Visitreno

[organgecrush]

I am jumping the gun because I still haven't left yet, but I can't wait for my trip tomorrow.

I had room offers from Eldorado properties and Sands. Circus Circus will let me use weekend nights for my room offers, so that is where I am staying for 3 nights.

I have stayed there before, and I found the rooms to be big and recently remodeled. I am excited to see the new restaurant options in Silver Legacy and Circus Circus.

I love football and sport betting, so I am jacked to be there Friday to Monday. It looks like Cal Neva sports book does a lot for football. Does anyone know if any of the other down town properties have events for watching football?

I play a lot of blackjack, and some craps. My visits typically involve wandering the 6 downtown casinos.

I make time to visit Little Nuggett for awful awful burger and fries. I often eat at Top Deck in Cal Neva from a convienence and bargin standpoint. Any other unique meal or restaurants I am missing downtown? I love a good deli, so I am anxious to try Canter's in Silver Legacy.

I will update when I get back.

[john]

Hi orangecrush,
If you're a fan of big breakfast, try Peg's Glorified Ham n Eggs in downtown Reno. They now have 8 locations.
Hope you have a great time and win loads of money.

[BC Dave]

Have fun and best of luck! Looking forward to your trip report.

[organgecrush]

I am finally getting to my trip review.

I arrived Friday morning, Oct 13. Shuttle from airport to Circus Circus, and to my surprise I was able to check in at 10 a.m.
I think I was in the Casino tower, elevator on the casino level next to hotel registration. I will say I was impressed with the hotel. My floor hallway had all new paint and carpet, looked very new and nice. My single king bed room was at the end of the hallway, and quite large. new paint, carpet, TV and bathroom counters. Everything looked recently renovated.
My first stop after checking in was to the William Hill sports book in circus circus to collect some winning tickets. This was my first trip to the sports book since renovation, and it looks great. Maybe a little on the small side, but I spent most of Saturday and Sunday there watching football, and it was never crowded like Silver Legacy, which looks great too. I think the Circus Circus sports book was just right, easy to get drinks at the bar and place bets and no lines.
My first meal was at Little Nugget for awful awful burger and fries. Very good, and consistent. Hard to beat.
I spent the rest of Friday walking around downtown, playing some blackjack.
One thing about Harrahs, they were having a celebration for their 80th year anniversary that weekend. I walked through the property, and other than staff wearing special tee shirts, nothing seemed different. At 5 there was to be a big celebration in the their plaza, and I walked by and there were maybe 30 people in the plaza. Just seemed to reinforce how neglected the property is now. Nobody cared or wanted to show up.
Friday night was watching and betting football, and blackjack at silver legacy. Fun tables and dealers, just fun social night. I had a hotdog and beer at Cal Neva sports book at 5. then at midnight I had a slice of pepperoni pizza at Hidden Pizza in Eldorado, first time for me and it was very good and quick.
I skipped breakfast on Saturday, spent the morning waiting for Canter's Deli to open in Silver Legacy. It was excellent. I had corned beef and swiss on rye, with potato salad. I love a good deli, and this hit the spot. However, as a comparision, I like the Manhattan Deli at Atlantis better. But Canter's was very good. No real complaints. I am trying to remember what was so great about Manhattan Deli corned beef. But it was just better. But I would have not problem going to Canter's.
Saturday was mostly football watching, some blackjack between Silver Legacy, Cal Neva and Sands.
I usually hate the prospect of just doing buffet, I like a more specialized meal. But there are times when I just want a slab of beef and salad and veggies. So, Saturday night dinner was at Silver Legacy buffet. Good, and hit the spot and I was able to use food comps at both Canter's deli and Buffet.
Sunday was breakfast at Top Deck at Cal Neva. Hard to beat their breakfast for value and quality. Just an excellent diner and priced right. I had a mexican skillet scramble, and was excellent. used food comps there too.
Sunday was mostly watching and betting football at sports book at circus circus and Silver Legacy. The Silver Legacy sports book is much larger and louder, but was borderline crowded. I came to prefer circus circus sports book, just because the bar had easy access and was much easier to find a seat.
Dinner was Habit Burger, in the new circus circus food court. First time eating there. Very good, very comparable to 5 guys.
After dinner was trying to get the rest of my gambling fix in, black jack and craps. Fun night, again had great people at the blackjack tables and fun dealers.
I had offers for 2 free nights at Silver Legacy, Eldorado and circus circus; but only circus circus could I use those nights for Friday and Saturday. Sunday I had to pay for, but it was only $52. I was not charged resort fees for my comped nights. At checkout my total bill was less than $65 for all three nights.
I have to say that I am very impressed with the changes being made at the Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus. I would gladly stay in Circus Circus in the future. My room was large, the bathroom was big. The furnishings and TV looked very new. Paint and Carpet.
I will contrast that with my 3 night stay at Harrahs in April. I will just say that in the 90's and early 2000's Harrahs was the premier resort downtown and had a great vibe. It is in dire need of paint, carpet and some tlc. I don't want to slam on Harrahs for the sake of degrading the property. I will just say I would rather gamble at any of the other downtown properties. And also, having spent multiple nights at all downtown hotel/casinos in the last 18 months, I would rather stay at Sands than Harrahs. Hopefully, CET will decide to upgrade their Reno property and promote it and find a way to get staff that show some personality. All I need is a friendly dealer, drink service and clean area to hang out.
But I digress. It was a good trip, but made some bad football bets that ate away at my bankroll.
I am planning for a March Madness trip. I want to stay at one of the outlying casinos: Peppermill, Atlantis or Grand Sierra. or eve Nugget in Sparks. But not going there to get tracked and rated for comped rooms, I probably have to go with my offers from Sands and Eldorado Properties. It is hard to beat free rooms for 2 nights, and if I wanted to move during my stay I could combine Sands offers for 2 more night too.
I do love the diversity of downtown Reno. I just wish one of the downtown properties had a indoor pool area.
As I grow older, Reno is just so much better for my style. If I am taking just a screw off gambling trip, give me Reno over Las Vegas any day. I despise 6/5 blackjack tables, which almost all strip casinos are now unless you want to bet $25 hand. Reno has better games, few people and I can buy a miller light for $3.75 compared to $7 in Las Vegas. 2 or 3 trips a year to Reno will suit me just fine.

[SeahawkSiren]

Thanks for the nice review. I appreciate the level of detail.

I agree with you about Harrah's. That property has been on life support for awhile. It has been sad to see such decline there.

Glad you liked Canter's Deli at SL and Hidden Pizza at Eldo. I love both of those places.

I guess I will have to check out CC sports book some time during football season. Always go to SL sports book but it does get crowded, and there have been years where we had to be down there by 8:30 a.m. to a get table, even though the games don't start until 10:00!

My dad recently returned from Reno and he too stayed at CC. He had many similar comments to yours - nice rooms, recent renovations, etc. He was very happy with his room. He won a $4,000 Royal Flush hit on video poker at Harrah's on his last day. Total fluke too. His original flight back to Seattle was cancelled and he was just killing time until his later flight when he hit it. Dang it! Why don't I ever have luck like that?

[BC Dave]

Thanks OrangeCrush for the 'back to basics' trip report. Good food, free drinks and gambling ..... Paradise! Thanks, also, for your reviews of Circus Circus' accommodations, sport book and the many restaurants, around town, that you checked out. I like Circus Circus' big rooms too and when I've stayed there, they've been clean and in good shape. Too bad that Harrah's is still in decline.