August Venetian and Palazzo Shopping Event Trip Report!

For anyone who enjoys slot videos, I've just made a page on Facebook for it and hopefully we'll do some fun things like a contest there in the future. It's also where you can ask questions about Las Vegas and let me know if you want me to try to record more then just slot videos on my Vegas trips. Please "like" it, if interested at this link:

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If you are a regular reading of my blog or twitter account you might notice I haven't yet published my July Birthday Trip Report and instead here's my short two night August trip. July will eventually show up but that was six days and I'm in the mood to skip ahead! Okay, I'm just lazy and it was easier for me to skip ahead.

Originally I was NOT going to Las Vegas in August (yeah, I know you have heard that excuse before), my next trip after July was schedule for the end of September for the annual G2e (Global Gaming Expo) convention. However a great offer from Palazzo tempted me along with Bill and his brother Nick encouraging me to go so I thought a two day hit and run trip might result in me returning a winner this summer! So with my wonderful husband's blessing I scheduled my trip.

My flight was on time out of San Jose, the Palazzo limo driver was speedy, and the VIP lounge had me in my room 47-918 a few minutes after my arrival!

After a quick unpack even though I overpacked for a 2 night stay I was down in the casino hitting a bonus on one of my favorite dollar slots Jungle Wild. While it wasn't a big win at $165.00 it hit quickly and I was happy with it.

 Unfortunately I wasn't so happy after I tried the dollar Quick Hit in the Palazzo High Limit Room, the $5 Wheel of Fortune and a few other slots at Palazzo.

I decided to go try my luck in the Venetian High Limit room on Sky Rider and while I got a bonus and one decent hit, I was still losing. Of course it's the first hour or so in Vegas so the losing streak didn't slow me down, instead I decided to lose all of the generous free play on my offer and some of my bankroll too on various high limit slots like dollar Sun and Moon, Diamond Queen and Davinci Diamonds.  Oops!

This streak of losing likely wasn't the best time to decide to enter the Grazie daily tournament but I had a early dinner planned and needed to complete my three sessions soon, so I returned to Palazzo and went to the Grazie player's card desk to redeem my three entries and while there also got the 2nd part of my offer which was a $200.00 Visa Card.

For those of you who haven't heard yet during the week (not the weekend) there is a daily tournament at Palazzo and you can earn one entry per a thousand points earned from 7am to 5:30pm up to a max of three entries. You must play these entries before 5:30pm. I believe these times are correct but if I'm off 30 to 60 minutes sorry about that!

If you have played in the Wynn daily slot tournaments the machines are basically the same type. Each session last three minutes which doesn't seem that long unless you do all three tournament sessions one after another like I did.

The first prize is $1000 free play, second prize is $500 and it goes downward from there with only 50 participants getting prizes and the last 30 or 40 places winning only around $20 free play, but hey it's free as long as you were going to get those points anyway that day with gambling!

In June I won $100 free play in one of my sessions and a couple $20 wins. On my July trip my Mom won $100 free play but I just had a few $20 free play wins. Today my scores were so bad that when I checked after dinner to see if any free play had been added to my account it was zero, not even a twenty for me!

After the tournament sessions I still had a hour before dinner and I had a couple wins before my hopes were dashed with more losses both on dollar and penny slots.

In July I had a bunch of wins on the original Sex and the City slot but not this trip, the bonuses were few and the darn ring bonus that never pays much was the one I kept getting when I did hit a bonus. It was time for a Bellini to cheer myself up! Cheers!

After losing on Sex and the City it was time to go to dinner. Once again the flower ladies at Palazzo had a change of colors and looked beautiful! It was difficult to get a photo without a crowd as both Venetian and Palazzo was very crowded,  at the restaurants, public areas and casino. While there was a convention there, I was still surprised at the amount of people on a Tuesday night.

Vegas in June with friends for Grazie Summer Gift Show!

I'm so late with this trip report, but I had too much fun not to write it up. This was a quick two day trip to Vegas before going on to a JWE (Joker's Wild Gambling Emporium) Meet in Lake Tahoe. A reminder for those of you who prefer live trip reports that I frequently tweet during my trips at:
https://twitter.com/imevoni

 The flight out of San Jose Airport on Southwest was on time and arrived at McCarran a few minutes early!

I didn't have to wait long for my luggage and my limo driver quickly drove me to Palazzo where VIP registration had me in one of my favorite suites in the 900 even section on a high floor.

After dropping my luggage off in my room it was time to meet my friend Leah for lunch at Yardbird!

It was restaurant week but both of us passed on the menu because we didn't want so much food, however it was a great deal.

The Yardbird lunch menu:

I like spicy drinks and they didn't have any on their speciality drink menu but our server suggested that the bartender could make me a spicy jalapeño Margarita and it was very good!

Leah and I share the appetizer BLT which is Pork Belly, Greens, Tomato Jam and house made Pimento Cheese. It was tasty!

Both of us ordered the light and delicious Mango Salad with the addition of seared Florida Shrimp.

After lunch we met up with Bill and his brother Nick to go to the Grazie Summer Gift Show and on our way there ran into our friend Alicia (Ladyclare). Alicia was in town for fun and also to work at EDC which would start in a couple days.

Joel Robuchon Restaurant at MGM Grand

It's been on my Las Vegas bucket list now for years to eat at Joel Robuchon's restaurant at MGM Grand. My husband never wanted to try the degustation 16 course dinner so I knew that like e' at Jaleo I would eventually have to go with a friend to this restaurant, so I was thrilled when Noleman told me had comps to burn on his June Vegas trip and invited me to be his guest!

It got even better when I found out that Joel Robuchon now had other options then their four hour plus 16 course dinner! In addition to the degustation 16 course dinner there are now four different prix fixe menus to select from called "Choix Des Plats De Menu Express" which means you might be able to get a quick dinner under 3 hours! The prices for these dinners before drinks, tax and service start at $127.00 per person, then $169.00, $198.00 and $250.00 per person which compared to the $445.00 per person for the degustation gives you plenty of food to taste at this 3 star Michelin restaurant at a more reasonable price point.

In the past Joel Robuchon's restaurant would send a limo to bring their guests to the restaurant but this has recently been discontinued (it's possible this is only temporary so check with them when you make your reservation) so Noleman and I met up in the MGM Grand Casino prior to our reservation. This was the first time Noleman and I had met in person. Some ladies I know had met Noleman at a past message board Meet and told me I would enjoy his company and I liked his sense of humor on the boards so I was looking forward to his company at dinner and I guess Noleman felt from reading the blog that he would enjoy mine.

The restaurant seated us immediately in their smaller dining area with the living wall. The restaurant might call this something else, but living wall works for me. From our table we could look into the main dining room which is intimate and elegant but I preferred our smaller room.

The moment we set down we were greeted, and the first amuse was set out which had quinoa in it. I'm not sure what else, but I did like it. Drink orders were taken and we were given time to decide which prix fixe we would like. Both Noleman and I decided to do two appetizers, a main and dessert which was the $198.00 per person option.

Calling all bread lovers this is your restaurant! They come around with a bread cart with about twenty choices or more! Noleman went with a baguette and I had the brioche with gruyere, there was also a second type of cheese roll that wasn't soft. Both of us had the bacon roll, don't miss that!

There's a second cart (see photo above) where they carve butter off a huge mound and I believe they said was it was hand churned from Brittany, France. They finish the butter off with a sprinkle of  fleur de sel. There's also a special olive oil from Spain that they place on the table.

The second amuse was a delicious strawberry tomato gazpacho with cheese, pistachio and a drizzle of balsamic.

My bread selections, brioche with gruyere, and the bacon rolls.

Both Noleman and I had Le Homard for our first appetizer which is Maine lobster in thinly sliced turnip with a sweet and sour dressing. I loved this appetizer and would have gladly had it as my second one too.

Noleman had foie gras for his second appetizer and I forgot to take a photo of it. He wasn't able to finish the generous portion because it was very rich. I had the white asparagus appetizer and while good it wasn't a stand out and I would not order it again. Someone plating seems to have a sense of humor, notice the one asparagus spear standing up? ;)

Below is Noleman's entree. My bad because I can't recall what it was!

I had the Le Black Cod in Malabar pepper sauce with bok choy. It was very good but I wouldn't say it was the best black cod entree I have ever eaten. The best for me was at Alain Ducasse's Mix restaurant  which closed last year.

A signature side dish of Joel Robuchon is his mashed potatoes. They were creamy and delicious and tasted like they had more butter then potatoes in them!

Noleman ordered the chocolate shuffle for dessert and it looked great!

For my dessert it was the lemon sugar sphere which looked like a glass sculpture of a lemon!

It was filled with lemon sorbet and surrounded by a wonderful panna cotta! This desert was a stand out and tasted as good as it looked!

After our desserts they came with the mignardises cart, translation seductive sweets and they were! I was handed a tiny lollipop that unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of before I ate it! The cart has a huge variety of miniature desserts and candies.

We shared a modest selection of sweets since we were full but apparently not so full we couldn't eat a few more sweets! I loved the ladybug chocolate tart!

At the end of the evening they presented us with a pound cake stuffed with fruit which Noleman insisted I take.

I tried it the next day and it was delicious, easily the best pound cake I have ever eaten!

So, how was service? Noleman and I really hit it off, we had so much to talk about and were switching subjects so quickly that we could hardly break off to talk to the servers when they came around, so service was just right for us that evening.  However in hindsight if you aren't with company having a lively conversation, service might seem a bit slow. We only had one service issue during dinner and that was at the end when I asked to see the list for the dessert ports and the sommelier didn't make it to our table until after we had finished all desserts, which at that point I declined the port.

Michelin rated this restaurant 3 stars but I've also been told that was back in 2009, the last time they reviewed Las Vegas Restaurants. I'm not sure if they would still get the 3 star rating today or if they would perhaps lose a star.  I do know that I enjoyed my food and would return here to eat when I have a large MGM resort credit, but wouldn't go out of my way to return if not using comps. On the other hand perhaps I would if I was celebrating a special occasion where I required a quiet elegant setting with good service and food, then this would be one of my top choices as other fine dining options in Vegas tend to be noisy. Also the fantastic bread and dessert cart here are something you won't find any place else in Vegas, so it's worth experiencing if it fits your budget!