<<I'm surprised a man of your breeding and culture would be caught dead at Circus Circus, good value or no>>
I haven't been caught dead there, or anywhere else, so far, thank you. But your comment goes to the root of what I consider the Las Vegas game. As one who has been a regular there (for computer and electronics shows) since 1982, I caught on some time ago that the idea is to let the gamblers pay, in significant part, for your stay. The "gaming" is why there are so many bargains in food and hostelry. Sure, there are lots of restaurants set up for people who have just won or lost half a million bucks and to whom another grand is trivial. But if you go along with that plan, you're as thick as the high-rollers are. For breakfast, I go to one of the buffets that Zora talked about. For lunch, I graciously accept the hospitality of one of the exhibitors. There are generally show-sponsored receptions in the evening with serious sushi and shrimp, and of course an open bar For dinner, I seek out steak, Brazilian, seafood -- places, often off the Strip, that don't depend entirely on frantic, inebriated tourists. The Circus Circus Steakhouse fits that category. It is an oasis of class in a sea of crass.
If anyone is open to further ruminations along these lines, I can provide an article I wrote for Publishers Weekly when the booksellers convened in Las Vegas. Taxi drivers told me that the book people were almost as cheap as the computer people, but not quite. My guys, both.