Vegas... again
 

I know there is a ton of threads on this subject, but here it is again.

A good friend of mine will be in Las Vegas next week for the DSE fair. He will stay at the Hard Rock and would appreciate some recomendations. Specifically he wants to:

- Eat well (steak, buffet, ...)
- Shoot full auto
- See the Grand Canyon -> I told him to book the Grand Canyon Tour with Scenic Airlines
- Likes cars
- ...

Thanks for the suggestions SmileWavy

If you are going to buffet, you have to do it with the buffet master, Tabdula the Great!

The full auto place is called the Gun Store I think on E. Sahara. I think driving to the GC is probably 4-5 hrs. from Vegas, but the Hualapai Skywalk is much closer.

Francisco, have your friend call me at 702-334-6758 with anything he may need.

Just got back, The "Bodies" exhibition and "The Titanic" exhibition were amazing.
They are both at the Luxor

Skip the buffet.
For steak SW 's at the Wynn is top notch. Also check out "CUT" where it's servers have to make the cut to work there ;)

Buffet: Bellaggio or Wynn
Prime Rib: Jerry Nugget in North Las Vegas
Guns: I will not recommend the Gun Store, try American Shooters
Cars: The auto collection at the Imperial Palace
Grand Canyon: Helicopter or to take the train in Williams AZ, need a few days
....: Pahrump, bordellos are legal there :-)

Not to forget the:

Gold and Silver Pawnshop

Gold and Silver Pawnshop. Just think you might be able to slap Chumley around!

Here's my restaurant reviews from a previous post:

Rosemary’s Restaurant: mixed good & so-so food (yucky sauce on steaks), veggies arrived at end of meal, took ½ hr for bill
Japonais (Mirage): Great for 2 years running but this year they overcooked ½ our table’s steaks & weren’t nice about replacing them & sliding us some free wine while the rest of the table waited
Piero’s: A big fail on the food last year
Zefferino (Venetian): Way, way overpriced for so-so food & service
Landry's Seafood House: Avoid it. Trust me.

Recent successes:

Onda (Mirage): Good Northern Italian
Charley Palmers (Mandalay/Four Seasons): The best steaks in Vegas. Atmosphere like a private club with lots of room between tables. Not cheap but worth it.
Binions Steak House: Old school steak house downtown. Always good. Tired environment though.
Circo (Bellagio): Good Northern Italian. Not cheap.
Le Circe (Bellagio): Expensive French. Go with the tasting menu. A quiet place.
Circus Circus Steakhouse: Decent slabs of beef. Old school – almost campy.
Alan Alberts: Steaks. Reliable & old school. Here you could make noise without guilt. A Vegas standard.
Panevino: Italian. I haven't been but several people raved about it after the show.

Ian

I did a tour from Papillon that was pretty cool. We flew over Hoover dam, saw the sky walk from the air, and then landed on some Indian reservation in the Grand Canyon to have lunch. I did a quick search, but didn't see the same look of thier website as they spruced it up a bit.

A site I use to find things is:
Las Vegas - Play - Vegas Attractions & Activities

I thought the glider ride might be cool to do sometime. And the strip just introduced some kind of hot air balloon ride...not that I have looked into it...but I see it in the air on my way home from work.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I already forwarded the thread to my friend and I think he has already contacted some of the gun ranges mentioned above.

Muchas gracias Jordi. I passed your number to my friend. He will be there next week but do not know the details about his schedule.

All this talk makes me want to visit Vegas again. Now I need to come up with an excuse...

Jordi,

Just wondering why you wouldn't recommend the Gun Store. I shot there a few years back, and am heading back to Vegas again soon and was going to return, but if American Shooters is better, I would be all for it. More info please.

Thanks

Eric, The Gun Store business model is cater exclusively toward tourists (i.e. a fool and his money will soon part), I personally don't like their prices and their attitude.

Fortunately we have many more options and as a resident I take my business somewhere else.

I still recall my first visit to American Shooters in Henderson back in 1981 with fondness!!

Next time you are around let me know, I still have some free range passes for American Shooters.

PS. No commercial interest in any of the above mentioned business.

I would second American Shooters...but I didn't think they did full auto. Do they? I'm not interested in that so I never really looked.

I am sure they do, I know they did. I will ask next time I am there.

The new management is awesome, they have done a HUGE remodel of the ranges in Arville and they good rid of all the bad-attitude-employees

The guy who owns American Shooter is a prick with a great looking wife. His real money comes from his selling and equiping the local security people.

Discount Guns and National Survival Store also rent out full autos to shoot at their range.

And I agree with that (specially the wife part) but he has been able to turn around that business, improve the range and open the range to other shooting disciplines (i.e. IPSC on Tuesday nights) and for that I am glad.

My fiend (incidentally he is my navigator in regularity races here in Spain with the 911) just came back from Vegas and asked me to thank you all and post this note:


Hi! Paco's navigator here:

Thanks all for the recommendations, this is more or less what I did:

- Hotel: Hard Rock Hotel. Good value for money, albeit far from the Strip, it was reasonably situated near a 108 bus stop that took me to the LV Convention Center (I was there to do some work, after all). I didn't try the "upscale-y" restaurants inside the hotel, but the 24/7 one was good enough for breakfast (a diner like any other).

- Shows: Penn&Teller (great) and O (awesome).

- Restaurants: I tried to go to Adam Alberts, but it seems to be closed for good. I went twice to a sushi place just in front of my hotel (some of my colleagues are sushi nuts... me too, but not as much as to repeat ;D) named Kaizen, really nice California rolls. I was invited to Roy's, it was nice but it seemed to me a little bit overpriced, the macadamia cake was top. Circo at the Bellagio was a great tip! really nice place (and I didn't find it too pricey: 2 courses + dessert + 2 martinis were just below a hundred, tip included). Finally, I needed to go to the Burger Bar, at the Mandalay (I have their book!), had a Kobe burger (not the ultra fancy 60US$ one), which was great but helped me realize that I prefer Angus.

- Grand Canyon: I finally rented a Mustang convertible (there was not much to choose from, the other option within my price range was a conv Eclipse, and I suspect I would have not fit in it ;D) and drove all the way. Nice views during the trip (with a WTF? moment regarding what seem as a hillbilly town in the middle of the route), and really a breathtaking hours at the GC.

- When I was coming back to return the car, I passed by the Gun Store (iirc) so I popped in. I was a little bit freaked out by the place (we don't have your gun culture here and I think I was in full-fledged culture shock), so I decided to skip this step and leave it to some other time.

- The car collection was jaw dropping. I was constantly thinking "if I had a million dollars, I'd get this car", then "If I had TWO million dollars, I'd get this car and that other", then... you get the picture ;)

- On the "..." stuff, I didn't go to a strip club (another thing to do some other time) but I did hang out in a couple nightclubs. I have never seen smaller black dresses ;)

Jordi: muchas gracias por la oferta but during the first weekend I was jetlagged to death, then colleagues joined and it was (almost) all work, work, work and then it felt weird to call you on a Friday when you sure had other plans. Yet another one to do in next trips.
--


/jorge

SIXTY USD FOR A FKING HAMBURGER....they see you coming...