The Reason For Going:
The Cub's/Dodger's series was scheduled to be played in LA, during the 4th weekend in August. In July I received a mailer, from the Silver Legacy in Reno, offering, on the previous Friday, tickets to see EH's current fave comedian, Lewis Black. Though we are not Crap's shooters, the die was cast.
Putting The Plans In Action:
I was able to purchase "open-jaw" non-stop tickets, on American, for under $280 each. We would depart Chicago/O'Hare on Tuesday morning, stay at the SL until Saturday am, fly SWA to Los Angeles, visit Dodger stadium on Saturday and Sunday, meet with family members on Monday, and fly back to O'Hare Monday evening, arriving home after Midnight. A busy week, but with lots of fun things to do.
The Casino Floor(s):
The Silver Legacy has two large gaming areas. The main one is at street level, where all the table games are located. Smaller, machines only gaming areas are on the mezzanine level where all the restaurants (save the Food Court) the VIP Check-In, regular check-in and the banks of hotel elevators are located.
Security is good at the guest elevators. In order to access one of the banks, a hotel key must the produced and shown to a guard, who is on duty there 24/7 .
The elevators are super fast, and reach the top floors, from the lobby, in a few seconds.
Walking from one end of the mezzanine level to the other, it is possible to enter Circus Circus on one end, and the El Dorado on the other. Though we did not avail ourselves of the gaming at either adjoining casino, we did visit the ED a few times to dine. On those occasions, we were able to charge the meal to our SL room.
Overall, we found the SL casino gaming areas to be well-lit, attractive and clean, There were enough attendants on the floor, so that long waits because of ticket jams, or prog. jackpot pays, did not occur.
The only serious criticism that I have, of the casino floors and general layout, is a shortage of restrooms. There are only two on the large main level, and one on the mezzanine level, in addition to the ones near the El Dorado and Circus Circus. It seemed that, from most of the areas where we were playing, it was quite a long walk to access the facilities.
The Check-In And The Room:
We were assigned a room on the 21st floor, overlooking Virginia Street. As requested, the room was very large, and quite near an elevator. The "Old West" was the theme of the decor. "Old" was certainly an apt description for the room which was badly in need of refurbishing. From the tired draperies and bed coverings, to the stained carpeting and
worn furniture, the room looked like a throwback to the 60s.
There are no safe deposit boxes in the rooms. I had to open one at the main desk initially, and visit it a few times after some nice jackpots had filled my wallet with enough cash to stash!
On the bright side, the accommodations were clean and had the necessary bathroom amenities, though I did have to call Housekeeping for an additional set of towels.
The VP Inventory:
In my opinion, as of August 22, 2009, the day that we departed, no casino in the world has better quarter VP then the SL. The following is a list of the VP that we played:
FPKBJW (5/7/20/4700) - 8 machines only (.25c)
FPDW - 4 machines only (.25c)
10/7 DB - 4 machines only (.25c)
FPAA - 4 machines only (.25c)
16/10 NSUD - 6 machines only (.25c - $1.00)
3/5/10/50/100 play 9/6 JOB (.05 - $1.00)
8/5 BP prog.
9/6 DDB prog.
At no time during the hours that we played (Tues. 2:00pm through Friday 6:00pm) were we not able to easily find two adjacent seats, and contentedly pound away on any of the above inventory. Outside of Friday night, after the show broke, there were very few players at the SL during our stay.
Card Club:
As closely as I could figure, though we played a variety of <100%, >100%,
in different denoms., we earned approxinately $1.00 comp dollar for each
$300 of coin-in. Because different games require varying amounts of coin-in, and tyhe card club is of the "Don't ask. cause we won't tellI can vouch for the complete accuracy of that calculation.
The Silver Legacy Restaurants:
First of all, I was astounded to note that business is SO bad, that the buffet and the coffee shop are each ONLY open on alternate weekdays. They are both open all day Friday and Saturday. The nice Food Court is only open from 4:00pm on Friday, until 6:00pm on Sunday.
The Silver Legacy offers the fewest restaurant choices among the main Reno venues. In my opinion, the quality of the food offerings, is not up to the standard of either The Atlantis or The Peppermill.
Using my arbitrary star rating, Four Stars = Superlative, Three Stars = Excellent, Two Stars = Satisfactory and One Star = Fair, the following is my rating of the SL eateries.
Flavors Buffet: Adequate food selection and quality, with no especially innovative menu items or surprises. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, every other week day, and weekends.
We had two breakfasts in the buffet. They were both satisfactory and featured all the expected breakfast items. Breakfast charge is $8.99. Two Stars
Sterling's Steakhouse: A classic expensive Nevada steak and seafood restaurant. Most of the patrons are "guests of the casino". Every entree is completely ala carte. Not even a sprig of parsley accompanies the plated steak, unless a side is ordered. Most appetizers are in the $15-$20 range. Salads are $12.00 -$20. Chicken entrees start at
$24. Steaks start at $39. Steak/Lobster combo is $65. The steaks are excellent, prime beef, prepared exactly as ordered. The usual sides are adequate. The luscious desserts are worth ordering. Waiter service is exceptionally good.
There is also a weekday "early bird special" served from 5:00 to 6:00pm, Monday through Thursday. For $25 you start with a good salad, progress to a 5 oz. filet with crabmeat topping, accompanied by garlic-mashed potatoes, asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, and end the meal with a huge and heavenly slice of cheesecake, covered in fresh berries, whipped cream, and rich chocolate sauce. Of course adding a glass of wine, plus the tax and tip, adds quite a bit to the final tab, but we thought that it was an overall excellent value. The restaurant opens for dinner only, at 5:00pm. Three Stars.
Fairchild's Oyster Bar: An inexpensive, casual seafood restaurant featuring pan roasts from $16.50 to $19.95. San Francisco Cioppino at $16.95, Coconut Prawns at $13.95, plus several other fish and seafood dishes, all served with appropriate soup, salad and sides. There is also a selection of salads and sandwiches. The seafood is fresh and well prepared. Service is friendly and efficient. The restaurant opens at 1:00pm for lunch and dinner. Two and 1/2 Stars.
Cafe Sedona: The coffee shop features all of the usual "three S's"; soups. salads and sandwiches. They also have a selection of entrees, breakfast items, desserts, and a Chinese menu. Prices range from a $8.79 Hamburger/ Fries to a $23.49 Filet dinner.
The food is adequate if not inspired. The service is not. In all the many times that I've eaten in the SL coffee shop, I have never had good service. It usually ranges somewhere between dumb and negligent. Many times, when you are looking for a wait-person, you will spot a gaggle of them, off in a corner, chattering amongst themselves in a foreign language. We have complained about the lack of service several times, to no avail. Now, we always avoid the CS. 2 Stars for food. No Stars for service
On the mornings that the buffet was closed, we walked the short distance to the El Dorado Casino coffee shop. The service and food in that establishment were fine.
The Food Court:
The name "food court" is a bit of a misnomer. It is much more akin to a "short order cafeteria". Made to order hot and cold sandwiches, breakfast items, Asian dishes, and a few entree items round out the salad bar and dessert menu. The food is good, cheap and arrives quickly.
The star of the menu is the $1.50 shrimp cocktail, consisting of very fresh, medium sized shrimp, served in a Sundae glass, over a bed of chopped celery, with lemon wedges and tangy cocktail sauce. I have sometimes enjoyed two of them for a satisfactory lunch or light dinner. 3 Stars.
Unfortunately, business is so slow at the SL, that the Food Court is only open from Friday, late afternoon, until Sunday evening.
The Entertainment:
The SL has by far, the most varied and frequent "name" entertainment of any venue in Reno. I receive mailed invitations to all the concerts on a regular basis, for the weekend shows, with entertainment and hotel rooms comped.
Every show that I have seen at the SL was held in a large theatre area, located below the casino. The seats are not standard theatre seating, but rather padded stacking chairs. They are narrow, set close together, and not particularly comfortable.
When a very large man sat down next to me, and we realized that both of us were sitting on half of my chair he graciously helped EH to "unhook" our chairs, so that we both had more room. I felt sorry for him during the two hour performance, as he was seriously over-hanging his chair on both sides.
The Lewis Black show that we attended was great entertainment. He is a superb comic talent, and made us both laugh out loud several times. I could have done without listening to the "love word" liberally sprinkled throughout his patter, but he is amusing enough, that I was able to concentrate on his humor instead of his language.
The price range for the Lewis Black tickets was $50 - $65. Ours were comped, and we had great seats; center stage in the 5th row.
Current Casino Conditions In Reno:
Reno is starving for business. Particularly downtown properties such as the SL. Many cautious locals have deserted the downtown area due to the degenerating, depresssed, sometimes dangerous conditions. It is really sad to see.
The Atlantis and The Peppermill, both away from the downtown area, in perceived "safer" areas, are doing much better than the SL, though they have all been badly hurt, as have all businesses, which are largely supported by a patron's "discretionary income."
Here is how I would currently rate the "big three" casinos:
VP Inventory: 1. SL 2. Atl. 3. Pepp
Rooms: 1. Pepp* 2. Atl.* 3. SL
Casino: 1. Atl. 2. SL 3. Pepp
Restaurants: 1. Atl. 2. Pepp 3. SL
Entertainment: 1. SL 2. Pepp 3. Atl.
Tournaments: 1. Atl 2. SL 3. Pepp
Other Offers: 1. Atl 2. SL 3. Pepp
Card Club Desk: 1. Atl 2. SL 3. Pepp
Scoring Comps: 1. Atl. 2. SL 3. Pepp
Hosts: 1. Atl. 2. SL 3. Pepp
Of course, these evaluations are highly subjective; They are based on my personal experiences and the related anecdotal experiences of friends.
* New Tuscan Tower only at Pepp. Otherwise, Concierge Tower at Atl.
The Departure:
After closing our front desk safe deposit box (which now happily contained more bankroll than had the intial deposit) we retired to our room to pack after the Lewis Black show broke at 11:00pm.
Neither of us played after the show or early on Saturday morning, though, rising at my usual NV time of 5:00am, I could have done so. I didn't want to play without my card,
or jeopardize my daily average, by only playing for an hour or so. This is why I believe that it's silly and counter-productive for casinos to apply "daily averages" in determining club tier levels. I certainly would have played a bit more if the SL used "trip averages" instead.
We caught a 9:00am SWA flight to LA on Saturday morning, in order to be on time for the the 1:00pm Cub's/Dodgers game. In retrospect, considering how pitifully the Cubs performed, I'm not sure why we were in such a hurry.
After handily losing the first two games to the vastly superior Dodgers, while we were gambling in Reno, the lazy, listless, hit-challenged Cubs, proceeded to lose the 3rd game as well. We were more than disgusted as they fell 8 games behind the surging (and much hated Cardinals).
We did watch the Cubs win the 4th game on Sunday, but knowing that the Cubs are toast in 2009, we were not much consoled. It's wait-til-next-year time once more on the North side of Chicago. The only silver lining that I can find in that black cloud, is that I can finally book my Fall gambling trip, without being concerned about the Cub's post season game
schedule!
The rest of our LA time was spent visiting with loved ones and dining in fave LA eateries.
We flew home late on Monday evening, after a super week of gambling, baseball and family, very tired, but well satisfied with our vacation .
To those who did, thanks for sticking with me through another lengthy report.
Good luck and happy casino visits to you all!
~Babe~