris for a (very) late night light dinner. Finally ended up in bed around 400 a.m.

Flew home, and back to our reality, the next afternoon, exhausted but pretty satisfied (except for the Lance Burton experience). As always, had a great time and hope our experiences (and this review) helps someone else here on fodors.com with their plans for a future trip to Las Vegas. Bon voyage!

Lois

Great report.

May I ask what was the cost of the fabulous buffet at the Ritz Carlton Lake Las Vegas? Sounds good.

Lois

karenvk

Thanks for a great trip report...!

David

Lois: Brunch at the Ritz Carlton Lake Las Vegas was $42.00 per person, plus tax and tip. Like I said, food was outstanding and limitless cocktails were included in the price (also champagne which, surprisingly for the amount we consumed, did not cause a headache). I'd rate this brunch as one of the best deals in the entire Las Vegas valley. Next Sunday at home just won't be the same! Have fun.

TedTurner

I stayed at Paris a couple years ago and thought the rooms were a little worn and tired looking also. The furniture is relatively cheap, but for the $89 rate and location I still thought it was a decent value.

I'm going to guess that your disappointment with the prices at Circo is rooted in your travel history in LV. I've visited 1-3 times per year since about 1987 and until about 7 years ago LV was one of the best travel bargains in the USA. Good hotels were cheap and decent food was an even better deal in most cases.

During the past few years prices in LV have absolutely skyrocketed. In actuality, they're simply beginning to parallel the prices in other popular markets, but the change has been dramatic.

I don't know if you visit NYC often, but you won't find many top 50 restaurants there much under $200 for a couple (including wine, appetizers and tip). And in LV, management personnel are simply pushing prices up to the limit of 'what the market will bear'. They keep raising prices on rooms and food and people keep booking at a dizzying pace.

As one who remembers what LV used to be like, I think it seems awkward to be required to ante up so much more than I used to. On the other hand, it's still a lot cheaper than NYC.

Scarlett

I think TedTurner has a point. Having lived in NYC, we were so spoiled by the array of restaurants and wonderful food everywhere!
Circo and some other restaurants in LV are our favorites because they are always good, the wines are good, and the service is good. Not to mention the place is so pretty!
We expect no more of it than to have a good meal. I do not expect more of it than I would Prime or Picasso, if I am paying $300 for the two of us or $25- I want good food, good service and a decent place to sit.
Sometimes I think people put too high expectations on a restaurant, just because they know it will cost more than usual.
Most times, that will lead to disappointment.

David

Scarlett and Ted: I suspect Ted is correct in his assessment that I tended to compare Circo's current-day prices to what was once available in Las Vegas (and not too long ago!). For the reason that I did not have a similar basis of comparison, I did not object to that level of pricing in NYC on our last trip there (we visit about once every 18 months) and really enjoyed our dining experiences there, especially at Vong's and a relatively new place (at the time) called Rouge (I think it was on about East 64th Street near Lexington). Actually, Rouge was very reasonable (for the neighborhood, setting, service, quality of food and wine and presentation). Next time you are in NYC, I'd suggest you give it a try (no, I'm not a tout). Additionally, I don't find that level of pricing in San Francisco particularly shocking and we visit there two or three weekends a year.

Anyway, thanks for your comments and my reality check. We weren't really that unhappy with Circo (like I stated in my post, the room is spectacular, the food was great and the service was flawless). I guess my circa-1989 to 1996 mentality just caused a bit of a roadblock to total enjoyment when I received the check!

Nice chatting with you.