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Only a hour flight away from Las Vegas we visit frequently, sometimes once a month. I'll be sharing our trip reports, tips on making the most of your stay in Vegas, reviews of restaurants and shows we have seen, along with my thoughts related to our favorite place to get away from it all.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Cosmopolitan Las Vegas February Trip Report

Above is the view from our Wrap Around Terrace Suite at Cosmopolitan on the 69th floor, number 6993 in the east tower. Below is Randy sitting in the VIP registration lounge which is located within the glass doors near the regular registration desks.
Our stay at Cosmopolitan was the last two days of our five night trip that began on February 10th with the first three days at Palazzo. I will be writing up our stay at Palazzo soon but first wanted to cover Cosmopolitan since it's new and there's a lot more interest in it at the moment then the LVS casinos.
Earlier in the trip we were at Cosmopolitan attending a party that our friend Kydds had in his Wrap Around Terrace Suite and before we joined it we went to the Identity desk like last trip where we were upgraded to Gold without speaking to a host because none were available. This time I asked to speak again to a host and Socalgirl, Randy and I got to talk to one and so were upgraded to Platinum status, due to not just being Platinum status with Mlife and Grazie Gold, but on our play history too and the frequency of our visits.
The main reason why I wanted to be upgraded was I had seen the lines at various times in front of the normal registration desks of Cosmopolitan and it looked like if you come at the wrong time you might be standing in them for a long time and more importantly Platinum level helps in getting the view of the Bellagio fountains which is not guaranteed even if you take one of their premium view rooms.
The taxi ride from Palazzo to Cosmopolitan was quick with the driver not trying to long haul us, as has become the norm with some Vegas cab drivers and he was also friendly so we tipped him generously since I always like to encourage the nice honest ones to stay that way. Valet quickly checked our luggage while warning us that we would likely have to wait for a room because it was only 11:30am.

The VIP registration lounge which is separate from their VIP Platinum Identity Lounge was a quick walk from valet and we were soon greeted by Nolan and offered chairs in front of his desk and champagne. We turned down the champagne but did accept some water while he looked to see what kind of view of the Bellagio Fountains he could find for us. The only thing he found that was available with the view we wanted was on the 22nd floor of the west towers and he told us to go take a look and if we wanted something different to return.
Unfortunately while the view was of the Bellagio Fountains it was also a great view of the parking garage rooftops and some other unsightly views so back to VIP checkin we went. Nolan was fantastic, he insisted we keep that suite until he found us a better one so that I would have someplace to keep my laptop without lugging it around. This was a first for me since most hotels of course want you to release the cleaned suite so they can give it to someone else, which I offered to do but he insisted we keep it for now.
We hadn't eaten yet so we decided to have lunch at Holsteins. Holsteins has marvelous shakes and burgers but my husband who hadn't been feeling well the first couple days of the trip was currently staying away from red meat so he decided to go with a chicken caesar salad. As a gift from the chef they bring out a mini pail of truffled oil popcorn, which was very good.
I don't usually eat burgers (don't ask), so I ordered the Bloody Mary shrimp cocktail which was good. The cocktail sauce also came with a garnish of olives but I ate them before remembering to take the photo.
I also ordered under their mini bun selection the Maine lobster rolls with chive aioli and cole slaw and they were fabulous!

Just as we were finishing lunch we got the call from Nolan that he had found us a suite on the 69th floor in the east tower so we quickly paid up and went back to VIP registration to get our new card keys. While there Nolan answered some questions we had and all turned out to be correct answers, kudos to him for excellence. Unfortunately Nolan was off duty the rest of our stay and we found other employees to still be confused about features and procedures at their hotel and I wasn't surprised to later hear from one of them that most employees were scheduled to have some retraining meetings.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Wicked Spoon Buffet at Cosmopolitan

I'm standing in front of one of the walls as you enter the Wicked Spoon Buffet at Cosmopolitan.
We usually avoid buffet's in Vegas but have at one time or another tried most of the higher rated ones. We enjoyed the Wicked Spoon enough to return to it the next day and both times were for lunch so the dinner buffet likely has some different or additional offerings.
Current price for the lunch buffet at Wicked Spoon is $19.00 and I felt that was a great price considering that the large selection of mini desserts they offer alone would cost about $3 or $4 each at my local Whole Foods.
Quite a few selections are served in individual containers which I thought was a great idea both for sanitary reasons and to avoid the waste that happens at buffets all too often due to people loading up on items they later can't finish. The dish on the right is their chili with a topping of cornbread and my husband says it was outstanding chili.
At the two lunches we ate at there was a lot of pasta selections and short ribs were featured in several dishes from Korean style ribs, in small pasta casseroles and small slices of the boneless meat served in those individual containers.
A lot of the salads were in separate dishes. They had shelled medium sized shrimp and cocktail sauce together in a separate dish though you could take as many dishes as you wanted.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Cosmopolitan Room Service Menu

We stayed in a wrap around terrace suite at Cosmopolitan for 2 nights beginning February 13th and loved the suite and view. I'll be writing about our stay there soon, in the meantime here's the room service menu that was in our room. Remember to click on photos to enlarge them.