If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that we normally stay at The California Hotel and Casino when in Downtown Las Vegas. On this trip, the first night of our four-night stay was sold out, so instead of staying one night somewhere else and then moving back to the Cal, we opted to book the entire stay at Main Street Station, which is connected to the Cal via a pedestrian bridge. In addition, we haven't stayed at Main Street in many, many years, and the rooms were recently renovated, so I thought it was good time to check it out.
The rooms are very similar to the Cal. It's roughly the same size and the layout/furniture is pretty much the same. You have a tv that sits on a dresser that includes the safe and mini-fridge; you have a desk right next to the dresser; there are two chairs and a table/lamp; and the windows have shutters over them. Like the Cal.
There's a bench near the entry way, right across from the bathroom. I really liked the bench as it was great to sit on while putting on my shoes. I liked the large mirror as well.
The closet has a pretty wallpaper.
The sink is outside of the toilet/shower and is open from the hallway/entry way.
The shower/toilet is very small. It feels a bit claustrophobic when you close the door and it's a bit dark in there as well.
Instead on individual containers, the shampoo, condition and body wash is mounted to the wall, like how other hotels are now doing.
So what are my thoughts? Although the room is very similar to the Cal, I do prefer the Cal, specifically the rooms in the what I call the mezzanine tower (vs. the Buddha Tower -- they are called the East and West towers, but I'm directionally challenged when it comes to using East and West). And it basically comes down to the bathroom. The bathroom in the mezzanine tower is much bigger and brighter. I didn't realize you can actually enjoy a bathroom space, but when
we stayed at Mandalay Bay, I learned that a bathroom can definitely be an experience.
We actually spent only one night at Main Street. The air conditioner looked new, but man, was it loud! Every once in while, it would make really loud noises like gushing water and that woke us up a lot at night. The clincher was the toilet -- it didn't flush properly and was on the verge of overflowing if we weren't careful.
The Hubz is a BIG fan of the Cal -- he thinks that Main Street is very far from Fremont Street and from the Cal itself (even though it's connected). So instead of calling down to fix the toilet or moving to a new room, he used it as an excuse to move to the Cal, which we did, and I'm not mad about that because of the small bathroom at Main Street. NOTE: We haven't in the Buddha Tower in a long time -- I think it's the original hotel tower when the Cal first opened -- and I recall the bathrooms in this tower to be similar to Main Street.
AFTER NOTE: When checking out, we did inform the front desk of the toilet issue. I hope they did send someone to fix it before the next guests checked in.
Not to say that Main Street Station is a horrible hotel. Here are my pros and cons:
Pros:
- Newly renovated rooms with an in-room mini refrigerator
- Connected to the Cal via a pedestrian bridge
- Smaller hotel, so even if your room is located at the end of the hall, it's not a far walk to the elevator
- Close enough to Fremont Street Experience, but far enough that you don't hear the noise from it
- Garden Court Buffett and Triple & Brewery
- Quieter casino
Cons:
- As of this post, table games are only open Friday - Sunday.
- Small bathroom
- Possible noise from passing trains, depending on where your room is situated
So not a lot of cons. The casino itself is beautiful with a Victorian theme. A lot of the decor are from different parts of the world. For example, a part of
the Berlin Wall is installed in the men's bathroom; there are chandeliers from the San Francisco opera house and the Coca-Cola building in Austin, Texas, street lamps from Brussels, Belgium. You can pick up a brochure and take a self-guided tour of all the artifacts.
What are your thoughts? Have you stayed at Main Street? Leave you comments below!
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