The restaurants inside Caesars Palace

[Alan Mendelson]

This surprised me... with the exception of Central which is run by a third party, ALL of the restaurants at Caesars Palace are owned and operated by Caesars with the "names" and "brands" of the big chefs all licensed.

[Dan Druff]

This surprised me... with the exception of Central which is run by a third party, ALL of the restaurants at Caesars Palace are owned and operated by Caesars with the "names" and "brands" of the big chefs all licensed.

I have a lot of experience with Caesar's. I will go over all of the restaurants below:

Central is the only 24-hour restaurant on the premises. It is owned by chef Michael Richard. The food is pretty good there, and it's probably the best 24-hour place on the strip. The big problem with Central, however, is that you can't use food-and-beverage credits there, nor can you use those "free food" coupons you get in the Caesar's mailers. You can use RCs, but no other form of food comp will work there, which is a big problem when this is the only 24 hour place on the property.

Old Homestead Steakhouse has replaced "Nero's", and is pretty good. It is completely owned by Caesar's. They take all forms of comps. The place does have two problems: First, it has no atmosphere. It's crammed into a small space right along one of the two main Caesar's walkways. Second, it is way too expensive. I'd say everything is marked up about 40% there. Steaks that normally go for $50 a la carte in prime steakhouses are about $70 at Old Homestead. There is no reason for this, other than gouging people. I only go here when I have a coupon or food credit.

Rao's is also very expensive, and the food isn't that good. It's Italian. Read the Yelp reviews of the place. Most people don't seem to like it. Rao's is a beloved place in New York, but much like the watered-down version of Broadway shows in Vegas, the west's version of this restaurant pales in comparison. I do believe all comps work here, and it is partially owned by Caesar's.

Mesa Grill is owned half by Bobby Flay and half by Caesar's. I like it. My girlfriend isn't crazy about it. It's Southwestern food. It is fairly expensive here, but I go here a lot when I have food comps or coupons. They take all forms of comps.

I am not sure who owns Nobu. I tried to use a food comp there when they first opened (about 4 weeks into it) and they had a REALLY hard time getting it to work. They finally just took $75 off my meal after a LONG wait to get it working. Frustratingly, they charged $75 back to my RCs the next day after I left! Took a long time to get this resolved. Anyway, they stopped taking those food coupons at that point. I'm not sure if they have started again. I think charge-to-your-room food comps still work with Nobu. It is very good, but ridiculously expensive. I took my girlfriend there once just because she wanted to go really badly. The Nobu hotel is in the former (and quite old) Centurion Tower. I'm not sure how nice it is, since it's in such an old tower, and there's only so much you can do to renovate an old hotel.

The food court is called Cypress Street Marketplace and mostly sucks. It ranges from moderately overpriced to extremely overpriced, but they take all comps. The problem is that Caesar's invented its own fast food brands instead of using trusted ones with experience. So rather than McDonalds, Burger King, or Fatburger, their burger place's name is just a picture of a hamburger. Their Asian place is called "Ah So" (I'm not kidding) and most people don't like it. Their Mexican place is called "Ole'" (lame) and again, most people don't like it. There is a decent place with a comfort-food theme, which always seems to be the most popular. That's where I go. There is a pizza place which is RIDICULOUSLY expensive, charging like $6.50 for a slice of pizza. Unfortunately, that's the only food court stand open after 11pm (I think it's open 'til 3am). I remember trying to order a whole pizza there ($26) and they refused, even though whole pizzas were on the menu. They told me they had to make a separate whole pizza for me, and I had to wait 15-20 minutes, even though a whole pizza was sitting right there (and nobody else was in line!) I demanded they sell me the pizza that was ready, and when I pulled out my Seven Stars card, they consulted the manager by phone, who authorized it. There is also some cold-sandwich place (pre-made), but it's usually very empty, so I can't imagine it being too good.

Caesar's really needs a 24-hour cafe where comps work, and they also need a fast-food type option after 11pm other than ripoff pizza.

[Alan Mendelson]

What are these food coupons or food comp you mentioned?

[Dan Druff]

What are these food coupons or food comp you mentioned?

Ah, I forgot that you don't get those coupons because you're not a Las Vegas local. They mail out something to locals every month that includes two $50-$75 food coupons, one for the first half of the month, one for the second half. You also typically get $100-200 in freeplay every week. You will get much more if you are a really high roller, but if you are a "low 7 Stars" like me, that's what you get.

The food credits are different. You can book rooms that come with food credits (look for your offers online that say "Stay With Us and You Also Get..."), and you also get $100 food credits fairly easily if something goes wrong and you complain enough. I don't ever lie about things to get the $100 credits, but I will speak up if something big is legitimately wrong.

[Alan Mendelson]

Ah, I forgot that you don't get those coupons because you're not a Las Vegas local. They mail out something to locals every month that includes two $50-$75 food coupons, one for the first half of the month, one for the second half. You also typically get $100-200 in freeplay every week. You will get much more if you are a really high roller, but if you are a "low 7 Stars" like me, that's what you get.

This is similar to what I get from Rincon where I can be considered "a local." I wonder if out of towners who go to play at Rincon get a different set of offers during the year such as larger amounts of free play for a limited number of dates-- similar to what I get for Las Vegas?