In the first installment of our trip, I focused mostly on our home base Caesars Atlantic City. Now I'll talk about some of the places we visited outside of our hotel.
We decided to do a walk-through of Bally's/Wild Wild West next door. Ben was mostly in search of $5 Blackjack and Craps tables. When we didn’t find any, I suggested we checked out what Caesars had done to the former Ocean One Mall. I was particularly interested in the restaurant and bar establishments on the third floor.As it was about 11:30 now, I didn’t realize most of the establishments would be closed. One good thing I did notice was that there were plenty of elevators, escalators and the occasional ramp to help smooth things out. (It should also be noted that Gentlemen of Size may like some of the clothing selection featured at tropical-themed Tommy Bahama.) We took a seat in the armless chairs along the faux sand beach lining the perimeter and plotted our next move; this would turn out to be the only “sand” my feet would touch this trip.Looking southward at the casinos on the horizon, I suggested we check out the Tropicana, primarily so I could see their entertainment complex The Quarter. It seemed close enough to walk but Ben, whose legs were tiring a bit, convinced me that it would be better to drive.
So we retrieved the car and drove down to the Tropicana when I came to realize that objects sometimes appear to be closer than they are. It would have been a fairly lengthy walk for anyone. Ben kept a lookout for the elusive $5 BJ tables but settled for a rather lively Big Six wheel. We each placed a couple bets that turned into contributions. Eventually we found the Quarter…actually, we found it essentially closed. I was disappointed again at my bad timing and Ben was visibly annoyed, perhaps influenced by the gambling money burning a hole in his pocket. We decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night around 1:00am.
Ben, who has a habit of going on late-night gambling runs in Vegas, always “loved” being woken up for an 8:00 breakfast run by yours truly. So of course, I could not disappoint him by not continuing the tradition in Atlantic City! We had wanted to try the Wild Wild West buffet, having researched that it was a better value than Caesars’ La Piazza Buffet, but were surprised to find out that it was closed for breakfast. So we ended up doing the Caesars buffet after all. Hmm…well, I liked the upscale trappings there (and at the coffee shop too, for that matter) and our server was particularly friendly. But the food itself lived down to the reputation that I had prepared for. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t quite mouth-watering, either. When the highlight of a meal is a cream-filled donut, that’s not exactly cause for a ringing endorsement. We managed to fill our bellies but resolved not to visit again. One plus at least, as mentioned in the previous blog, was that virtually all of the seats were armless.
After breakfast, we headed over to the marina area to see the Borgata. I wanted to see what this “crown jewel” was all about. But I have to say: could they have made it anymore difficult to find it? (smile) I would have thought it was just us who had trouble locating it if a lady hadn’t pulled up beside us asking if we knew how to get to the Borgata. She decided to follow us, as if we knew what we were doing. It seemed really odd that the road would lead to Trump and Harrah’s then suddenly do a 180*. Somehow we found ourselves at a loading dock and a worker redirected us to the valet.
Already knowing that $5 tables wouldn’t be found, Ben settled in at a Monopoly machine while I looked around. The Borgata certainly lived up to my expectations of what an “exclusive” casino would look like. Based on the common areas, it could certainly hold its own against the more upscale Vegas casinos. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised that it featured a reasonably priced food court in its basement. I tried to interest Ben in joining me down there for lunch but he preferred to wait until we returned to Caesars.
Next: The Showboat, The Water Show and (Censored).
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