 The first of the Station casinos, this place is old in ways paint can't cover. Tower rooms are decent, and garden rooms are cheap. Even though this place is near the Strip it is not a tourist hot-spot. And the Strip is only close as the crow flies thanks to traffic, so you need a car or rely on the shuttle to get around.
Room Quality: There are two types of rooms, tower and garden. The tower rooms are all right, large and on par with the moderate hotels on the Strip. They are recently updated with modern furnishings and large flat-screen TVs. We would compare them equally to Harrah's. The courtyard rooms are older, smaller, and called "value" rooms by management. That means "not as nice, but cheaper", yet they are fairly up to date. Some of the garden rooms don't have tubs, only showers. If you book the cheapest rate, you will get a garden room unless you can bribe or sweet-talk the clerks into an upgrade at check-in. One drawback to this place is that it's not walking distance from anything.
Service Quality: Fair. Like most places not on the Strip or Downtown, it caters mostly to locals, so the emphasis here is not on servicing the hotel guests. They have room service and well-trained maids, but they aren't equipped to handle some business requests, or customers needing extra pampering.
What You Get Bottles of in the Bathroom: Shampoo and conditioner. It's a moderate place and they are only willing to go so far to ensure your cleanliness.
Clientele: Slightly older crowd, except for the youngsters who accidentally thought they were getting a room on the Strip. Like most off-strip properties, a good number of people in the casino are locals.
How's the Pool? Two pools and jacuzzis tempt guests here. They are not fancy like at the Strip resorts, but they are filled with water and, as far as we know, free of sharks and electric eels.
Resort Fee: (What is this?) $14.99 per night. You get wired and wireless internet, local and domestic long distance calls, airport and Strip shuttles, fitness center access, daily paper, copy and fax services.
Table Games: Anything they can take your money at, at their 40+ tables. Blackjack, craps, roulette, Let It Ride, quite a bit of Baccarat and Pai Gow. It's a big, sprawling casino, so you're likely to find what you're looking for. Watch out for single deck blackjack, because they pay that heinous 6:5 on blackjacks.
Bet Minimums: $5 tables most of the time. Craps offer 10x odds with the minimum usually $5. Pai Gow minimums are usually a little higher, starting around $10. Roulette is $1 chips with a $5 minimum.
Machines: Slots from a nickel to $25. Although it's a locals casino, the video poker and slot payouts are not as great as other local places like the The Orleans. If you are looking for full-pay or near FP video poker, visit the "Gambler's Den" area of the casino floor.
Cocktails? Pretty good cocktail service, although, ladies? Could you put a little more clothes on, please? This is kind of a beer joint, not a fancy umbrella drink place. So, order a beer and you'll get a bottle.
Who Gets Comps? They are okay for comps, but not outrageously generous., It is the same program as other Coast properties, which pays about 0.10% back with a few double or triple point days in there.
The Broiler: Just like the Broiler in other Station Casinos, this place has pretty good steaks and seafood in a turn of the century, San Francisco wharf atmosphere, including an attached oyster bar. Lots of brass, decent prices, but not the best steak in town. Perfect for you if you're staying here, but not worth going all the way over here for when almost every major casino has an equally good steak joint.
Cabo: This is good Mexican food with fresh salsas and excellent guacamole. The fajitas are out of this world, and the margaritas are big, so live it up Baja-style. Open for dinner only.
The Feast Buffet: It ain't gourmet, but the selection is large. All of the Station casinos have decent buffets, but this and Boulder have the least of the bunch. Breakfast is cheap with your slot club card, which is a steal. The buffet is heavy on traditional dishes. So, if you got a hankering for lots of mediocre meat, here's your meal ticket.
Food Express: Locals know and like Food Express as the restaurant has been around for a while. Now, it's moved into Palace Station to serve authentic Cantonese at downright reasonable prices. A good deal and better than the Chinese they used to serve in the coffee shop.
Grand Cafe: We've always liked the Grand Cafe for their basic coffee shop grub, with a touch of Chinese. The prices are about on par with a regular coffee shop, service is fine, and most important, it serves that comfort food your body craves (it's one of the basic food groups!).
Oyster Bar: It really is just a bar. Well, a seafood bar, but the seating is around a bar and the seats are elevated like in a watering hole. They have clams, oysters, cioppino, gumbo and a few pasta dishes. as a bonus, it's open 24 hours a day.
Pasta Palace: Very inexpensive Italian. It actually has a bit of spice, making it more tasty and authentic than an Olive Garden. The atmosphere is casual and fairly quiet, but there can be long lines on weekend evenings. Open for dinner only.
There's a Subway in the sports book. If you need coffee (and who doesn't?), the fine folks at Starbucks have managed to find space for one of their rare stands. Jack's Irish pub has finger foods, which is great so long as you have all your fingers.
Jack's: This place is a failed attempt at an Irish pub. Now it features a big clock with a sign that says "Time for a Pint!" Of course, we already knew that.
Louie Anderson LOL: You should know what you're getting with Louie Anderson by now. He's a veteran comic who has been telling jokes for as long as we can remember, and has been in Vegas half that long. This is an opportunity to see a big name in a small room.
Number of TVs: About 37 or so, but not a single big screen here, so don't bother bringing your Star Wars DVD to them and ask them to play it.
Number of Seats: About 60 nice leather seats for sports and about 160 seats total with about 100 TV seats for race bettors. Boy, people here sure love those pretty horses.
How Many Betting Windows? Eight for sports and nine more than that for the ponies. it's all slate signboards.
Free Drinks? Yes, but we didn't see a cocktail waitress anywhere near here. These local places just aren't that generous with the booze.
Snack Bar? There's a whole Subway restaurant right in the sports book. For reals!
Minimum Wager: $5 sports, $2 for racing
Other Notes: This sports and racing book are two dingy, smoky separate spaces. Very utilitarian. One plus is they have greyhound racing wagering. Sometimes we just don't want to bet on anything as big as a horse. There is a cool horse racing mural on the far wall.
Number of Tables: Nine tables in a small room with about six or more going most times.
Comfort of Chairs: Pretty nice chairs, with arm rests and rollers. The table felts, though, have wood inlays and that may trick you into thinking it's pretty swank.
Closed Room or Open to Casino? The room is closed off and also pretty isolated. It's a decent room, actually, for an off-Strip little place. There are even a few TVs so you can get easily distracted.
Game Spreads and Limits: Hold-em at $2-$4 and maybe $4-$8, and sometimes they run a $1-$2 no limit game. In the afternoons there may be an omaha hi-lo game for the old timers.
Beginner Games or Classes? No lessons here. In fact, the manager suggested people go online to learn. Maybe they should go online to play for money, too, huh?
How Crowded is the Room? This is a popular locals room and they have nice rewards for frequent players, so it can be crowded. On weekend nights, you may have to wait as long as an hour. Thank God they have all those Video Poker machines nearby to kill the time.
Comps? Free drinks while playing. $1 in comps per hour of play. They may also have extra comps for playing in the wee hours of the morning.
How Good Are the Players? A ton of local rocks and characters. Don't wander in here with your text book expecting to win because these locals always play against each other have their own way of playing.
What Else Do I Need to Know? 10% rake max up to a few bucks. They do high-hand jackpots, which are great if you're the kind of person who gets high hands. We sure don't seem to be that.
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