Rio has an average of 3-stars here on Yelp and I think that sounds about right.
My expectations are usually higher for non-strip hotels because there's so much to see and do on the strip, why would I wanna go off the beaten path?
Room deals or should I say suite deals since Rio is an all-suites hotel. Their price is pretty decent but you get what you pay for. The rooms could use some upgrades. For this stay, they ran out of queen doubles so we had to settle for a King with a pullout. It wasn't so bad. We had to call housekeeping for the mattress cover and pillows. It took them half an hour to fulfill our request.
There's mini bar for you midnight munchies and a mini fridge to keep your booze chilled. Who doesn't like pre-gaming, right?
As for food options, they have 3 buffets: Carnival World, Seafood, and Indian. For your Asian cravings, there's Pho Da Nang and a dimsum place. And then there's the BK burger bar.
The casino itself wasn't too bad. The female cocktail servers are scantily clad and double as go-go dancers on stage. Various game options and the minimums here seem to be lower compared to some strip casinos.
Parking isn't to bad either. We opted for the Carnival Garage and it's closer than the other one. Don't make the first right on Rio drive, got to the next one instead.