| rev:text
| - Okay, so for those of you who remember me from my old account, you all know that I'm the champion of lamenting the "down with old, in with the new" mentality that's such a faux pas in this town. So I was very happy when I heard that the Sahara wasn't going to be torn down. However, I wasn't as happy when I heard about what it was going to be converted to. Now that I've actually been inside the place, my perspective is a little bit more in the middle.
Aside from the back hallway section, I could barely even tell it was once the Sahara just going off of layout alone. It felt strangely smaller (I could be wrong, but it seems like the entire section that was once the Nascar Cafe seemed to be a VIP affair). In addition to the fact that, while the Sahara had five public entry points, the SLS now only has two, with one of those former entry points being converted into an employees only entrance and the other two being sealed off completely. Not sure if I like that or not.
I do remember the Sahara being pretty dark, but now they've made it so dark in here you can barely even see in certain parts of the building. It was also a little bit too corporate for my taste. Example: all of the retail being owned by Fred Segal. Well, I guess we should be happy that at least the owner made the wise decision to not slap his name on everything which is what it was starting to look like he was going to do.
In spite of all this, I still kinda liked the place. Now, granted, this could just be because the place hasn't been a runaway success, but I like how it's attempting to be locals friendly. The automatic free play you receive when signing up for their players card and the fact that certain restaurants in the property give discounts to locals are all nice perks. I plan on trying both Umami Burger and The Griddle Cafe in the future.
The nightlife actually appealed to me, a rarity with The Strip. Okay, LiFE fits into my stereotypical idea of Strip nightclubs, but Foxtail on the other hand? While I didn't go in, I stood outside to observe and listen to the music and I liked how it didn't seem to be a fist-pumping affair and it actually played a variety of music, not a bunch of David Guetta and Tiesto remixes. And I've heard lots of good things about The Sayers Club as well.
There were also multiple reminders of what the place once was. I spotted a chandelier with fixtures of the Sahara "S." Some of the slots were labelled "Sahara Slots." Some of the walls had pictures of 50s and 60s era Vegas. I really appreciate how the owner didn't just try and make like what was there before never happened! And I also enjoyed the subtle aspect of humor and camp that was prevalent. See: The monkey stuff and the statue in the porte cochere. Oh, and did I mention I actually had some luck with gambling in this place? That makes it one of literally only three places on the strip where lady luck was on my side (the other two being Slots-A-Fun and The Stratosphere).
SLS isn't exactly a "home run" for me, but I think it has some great potential going for it, so I'll just wait and see.
The Final Verdict:
Pros:
Well, for one, it was once the Sahara!
Strip joint that's accessible for locals.
You get free play just for signing up.
Appealing nightlife and dining options.
Doesn't take itself too seriously.
Loose slots by strip standards.
Cons:
Dark and kinda creepy feeling interior.
Overly corporate in some aspects.
Isolated from the rest of the Strip (but thankfully that's changing soon)
Huh?:
What's with the lack of entrances? There could at least be one on the corner of Sahara @ LV Blvd.
Return factor: 8/10. I like the place enough to give it more chances in the future.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)