One of the more architecturally interesting-looking hotels on the Strip -- the hotel towers eschew the typical 3-pronged shape, and mimic famous New York City landmarks like the Empire State, Chrysler and Woolworth buildings. They put a lot of effort into realizing the theme here, possibly more than any other resort since Caesars. Unfortunately, the rooms, pool, and gambling aren't much to crow about.
Room Quality: Rooms are well-appointed, on par with your typical Hilton. They're mostly small to average in size, though, but what do you expect when you're in New York City? Skyline is the name of the base rooms, and they are about 300 or so s.f., come with a king or two queens and pretty average bathrooms. The Park Avenue rooms are only slightly larger but fancier, especially the bathrooms. If you upgrade to a "Broadway Deluxe" room, it can be as large as 500 s.f., which is pretty good. The coolest thing with all the rooms, besides some with great views, is the fact that your room might be in the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building. Whatever you do, ask for a room away from the rollercoaster, which rumbles by some rooms and has been known to to be noisy. Most rooms are done in earthtones, with two chairs and a table, two queens or one king bed, a bulky armoire, a single sink, a hair dryer, and no telephone. The tiny closets house ironing supplies, and there's a safe right next to them. You can iron up a bunch of fresh shirts, then lock them away for the night! There are all sorts of larger suites available for you if you want to pay more or are a good sweet-talker at check-in.
Service Quality: Fair. I guess they think that since the theme is New York they got to treat you like you're really there. We've met some very nice (and chatty) employees, but the hotel is not known for service. Check-in can be long but usually isn't. The room service has a decent menu at the usual ridiculous prices.
What You Get Bottles of in the Bathroom: Shampoo, conditioner and lotion. It's supposedly fancy. Well, it looks fancy in its skinny little bottles, but we honestly didn't feel any cleaner than we do after any other weekly shower.
Clientele: Folks with moderate tastes, mostly thirties and up. It's a middle-class clientele, except in the cigar bar, where it's a pretentious jerk clientele.
How's the Pool? Underwhelming. The big lagoon-style pool is a huge space and has a few trees and two hot tubs by it, but this is not one of Las Vegas' greatest pools. It's wet and they have chairs, etc., but if you're looking for a resort with a super pool, this ain't one of them. It's also flat-out closed in the winter.
Table Games: The works. Blackjack, craps, roulette, Let It Ride, Pai Gow, Baccarat. Mostly the games are not good, especially blackjack and craps,where better games are available elsewhere nearby. If you do decide to play some blackjack here, watch out for the many gimmicky games that offer terrible odds or the dreaded 6:5 single-deck.
Bet Minimums: Since the casino's pretty small, they pack in the games. You will see $5 blackjack, craps and roulette when it's quiet, and then up when it's noisy. You can find some bad-rules $5 blackjack or oddball games sometimes, too, so look for the best ones. Craps is 3x4x5x odds.
Machines: Slots from penny gobblers to $100. A poor selection of video poker. New York-New York has a reputation of having pretty tight slots. The floor is crowded and noisy.
Cocktails? Mediocre cocktail service. You've got go out of your way to get bombed. Maybe they want you to pay for drinks at the overpriced bars.
Who Gets Comps? For the $50 bettor at the tables, you can ask for food, and possibly future free room mailings. For the slot player, the Players Club is the unified MGM Mirage slot club and points are interchangeable.
America: This 24 hour coffee shop is better than most, but the cool thing is the huge mural of the United States. It's 1800 square feet of pure Americana. Also, they have menu items by region, like Philly Cheese Steak, Monterey Calimari, Georgia pulled pork.
Chin Chin: It's a branch of the very good Chinese American restaurants under this name. Pricey? No, not bad. You can get out for under $25 a person. Good? Yes. They also have a breakfast buffet.
ESPN Zone: Dine where you're encouraged to stand up mid-meal and yell "Tackle him, you idiot!" Essentially, the Zone is an overpriced brew-pub food like ribs and chicken sandwiches without the brew pub. The Studio Grill section is where you eat in peace, the Screening Room is where you drink and booze while watching way too many TVs. This is not recommended for people who tend to seizure easily.
Gallagher's Steak House: Run of the mill upscale steak and prime rib. Actually, we have seen some people rave, and some hate it. One thing's for sure, the prices are in line or a little better than other high-end steak joints in town.
Gonzalez y Gonzalez: Add another fine eatery to the New York New York lineup. This is slightly expensive Mexican food in a nice small dining room. But, for quality, this is among the better Mexican on the Strip.
Il Fornaio: Top-flight Italian from this chain joint. The breads are very good and the pastas are delightful. It's all so good that they charge more than most Italian joints and you won't complain. They have rotating specials and vary the menu by region of Italy. Located here also is a bakery serving sandwiches and pastries that are pretty decent.
Nine Fine Irishmen: Another "Irish" pub that is mostly Irish in name, and somewhat in food. Why, it must be because they've put the word Irish in practically every menu item. It's expensive as all get out for a pub, but you're paying for the loud live music, "storytelling" and proximity to good beers. Open for lunch and dinner.
There are other fast food choices in the Coney Island Pavilion and Village Eateries, like Nathan's famous hot dogs, a deli, Sirrico's Pizza and other fast-food choices. And scattered throughout the casino are dozens more authentic New York eateries. Now, if they only had a hot dog cart rolling among the slots.
Cheesy Lounge Acts: The Empire Bar and Big Apple Lounge are where the cheese flows free and easy. Typical cheesy lounge rock acts every night.
Coyote Ugly: Nothing attracts crowds like a bar based on a bad movie, and boy oh boy what a bad movie Coyote Ugly was. During the day, it's just an overpriced bar with no cover and cute bartendresses. At night, though, the bartendresses jump around like ritalin-deprived schoolchildren. The music is loud, the cover charge starts, and it's a party vibe. Check out the bras hanging from the fixtures, one of those is Stinky's.
Dueling Pianos: In the Bar at Times Square, there are dueling piano players every night. They don't really duel with pistols or swords, although for our money there's no better entertainment than that. Instead, the pianists take turns playing songs and it's all great fun. One warning: they want you to pay to reserve a table on the weekends.
ESPN Zone: This place is extreme to the max, dude! Skeet-shooting, skateboarding and other hardcore sports can be sampled by even the stodgiest Wall-Street money analyst.
Rok Vegas: Oooo, "sexy" nightclub. Nobody's ever thought of that idea before. Rok Vegas is a yet another wannabe hipster nightclub with expensive drinks and some hard-to-get booths around the edges. Lots of video screens on the walls and a VIP outdoor area. There is nothing here that makes it stand out over all the other phony clubs on the Strip.
Rollercoaster and Midway: While the parents lose a bundle downstairs, kids can lose a bundle upstairs on this obscenely overpriced roller coaster. How overpriced? Oh, about half the price of an all day ride ticket at most amusement parks for a single ride. The bumper car area is too small and too crowded.
Zumanity: The folks at Cirque du Soleil think there's a little pervert in everyone and so they have created this "adult" show. It's half titilation, half Cirque and loads of toplessness. Not as raunchy as a strip club and not as intriguing as their other shows. There are several vignettes meant to arouse and excite. Seating is theater style, or if you want something more private, they have love seats and "private" love seats only sold as pairs.
Number of TVs: Twenty-eight. That may not seem like many for a Strip book, but there are many more inside the ESPN Sports Zone right next door. They want you to place your wager here then go in and watch while you stufff your mouth with the bloomin' onion, or whatever they call it there.
Number of Seats: 24 seats with individual TVs for race bettors, and only about 15 for sports bettors. They really want to get you inside that ESPN Zone. But, the sports chairs are pretty comfy on the ol' tusharoo.
How Many Betting Windows? Ten windows and electronic signboards for both sports and the ponies.
Free Drinks? As they say in New York, "No."
Snack Bar? A small snack bar right behind the book sells the normal fare, along with Krispy Kreme donuts.
Minimum Wager: $5 sports, $2 racing.
Other Notes: This is a pretty rinky-dink affair. Sure, the ESPN Zone might be a nice place to watch sports in another town, but why would you want to pay extra for a restaurant that's like a giant sports book when you can head up the road just a piece and get the real thing for free? Also, the frequent loud announcements are an unpleasant source of noise.
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