Another food opinion has been added to the Palm’s Food Court with the opening a location of Freshii a healthier fast food chain from our Canadian friends. The chain was founded in Toronto in 2005 and, has over 450 locations in North and South America as well as Europe and the Middle East.
The new restaurant will be open 24 hours a day and sells a menu of salads, wraps, bowls as well as juice, smoothies, burritos, soups as well as a breakfast menu so a little bit of everything. Las Vegas is a city of not always the healthiest food so it will be interesting to see how a more healthy food restaurant does in a city of endless buffets.
I do visit the Palms Food Court often for the Earl Of Sandwich snd the Coffee Bean located there so on my next trip i will check out Freshii if you have been to one of their locations outside Las Vegas or new location share your experience in the comments.
Las Vegas still has thousands of taxi cabs but in recent years ride sharing apps such Uber and Lyft have taken a big chuck of their business; You will still see lines of taxis out front of the big Strip resorts but you will also often see signs around the properties for Uber and Lyft pick up locations.
What is ride sharing? Not everyone has used one of these two services so let me explain a little how they work first you need to download one of their apps from the Apple or Google Play Store on your phone and set up an account with a credit card attached; After you have done this open the app and select their pickup location and destination then the type of vehicle required the app will give you a price and after you agree dispatch a nearby vehicle to you with the expected wait time.
All the vehicles are usually are less than five years old with the drivers using their private cars and the apps are location based which link you with the driver so you can you can see each others location to make a easy pick up.
Surge Pricing: Generally Uber and Lyft are much cheaper than the taxis although during high demand periods such as for example a big conference in town, early evening when everyone wants to go to dinner or a show or other times of higher demand prices go up. When surge pricing is in effect prices can be much higher than a taxis so at such times it might be better to explore taxis or other options.
Airport Pickup Locations: Yes you can use Uber and Lyft at the airport with the pickup locations in the parking garages so you will have to take your luggage their to get picked up; The locations are in Terminal 1 at Level 2M or at Terminal 3 its at Level V for valet. When you depart Mc Carren Airport, Uber and Lyft drivers are allowed to drop you off on the departures level where you can check your bags or carry in to the terminal easily.
Hotel Pickup Locations: Most large Strip resorts as you can see in the sign above have designated pickup locations on the property for Uber or Lyft. The locations might take a bit of waking but generally aren’t too remote but might take a bit of walking. On smaller properties on the Strip or Downtown if you don’t see the sign i would ask at the hotels front desk.
Which Company To Choose? If you use Uber or Lyft generally you get very good reasonably priced out side of surge pricing and, convenient service which one you use is up to you. The prices between the two do vary so having both apps might not be a bad idea and both companies offer larger or higher end vehicle options too, Globally Uber is the much bigger company but in Las Vegas Lyft has a strong following but both provide similar experiences.
Is Ride Sharing Good For Las Vegas: This is where i get all the comments from the taxi drivers who are not fans of Uber or Lyft to say the least. Taxi drivers will argue that you are safer with them because they have to follow strict licensing requirements which Uber and Lyft drivers do not although ride share drivers are back ground checked.
Could your driver not be a good person yes even with background checks and licensing its possible but unlikely if i was traveling with a group of people i wouldn’t be too concerned. If i was a single person especially at night I would be careful but thats a good idea anyways.
Before ride sharing came to Las Vegas there was fixed high regulated taxi fees although not as expensive as some other tourist cities. Now with Uber and Lyft you have an often less expensive option to get around Las Vegas which uses location based technology which makes the services very convenient for customers.
The taxis companies in the past have used their might to block customer friendly things such as extending the monorail to the airport to protect their lucrative airport runs so it’s a bit hard to feel sorry for them. Taxis are not going away not everyone will use ride sharing apps and during surge pricing its often less expensive to use taxis and many people are just going to walk out of the hotel or airport and jump in a taxis.
Uber and Lyft have brought competition to Las Vegas which is good for locals and visitors alike although with both companies burning through money especially Uber its unknown how long the lower prices might last but while they do competition is good for the consumer.
The Wynn Las Vegas has announced that 130 acre golf course will reopen October 11th after being closed since December 2017. The course is beautiful and was ranked number nine on Golf Week’s Best Casino Courses with green fees before the closure running up to $500 a round.
The course was originally closed down to make way for Paradise Park a proposed resort by Steve Wynn which was cancelled but the plans included a hotel tower next to a large lake. Starting today if you have a room reservation at the Wynn or the Encore you can reserve a tee time up to 90 days in advance and even at the high cost the most popular tee times should fill up fairly quickly.
If you are not a golfer or maybe the green fees aren’t in your budget you can get a view of the course from the Monorail which goes by the course which isn’t quite the same but its a lot less expensive.
The former space of the Mob Bar in Downtown Las Vegas at the Downtown Grand has been converted in to a 100 seat entertainment venue called The Spare Room. The space near the Art Bar will host Don Barnhart’s Hypnomania at 7pm followed by Delirious Stand Up Comedy at 9pm with shows Wednesdays through Sundays.
Tickets for the shows are $29.99 each plus the usual fees and taxes are available at downtowngrand.com/shows. The Downtown Grand is a a block off the Fremont Street Experience so not every visitor to Downtown Las Vegas walks over to the resort which is a shame because its a nice property; Hopefully the new entertainment venue brings more people to the resort as well as very good nearby restaurants.
Recently Sprinkles Cupcakes closed its prime location at the Linq next to the fountain and, now we have news what will replace Sprinkles with news that Minus Five Degrees Icebar with open there in what will be its third location in Las Vegas.
If your not familiar with Minus Five Degrees Ice Experience its where for a cover charge you can enter a bar made completely out of ice including the bar itself and the walls, seats, chandeliers, glasses and the room also includes ice sculptures.
The basic admission charge is $17 for gloves and a parka but there is also an upgrade price for $45 instead for a faux fur coat which also includes one cocktail.
I visited the Mandalay Bay location several years ago and, its a cool experience walking in to basically a big freezer surrounded by ice; The experience was cool no pun intended but i don’t know if I would try it again but as they are adding a third location it seems they are doing well.
If you want to visit one of the existing locations they are at the Mandalay Bay as well as the Canal Shoppes at the Venetian with the new location at the Linq due to open sometime in November.
In good news for guests at the Venetian, the main pool has reopened after being closed for months while it was being remodeled. The make over started last September and, cost millions of dollars but after nine months its ready for the hot Summer season where temperatures often get above 100 degrees in Las Vegas.
The always popular for foodies 13th Annual Las Vegas Restaurant Week starts today and runs through June 28th with nearly 200 restaurants taking part including many on the Strip.
During Restaurant Week the restaurants offer fixed price lunches or dinners in the $20 to $80 price range so its a great time to check out new restaurants or restaurants that you might have always wanted to try.
Apart from dining at some of the best restaurants in town for less the event also raises money for a good cause as part of the proceeds go to the Three Square Food Bank; Since the event launched in 2007 the Restaurant Week event proceeds have paid for five million meals for people needing help.
The number of restaurants involved is long so check out the website for all the participating restaurants.
Since i moved to the United States from England one thing I have missed is really good fish and chips. The fish and chips I previously reviewed were at Gordon Ramsey’s Fish and Chips located at the Linq Promenade which were really good but its always good to have options.
The latest option is about a mile from the Strip on East Sahara at Commercial Center with a restaurant called Catchers Fish House which i will have check out. The restaurant advertises itself as a foodies fish and chips place which sounds promising. The fish doesn’t sound like the cod in traditional British fish and chips instead they have catfish and red snapper flown in daily which is breaded by hand with a secret recipe.
The restaurant also has other options such as sandwiches, salads, tacos, wings and popcorn shrimp and at present its open 11 am to 11 pm daily.
It looks like the four month run of the The Naked Magicians at Brad Garett’s Comedy Club at the MGM Grand is over with website VegasChanges.com even reporting the two Australian performers have gone their separate ways.
According to the website one of the magicians has returned to Australia with other remaining in Las Vegas to join a variety show which is in development. Hopefully the show didn’t close for financial reasons it would be bad if they lost their shirt along with the rest of their clothes. Sorry i had to get a couple of puns in the story but those are just the bare facts.
The NHL Awards presented by Bridgestone returns to Las Vegas again on Wednesday June 19th with this time at the Mandalay Bay Events Center instead of last years location at the Hard Rock. This is the 10th Annual NHL Awards show which celebrates the top talent of the 2018-19 season.
If you are interesting in attending the show starts on June 19th at 4:30 pm with the doors opening at 3:30pm and at the time of writing this there is still a few tickets left. The tickets are $30 for seats together or $20 for split seats plus the usual taxes and fees. These are the cheap seats and will be a distance from the stage but an option if you are a fan or want a break from the casino floor.
Hotel Pickup Locations: Most large Strip resorts as you can see in the sign above have designated pickup locations on the property for Uber or Lyft. The locations might take a bit of waking but generally aren’t too remote but might take a bit of walking. On smaller properties on the Strip or Downtown if you don’t see the sign i would ask at the hotels front desk.
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