Free Vegas: Bellagio Fountains

Well - you can't get any more free than this.

The fountains at Belagio - one of the free shows in Vegas - now free right here!

Vegas Buffets: The Feast Around the World Buffet at Green Valley Ranch Resort

I'm a big fan of the Station Casinos' buffets. Station Casinos is all the casinos ending in Station (Texas Station, Santa Fe Station, Palace Station, Main Street Station, etc.) and their upscale resorts - Red Rock Casino and Green Valley Ranch Resorts.

Even though I'm a fan of all the Station Casinos' buffets, Green Valley Ranch's buffet is hands down the best of the group.

If you head to the player's rewards center first, you can sign up for a Station Casino Player's Card. With your player's card you'll receive $2 dollars off the buffet. The only thing the player's card costs you is your address - which they will most likely use to send you coupons and special deals in the mail.

The buffet itself is set up as a long strip on one side of the buffet area, with a separate salad bar in the middle like an island. There are 6 live cooking stations at the Feast Around the World Buffet. These stations feature Italian, American, Mongolian, Chinese and International specialties prepared when you ask for them. Most buffets I've been too have one live cooking station where they cut you a slice of meat and plop it on your plate. They go all out at Green Valley Ranch.

On my first trip to the buffet I stopped at the Chinese section of the buffet. I'm generally not a big fan of Chinese food in a buffet - but the fried rice, spring rolls, and orange chicken looked really fresh and really good. Now - I go against traditional buffet tactics in that I don't overload my plate. I prefer getting about a half serving of a lot of different things. I find then I'm able to sample a larger variety of good foods if I don't fill up on large portions. For what it's worth.

The second trip up I went to the Mongolian section and chose some chicken and a really neat mix of vegetables, including water chestnuts which I love, and some different sauces which a cook threw on the grill. It was really good and reminded me of a Mongolian grill that I used to eat in San Antonio, Texas called Hu Hot.

Now my favorite part about a buffet is the dessert section. Usually you'll find a soft serve machine with vanilla and chocolate, with a thing of chocolate sauce and sprinkles next to it. If you're lucky they'll have a few slices of pie or cake next to some hard chocolate chip cookies. Well, at Green Valley's buffet, I think I hit the jackpot. They had cakes and pies galore - and they all looked good. They had custards and puddings and all sorts of still warm cookies. And the ice cream - no soft serve machine, but rather hand scooped Dreyer's ice cream. I got a scoop of mint chocolate chip and butter pecan, I know, weird combo - but it was so good.

The buffet runs $7.99, $9.99, and $17.99 for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That includes your players card discount, so be sure to get one first. And if you play enough, you can accumulate points on your players card to redeem for the buffet. I've eaten there 3 times for free by using my points. Not a bad deal.

And after you leave the buffet - you can walk around The District - located just outside the Green Valley Ranch Resort's Hotel and Casino. It's like they're little shopping area. It has some neat little shops and nice little green areas with benches. It's a pedestrian street lined with trees, so it's always nice for an evening, after buffet stroll.

Fun Vegas: Fun with the Kiddos in Sin City

Heading to Las Vegas? But not for the parties and gambling? Are you bringing the family to Las Vegas like Chevy Chase - Clark Griswold style?

Well, that's good. Because there are a number of fun things to do with the kids in Las Vegas. Besides showing the kids the standard tourist sights like the fountains at the Bellagio, the Volcano at the Mirage, and the lights of Fremont Street - you could plan a carnival day out.

Start the day out at Circus Circus. Circus Circus is on the north end of the strip across from the Sahara Hotel and Casino. Circus Circus is known for having an indoor amusement park as well as circus acts performing high above the casino floor. You can watch trapese artists as well as contortionists and of course there are always clowns. Upstairs there is a stage where shows take place every thirty minutes. In between these shows the kids will love running around the second floor which is like a big carnival. There are plenty of classic carnival games like water gun races and tossing rings around bottles. All the usual prizes are available to the winners - big stuffed animals and lava lamps.

At dinner time head to the south end of the strip to Excalibur - leave the world of clowns and travel back in time to the middle ages when dragons still roamed the earth. For dinner buy tickets to the Tournament of Kings at Excalibur. This is a Vegas style dinner show - similar to the scene in "The Cable Guy" starring Jim Carey where they go to Medieval Times and play knights - that the kids will love. Tickets are priced like a show at 49.95 each, but remember - you're getting dinner and a show for that price. And the show is great - the kings battle each other doing jousts to sword fights. And the kids will enjoy eating their medieval meal with their fingers.

After the show, you can stay at Excalibur and play some more carnival games. Excalibur has a midway with all sorts of games with a medieval theme.

There are plenty of things to do in Las Vegas with the kids. And the kiddos will love being able to go home and tell everybody about their summer trip to Las Vegas - because apparently 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' only applies to the adults.

Ok - so not everything is free...

It's ok though, we'll work through this. I just ate at my favorite sushi restaurant (so far) here in Vegas and couldn't resist posting a review of it.

Sin City Sushi: All You Can Eat Sushi at Sushi Mon in Las Vegas

I'd like to admit that I was super skeptical of the "all you can eat" sushi restaurants around town. I'd never seen this concept before I moved to Las Vegas. To me, "all you can eat" implies buffet style which in turn implies "not so fresh."

So I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I found out how the "all you can eat" aspect works at a sushi restaurant. What they really mean is "All you can eat...in an hour." Upon being seated you receive a menu and a roll list just like any other restaurant. Upon being seated the waitress at Sushi Mon (9770 S. Maryland Parkway #3, Las Vegas), asked if we would like the "all you can eat" option - and then explained it to us when we asked her about it. During lunch, for $22.95 you get one hour to order as many rolls as you would like. Whatever you want and as much as you want. However, as great as this sounds - you will be charged extra for anything that you don't eat. Which I think is fair, because it's not right to waste food. Dinner is 3 dollars more.

So we ordered our rolls and waited. Service was quick and right away we had our freshly prepared first batch of rolls made by the sushi chefs behind the bar. We got our usuals to start - Kapa Maki (Cucumber roll), Philadelphia rolls, spider rolls, some spicy tuna, and sea bass. Our baseline, our standards. We also ordered two specialty rolls - a TNT roll that was advertised as super spicy and a dragon roll - which had some interesting ingredients including a spicy mayo which I absolutely love. My favorite - the spider roll:



Upon tasting the TNT roll I did have to call the waitress over - for more water! It was advertised as spicy, but it was crazy spicy. I was practically crying - if only it didn't taste so good! Read More...