First I tried the buffet yesterday (Wed) and discovered they have improved
the buffet! Thank goodness!. Wed. is now seafood night - but
unfortunately they increased the price to $24.99. The good news is if you have a
discount for having one of the better tiers, the buffet is still quite cheap
when paid with points. The buffet now has a "raw bar" with clams, raw
oysters, peel & eat shrimp (peeled and very good), and cold crab legs. There was
also sashimi - tuna and yellowtail. Several other extra seafood items as
well. Adding in the regular hot crab legs, smoked salmon, turkey, prime
rib, and fresh fruit (including bananas and apples), the buffet is pretty
good now. One area that still needs improvement is the salad bar section --
just have regular lettuce or a nice lettuce/carrot/cabbage type mix (like
they use at the Gold Coast), and add in a few extras like hard-boiled eggs,
mushrooms, beets, etc.
Other nights of the week also have a increased price - now $18.99, but they
have added a few "live" stations, such as pasta. I haven't tried that --
yet -- but I am just glad to see an improvement.
ยทยทยท
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Another change- there is now a new "high limit" slot area - on the 2nd
floor of "The Mint" (above the baccaret/bj high level area). It just opened
on Friday. There were $5 and up reel machines, including a $5 Pinball
(Love that game, but it killed me last night). Also some $1 and up VP -
multiline with various games on it. I didn't see anything full pay on the
machines I looked at, but I didn't look at all the machines.
The nice part was that the area is secluded and quiet (only a little of the
bad Palms music!), and thus had excellent service. There is a bar there
with some free snacks such as little sandwiches and sweets and fruit. The
food looked untouched when I sat down at 10 pm - and no one played there
except me. So far no signs even point to this area's existence. Asking for
a drink brought immediate service, sometimes from the slot personnel rather
than a cocktail waitress, and thus was excellent.
I believe some of the higher denomination machines that were in the old
"high roller" slots area may now be replaced with lower denominations.
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One Palms gripe - they continue to have the worst cocktail waitress service
of any Vegas casino. At least that is true if you are playing the
slots/VP -- or at least it seems that way to me. Last night I saw a waitress,
requested a diet coke and then waited and waited and waited. She popped by
again -- no soda. I put in an order and waited and waited, and finally I
left - having sat at a slot for about 1 hour.
So going to the high roller area was truly a pleasure, with the slot ladies
continually asking me if I would like some more to drink.
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On the other hand, the buffet personnel are generally quite good.
Sometimes I have told them, "you are too good for this buffet." Unfortunately
last night I got a bad one, but generally speaking, they are very good.
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I'll have to see if we get a mailer next month. I certainly would expect to
do so, since both my husband and I had play on reels and lost $. The past
few months have had us getting zero mailers, because we played only on
triple play NSU machines -- and we both won and then lost in different months
- so winning and losing didn't matter.
I played in May on a DDB 5-play, lost money, (one that didn't have the
sticker saying it wasn't in promos) and got no June mailer, but that may be
because I played too late in the month - I don't know what the cut-off is.
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The other good thing is that hosts now are able to give food comps to
slot/VP players. I had stopped asking after getting told to "use my points" in
the past, but I guess since they have now changed over to a "cash your
points for free play" mode, instead of "points are for food/comps only", they
are now able to issue food comps. I love Little Buddah, and have gotten
several comps for that restaurant.
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