This place is fucking great and anyone who says otherwise is a pretentious a-hole that hates shitty beer and the smell of 3 day old fried food.
I often thought to myself while eating a twinkie - "I've had enough of this god damn rabbit food - there HAS to be some way to make it tastier and get rid of all of the tree-hugging hippie healthiness of it." It looks like the good people at Mermaid's have solved this problem for me by offering a deep-friend twinkie for only 99 cents!
There are no table games here, but table games are for losers. The REAL action is in video poker and slots. I have hit 4 aces on their video poker machine both times I have been there, and then subsequently lost my winnings at other casinos chasing that high. I will never quite get there, but I will never stop trying.
Mermaid's has the best price on Fremont street for the gourmet specialty drink "football full of beer". You have the choice of either Icehouse or Miller high Life. I recommend getting one of each so that you don't leave with any regrets. If you're not "down" for the football sized beverage, you can have any kind of off-brand mixed drink brought to your seat by a cocktail waitress not wearing a uniform who seems to want to take her own life.
All in all - Mermaid's is a must visit when you're on Fremont Street. Get a fried twinkie, a couple of footballs, hit 4 aces, and feel good about the fact that you can come and go as you please and don't have to wait for the end of your shift.