My standard hotel reviews include a breakdown by the following topics. Feel free to skip to whichever section you find most interesting.
- Highlights
- Lobby & Check-in
- Room
- Hotel Space / Ambiance
- Food & Drink
- Fitness
- Miscellaneous
HIGHLIGHTS: ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas
Best Vegas trip ever. Ever. Basic room was still beautiful, property was nice, gambling went well ($3,307 profit on the $30 I brought to Vegas), and the food was decent as well. I’m sorry it took so long to write this as it’s now about a month old, but thinking about it now still brings a smile to my face.
LOBBY & CHECK-IN
This luxurious property is located on the east side of the Las Vegas Strip, near the Cosmopolitan and Monte Carlo (now remodeled to Park MGM). The casino is actually located pretty far from Las Vegas Boulevard, with a long row of checkin stands, next to the concierge. Using our Mlife Gold status, we bypassed the long line of travelers, which is always a nice perk.
ROOM
This basic king room had cool technology, with a tablet able to control everything electronic or otherwise – television, blinds, lighting, etc. There were, however, many small issues with the room, such as the shower not draining well, and blinds not sliding along the track properly. The first day I felt like a project manager, directing housekeeping and engineering teams to fix everything that went wrong. They were gracious in offering a $150 food credit, which I was very, very grateful for.
Note that the minibar is touch sensitive, but they are understanding, and while I knocked over a couple snack bags they were quick to reverse those charges.
HOTEL SPACE / AMBIANCE
The Aria Las Vegas caters to a more refined and upscale audience, as evidenced by the people I saw on the hotel and casino floors. Plenty of professionals and conventioneers. On the second floor, there is also a small gaming room with several couches and flat screen tvs, where you can rent game systems to play for a fee (~$30/hour I believe). Very interesting business concept, and interesting to me that there was enough demand to warrant this!
FOOD & DRINK
I sampled a large variety of establishments in the Aria Las Vegas, eating out multiple times a day. One restaurant, Lemongrass, had decently good Asian food, ranging from Chinese dim sum to Vietnamese noodles and Thai iced teas. I ate here both takeout and dining in something like 6-8 times over the course of the week.
The Aria Café was average at best. Note that everything is overpriced, but that’s what you can expect in Las Vegas hotels.
The pizza at Five50 was surprisingly good, for a $6 slice. Large in size, tasty and hot, fresh from the oven, excellent for late night eats.
The Buffet at Aria was good, and free for me thanks to the loyalty points earned in MyVegas. $39 for dinner though, there are better options (such as at the Cosmopolitan).
Lastly, Bobby’s Burger Palace, located outside the property and closer to Las Vegas Boulevard, was mediocre. I expected better from a celebrity restaurant, but those burgers were bland and too heavy on the bread. Their shake was a small redeeming factor.
Also, I have a full review of Julian Serrano Tapas here. They were kind enough to allow me to review their establishment!
FITNESS
Their fitness center is massive, located on the second floor near the pool and spa area. They have fresh towels, small bottles of water, and lockers for your use. Very important – several lunch sessions I hit the machines beforehand, cleaning up several hundred dollars a couple times, and having that security of locking the ticket away was very helpful.
MISCELLANEOUS
My highlight within this casino would be the gambling and eating. I watched a high roller gambling thousands of dollars per hand of blackjack and going from $4,000 to over $17,000 in the span of about an hour. He walked past me, doubled back and dropped five $100 chips in my hand, calling me his lucky charm. What a treat! I also enjoyed checking the machines for advantage play options, as well as their $10 Free Bet and Ultimate Texas Hold’em tables, making a few hundred the last weekend. Overall, this week-long trip netted $3,307 towards our mortgage, with nearly half of that from the airport, and $1,000 only on that last day. I hope to come back soon, and get more food credit, as they have some more expensive restaurants to try as well.
Featured Image is the bed in our room. Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links which, should you click through and/or make a purchase, grant me a commission. Also, I only post in the best interest of my readers. Lastly, thank you for supporting my blog and my travels.
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Yes! You need to check out Sage next time. The menu doesn’t necessarily sound the most exciting but it’s playful enough to keep things interesting. Overall, though, the experience and quality were both top-notch. Room charged to Delano to take advantage of my F&B credit there.
Sounds good I’ll be sure to check that out! Thanks for reading & commenting. I don’t get much F&B only what’s publicly available since I don’t gamble high enough.
“He walked past me, doubled back and dropped five $100 chips in my hand, calling me his lucky charm.” Why doesn’t this happen to me?!!
Totally Agree. It was so unexpected.