It’s not completely official, but it kinda is….

Let’s get something out of the way. I don’t care that much about the NBA. Different sport. Different fans. Personally, seeing them flop all over the court because an opposing player waved at them seems a bit ridiculous to me.

The league expanding here is not my fight.

The fight is people online still treating T-Mobile like the obvious home… and nobody asking what a new building actually does to the city. To me that’s the real conversation. Anyone not thinking the NBA was coming to Vegas has to be delusional…right?

Don’t judge this by whether Vegas can fit another team.

Let’s judge it by whether Vegas builds something that makes the city better without screwing up what already works. When It comes to sports in Las Vegas, this is the real issue. From track construction, to horrible ownership, to traffic and taxes, we’ve learned enough to do this right.

There are three groups and the NBA plans to announce the winner soon. Twelve to thirteen billion for the team and an arena. Earliest basketball 2028-29.

Nancy Walton Laurie and Bill Laurie. Walmart money. House in Henderson. Bill used to own the Blues.

Steve Apostolopoulos and Marc Lasry. Canadian billionaire plus the guy who co-owned the Bucks when they won it.

Bill Foley and Jerry Colangelo. Knights owner plus the Hall of Famer who used to run the Suns. Foley would be the governor if they win. The Jacks group merged in after months of talking.

Dana White recently got asked if he’s involved. One word: yes. He wouldn’t name a group. I’d be shocked if it wasn’t Foley. However, that’s a complete guess based off therm already having a relationship and Dana regretting that he didn’t get in on a piece of VGK when he could have.

Who wins matters. Foley already owns the Knights and a piece of T-Mobile. That’s either the cleanest operator in town or too much calendar in one pair of hands. The other two groups don’t owe hockey a debt. They also don’t have a Fortress to protect.

The Roommate

T-Mobile is not empty four nights a week. Knights. UFC. Concerts. Awards shows. Random chaos.

You don’t drop 41 NBA home dates into that and act surprised when a Saturday in April is a mess.

Co-arenas do not age well. Dallas is splitting the Mavs and Stars into separate buildings when that lease dies. Ice and hardwood can share a roof. The calendars cannot share a brain.

This is like telling your 10-year-old the newborn is his new roommate… and Mom wants to paint the room pink.

Las Vegas owes the NHL and the Golden Knights a debt for paving the road. UFC already made that building matter. You don’t repay that by turning the Fortress into a timeshare program.

Foley talked $300–$400 million in T-Mobile upgrades last summer. Extra seats. Suites. Then he merged with Colangelo. The serious proposals now point toward a new building, not a hockey barn with a paint job…. GOOD. Silver has called T-Mobile a workable near-term option and talked about groups pitching an entertainment palace. That’s not the same thing as “the league picked T-Mobile.”

A bridge year while something gets built? Survival. I’d be ok with that… I guess.

Making T-Mobile the answer because the internet likes convenient? That’s how you screw up the house. And it’s mostly coming from the fear of issues we have already seen from other sports coming to our city, which is understandable considering what we have been through.

KEEP

The Fortress as a hockey and fight building.

Summer League.

The idea that sports here are supposed to be entertainment, not just a home slate.

That’s the thesis. Don’t touch it.

FIX

The arena has to solve a Vegas problem. Not create another one.

Don’t build another giant box and figure out traffic afterward.

Don’t put it somewhere because the dirt is available.

Don’t make locals drive through tourist traffic to watch a Tuesday game.

Don’t build 21,000 seats and then spend the next decade pretending every seat needs to be filled by someone staying on the Strip to see their home team. #vegasborn is a thing for a reason.

Who is this thing actually for?

That’s the question hiding under “founding season.”

If the only way the math works is hotel packages, suites, and $200 nights with better lighting, you didn’t add a team. You added another tourist luxury product. Locals become the people who show up on a random Tuesday if anything is left. Parking becomes another Strip tax. Concessions become another “you’re on vacation” receipt. Premium seating eats the building.

Does an NBA team create a new reason to visit Vegas… or does it just give people who are already here one more thing to buy?

Those are not the same business.

And here’s the part everyone forgets.

An NBA arena gets 41 home games.

That’s it.

Vegas does not build 20,000-seat rooms for 41 nights. The real business is everything around them. Concerts. UFC. College basketball. Boxing. Summer League. Awards shows. Corporate events. Whatever else can fill a calendar.

So don’t ask me whether Vegas needs another basketball arena.

Ask me whether Vegas needs another entertainment building.

If you’re going to spend billions on a palace, it has to work on the 41 nights the NBA isn’t playing there too.

Then there’s the map.

Chetak already owns the dirt across from Mandalay Bay. Las Vegas Boulevard and Four Seasons Drive. Eleven acres. They’re pitching Diamond Arena — 21,212 seats, basketball-first, even a private-jet tunnel. They are not one of the three bidders. They’re trying to sell or partner the site to whoever wins.

That’s still the south Strip.

Different driveway. Same small area.

If every new stadium and arena lands in the same corridor, we’re not building a sports district. We’re concentrating traffic.

Why does every new thing have to live on the Boulevard?

What happens if somebody actually builds north — Resorts World, Fontainebleau, a reason for Ruffin to stop treating Circus Circus like a museum of bad decisions? West of the Strip? Henderson?

I don’t have to pick the dirt.

I do have to ask why the default answer is always “put it where the tourists already are.” Maybe this is obvious, but not very “local” feeling.

Fix transportation before the ribbon.

Fix locals pricing before the founding-season brochure.

Fix the calendar so the palace isn’t dark 200 nights a year.

KILL

“Just use T-Mobile.” That’s comment-section convenience, not a plan.

“More sports = better Vegas.” Another logo is not automatically a better city.

The taxpayer “build it because sports” blank check.

Does the NBA need Vegas more than Vegas needs another sports team?

That’s a better question than who deserves the press conference.

The Only Test

If the NBA comes, gets its own building, and the Knights still own T-Mobile… Vegas can gain something.

If the NBA comes and the Fortress becomes a shared Google Calendar… we traded a working house for a press release.

If the palace only works when a tourist is paying Strip prices… we didn’t add a team. We added inventory.

Who owns it changes the politics.

Where it sits changes the city.

The roommate gets the clicks.

The real questions are who it’s for, where it sits, and what it does the other 324 nights.

North Strip, south Strip, or some dirt nobody’s named yet, and is this for locals on a Tuesday, or just another thing to sell people who already bought a room? Drop it below.

-Jason

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As always, my thoughts are my own; they are NOT sponsored. I pay for my experiences, and I reserve the right to praise and talk shit about whoever and wherever I feel warranted… Hope you enjoy!

Or at least the most expensive one.

We cook at home a lot. Not just to save money. Because the food is usually better. So when we drop $350 to $500 on dinner on vacation, I want to be impressed. For the last several years, I’m not. A handful of places still hit. The rest is one of the bigger letdowns on the Strip.

That’s why I don’t do star reviews anymore. I do the Vegas Return Test.

Would I spend my own money and happily go back?

For this one the question is even more useful.

Would I actually choose this place again when I already have somewhere to be?

You Don’t Need a Destination. You Need Dinner.

Knights game. Concert. You’re staying at New York-New York. You’re three drinks in and realize lunch was a bag of something from the room.

You don’t need sparklers and a dance routine with the entrée.

You need food.

That’s Gonzalez y Gonzalez.

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That’s not coming back.

The U.S. ambassador to Italy is going to give it his best shot though.

Shareholders approved the deal Tuesday in Reno. $31 a share. About $17.6 billion with roughly $11.9 billion in Caesars debt riding along. He does not own it today. The FTC already asked for more paperwork. Gaming boards in every Caesars state still have to bless it. Close talk is still the first half of 2027.

None of that is the interesting part.

The interesting part is what the hell he should do with it.

I already wrote the prediction piece in June. Service. Flamingo. Food. Fees. That was before the vote.

So Tillman I’ve always admired your way of doing business, and several of your quotes. If you’re listening, here’s my unsolicited 2 cents….

Now let’s play a different game.

Keep / Fix, Or Kill ?

The Only Rule That Matters

Fertitta’s golden line is…

Caesars has been running the opposite playbook for years. Worst check-in energy on the Strip. Room mix-ups after a delayed flight. Deposits that vanish into a policy. Staff who look at a screen and say no because the screen said no. Broken Kiosks, a horrible app……

If people start getting let go and the ones who stay can actually solve a problem, that’s the tell that something is changing. If the same faces are still reciting the same script in 2028, nothing changed. He just bought a bigger spreadsheet.

Caesars forgot that part.

He doesn’t need these buildings to look like Fertitta buildings. He needs them to work.

KEEP / FIX

Caesars Palace

Keep the name. Fix almost everything behind it.

This is the crown jewel. You don’t kill it. You also don’t get to leave it as a famous logo attached to a shrug. It should be what this whole division stands for, close enough to challenge Bellagio and Wynn on attitude, not just on a billboard. Change the service. Change the walk-in feeling. If Palace still feels like a mall with a Colosseum after he owns it, he bought the wrong company.

Flamingo

Keep the name. Rip out the stupidity.

I said renaissance in June. I’m louder now. Delete the Vanderpump layer. Delete the Ramsay layer. Lean into Bugsy, the pits, the pink, the old-school heat. Think Golden Steer energy with food that doesn’t need a TV contract to justify the check. This place survives on geography and nostalgia. Give it a personality again before the nostalgia dies.

Harrah’s

Keep the brand. Nationwide.

Selling Harrah’s to “simplify” is how you blow up market share and gut Rewards. The problem isn’t the name. The problem is nobody can tell you who it’s for.

It should be the budget-minded gambler’s safe house. Not flashy. Great comps. Its own staple restaurants instead of another celebrity-chef gift shop. Bring the Mardi Gras idea back and mean it. In many of them the rooms are still behind. Fix those. Don’t turn it into a fake luxury play so it can charge like Palace.

Horseshoe

Keep. Stop ignoring the street.

The inside has already been spruced up and it looks better than people want to admit. Bally’s is gone. Good. The Grand Bazaar Shops are supposed to go. I don’t think thats the right play. Just do something with that sidewalk that isn’t timeshare clipboards and ticket barkers.

Make the outside semi-permanent food trucks and bar stands. Downtown Container Park energy, except this block actually has traffic. Don’t you dare touch Chilangos. Run the cheap hustle off the curb. Bring in some Landry’s specifics and charge the others rent. The hotel can stay a hotel. The street should feel like a reason to stop.

LINQ

Keep the bones. Change the menu.

The promenade and the High Roller still give this place a job no other Caesars property has. Rooms work for the people who book them. Guy’s can Go!!. Drop a Saltgrass in with a breakfast and lunch special and dinners that don’t require a second mortgage. Leave the block loud. Make the food make sense.

Paris

Keep the French. Fix the product.

Hands off the tower. Hands off the theme. Sprinkle in new Landry’s concepts that actually belong under a French roof and a couple of specials that don’t feel like a food court with an accent. Paris was supposed to feel like the nicer stay. Horseshoe next door was supposed to be the bargain. Put that pairing back.

KILL / SELL

Planet Hollywood + the empty dirt next door

Sell the package.

That’s spending money. Location is the asset. The brand is tired. If the FTC wants a Strip body, this is a cleaner sacrifice than lighting Harrah’s on fire.

Vanderpump

Goodbye.

The brand is dumb, it doesn’t fit, and the royalties are a tax on a hotel that was already confused. Girls’ weekend can exist somewhere that isn’t paying a reality-TV vig to feel pink.

Tahoe, if the law forces his hand

Keep Golden Nugget. Keep Harrah’s if he’s actually going to make that brand matter. Caesars Republic is the one I’d give up. South Lake is slow most of the year outside ski season. Owning three of the four major houses on that shoreline is the overlap regulators will complain about.

Laughlin, same logic

Dump Tropicana Laughlin if he has to pick one. Don’t die on that hill.

Isle / leftover Trop brands

If they help chip at the debt and don’t protect the Harrah’s gambler, they’re chips. Not heirlooms.

Do not sell Harrah’s as a name. That’s the recognition. That’s the rewards spine.

does not mean set fire to the only brand regulars still understand.

Food and the One Fee

Kill the celebrity-restaurant addiction… everywhere

A guy who already owns Morton’s, Del Frisco’s, Mastro’s, Saltgrass, Vic & Anthony’s, The Palm, Chart House, Strip House, Cadillac Bar, plus Post Oak, King Ranch Texas Kitchen, Brenner’s, La Griglia, and Bloom & Bee does not need to keep writing checks to TV chefs so a hamburger can cost $26. A royalty dressed up as a restaurant can go.

Also replace the food Halls, and take a page from Red Rock and Durango. Bring in names people know for cheaper lunches along with some local staples in the region. Talk to “Stay Tuned” I’d love to see that..

If he only gets one fee win: free parking for rewards members. Locals would feel that before they ever notice a new steakhouse.

The Guitar Next Door

Hard Rock is coming. The giant guitar doesn’t care about his book tour.

does not mean copy the neon. It means Palace and Flamingo have to feel taken care of while that thing tries to steal the block. Keeping up with the Joneses is how Caesars got hollow. Out-service them. I think this is going to be the hard part in Las Vegas.

The Verdict

He bought some dirt, debt, a rewards program, and a bunch of buildings people tolerate instead of love.

only works if he changes the experience and leaves the themes that still work.

Keep Palace, Paris, LINQ, Horseshoe, and the Harrah’s name.

Fix Flamingo until it feels dangerous again in the good way.

Sell PH and Vanderpump for parts.

Give up Republic Tahoe or Trop Laughlin if a regulator puts a gun on the table.

Vegas is about to change whether you like the buyer or not.

So I’ll ask you the same thing I’m asking him.

What would you Keep, Fix, or Kill?

-Jason

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© 2026 Vegas Uncomped

As always, my thoughts are my own; they are NOT sponsored. I pay for my experiences, and I reserve the right to praise and talk shit about whoever and wherever I feel warranted… Hope you enjoy

The sidewalk in front of Bellagio is getting boxed in. People are playing human Frogger at Flamingo and Las Vegas Boulevard. The FUF1 energy is back in the group chats like it never left.

Back in May I wrote that Vegas didn’t have an F1 problem. It had a temporary-infrastructure problem. If you’re going to host Formula 1 for years, stop treating the racetrack like a traveling carnival.

Four months later, Vegas agreed with me.

Sort of.

Clark County locked the race in through 2037. County Manager Kevin Schiller said F1 committed to track-lighting foundations, underground conduit for power and communications, and permanent gates to move traffic. Commissioner Michael Naft said the only reason to give them more years was to condense setup, teardown, and disruption.

Good.

Now show me.

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Not criticism. That’s fine. We all know I’ve written plenty of it.

What bothers me is a hometown paper grabbing numbers from somebody else’s spreadsheet, slapping a small disclaimer on them, and publishing them like gospel.

This week the Review-Journal ran it: a family of four should expect to pay $1,057.75 to see the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. Second-most expensive building in the NHL. Only Montreal worse. League average $766.20.

Here's their story

The source was not a beat reporter walking the concourse. It was Canada Sports Betting. A ranking built off 180,000 Ticketmaster listings, four hot dogs, two beers, two sodas, and one paid parking spot. KLAS ran the same package three days earlier. Tickets alone were listed around $950.

I’m a Knights guy. This one got under my skin. So I tested it. Saturday Knight. Division rival. Seemed like this would be a great average family game KNIGHT!

I Priced the Actual Building

October 10. Kings. Saturday. AXS. Standard tickets. Fees in. Not resale. Season hasn’t even started, so if anything the secondary market still has room to get cheaper closer to puck drop.

Section 219, Row F: $103.95 each. Four seats: $415.80.

I sat near these for the Cup Final. Fine for a family. Fine for anyone actually.

Want cheaper? Section 217, Row N: $351.80 for four.

Want the seats people actually brag about? Section 101, Row G the popular mezz: $619.80 for four.

Glass if money is not the conversation: Section 3, Row N: $863.80 for four. If you can sit near the glass, you were never the customer this ranking was pretending to warn.

Those Saturday prices move about $20 depending on the date. Close enough. None of them are $950 for four tickets. And again this is for a Saturday night which is usually higher.

Where the hell did they get $955?

They averaged ticket inventory across the building, across opponents and across dates. That might be useful for a ranking.

It is a terrible way to tell a family what their Saturday night will cost.

A family doesn’t buy the average seat in the building. They pick a game, pick four seats, buy the tickets and go.

That’s how a ranking gets a headline. It’s not how a family buys a night.

For reference, this year I bought a flex plan: seven games in the 100s, two tickets, $1,892. I also grabbed the F1 collab game, Row G off the glass, two tickets, $399.90. Still not their average.

Then the Part That Really Pissed Me Off

Four hot dogs: they used $33.89.
Two sodas: $15.38.
Two beers: $30.82.

Wrong!

The VGK Locals Menu is $5.50 each for a hot dog, soda, nachos, pretzel, popcorn, and water. Not a rumor. The team and Levy put it in the building for every home game. Season-ticket holders get another 10% off.

Four dogs: $22.
Two sodas: $11.

Two beers: I’ll put them at $20 each, $40 for the pair. That’s higher than their beer line and I’m still not scared of the total.

Parking they put at $22.50. I’ll give them that if you’re a tourist paying a garage. It’s in the neighborhood. If you play at MGM properties, you often park free. Walk from Park MGM or NYNY. Monorail. VGK Express is $2. Parking is a choice in this city. They priced it like a tax.

The Real Saturday Night

Using their parking number, two beers at $20 a piece, and the seats I’d actually take a family to:

Tickets (219 F): $415.80
Four locals-menu dogs: $22.00
Two locals-menu sodas: $11.00
Two beers: $40.00
Parking: $22.50

$511.30.

That’s still $546 under their headline.

Cheaper upper: $447.

Mezzanine four-pack: $715.

Even the glass four-pack plus food, beer, and parking: $959 is still under $1,057.

Their published NHL average is $766.20.

A realistic Saturday Knights night lands well under that average. The mezz night still beats it. You only approach their scare number if you buy the building’s average ticket and ignore the menu that actually exists.

Some games run a little higher. Fine. VGK is not Ottawa. The building sells out. Demand is real. That does not make the $1,057 family package true.

This Is How the City Talks About Itself

I’m mad for Knights fans who might look at that headline and pick another city. I’m more mad that the hometown paper didn’t spend twenty minutes in AXS and on the Locals Menu page before hitting publish.

We didn’t.

Now think about everything else we’re told sucks about Vegas.

“Vegas is dying.”

2025 was a real bruise. Visitation fell 7.5% to 38.5 million. That’s not fake. Then the death narrative kept running after the patient sat up. Through July 2026, visitor volume was up 0.5% year to date. Conventions up 11.2%. Occupancy holding in the low 80s. The city had a soft year. It did not close.

“F1 ruined Vegas.”

The disruption is real. Roads. Koval. Small businesses that got boxed in. That belongs in the paper. So does the other column: the 2024 race generated an estimated $934 million in economic impact, according to Applied Analysis. And F1 now says the first three Vegas races have generated $3.2 billion cumulatively for Southern Nevada. Printing only the nightmare or only the press release is the same sin. Pick a side of the spreadsheet and call it the city.

“Everything on the Strip costs $1,000.”

Sometimes it does, if you buy convenience, average inventory, and the tourist version of every line item. Sometimes a Saturday hockey game with kids is four upper-bowl seats, $5.50 dogs, and two twenties for beer. Both exist. Only one gets syndicated.

How many people stay home because the number they saw first was the worst number available?

I can’t give you a clean headcount. I can tell you headlines travel farther than methods. A betting site builds a ranker. A local desk reprints it. A family in Phoenix decides Knights tickets are a grand before anyone opens AXS.

That’s Vegas punching Vegas.

Not because the Knights are cheap. They’re not.
They’re also not as expensive as our hometown paper is seemingly making them out to be either.

Would you still bring a family to T-Mobile after that headline, or did the spreadsheet already make the decision? Drop it below.

-Jason

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As always, my thoughts are my own; they are NOT sponsored. I pay for my experiences, and I reserve the right to praise and talk shit about whoever and wherever I feel warranted… Hope you enjoy!

Good.

9.1% of American adults currently smoke cigarettes. That’s it.

Canada’s adult smoking rate is about 11%. They are not flying here for the ashtray either.

On a casino floor, the number that matters more is this: in a 2,136-person patron survey, 86% did not smoke. 87% of frequent players did not smoke. 89% of players making over $150,000 did not smoke. 86% said they prefer a smoke-free casino. 90% said safe indoor air mattered.

So why does the minority get to decide what everyone else breathes?

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Let’s Talk About That Carpet

I’m going to say something that might get me banned from the MGM Rewards desk, but someone has to say it: Change the damn carpet.

I don’t mean hire a crew to deep-clean it. I don’t mean throw a stylish area rug over the worst spots. I mean rip it out and replace it. It’s hideous-looking even when it is cleaned. It’s just plain ugly. Over the last few years, MGM Resorts spent roughly $550 million on a massive, multiyear property overhaul. They meticulously refreshed over 2,500 standard rooms in the main tower, dropped $110 million on the Spa Tower, and put the final touch on 400 ultra-luxury suites.

The rooms aren’t the problem anymore. They look fantastic. But then you exit the elevator, step onto the main casino floor, and look down.

While they were bringing in world-class design firms to reinvent the guest experience, it feels like they entirely forgot about the floor. In too many areas, the casino floor looks dingy in places, the carpet is faded, and even some of the high-traffic restrooms are showing serious wear and tear. Unless you are a dedicated smoker, the ambient smell in the casino has to be on your list of complaints; it remains one of the smokiest slots-and-tables floors on the entire Strip. Walking through certain corridors, you genuinely start to wonder if the casino carpet has been there so long it’s eligible for a pension.

The most frustrating part? MGM knows carpet cannot handle the sheer volume of humanity that stomps through this property every day. They already ran into this problem at the Bellagio Main Entrance Walkway. That space greets over 20,000 guests a day. It originally featured custom carpet, but it deteriorated so quickly under the crushing foot traffic that they threw their hands up, ripped it out, and replaced it with a massive stone medallion made of granite and marble.

The proof is literally right at the front door: carpet dies at the Bellagio. So why haven’t they extended that exact same logic to the casino floor? Think about how much cleaner it would look, how much better it would handle the traffic, and how much it would help dissipate that trapped, stale smoke smell if they just tiled the whole damn place. Like they should of done back at the last floor refresh in

Instead, they stick to a rolling, frantic patchwork routine. If you pay close attention, you’ll see them cordoning off small, isolated sections of the slot floor just to lay down fresh squares of the exact same legacy ugly pattern before wheeling the exact same old slot machines right back onto it. It’s a band-aid on a bullet wound.

And here is the weird part: I still love the place.

Something Money Can’t Buy

I don’t stay at the Bellagio very often anymore, mostly because my lungs appreciate a clearer atmosphere. But despite the faded floor and the smoke, I find myself drawn back to its dynamic every single time I’m on the strip.

If anyone ever tries to tell you that Las Vegas is slowing down, tell them to try walking through the Bellagio on any given day of the week. The main check-in line is a permanent, solid wall of people. The Conservatory is packed seven days a week. It is a non-stop cash printer. In fact, I am starting to get the distinct feeling that MGM corporate knows exactly how much money this property prints, which is why they seem entirely unconcerned with refreshing the main floor.

But they can get away with it because Bellagio possesses an intangible gravity that most modern Vegas mega-resorts simply cannot buy. It has history, ritual, and a perfect center-Strip location. The Conservatory and the iconic fountain show still scream “Vegas” in a way that effortlessly sells the dream of a luxury vacation to millions of people who have never even set foot in Nevada.

If you want a pro-tip to bypass the madness: go have a late dinner at the resort, grab a table at Spago or grab a high-end drink at The Vault, and then hit the Conservatory in the middle of the night. It is significantly quieter, the crowds are gone, and the lack of harsh daytime lighting gives the entire floral display a completely different, dramatic vibe.

The Bizarre Economics of the Fountain View

The ultimate testament to Bellagio’s power isn’t even what happens inside its walls, it’s what happens outside them.

Bellagio is one of the only hotels on earth that successfully forces its direct competitors to market and sell rooms on its behalf. Think about the strange pieces of Las Vegas real estate economics at play here. Bellagio prominently markets and commands a premium for its own “Fountain View” rooms. But properties completely surrounding the lake, like The Cosmopolitan, Paris, Vdara, PH, and Caesars Palace, literally generate massive revenue spikes by selling inventory where the main attraction outside your window is... Bellagio.

Every night, thousands of tourists pay an extra $100 to $150 a night to a completely different hotel company just to look at Bellagio’s yard. Its 22-million-gallon lake is essentially the most expensive piece of free marketing for the rest of the Strip. You aren’t paying for the hotel room you are actually sleeping in; you are paying for the masterpiece someone else built across the street.

It Isn’t Frozen in 1998

To be fair, Bellagio isn’t a static time capsule. It keeps evolving its dining and entertainment at a frantic pace.

They recently brought a literal Italian Riva yacht to cruise around the lake as part of the new CARBONE RIVIERA concept, which took over the legendary Picasso space. The Mayfair Supper Club just debuted a brand-new fountainside spectacle, the ultra-exclusive Fountain Club is returning for the F1 Grand Prix with an absurd lineup of celebrity chefs, and they just announced a massive, multi-million-dollar remodel of the 55,000-square-foot Bellagio Spa facilities to open later this year.

They are hyper-focused on keeping the property moving forward. They keep renovating everything, except, it seems, the immediate things you notice the second you step up to a blackjack table.

Why Bellagio Still Matters

Every few years, a developer comes along trying to create the “next Bellagio.” They build flashier towers, install bigger LED screens, and import higher-end finishes.

But Bellagio doesn’t have to be the newest kid on the block anymore. It has achieved something far rarer on the Strip: institutional recognition. In a city that is increasingly designed to keep you moving quickly from one digital distraction to the next, Bellagio still provides the one thing that is becoming impossible to manufacture.

It gives you a reason to stop walking.

Now, if they could just do something about that floor.

-Jason

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As always, my thoughts are my own; they are NOT sponsored. I pay for my experiences, and I reserve the right to praise and talk shit about whoever and wherever I feel warranted… Hope you enjoy!

Michelin has decided to grace Las Vegas with their presence after 17 years. Four restaurants got stars. Three got the “good food, good value” badge. Online, the pocketbook crowd is already out in full force.

I swear I havent seen this much content on Joël Robuchon in years…. 17 to be exact.

“Oh they won a star. I have to eat there.”

No. You don’t.

A tire company putting a plaque on the wall shouldn’t hijack your trip.

Wait a Minute

August 26. First Southwest guide. Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah.

Vegas got four of the five Michelin-starred restaurants in the entire four-state book. The only outsider is Monte in South Salt Lake. No three-star anywhere in the region.

The Vegas winners:

Joël Robuchon at MGM Grand: two stars.

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon: one.

Restaurant Guy Savoy at Caesars: one.

é by José Andrés at Cosmo: one.

Now let’s take a look back at 2009, the last time Michelin bothered with this city.

Joël Robuchon had three stars.

Guy Savoy had two.

L’Atelier already had one.

é is the only new name on the star list. It didn’t exist last time.

So in seventeen years you’re telling me that mostly the same restaurants were deserving of the award?

That’s not a discovery. That’s a reunion tour with a demotion.

Vegas Didn’t Sit Still

How many restaurants have opened since 2009, while Michelin was gone?

Spring Mountain Road turned into a 200-plus-restaurant stretch. Omakase. Korean. Filipino. Izakayas. French tasting menus sitting next to places with no YouTube influencer machine. The Arts District grew up. Independent rooms started mattering. Taco shops became part of how people actually eat here.

Michelin came back and handed stars to rooms it already knew.

Have you ever gotten the same billing amount two months in a row from the water company because they didn’t feel like reading the meter? Yeah…. this is like that.

The broader 2026 guide gave Vegas 24 distinctions out of 64 restaurants across the whole Southwest. So no, they didn’t only notice four palaces. The public just hears the stars. That’s the part that does the damage.

They Aren’t a Fraud. That’s Not the Point

Michelin says inspectors are anonymous. They pay for the meals. The restaurant doesn’t buy the check. I don’t have a receipt that says the stars are for sale, so I’m not willing to write that.

The inspector is not some tourist dropping $500 of rent money either. Michelin the company is writing that check. That separates the inspector from the restaurant. It does not separate the inspector from Michelin’s definition of what matters.

Their scorecard is ingredients, technique, harmony, personality of the cuisine, consistency.

Nowhere in those five criteria do I see:

Would a normal Vegas visitor happily spend their own money here again?

Personality of the cuisine is cute. When was the last time that famous name was actually on the cooking line? Award week, if I had to guess.

The List That Makes Their “Best” Feel Incomplete

I’m not going to sit here and crown a shadow Michelin guide. That’s a different fight. Although I’m kinda thinking about it.

I am going to name a few places that make four stars feel like a very small picture of this city.

Bavette’s. People talk about it like a destination without needing a French plaque to give them permission.

Lotus of Siam. National reputation, off-Strip, already famous before this comeback tour.

Raku. Chinatown. The ecosystem that made Vegas food interesting while Michelin was out of town.

Sparrow + Wolf. They at least put it in the broader selection. Still not a star. Interesting.

Herbs & Rye. Strip chefs have been sneaking off to that room for years. If you want to know what cooks actually like, start there, not with a ceremony.

Piero’s. Old Vegas. Expense-account energy. Personality. The anti-Michelin restaurant, and somehow still more “Las Vegas” than a tasting menu with a dead chef’s name on the door.

Pizza Rock. Not on the list. Of course it isn’t.

Chilangos. A taco operation people should line up for. That is also a Vegas food story. It just doesn’t come with a sommelier.

Those places don’t have to be “better” than Joël Robuchon.

They make Michelin’s definition of the Vegas dining scene feel incomplete.

Because it is.

Esther’s Kitchen got a Bib Gourmand. Maybe it deserves it. Maybe it doesn’t. I know it sure got a ton of “influencer” recognition, though..

And then there’s China Poblano, Michelin’s idea of good food at a good value. WTF?Personally? I don’t agree. I’ve eaten there recently. Calling it a value, first off, is a joke, and the food is nowhere near what it once was. I’d take China Mama or Tacos el Gordo any day of the week.

Bazaar Meat isn’t on the fancy-pants list either. How does e’ beat that? How is the food not the “centerpiece” there? I guess it doesn’t feel fancy enough…

Honestly….. If you think nothing better has opened in this city since 2009, I’ve got oceanfront property in Pahrump to sell you at a great price.

Who Decides

Vegas loves a credential. Best of. Five-star. Chef of the year. Readers’ choice. Now a French tire guide is back to tell you where to sit.

Put a sticker on the wall and the sentence changes.

“I had dinner” becomes “I ate at a Michelin-starred restaurant.”

People stop asking if they liked it. They start asking if it was worthy.

That’s the scam without being a bribe. The badge does the selling.

Michelin can tell you what it thinks is great. That’s fine. It can tailor what it wants for its rules, also fine. I’m not giving them my reservation just because there’s a star on the wall. Especially since they are trying to tell me they haven’t changed in almost two decades.

I’ll use the same test I use everywhere else.

Was it worth the money?

Would I go back?

Would I send someone I actually like?

And if the Michelin plaque disappeared tomorrow, would I still be sitting at that table?

That’s the Return Test.

Because the best restaurant isn’t necessarily the one with the biggest award.

It’s the one you actually want to return to.

Would a star change where you eat this weekend, or would you still go where the food hits? Drop it below.

-Jason

Follow Vegas Uncomped on X • Instagram • TikTok • YouTube • Threads • Facebook for Vegas Hacks, Stories & More.

© 2026 Vegas Uncomped

Plus, we’re going to see AC/DC tonight.

As I continue to be needed in Houston for the next couple of months, I thought I would just share a few thoughts with everyone..

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Tear out Primrose.

Not renovate it.

Not rebrand it.

Not bring in some stupid celebrity chef.

Tear it out and build a food court.

Primrose is the biggest disappointment inside Park MGM. I don’t even think that’s controversial anymore. I’ve said it before. Three visits. Three strikes. Baseball rules apply. You’re out.

It’s trying to be an upscale Denny’s with 10x the cost and about half the flavor. The bacon is hard as a rock. I could stop there. Once the bacon is a hockey puck, the rest of the plate is already on notice.

It isn’t The Henry.

It isn’t Salt & Ivy.

And sitting that close to T-Mobile, with a garden not far from the pool, it could be so much more than a pretty room serving breakfast until 2 p.m.

Park MGM Doesn’t Have a Food Problem

That’s the part people are going to miss.

Park MGM has a stellar list of dining options… for dinner.

Best Friend.

Bavette’s.

La La Noodle

Eataly.

Side Betty when you want a burger, wings, or something after midnight.

Chef food truck…… When it decides to open.

I actually like Eataly. I wrote about Toscana. I finally ate at La Pizza e La Pasta and had a good time. The market is fun, a different take on the other Eataly concepts I have been to. If you want to wander around and turn dinner into a little Italian vacation, it’s one of the better versions of that idea on the Strip.

But let’s talk about what people mean when they say, “Oh Jason, they have Eataly.”

A sandwich and chips.

A piece of pizza.

A quick lunch that somehow turns into a $25+ decision.

That’s not a food court.

That’s a dining destination.

I’m not saying Eataly is bad. I’m saying it’s not solving the lunch problem. Inside Park MGM, Eataly is an experience. Side Betty is attached to a sports bar that happens to feed you. What’s missing is the middle.

The place you go when it’s 105 outside, you’ve been at the pool all afternoon, and you want something good, fast, and reasonably priced without turning lunch into a $60 event.

They Almost Built the Answer

Park MGM already flirted with this.

The Chef Truck is sitting on the casino floor. Roy Choi. Jon Favreau. The whole Chef movie bit. Cubanos. Puff pies. Taquitos. It’s a cool idea.

And that’s exactly the kind of thinking I’m talking about. Local-ish food. Casual. Fast. Different.

Then you look at the hours.

Closed Monday and Tuesday.

Most other days it doesn’t even open until 4 p.m.

That’s not lunch… It’s late-night drunk food, and I’m also ok with that.

One branded truck is not a food court. It’s a photo op with a short menu.

Tear Out Primrose

Primrose is the room I’d give up to fix it.

This isn’t a tiny café. That space is huge. Indoor dining. Drawing room. Garden. Terrace toward the pool. You can put a couple hundred people in there. Then they use it as a brunch set until early afternoon and call it a day.

Think about what that space could do if it wasn’t tied to one menu and one dining experience.

Breakfast at 8.

Lunch at 11.

Pool crowd at 2.

Knights crowd at 5.

Concert crowd at 7.

Late-night crowd at 11.

Same room.

Different customer every few hours.

That’s a lot more useful than a beautiful restaurant that essentially disappears after lunch-especially one with lackluster taste.

I’d take that room, keep the garden, and turn it into an upscale food court. Not Aria’s food hall. That place is fine, but it’s still priced like you’re in a casino. Not exactly NYNY’s food court either. That one is limited, but at least it understands the assignment: get in, get food, get back to your day.

Park MGM should live in the middle of those two.

The Park MGM Food Court

Pizza window. $8–$12.

Taco window. $10–$14.

Asian / noodle window. $12–$16.

Sandwich window. $10–$15.

Burger / chicken window. $12–$16.

BBQ window. Rotating local operator…. Call me!!!

Dessert / ice cream. $5–$8.

Coffee. Actual coffee, not casino coffee, not another Starbucks either.

Beer. Cold. Cheap-ish. No dissertation required.

No damn celebrity chefs……. 🖕Caesars

Hell, Call Earl of Sandwich…

I need six to eight places that understand I’m hungry.

Counters. Garden tables. Pool access, if they can figure out the door. They have one job there. Figure it out.

Partner with the local truck scene and rotate a couple windows. Or go full dream-sequence and put a pit outside. Actual BBQ. Smoke in the garden. That would get people’s attention faster than another Eggslut model…… Again… Call me!

If Station casinos can drag local favorites into their buildings, I don’t know why Park MGM thinks it has to keep serving the same garden-brunch fantasy in the one room that should be feeding arena traffic, pool people, and anyone who just doesn’t want dinner theater at noon.

The Point

I no longer call anything in Vegas affordable. Let’s not get cute.

But what I like about Park MGM is it’s a mix. Nice enough. Useful enough. The Reserve. Dolby Live. A short walk to T-Mobile. Smoke-free. You can have a real night there without needing a second mortgage.

Now imagine that same hotel had a place where lunch didn’t feel like a decision.

That’s the hole.

Park MGM doesn’t need another restaurant.

It needs places to eat.

That’s the difference.

Eataly can keep being Eataly.

Side Betty can keep being Side Betty.

Let Primrose ride off into the sunset with its hockey-puck bacon.

Give me six to eight counters, a cold beer, a $12 lunch, and somewhere to sit without a reservation.

Someone tell me where to sign that petition.

Would you eat there, or is Primrose secretly somebody’s favorite?

-Jason

Follow Vegas Uncomped on X • Instagram • TikTok • YouTube • Threads • Facebook for Vegas Hacks, Stories & More.

© 2026 Vegas Uncomped

As always, my thoughts are my own; they are NOT sponsored. I pay for my experiences, and I reserve the right to praise and talk shit about whoever and wherever I feel warranted… Hope you enjoy!

I am getting so tired of seeing that “narrative.” I was in Houston and had to see a dentist the other day. I was wearing a VGK shirt and hat, and the whole time I had to listen to him talk about how Vegas is dead because no one is going anymore and that the videos are everywhere… Hard to argue while someone is shoving needles and drills in your mouth… Even if they are spitting stupidity.

The actual numbers? Let’s do a short review..

Las Vegas drew about 38.5 million visitors in 2025, down 7.5% from 2024. That’s roughly 3.1 million fewer people. It was the sharpest drop outside the pandemic years.

That’s real.

It is not the whole story.

Gaming held up. The average visitor reported a gambling budget of about $849 in 2025. The Strip’s gaming business remained remarkably resilient despite the decline in visitation. Occupancy and room rates softened, but they were still historically high. And through the first half of 2026, overall visitation stopped collapsing. It was roughly flat, even slightly up.

So no, Vegas did not vanish.

The more interesting question is who disappeared, and who replaced them.

Who Left

One trend I’ve noticed is that there is less and less of the younger 20s crowd in Las Vegas.

The LVCVA’s 2025 Visitor Profile is the clearest look we have.

Visitors in their 20s fell to 9% of the mix. Historically that group sat closer to 15-20%. Kevin Bagger, the LVCVA’s research chief, called it “uniquely low.”

First-time visitors dropped to 10%. For decades that number lived in the 15–25% range. In 1975 it was around 30%.

The decline was concentrated among middle- and lower-income travelers, with especially noticeable weakness among people in their 20s and retirees on fixed incomes.

This completely justifies my thoughts and what I have personally been seeing.

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I really try to tell people about spots on and off the Strip that aren’t just the ones the algorithm is paid to shove in your face.

It’s a little crazy how much marketing can still move the needle. So I look for restaurants that fall into one of three buckets: completely worth it, surprisingly different, or winning by being exactly what they claim to be. Many times this takes me off the strip, but knowing that many people still choose to stay on the same road for their whole vacation…… I look to try places you can access by foot as well.

I’ve walked past Toscana plenty of times. Who hasn’t? It’s the little place right as you come into Eataly from the casino side near Best Friend.

Eataly itself has its critics, and some of them are right. The Las Vegas version has always felt different from the other markets, and I’m not convinced it’s gotten better over the years. Toscana sits in that same complex as the “nicer” option, the one that claims to take you to the Tuscan countryside.

Their own description talks about authentic regional cuisine, elevated cocktails, iconic Italian wines, and the rich experience of Tuscany mixed with Vegas energy. Fine. Marketing copy.

What actually pulled me in was the open wood-fire station.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it:

Vegas needs to put the ovens away more often and cook with real fire. When a restaurant has that kind of setup, it usually shows up in more than just the steak.

The Experience

I’m not a big wine guy when I’m out. I rarely order it because I never know how to describe what I actually like, and the glass prices in this town usually feel like you’re paying bottle money plus a pour. Toscana has one of those sommeliers who works the room. It felt more built into the experience than most places, so I went with it.

You tell him what you usually like, and he makes a suggestion. Fair warning: ask the price before you commit. No reason to take a sticker-shock hit. They’ll let you taste first, which is standard in a lot of places, but the way they handle it here felt a little more considered than most. One glass was enough for me.

Because they also had a smoked cocktail on the menu that was calling my name. Fashionista with housemade Campari syrup, Russell’s 10 Year, and bitters. Smoked and served. I ordered the version for two. $40/$22 for a single; I think they assumed one was for wifey.

They were wrong.

The food is traditional Tuscan in the best sense. Not trying to reinvent anything, just executing the classics with the wood fire doing real work. The Fiorentina is the move if you’re in a steak mood - a big Double R Ranch porterhouse for 2, cooked over the wood fire. It’s 10 ounces larger than what you get at Bavette’s, cooked over open fire and, for my money (costs the same currently), better. Short rib and branzino are both solid too. We didn’t have a bad bite from the Prosciutto E Mozzarella forward..

If you want a broader taste of what Toscana is doing, the $90 three-course prix fixe is probably the smarter play. It gives you a chance to work through several courses instead of betting the whole meal on one big entrée. For a restaurant like this, that’s useful because the appeal isn’t just the Fiorentina. It’s the combination of traditional Tuscan cooking, the wood fire, pasta, seafood, and the overall experience.

I’m not going to turn this into a dish-by-dish rundown. You can look at the menu below. What matters is the overall feel.

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Does It Pass the Return Test?

Would I spend my own money again?
Yes.

Would I recommend it to a first-time visitor?
If they want a proper Italian dinner that doesn’t feel like a Strip performance, yes.

Would I choose it over trying somewhere new?
Sometimes. Especially when I want wood-fire cooking and don’t feel like fighting the hype machine.

If it disappeared tomorrow, would I miss it?
More than a lot of the louder Italian places like Carbone on the Strip.

That’s the part that surprised me.

Toscana doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard. It’s right on the Strip, the pricing is still Vegas pricing, and yet it manages to deliver a more cultural, grounded Italian experience than a lot of the places that spend heavily on being seen. The food holds up against restaurants with much bigger names. The wood fire is used properly. The service has a rhythm to it without being stiff. It’s homely… Is that a word?

So, does Toscana pass the Vegas Return Test?

Yes.

Not because it’s the hottest Italian restaurant in Vegas.
Not because it’s the newest.
And definitely not because some hot girl TikToker told me to go there.

I’d go back because the food is good, the fire actually matters, the experience feels genuine, and I can walk out thinking I spent my money on dinner instead of marketing.

That’s a return.

-Jason

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Follow Vegas Uncomped on X • Instagram • TikTok • YouTube • Threads • Facebook for Vegas Hacks, Stories & More.

© 2026 Vegas Uncomped

As always, my thoughts are my own; they are NOT sponsored, I pay for my experiences, and I reserve the right to praise and talk shit about whoever and wherever I feel warranted… Hope you enjoy!

This weekend I was talking online about how Cirque has given me some of the most expensive naps of my life.

I just don’t get it. People in costumes doing gymnastics. It’s not my thing. Never has been.

Then Mad Apple announced it’s closing for good on September 5.

That got me thinking, and kind of pleading.

Please, MGM. Do not put another one of these boring shows in that theater.

Cirque is not timeless. They haven’t really innovated in a meaningful way for a long time. Whether the whole brand needs a hard look is a bigger conversation. But what happens to the empty theater at New York-New York actually matters. It sets a tone. And that tone needs to change.

The Room

The theater holds roughly 1,200 seats. In recent years, the upper balcony was often closed because sales were soft, so they were regularly running 600–800 or less.

MGM already has the room. No replacement has been announced.

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Vegas pools.

I might be in the minority here, but I’m not getting in them.

You’ve seen the videos. Wall-to-wall bodies. Everyone with a drink in their hand. Music blasting. People grinding in 105-degree heat like it’s a nightclub with water.

Have you ever actually walked into the restroom at one of those places, though?

They’re strangely empty.

See where I’m going with this?

School’s Back. The Gross Just Changed

Everyone assumes that once the kids leave, the pools get better.

Nope.

The 21-and-up party pools are the ones that worry me more. Alcohol is part of the experience. People are packed together for hours. And the pool is basically an extension of the bar.

Kids might be messy.
Adults are strategic about it.

The Chlorine Smell Is a Lie

Most people walk up to a packed day-club pool, catch that heavy “chlorine” smell, and think: Good, at least it’s clean.

Wrong.

That aggressive chlorine smell is usually chloramines, the byproduct created when free chlorine reacts with sweat, body oils, and urine. The stronger that classic pool smell, the more organic material is already in the water.

A strong chlorine smell isn’t necessarily evidence of cleanliness. It can be evidence that the chlorine is busy reacting with whatever people brought in with them, or their “additions”.

What Pee Actually Does

Remember that scene in Grown Ups when Eric Lamonsoff (Kevin James) takes a wizz in the pool at the Water Wizz Family Water Park, and the water turns blue?

That’s not really a thing… I wish it was.

When someone pees in the pool, free chlorine starts binding to compounds in the urine and forms chloramines. That reaction reduces the amount of chlorine available to kill germs.

In a packed day club with hundreds of people who aren’t leaving the water, that load adds up fast. The pool’s defense system is working overtime just to keep up. The question….. Is it keeping up?

How does that mid-day party sound now?

Real Testing on the Strip

This isn’t just theory.

Inside Edition tested three Vegas day-club pools in 2022. Two came back positive for E. coli, with reported total bacteria counts of 15 million and 100 million.

A Columbia University microbiologist looked at the results and said:

“It’s kind of similar to swimming in a toilet.”

They found fingernails, cigarette butts, and foamy debris floating in one of them.

Circa’s Stadium Swim racked up 48 health-district violations across its pools during two annual inspections in 2025. Some were minor (loose screws, dirty grout, standing water). Some also involved lifeguard issues and damaged suction outlets.

These places are packed. The chemistry takes constant work even when they’re empty. When they’re full of day-drunk adults treating the pool like a giant communal bathtub?

You do the math.

The Uncomped Reality

I have a pool at home. I know water chemistry takes work. I know these systems can only do so much when the load is extreme.

Vegas party pools sell the fantasy of clean blue water and sunshine.

This isn’t a “here’s how to stay safe” piece.
There isn’t a clean solution when the core problem is people.

I’m staying on the cabana side of the rope with a drink in my hand.

You do you.

Just know what you’re actually “getting into”.

And unless you’re an R. Kelly fan, maybe think twice before fully committing to the water.

Still getting in the people soup, or have you officially switched to dry land?

-Jason

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Follow Vegas Uncomped on X • Instagram • TikTok • YouTube • Threads • Facebook for Vegas Hacks, Stories & More.

© 2026 Vegas Uncomped

As always, my thoughts are my own; they are NOT sponsored. I pay for my experiences, and I reserve the right to praise and talk shit about whoever and wherever I feel warranted… Hope you enjoy!

I’m sitting at 145,962 MGM Tier Credits.
Platinum starts at 200,000.
I’m 54,038 credits away.

And my first thought wasn’t, “How do I get there?”

It was, “I really hope I don’t start trying to.”

That should tell you everything.

I’ve never been a status chaser. I built this whole thing on the opposite idea. Figure out the system. Hit what I need. Stop. Gold at 75,000 has always been the line. Waived resort fees. Free parking. A little celebration credit. Great room rates and some upgrades. That’s enough. That’s the Uncomped version of the game.

This year the system got aggressive without me asking it to.

And if you’ve followed my points reset, how my system gains my tier status, and how I’ve been staying a week for around $100… Well this is the next (surprise) chapter to that story.

How the Hell Did I Get Here?

Last year I qualified for the extra 25k bonus. The MGM credit card kicked in another 10k. Then a poltergeist apparently moved into the house and we had to replace a bunch of appliances at once. I did some home renovations. Then VGK made the Finals, and we took a very expensive last-minute trip home. (Yes, I am still bitter)

None of that was planned for points. It just stacked.

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They all sound exactly the same. Why? Because they template-match everything; what you’re seeing is today’s version of a commercial. It’s an advertisement. When people tell me I’m critical, or negative about some places, I just laugh. Honesty is much easier when no one is paying for you to give your opinion.

Think about it. Everywhere you go, you are asked to do a survey, then you’re hounded until you leave something positive and, in many cases, given things until you do. Can we really rely on “ratings” these days?

So I stopped asking whether a restaurant was “good.”
I started asking a much harder question.

Would I actually go back?

Not if someone invited me.
Not if it was comped.

Would I spend my own money to eat here again?

Because that’s the only test that really matters, and that’s the test I’m using to give to people that care to listen to what I have to say.

The Vegas Return Test

Every place now gets the same four questions:

✓ Would I spend my own money here again?
✓ Would I tell my best friend to eat here on their first trip?
✓ Would I choose this over trying somewhere new?
✓ If it disappeared tomorrow… would I actually care?

Simple questions that actually predict whether a place is worth your time.

First Up: La Pizza e La Pasta

Inside Eataly at Park MGM.

I’ll be honest: I avoided this place for a long time. I’m extremely critical of Italian food. I spent many years eating from the kitchens of actual Nonnas that immigrated to America. Also the same people calling Golden Steer and Carbone “excellent” were the ones talking this spot up. That alone made me skeptical, and I have other favorites that already pass The Return Test with flying colors.

But it stays open late, and this particular night I had just finished playing video poker for hours, breaking even, and I guess I was determined to win big or lose it all. We didn’t want to kill two hours on a full dinner and needed something that wasn’t another burger. They have those big Pizza ovens… how bad could it be?

I started with the Adriatico: Whistle Pig Piggyback Rye, Montenegro, Fabbri cherry syrup, lemon, cherry bark bitters, maraschino cherry. $21.

Surprisingly good take on an Old Fashioned. One of the few cocktails that didn’t lean hard into Aperol. I put away three of them to her one.

Then the Prosciutto e Olive: Ferrarini Prosciutto di Parma and mixed olives. $22. A little high for lunch meat and olives, but it’s Vegas.

My wife ordered the Prosciutto e Rucola pizza while I was in the restroom. Mozzarella, a mountain of arugula, 18-month prosciutto, Grana Padano, olive oil. $30.

I hate arugula.
Not dislike.
Hate.

Watching someone intentionally put salad on top of pizza feels like watching someone dip a steak in ketchup. She knows this, but apparently was a little too tipsy to read the fine print, or to know that Rucola was Italian for arugula. Was pretty funny to be honest, because we usually agree on most food we share.

I ordered the Massese: San Marzano tomato, mozzarella, spicy salami, basil, olive oil. $27.

Proper Neapolitan dough. Light sauce. Nice kick from the salami. Fresh and solid. Not life-changing, but clean and consistent.

Total bill hit $176. Roughly $84 of that was drinks. Also, we could of ate just one pizza.

Who This Place Is Actually For

• You’re staying at Park MGM/The Reserve.
• You’re going to, or just came from a Knights game.
• You have a concert at Dolby Live.
• You’re hungry after 9 p.m.
• You want real food without burning two hours on dinner.

Vegas Return Test

⭐ Food? Good enough I’d order it again.
💰 Worth my money? Yep.
📍 Better than whatever’s closest? Absolutely.
🔁 Would I come back?

Without thinking twice.

Not because it’s the best pizza in Vegas.
Because it’s exactly what it needs to be.

Convenient. Consistent. Open late. Better drinks than expected. And when friends ask where to eat before something at T-Mobile or Dolby, this stays on the shortlist.

The Bigger Point

Vegas doesn’t need another restaurant review, or people talking about how a $500 meal changed their life.

Sometimes a restaurant wins because it knows exactly what it is.

That’s why the Vegas Return Test only asks one question.

Would I happily spend my own money to come back?

La Pizza e La Pasta passed.

What’s a place in Vegas that quietly passes your own return test? Drop it below.

-Jason

Follow Vegas Uncomped on X • Instagram • TikTok • YouTube • Threads • Facebook for Vegas Hacks, Stories & More.

© 2026 Vegas Uncomped

As always, my thoughts are my own; they are NOT sponsored, I pay for my experiences, and I reserve the right to praise and talk shit about whoever and wherever I feel warranted… Hope you enjoy!

Recent events have got me thinking about Las Vegas and shifting focus. I used to count on gambling to get perks, then my strategy shifted to a blend of gambling and spending, then paying close attention to points and tier credits using players’ clubs and credit cards. My point is that Las Vegas is changing; here’s a look at last year’s numbers and the trend for 2026.

According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s 2025 Gaming Abstract, hotel room revenue accounted for 33.5% of total Strip resort revenue, while gaming revenue accounted for 26.1%.

Of the roughly $21.1 billion the Strip produced, rooms generated about $7.1 billion.
Gaming generated about $5.5 billion.

Gaming remains enormously profitable. The story isn’t that gambling became unimportant. It’s that the rest of the resort became just as important.

But….. Doesn’t that feel backasswards? (yes that’s a word)

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Let me ask you something… Do you regularly shop at these places at home? They’re always priced pretty high. In Vegas, you get lost in the fact that it’s cheaper than the casino, but you’re still grossly overpaying. It amazes me that people will pay $30 for a cocktail but not an extra $10 for an Uber / Lyft / Taxi stop on the way to the hotel…

Also, who wants to carry supplies down the strip, through the hotel, and to your room?

So I’m gonna share my plan with the list that saves me hundreds a trip and probably thousands a year.

Before I ever check into a hotel in Las Vegas…
I make one stop.

Not CVS.
Not Walgreens.
Not ABC Stores.

One pickup order that I have already scheduled from home, and five minutes later, I’m done buying almost everything the Strip will try to sell me for the next four days. It’s so stupidly simple that you might think…. duh…..but I promise I have mentioned this to hundreds of people and seen the lightbulb go off in their heads. Every person that travels with me seems to call me the week after and say how much more fun they had not coming back to a bill triple their mortgage…

Here’s the exact routine.

Before I Leave Home
↓
Land at LAS (order already waiting)
↓
5-minute pickup
↓
Hotel (bellhop takes order with the bags)
↓
Vacation starts

Don’t Pay the “I Forgot It” Tax

These cost almost nothing to pack.
On the Strip they become emergency purchases.

✓ Phone charger
✓ Portable battery
✓ Charging brick
✓ Watch charger
✓ Ibuprofen / Tylenol
✓ Pepcid
✓ Allergy medicine
✓ Blister pads / Band-Aids
✓ Prescription meds
✓ Sunscreen

Become Your Own Hotel Gift Shop

✓ Refillable insulated bottle / Yeti
✓ Small insulated tote or collapsible cooler
✓ Zip-top bags
✓ Electrolyte packets (Liquid I.V., LMNT, etc.)
✓ K-cups (most rooms already have the coffee machine)

Things I Request Before I Even Arrive

☐ Refrigerator (tell the hotel it’s for medication)
☐ Late checkout if status allows
☐ High floor
☐ Strip view, only if it’s worth paying for, or if status allows free upgrade
☐ Digital key, use the app to check in the day before if available
☐ Early check-in if status allows

My Vegas Pickup Order

☐ Water
☐ Wine
☐ Creamer (ok… Baileys)
☐ Beer
☐ Liquor
☐ Mixers
☐ Coke / Dr. Pepper
☐ Peanut butter filled Pretzels
☐ Chips
☐ Jerky
☐ Cider
☐ Snack Mix / Candy
☐ Disposable cups

People always ask which store is best.

Honestly? It depends on whether I am condo living at Vdara or staying elsewhere, but I’ve used.

Total Wine -Just south of Mandalay, probably the easiest.
Sam’s Club. -Great if you are in a condo on the strip.
Walmart.
Target. (not the one on the strip, they have a “convenience upcharge.”

Just be aware of the store’s pickup times and your flight. Even if you run the next day, you’re still saving a ton, and if you don’t want to buy liquor or beer (but, where’s the fun in that) some services will deliver to the hotel lobby.

The store doesn’t matter.
The order waiting does.

You’ll be back in the Uber within minutes. Water alone is worth it.

Things I Never Buy on the Strip

Water
Coffee
Pain reliever
Sunscreen
Phone chargers
Snacks
Beer
Basic liquor
Soda

Things Worth Paying Vegas Prices For

Great dinners (even the uber off the strip)
Shows
Specialty Cocktails
Blackjack
Spa
Concerts
A room upgrade
A memory

The First Thing After Check-In

Before I even unpack…
I make sure the refrigerator I requested is actually in the room.

If not, that’s my first phone call.

It’s amazing how much money a cold bottle of water saves over four days.

If you’re going to end up carrying drinks around the casino later anyway, start with the insulated bag. You can already be on beer number two before you even leave the property. You’ll likely need a bag for stuff anyway, and they make some great insulated backpacks these days.

The Real Difference

Most people think Vegas gets expensive the moment they check in.

I think it gets expensive the moment they stop planning.

Fifteen minutes before your vacation starts can completely change what your money buys for the rest of the weekend.

And for the “if you can’t afford it, don’t go” crowd…. You crack me up because…

You meal prep.
You shop at Costco.
You buy gas where it’s cheaper.
You wait for Amazon Prime Day.
You use coupons.
You comparison shop.

You take the cheapest flight that’s at 5 am!!

You’re already doing the exact same thing at home, but somehow think it’s “cheap” in Vegas.

If your idea of luxury is paying three times the price for the exact same bottle of water because it’s downstairs…

Go for it.

Mine is spending that extra money on another great meal, another blackjack session, another concert, or one more night in Vegas.

-Jason

Follow Vegas Uncomped on X • Instagram • TikTok • YouTube • Threads • Facebook for Vegas Hacks, Stories & More.

© 2026 Vegas Uncomped

As always, my thoughts are my own; they are NOT sponsored, I pay for my experiences, and I reserve the right to praise and talk shit about whoever and wherever I feel warranted… Hope you enjoy!

Was He Drunk?…. NO
Was he Rich?… Probably Not
Was he getting ripped off?… I think so

He was doing exactly what Las Vegas trains you to do. He was downstairs from his room at the Casino “Convenience Store”. And that’s when I realized…

Vegas isn’t expensive.
Convenience is.

The Strip might be the greatest convenience store in America. For every extra 30 seconds that you don’t want to spend, it is going to cost you more money.

Read more

Before we sat down for dinner, someone started singing. Then a burlesque dancer was doing some table dances. A mermaid was on a food cart. Then a group of people on unicycles. The lights were already dimmed. There was no announcement. There was no extra ticket. It just happened.

And somewhere between my chicken parm and dessert, I realized...

Vegas forgot one of its best tricks.

Let’s be honest. Vegas nostalgia has become its own industry and a split social topic. People complain about casinos they never walked into. They mourn attractions they skipped for twenty years. The second something closes, suddenly everyone claims it was their favorite. If it re-opens, people still don’t go. People are funny like that.

I don’t actually miss everything.

I miss the things that made Vegas feel unpredictable.

Bellagio’s fountains don’t require reservations. The Mirage volcano didn’t care if you bought dinner. Carnival in the Sky wasn’t hidden behind a VIP package. Even walking through a casino used to feel like something could happen, not because it always did, but because it could. And I’m a big believer that nostalgia can work, but it still requires some evolution.

We’d already seen The Party a few months earlier and loved it…

So when Restaurant Week rolled around, going back to Superfrico was an easy decision. It’s been a year or so since we had been. The place was packed, like it always is. Psychedelic. Loud. A little chaotic, but that’s the Vegas I love.

Superfrico has never been my favorite restaurant because of the food (although it’s pretty good). It’s one of my favorites because of the feeling. The little gem salad is excellent. The chicken parm is different and better than most. A three-course meal for $80 (Restaurant Week special) with continuous entertainment is a pretty reasonable deal in this town. But I didn’t leave thinking about the plate. I left thinking about how long it’s been since dinner itself felt like the show, without really paying for….. A show!

Somewhere along the way we decided restaurants should only serve food. Entertainment moved to theaters. Music moved to clubs. Magic moved to…. well IDK who even does it anymore that’s good. Everything became its own purchase. Vegas used to blur those lines, and that’s what made the city feel alive.

We’ve seemed to have lost the feeling that anything unexpected might happen before the check arrives. Hell, most of the time the “check” is the biggest surprise of the evening. These days we wait in line for “secret” bars with hashtags. We reserve experiences months in advance. We buy VIP access to surprises that have scheduled start times.

If I had $500 million to build a casino tomorrow, I would NEVER DO a celebrity steakhouse. I’d start with dinner shows. One mob. One Rat Pack. One Rock n Roll (Hard Rock are you listening?) One completely ridiculous. Because memories don’t happen when you’re sitting quietly looking at your phone. They happen when something interrupts dinner.

People always say they miss “old Vegas”, the volcano, the pirate ship show. I don’t even think they miss free shows. I think they miss not knowing what was going to happen next.

For a couple of hours, Superfrico reminded me that Vegas can still surprise you. Not because the food was unforgettable. Not because the performers were world-famous. Because for a little while, I forgot what was coming next.

That’s the Vegas I hope never disappears.

Do you miss that old feeling of not knowing what might happen next, or are places like Superfrico enough?

-Jason

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Follow Vegas Uncomped on X • Instagram • TikTok • YouTube • Threads • Facebook for Vegas Hacks, Stories & More.

© 2026 Vegas Uncomped

As always, my thoughts are my own; they are NOT sponsored, I pay for my experiences, and I reserve the right to praise and talk shit about whoever and wherever I feel warranted… Hope you enjoy!